Modern Vespa

..ok, maybe ABS and some disc brakes too, and fuel injection, but with these colors metal finishes and definitely this mid 60's styling.

Honda came back with the superb little 125 Super Cub, so why not a technically modernized S90, but with a larger and more capable highway motor.

I'm actually a bit surprised, and I'll admit, a little disappointed that Honda, or perhaps the other three of the 'Big Four' haven't offered something like this yet for us old guys who rode these bikes back in 'Ye Olden Days'.

With the success of Royal Enfield 650 and 350 retro-styled machines, one might think that it might be a worthwhile effort, at least until all the nostalgic geezer bikers who were on these kinds of bikes back then fade away for good.

I've owned four modern Royal Enfield bikes since 2016, including two 650's, a 350, and a 500, as well as a Kawasaki W800, Yamaha SR400, and a beautiful Honda CB1100EX, but nothing would push my nostalgia buttons quite as thoroughly as a usefully upsized, modernized, Super 90.

I do have a distant connection to the S90...

so, something like this?

Yes, similar engine layout as the Aermacchi-built Harley-Davidson Sprint would be perfect.

You beat me to it for posting an image of the Aermacci. I was away for a few minutes doing a photo search for one and was about to put this 1967 Sprint H 250 up, and of course, I once owned one of these too, maybe around 1970-71.

If it got wet, it wouldn't run.

The one I owned looked just like this one, but more beat up. Altogether though, I really liked the styling of these 'big tank' Sprints, in spite of the HD badges, they still had that classic 'Italian thing' going on.

MotoBi also had the horizontal cylinder layout, but the largest they made was a 250

I really like how some of these horizontally configured Italian engines were so cleanly and artistically styled, just look at those smooth, streamlined' cases and shaped cylinder head.

They took pride in even the styling of these engines and integrated them into the overall look of the bike as a visually complimentary component of the whole, unlike most modern machines that hide their motors under a veil of dull black to visually diminish them.

(Place 'Old Man Shouts at Cloud' meme here)

There's also the Moto Guzzi Falcone (500cc) but it doesn't have the same feeling of the engine hanging under the frame.



and the Falcone Nuovo

You say:"my MotoBi 125". You mean you still have it?

I'm very fond of the late Moto-Guzzi V7's, (and no surprise, I suppose) I had a beautiful blue V7 III Special a while back. It was one of those bikes that, to me anyway, was always a pleasure to ride, relatively simple technically (two valve heads with a screw adjusters), economical to own and ride, just a great mid-sized (barely so) motorcycle. One of those machines that I still miss...

Scooters are typically completely hiding their engine. They always did.

Not always: Lambretta A-D, MotoRumi, and many other scooters had exposed engines.

Back in time, early 80's, when my brother and I were looking for a motorcycle my first choice was the Guzzi 850. The looks, the original engine layout, the sound.

But they were not so common and second hand quite expensive.
So it became a BMW R75.
Really good motorcycle, the R75, for sure, but not with that Italian flavour.

That Honda S90 looks like my first ever motorcycle. I never knew the model designation, it was just a Honda 90 to me way back in the early 1970s. Mine wasn't as pristine as your first photo.

I always thought the Ducati Supermono should have a street version.

Of course all modern scooters conceal their engines, but I was referring to the small to midsized Italian single cylinder motorbikes, mostly from the 1960's (when I first became aware of them).

Could that frame design handle a motor the size you're hoping for? It seems like when they get that big they all use a more "craddle" like style of frame?

I'm not thinking could like "is it possible?" because they can make anything these days... I'm thinking like, "Is it economically feasible for Honda to put that much into a frame for a bike of that price-point?"

No, but I betcha is was reliable. I had a couple R75s when I got away from Harleys and did more touring. There were always a few Guzzis in the group. I remember being impressed with the style and power but not with the wiring.

I had one of the AMF "Harley" Aermacchi SS-175s in college. They absolutely did not like rain.

My first exposure was when the California Highway Patrol got Moto Guzzis. They rode them for quite a while, and I was told a lot of them were sold off to Argentina, where you still see them working as Police bikes. One of my High School teachers had a Guzzi, and he would take cross country trips on it.
They are reasonably durable bikes, especially for the time, but they can be a little thirsty.

Thread title in a Grom, Ohlins, upgraded brakes, etc.

Regarding the OP, 305 Super Hawk. Not a horizontal cylinder but it's the real deal.

Also, can't come to grips with selling my SR4OO despite having to do three days of rehab after each time putting it on the center stand, age and neurological poopoo. It rides like a R75 without the shaft jacking and the umph of a mythical BMW single in the US. Perhaps it's my low mass and the modern rubber, by far the easiest bike to recover when the front end starts to wash out.

Regarding the R75, I was about three months into the first K75S to hit the central valley after dealing with a lemon R100RS. Hanging out in the back room of the local high end audio shop after hours as usual, we figured out that we needed an obscure part. One of my best friends tossed me the keys to his recently acquired R75 and I rode across town to access my stash. It was such a delightful machine that I got lost in the bliss and was honored with my first speeding ticket on a bike. Despite being 30 mph over the posted limit we had a good laugh about the bliss and the officer wrote the ticket for the minimum. We swapped bikes often during rides afterwards until the R75 was replaced with a R80GS, which opened up another motorcycling chapter. Perhaps it's ancient romance, I still remember that R75 as one of the most delightfully balanced machines that I have experienced.

Nice bikes.

I've tuned, actually twice, an original Honda Monkey. The smallest engine in Honda's 'series' of 50, 70 and 90cc four-stroke singles at the time.

While this was fun, I couldn't help thinking how nice it would be if Honda would make a modern Monkey with a bit bigger engine, decent suspension, why not throw in some breaks too...but definitely keep the semi-auto box.

Well, then they did. Not with the semi-auto, though.

...and....to be honest, that just was not the same as the original Nice bike, but did not make me wish to have one.