1980 Honda H100A from United Kingdom

Summary:

A good fun, cheap to run, basic work horse for around town that will take almost any abuse

Faults:

When I bought the motorcycle in July 2003, it was already in a very poor and neglected state.

At 23000 miles, the speedometer stopped working. The tangs on the washer that sit in the hub were bent, thus not driving the gearbox. Simple remedy was achieved by straightening the tangs. The speedometer continued to be trouble free after that.

The connections on the rectifier broke off. Inexpensive replacement at a fiver.

Bulbs often blew, especially the headlight due to a poor earth on the ballast resistor.

Occasionally, the gearbox was difficult to gain neutral. Nothing to worry about as this only occurred now and again.

The headlamp unit would move thanks to some nerd omitting the proper fasteners.

The rear wheel was seriously buckled when I bought the bike. It is beyond me how the dealer managed to get an MOT on a vehicle in that condition.

Apart from the above, nothing major went wrong when I owned the bike.

General Comments:

The motorcycle was registered on the 13/08/1980 on a W plate.

It was nearly twenty three years old when I bought it and displaying almost 22000 miles. I find this hard to believe. I presume it has done double this.

Up until July 2004, the motorcycle was used every day to go to and from work.

Occassionally it was used to go from Portsmouth to Southampton (a round trip of 50 miles). It would hurtle along the M27 in any condition with no fuss. Now the old girl sits in my garden.

To start the clapped out air-cooled two-stroke motor took about three kicks.

Fuel consumption was poor at only 58 MPG around town and top speed was 55MPH, instead of the 76MPH indicated on the speedometer. The poor performance was probably due to low compression as a result of excessive bore wear. The engine would often rattle loudly on idle.

The H100A is a seriously robust and reliable machine. I never treated it gently and threw it around town and it would not complain. I even did a wheelie by accident.

The general condition of the machine is poor. The rear fender should be chrome plated. The chrome has long departed and rust has taken its toll to reveal a hole near the light.

The front fender has been sprayed in mouve, therefore hiding the chrome.

The side panels and fuel tank have experienced about every colour in the visible spectrum, courtesy of the previous owners that have no knowledge of spray painting. You name it, orange, yellow, red, etc and now the bike is blue. The panels were not even prepared properly because the paint has started to ripple badly.

The headlight brackets were painted black. They were originally chrome.

The front wheel is rusted, but seems to be in true.

The rear wheel is in need of replacement.

Chain and sprockets have worn beyond safe use.

The fork stanchions are badly pitted and the seals are leaking fork oil.

The clevis pin that holds the center stand to the bottom of the frame has seized and will need to be hacksawed off.

Someone has made an attempt to hand paint the frame in hammerite black (he obviously had a thing for "go-faster" brush strokes). I cannot find any signs of serious corrosion on the frame or the swing arm.

One of the previous owners painted the exhaust matt black in preference of the original chrome. What a fool.

I bought the bike for £225 with a years MOT (an Mot that was not worth the paper it was written on) and got a years use out of it. Apart from a few bits and pieces, all I did was put oil and petrol in it.

In the mean time I have became very attached to this bike and loved it. It is waiting restoration, which will be a lot of work. Then it will be used as a second motorcycle.

Would you buy another motorcycle from this manufacturer? Yes

Review Date: 3rd December, 2004

15th Feb 2005, 09:42

I loved my old H100A, indestructible, utterly reliable and simple to work on, wish I'd never sold it 20 years ago...

3rd Jun 2005, 11:00

Excellent review. I owned a 1982 H100A BGFBV which I kept for 2 years. It was never a fast bike. I tuned it by fitting a Micron Pipe and fitting Racing Wireset and Coil. I also installed a Miksuni Carburettor off of a 250cc Kawasaki which took some doing.

After all this, it was a lot faster and I managed to get 98mph out of it top end. Obviously it was a bit unstable at that speed.

Its demise came when I dropped it at 80mph and it carried on going down the road. I was lucky because I managed to jump off before it dropped and roll myself on some grass. I still miss it.

I am now riding a CBR954RR, which yes I have dropped also!