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.
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.
I loved my old H100A, indestructible, utterly reliable and simple to work on, wish I'd never sold it 20 years ago...
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!
I had an H100 as a lad and loved it. I am now restoring an H100a, and after starting this project, I found out that the little bike was only made between 1980 and 1983, so after twenty odd years they are a bit rare.
Good old bikes, so get one while you can, and watch the values go up in a few years. But most of all, have some fun on the old girl.
Andy.
I am the narrator of the above review, and would like to thank you for your interest. As I mentioned the plan of restoring the H100A that I bought back in July of 2003, I can glady say the restoration is now near completion. She looks great!
Just like walking into a Honda show room back in 1980. I could never part with her, and good luck with your restoration.
These little bikes deserve to be preserved.
I also have a second H100A (late W plate 07/07/81) that I did restore, shortly after buying the first one. Unfortunately, I need a petrol tank for it that I can`t get hold of. Otherwise mechanically, she is sound.
I have found that a lot of people, especially the Used Bike Guide (and me previously) don`t rate the H100A that much. They should live with one for a year, and they will soon love it, as much as I did.
With regards to the above comment. Do you think these little old bikes will soon start to increase in value? I hope so.
This is indeed a great wee bike to start you off in the world of motorcycling. It is also very good bike to start learning how to maintain and work on, as there really is nothing complicated about this bike.
I bought one 5 years ago with the intention of it being an easy project to get onto the road.
Rebuilding the top end is pretty easy, with a little patience this can be done in as little as an hour. Top end comes off after removing 4 head bolts and the bolt holding the head to the frame. After that it's easy street.
So far I have rebuilt the top end, replaced the ignition system, had the rear wheel rebuilt, fitted a new exhaust down-pipe, made up front indicator brackets, replaced the speedo, fitted a new chain and sprockets, rebuilt the carb, changed the fork seals and fixed the speedo drive gear in the front wheel hub.
This bike was obviously designed with the home mechanic in mind as there is not much that you can't do yourself (except dismantle the bottom end of the engine, which will require special tools or expert knowhow to split the crank half's).
And for such a small bike, they handle very well.
I'm amazed that someone has managed 98 out of this wee bike, I would have thought the engine would have blown up!!!
Hiya.
I have just got a H100 1984 to learn to ride on and the speedo works, but the rpm doesn't. Any ideas how I can sort this problem, or where I can buy a whole new speedo from?
Please reply, many thanks.
Jamie.
If your tachometer (RPM) doesn't work, firstly check the cable as this is often the cause. Do this by unscrewing the knurled retaining nut at either end and pull the cable. If it is broke, it will soon be obvious. If you are able to remove the whole cable, then the fault is elsewhere.
With the cable removed at the rev counter end, start the engine and if the cable rotates, then the fault maybe the tachometer. If the cable remains still, then check the drive gear by removing the clutch cover. Carefully examine all other possible causes before resorting to a new tachometer unit, as this unit may be hard to find second hand and a new replacement is quite expensive, if available.
If you need any parts try Davidsilverspares.co.uk. They are really good and deal specifically with genuine and pattern Honda parts. If you use the web site, the bike you have is the H100S and not the H100A.
Thanks for your help.
I passed my CBT a few days ago, and went for my first ride, and noticed when you reach 20 mph, the speedo pin starts to jump around between 20 - 25 mph, Is this OK because it's a bit worrying when I go through speed cameras; I look at the speedo and see it jumping around and think to myself am I over or under the speed limit? I just tend to cross my fingers and hope I'm under or at the speed limit.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Many thanks.
Jamie.
Hi again.
I've got another question.
Can H100s have a sidestand because I would rather use a sidestand instead of the centre one.
Thanks, Jamie.
It's great to see that there are still a few of these bikes still around. I recently discovered there's a club for H100 owners, it's at www.hondah100aownersclub.co.uk, great little niche site.
Dave.
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