Given that I had little money available and was prepared to spend even less. I settled on a 1980 Honda H100A - one of the earliest H100s with no rev counter and a fully enclosed chain costing £260. Other 100cc bikes, including CB100s, seemed to cost more for older and more battered vehicles.
It was purchased from a dealer with a workshop staffed by two semi-literate chimpanzees (they were not even large enough to be called gorillas). However, it still remains the only bike I have purchased so far that was even vaguely legal and safe at the point of sale. This does not say much for my ability to spot wrecks, nor for the honesty of the vendors. The little Honda was duly delivered and then suffered at my hands while I mastered the controls. It only complained by blowing some l bulbs and one fork seal, all replaced by the dealer under warranty. Generally, the bike was in good condition and the engine showed little sign of butchery. It had only one previous owner who managed 14000 miles in five years.
Once used to it, the handling was quite reassuring and I only fell off seriously once - motorcycles seem to be even worse at ice skating than I am. The main limit to progress was the top speed of just over 50mph which did not put too much strain on the brakes (drums all round). These would stop the bike sooner or later, usually later. The rear brake. once correctly adjusted, was effective, but the front brake always remained a bit vague. even when the cable and shoes were finally replaced.
Even allowing for the bike having to carry my 12 stone bulk and loads of junk, I suspect that the low top speed indicated that the engine was worn even at this stage. That the engine rattled rather badly while warming up and would only pull away with the choke out probably confirms this. Worn engine or not, the bike kept chugging away and enabled me to pass both parts of the test.
The Part One instructors also use H100As and reported them well able to stand up to the torture inflicted by learners. It also coped quite well with frequent 70 mile trips to my parents. I used to give the bike a rest half way through, however. These trips were rather tiring on the rider, with wind sometimes blowing the bike over to the other side of the road, and details of every road undulation, pot-hole and manhole cover passing painfully on to the rider thanks to rear shock absorbers that didn't and the front forks which clonked over bumps.
If this wasn't enough to keep the rider awake, if not alert, then the clog dance on the gear lever needed to keep speed above 40mph if there was the slightest gradient or wind was. My usual tactic was to go flat out in third, quickly into fourth and, if the speed rose over 45mph. then into fifth. Speed then usually tailed off, so back into fourth and so on. These journeys, on a variety of roads and lanes, usually took a little over two hours. I have never been able to do this journey in under one and half hours even on much faster bikes - in most places not much time can be gained by having the potential to do twice the speed of the Honda, if the pilot has even half a brain cell and has not been feasting on Dumb Flakes for breakfast, British road conditions usually dictate a moderate top speed and, anyway, grandpa in his brown Allegro with cruise control glued to 40mph waits for everyone.
Maintenance was extremely easy. Poking the spark plug and decoking the exhaust in a futile attempt to extract more power being all that was usually necessary - along with oiling the chain. It is, however, worth regularly changing the gearbox oil and checking the setting on the oil pump. At the same time check the condition and security of the pipes feeding oil to and from the pump. CDI ignition means nothing worthwhile can be gained from checking the ignition timing and there is even a little gauge on the oil tank to indicate when to fill up again.
I have no idea how frugal it was on petrol or oil as it never seemed to use enough to bother worrying about consumption, and the only other money spent was on two Jap Dunlop tyres (something like £17 each), a replacement seat cover and a clutch cable. On the ride home after passing Part Two, a ride if truth be told that was rather exuberant, the bike suffered a partial seizure, a sound akin to the engine working underwater and a sensation like five extra pillions jumping on behind me. The engine restarted after it was left to cool down. and the rest of the journey was completed at a rather more sedate pace.
This upset did not seem to affect performance at all and it was soon relegated to a back up role when I purchased an FT500. If any of you have suffered one of these specimens then you will probably know what happened next - yes, the H100 was put back into service as l attempted to sort out the butchery.
During this time l was engaged in research which entailed collecting large samples of conifer branches from a nearby forest. The little Honda was put into service here, trundling down rutted tracks surfaced with liquid clay during 10 months of the year, with a tottering pile of conifer boughs on the seat and rear carrier. As there was so little power available, setting off with this load was problematic - full power and a madly slipping clutch were necessary.
If during this process the rear wheel was on less than firm ground then the only movement would be sideways as the rear wheel spun out. Once moving, second gear was about all it could take in the forest. I can only recall falling off a couple of times and, perhaps, more surprisingly, never got stopped by the plod for imitating practices more usual in the third world.
When the FT was restored to almost 50% reliability, the H100 was put out to grass. Although it received very little maintenance I was impressed by the way it would always start easily after months of lay-up. Finally I got around to having a look at the engine. This took rather longer than expected as two of the bolts holding the head on refused to move. After rounding the heads of both bolts, l drilled and chiselled off the head of one of the bolts, and the other yielded after I hammered on an obsolete socket to the remains of the head.
After this, the rest was simple. The bore looked in reasonable nick, but the piston showed considerable signs of seizure and general wear (it was notable that with almost 20000 miles the engine did not need much of a decoke). I just replaced the piston, which made some difference to performance and reduced some of the smoking.
After more months of idleness, I sold the bike to my sister, so she could learn on it. She replaced some of the stuff I should have done years ago - brake shoes, chain and sprockets. During this time the bike suffered from the attentions of bike thieves. One joy rider abandoned the bike in a neighbouring town, after cutting the wiring loom and dropping the bike at least once. There was little structural damage and I had plenty of time to think up increasingly subtle forms of revenge as I sat in the mud that passes for a garden, soldering the wiring loom back together during a drizzling November morning.
The second brush, so far, with the morally subnormal, was altogether more bizarre. It, or they, did not steal the bike, only bits of it, including the top fork yoke and assorted nuts and bolts. These took a while to replace. We had the opportunity to replace the fork oil at this stage. The little men at Honda obviously thought they could save a few yen on the production line by omitting any method of draining the forks whilst they were on the bike. Nine year old fork oil bears a striking resemblance to rusty golden syrup, but is less liquid. The new oil made a noticeable difference to the handling.
Power was still lacking, and my sister reported that it was becoming less and less capable of surmounting hills. The bike started to seize regularly and churned out huge quantities of smoke. An exchange top end was fitted for £50 and after running in the bike was transformed. It had ample enough power to wheelie in first and could cope with the 1 in 6 Bath hills.
This H100 has proved to be rather resilient and now runs well, although 10 years old and with a hard past. Consumables hardly wear out, the front tyre lasted 17000 miles, the rear 15000. The chain takes mammoth abuse and the brake shoes do not work well enough to wear out.
The evolution of the H100A into the H100s is not impressive. Gone is the fully enclosed chain guard, the oil tank goes under a side panel, a rev counter is added and the CDI is junked for points ignition. None of this made it go any faster. During '86 a new edition was introduced, the H100s11, reverting to CDI ignition but with the biggest joke of all, bolt on down tubes to disguise the spine frame and, I suppose, to make it look like a proper bike; suggestions for further ways to spoil this bike will doubtless be gratefully received by Honda Inc.
Paul E Hatcher