| October 6, 2024
Cycle News Archives
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A Bike We Hated to Love
By Kent Taylor
Nearly every motorcycle manufacturer has, at one time or another, drifted out of their lanes and explored new worlds of two-wheeled fun. The now-defunct Bultaco company made motocross and enduro bikes, but also briefly carried a line of fine street machines. In the 1970s, each of the Japanese companies tried their hand at trials, offering up models that tried (and failed) to loosen the grip that the European companies held on that particular discipline. In more modern times, both Triumph and Ducati are setting foot on the terra firma of motocross, taking one small step for man, one giant leap for companies that have no street cred in the dirt.
The Baja 100 was an extreme departure from Harley-Davidson motorcycles of the past. It wasn’t a great off-road bike, but it was very cute.
In the 1970s, Harley-Davidson tried its luck in the burgeoning market for small two-stroke motorcycles. This was an era when motorcycling was all about fun times, on and off-road, with bikes like Suzuki Savages and Kawasaki Bighorns. H-D, with the help of its Italian-based Aermacchi factory, launched its own cadre of two-strokes, with its smallest offering being the Baja 100 model, which was tested in the May 20, 1973 issue of Cycle News.
A two-stroke Harley-Davidson? Ninety-eight cc’s? To say that the Cycle News test crew was preparing to be underwhelmed would be an understatement. In fact, the staff seemed to be searching for a way to avoid even riding the little Harley, with test editor Art Friedman parking it in the back of his garage in an attempt to “forget” about the bike. Friedman had his own history with an H-D Baja, and it wasn’t good.
“I started my motocross career on one of those turkeys,” he wrote. “It didn’t have any power before it broke its rings, and they broke in the second moto.”
After a couple of weeks, Friedman finally accepted his assignment, and the Harley test began. There was nothing in the Baja’s stat sheet that should’ve been off-putting to the writers. A 21-inch tire up front and an 18-inch in the back are standard fare today for dirt bikes, but such was not the case in 1973, thus putting H-D somewhat on the cutting edge in its day. Its 98cc engine was a bit peaky, “somewhere between trail bike and racer in state of tune.”
Small two-strokes require a busy shifter foot, so a peaky powerband likely meant that the Baja had something extra for its competition of the day. Putzing vs. peaky? Most riders would opt for the latter.
The little 98cc two-stroke single engine was, as you can imagine, a bit underpowered for Baja and our test rider.
First impressions are tough to release, and the Harley Baja presented an unusual image to riders. It sat tall in the saddle, 34 inches to be precise. And take a look underneath! There is enough ground clearance below the engine case to clear an Electra Glide. Eleven inches of air between Aermacchi’s engine case and God’s green earth. Still, a rider best not find an 11.1-inch rock, because there is no skid plate or even frame tube to shield the crankcase. The CN test crew recommended that off-road riders look into adding protection of some sort.
More frame funkiness. The Harley had no front frame downtube, which was not uncommon for smaller machines of that time. But with no cradle underneath, the engineering staff felt that some gusseting was needed, so the Baja sports an extra support bracket, steering head to cylinder head; the engine essentially “hangs from the top of the frame.”
Despite the head and taillights, the Harley was not street legal, at least not in California in 1973, due to its lack of a horn. The bike was also fitted with Pirelli knobbies, which would’ve made road work a bumpy proposition. But unlike serious off-road machines, it featured metal fenders. Most Japanese motorcycles, like the Suzuki TS line-up, were now standard with plastic mudguards.
It seems as if the test crew didn’t want to like the bike for all the aforementioned reasons and a few more. The rear brake was operated by a cable, not a rod, and it felt mushy. There was also no oil injection system, like Suzuki’s CCI or Yamaha’s Autolube. Riding the Baja meant measuring and mixing pre-mix.
The H-D Baja 100 passed our rigorous water test.
There are things in this world that shouldn’t work but do, like chocolate/peanut butter, flying bumblebees and Keanu Reeves. At the end of the day, something just clicked, and the writers changed their minds about the Baja 100. “The gripes are minor,” wrote the test crew. “The surprise is a big one. The Baja is a good little playbike…no way is this a lug-around-the-woods trail bike. It likes to go fast.” The staff developed such an affinity for it that they even gave the Baja its own precious nickname. “Piglet,” they wrote. “You know…like a baby hawg.”
However, it was a love affair that was not meant to be, as the piglet and its Italian sisters weren’t long for this world. Harley-Davidson would play with the Aermacchi line for a few more years before deciding to shift their focus back to the world of road-going V-twins and their smokey two-strokes went gentle into that good night, ring a dinging into the history books. It was the end of the line for a neat little bike that Cycle News hated to love. CN
