Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125693
r the extra trouble, as the engine has plenty of power to be competitive in the 100cl: class. The crankcase will not accept the rapido cylinder. Harley doesn't advertise the horsepower publicly, but one of the men at the factory that should know, tells me it pumps out around 16 honest horses. In view of the top speed and the acceleration, I would think that this is pretty accurate. The Baja will stay with much larger bikes coming out of the corners. The front fender is very close to the tire and if you think it might give problems you can raise it by merely slipping it out of ,its mount and just using the top set of mounting holes. The gas tank holds two and one-half gallons which is more than enough for anything but the longest enduro. By the way, the paint job is super. The bike is finished in black with silver fenders. The tank has a strip of crackle black down the center that serves no purpose, but it sure looks nice. Everything on the engine is designed for easy accessibility. You can chang~ a countershaft sprocket or set the timing about as fast as you can change a plug on some machines. The chain can be adjusted in a matter of seconds. The rear axle is set up with adjusting cams and all you have to do is loosen the axle and tum the cams. Some of the English and Japanese manufacturers should take note. The Baja is very comfortable. The handlebars are just right for motocross and the only people who might change them are some of the enduro riders that At fifty miles an hour you still have enough power for full control. Very unusual for a lOOcc bike. Competition Test _ Harley's little Monster By Don Woods Have you seen one of the great European dders get around a motocross course? Well if you have, you can understand how I got the bug to go motocross racing. After getting a bike to ride, I found out that punching a typewriter is not the best way to get in shape for three heats of motocross in the middle of summer. Powell Hassell of Atlanta' Harley-Davidson furnished a new I DOcc Harley-Davidson Baja and the rest was up to me. The Baja feels rather strange when you first sit on it. It is all you can do to get your feet on the ground. The bike has a 21 inch front wheel and an 18 inch rear wheel. It has II and 3/4 inches of ground clearance enough to get over Stone Mountain without rubbing the bottom of the crankcase. Once you crank the little monster and start riding it you forget how far down to the ground it is. When you go through a turn you just lay it down on its side and dial the throttle. If it starts sliding, you just throw in a little reverse lock and it'll hang right in there. The only change I made before trying to race it was switching the standard Metzler universal rear tire for a knobby. The universal will probably work for hard surfaces, but I wouldn't trust it if the going gets rough. I had read that Harley recommends changing the standard oil that comes in the Ceriani front forks for 4~ ounces of automatic transmission fluid. Well, you can try it if you want to, but if you travel speeds in excess of thirty miles an hour you're going to bottom the forks. Harley recommended the change to make the bike ride better after receiving some complaints about the front forks being a little stiff. They really aren't, you just can't have both a boulevard ride and good high speed dirt suspension on a bike this small. After practicing with a bike, I entered it in its first motocross race. It starts easily and doesn't give' any problem with spark plugs. The 24mm Del Orto carburetor has a nice little The little black rod coming off the foot peg will give you problems if you fall and bend the peg. The rod is the upper stop for the brake lever and once bent, the brake lever gets on top and you have no brake. feature. If the bike is loaded up when you crank it, you can open the throttle 1/8 of a turn and the carb will automatically clear itself. A couple of times, I got to going slower than the bike wanted to go and it tried to load up a little. All you have to do is lean it to the right for a second and it will clear right up. The course we were running on is fairly tight and so I left the stock 12 tooth countershaft sprocket and the 72 tooth rear sprocket that comes on the machine as is. The Baja also comes with a full set of countershaft sprockets as standard equipment and you have a choice of gearing from the stump puller range up to, "Daytona here I come." With the standard gearing, you have a top speed in fifth gear of about 60 miles an hour, so you have a wide range with the stock gearing. Boy, I really got turned on out there on that course! After about two laps my body decided it didn't want to race anymore and so I just held on to finish the first heat. I noticed something while I was going around holding on. If you're not in real good shape to ride motocross, don't try to go flat out early in the race. If you can hang in there, most of the riders that were really blasting around the first couple of laps will get tired and start crashing and having problems. You can generally pick up about 5 or 6 positions just by staying with it. The Baja never gets you in trouble. You can ride way over your head into corners and it will somehow pull you through. It has about the widest powerband I've ever seen on a small bike and would be suitable for enduros as well as motocross. It's possible to make a 125 out of the engine, but you couldn't convert it back and 'forth to compete in two classes. The cylinder walls a re heavy enough to take the 6mm overbore necessary to make the engine a 125 . You also will ha ve to bore the wrist pin hole in the rod out to take the larger wristpin. Unless you wanted to run the 125 class it wouldn't be worth < .. don't want to hang them on trees in tight woods. The only time I found the bike uncomfortable was the time when we were lying on the ground together and a 125 Yamaha ran over me, but you really can't blame that on the Baja. Motocross riders aren't supposed to sit on the seat very often. So how the machine feels while riding on the pegs is a very important consideration. The Baja has a good feel, but someone at the factory forgot to put a hinge on the footpegs. They are a long ways off the ground and you don't drag them in the corners, but the first time you fall you'll bend them back like a pop-top tab. So you might as well change them for bolding units before you try any serious riding. Maybe the factory will get the message. The Baja will get high in the air with you, but does not have a tendency to loop out on hils. It is very controlable. "' g "- .... Q '" M t; o ~ w Z w --' U ~ U