enough ground clearance be-
low 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 rid
-
ers look into adding protection of
some sort.
More frame funkiness. The
Harley had no front frame
downtube, which was not un-
common 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 knob
-
bies, 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 stan
-
dard 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 Su
-
zuki's CCI or Yamaha's Autolube.
Riding the Baja meant measuring
and mixing pre-mix.
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 sur
-
prise 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
VOLUME ISSUE OCTOBER , P141
Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives
(Left) The H-D Baja 100 passed our rigorous water test.
(Below) The little 98cc two-stroke single engine was, as you
can imagine, a bit underpowered for Baja and our test rider.
