The Honda H100, owned and raced by Michael Combley now resides at the Motor National Motor Racing Museum, Mount Panorama, Bathurst, NSW

Following the images is documentation submitted to the museum, which includes further technical specifications, storage and running instructions

July 2006

The 1984 Honda H100 Bucket Racer

In around 1988 a group of Australian racing enthusiasts conceived a code of road racing that they jokingly named Bucket Racing. The name itself was derived from the descriptions of the race bikes themselves, buckets of rubbish.

The original idea was to take a low powered commuter motorcycle with a maximum capacity of 150cc and remove all of the road going gear, thus creating absolutely the cheapest form of motorcycle racing in the country

And so began one of the most enduring forms of motorcycle racing that NSW and Australia has seen in the post war period. At it’s height in the mid 90’s NSW race meetings enjoyed up to 60 competitors at every meeting, divided into Amateur and Pro classes – essentially, junior and senior riders based on experience and ability.

But bucket racing evolved very quickly into an accessible form of budget motorcycle racing for the everyman.

This form of racing has spread to Victoria, Western Australia, Queensland, The Northern Territory, Tasmania and New Zealand and continues to the present day

As a form of inexpensive racing the class has seen participation from teenagers to retirees, attracted to the sport by it’s low cost and accessibility. Bikes prepared for bucket racing still sell for as little as $500 still making it the cheapest form of amateur racing available to anyone who can ride a bike

Bucket Racing Develops

Interestingly, as bucket racing matured it bred a group of ‘Garagists’, ethusiasts who developed their racing bikes into highly crafted and very speedy racing machines.

The addition of racing seats, fibreglass fairings, rear set footrests & gear changes and racing handlebars made some these machines replicas of more modern production racing machines

In addition, home developers engineered the motors of these machines and dramatically increased power outputs from the normal road going power of around 8 – 12 hp to outputs often in excess of 20 hp. It is a tribute to home developers that they were able to create motors that produced power outputs that are directly proportional to factory made GP production race machines

 About This Bucket Racer

This Honda H100 is a 1984 model that was bought on from Daniel Bretag in 2001 for $600 in the configuration of the first picture in these notes. It was then extensively developed by Michael Combley in close association with specialist two-stroke tuner Christopher Sculley.

The machine had already been modified to accept a 32mm Mikuni carburettor and a CR125 reed block fitted with Boysen reeds. The cylinder has been ported to improve gas flow and the cylinder head machined to improve the compression ratio

The bike had also been fitted with a YZ80 ignition system to improve the ignition timing and spark output

The engine was further tuned by adding a hand made expansion chamber,

The standard original narrow 18” wheels were respoked to accommodate a 17” rims and wider sectioned Dunlop TT900 tyres.

 The stock rear swing arm was also replaced with an alloy box section unit for increased rigidity and stability with improved rear shock absorbers from a Honda CB125.

The final power output of this machine was measured at approximately 19.6hp

The Bike’s Racing History

The bike was raced by Team Mad Dog rider, Michael Combley at Wakefield Park, Eastern Creek, the Oran Park GP, South and Figure of 8 Circuits over 3 seasons

It finished 2^nd in the Bucket Race Association NSW AM 2 stroke championship in 2002.

The bike was last raced at Oran Park South Circuit with a fastest lap of 57 seconds at an average speed in excess of 100 kph. This machine also produced enough power to reach speeds approaching 160 kph at Eastern Creek

The Bucket Racing Association Today

The BRA continues racing today at local road race circuits in NSW in conjunction with the Post Classic Racing Association of NSW.

The BRA now runs two classes of racers, Motolite class for more modern developed machinery and the Superlite class for more traditional bucket racers

Racing in these classes is inexpensive and very accessible for beginners of any age.

Machines can be purchased in race ready condition for less than the price of a good set of golf clubs or a new mid range mountain bike!

Further information is available at:

www.teammaddogracing.com

www.ozbucketracing.com

www.postclassicracing.com.au

or Michael Combley on 0404 065 715

1984 Honda H100 Bucket Racer 

 Storing the machine

·      Drain all gearbox oil out of the machine by removing the sump plug

·      Drain all petrol out of the tank

·      Remove the spark plug and put about 1 desert spoon of two-stroke oil into the cylinder

·      Turn the motor over to distribute oil over cylinder

 Preparing the machine

·      Put 500ml of VTR transmission oil into the gearbox (from K Mart)

·      Over long periods of storage the clutch plates sometimes stick together. To free the clutch plates remove the clutch cover and springs. Remove the clutch plates, springs and cover and refill with gearbox oil

·      Mix leaded fuel and a good quality synthetic two stroke oil at a ration of 15 – 1 per litre of fuel (approx 65 ml per litre) in a can

·      Pour into tank

·      1 litre of fuel gives about 10 minutes of running

·      Turn on fuel

·      Pull out choke

·      Put bike into second gear

·      Get on the bike – paddle forward – release clutch

·      Bike starts

·      Push off choke

·      Bike will restart from cold once started without choke

·      Tyre pressures should be 18 psi front and 20 psi rear

Running The Machine

·      These machines are prone to overheating and holing pistons

·      Do not hold at full throttle for more than 20 seconds

·      Ride with a finger on the clutch in the event of engine seizure

Further technical information is available from: