CB100 running without a battery?

[Gage Werke Composites]

Anyone heard of this? I tried getting rid of my battery by throwing a capacitor on it from Oregon motorcycle parts. I thought that the capacitor was bad when I was getting some crazy voltage readings. I tried three different capacitors and still got the same results. When I tried the last one with the bike running it fell off and disconnected. Crazy thing is the bike stayed running. I tried starting it again without the capacitor attached and it fires first kick every time. What the hell!

 

[AlphaDogChoppers]

OK, I don't have specific knowledge of the electrical system on this bike, but I'll make a few guesses.

Small displacement bikes, especially older bikes, often had a magneto coil that powered the ignition, and a separate charging coil to power the lights and keep the battery charged. This made the ignition totally independent of the rest of the electrical system. I suspect your CB100 works that way.

Now, as to "crazy voltages," a lot of these older bikes had no voltage regulator. The battery basically just had to "suck it up" and tolerate overcharging when the engine was running at high RPM. A conventional flooded cell battery can tolerate that reasonably well so long as you keep the electrolyte level up. AGM batteries will die in short order from overcharging because it dries them out and you can't add water back.

So, I suspect that your system relies on the battery to absorb overvoltage. With a battery eliminator, you might find you get terrible bulb life.

 

[Kanticoy]

Do yourself a favor and upgrade the charging system. Send me a pm and ill mail you a cb350 stator. Bolts right in, I am building a cb100 as well so been there!!! Then get yourself a reg/rec unit. Anything will work really, but the Oregon part is fantastic. This will allow you to run a regulated 12v current and the capacitor will work just fine. That's what I did and it runs great.

 

[Gage Werke Composites]

Thanks guys. All good advice. I think I'll take you up on that Kanticoy. PM sent.