Hodaka final Demise explained

pomfish

pomfish

Well-Known Member
#1
#1
Listing this in Off Topic since it concerns Motorcycles even though we all know Hodaka engines were used on Bonanza's and others.
As a side note, I grew up in South Williamsport (Home of Little League World Series) and the Wheels of Time shop was up Rt220 just outside of Williamsport city limits.
Bought many a part there, they were nice people. Always wondered why we had so many Hodaka's in the area growing up.
Bought a really nice Ace 90 from a guy who lived right down the road from Wheels and he still asks me if I know where that bike ended up after I sold it and just do not know.
He said he had an entire pickup truck bed filled with Hodaka parts and no one wanted them, sold them all for like $75. Ahhhhh, that hurts.
Anyway this article is very good info, some I knew well others I did not.
May have to get the book.
Anyone else out there have find memories of Hodaka?

https://octanepress.com/content/hodaka-final-years
 
sparkwizard

sparkwizard

#3
#3
The best ride I ever had, and the top ten rides were all on a Super Rat.
I've had a bunch of dirt bikes, hot rod cars, Chevy powered Jeeps, but that Hodaka was and still is the one I wish I still had.
Ebay has some Hodaka bikes occasionally. Mostly the 175cc Road Toad.
I'd take a Dirt Squirt or a Super Rat any day.
 
sparkwizard

sparkwizard

#4
#4
We had a 15 acre gravel pit a couple of miles down the train tracks. I had a Rupp and two of my buddies (twins) had a CT70. We had fun exploring that gravel mine until some college guy showed up with a loud ass little Hodaka powered Bonanza. He could ALMOST make it up the side of the mine with a good long run. That bike was fast and loud, handled pretty good in the loose gravel, but didn't quite make it to the top of the hill.
We had a speed shop/head shop (you remember them, right) down town. I rode my Rupp down there and sold it to some hippy in there smoking early seventies hashish. I walked down the block to a hardware store that had a used Super Rat on the sidewalk. I paid him $300 cash and rode it home. It would climb the hill in the mine, flying several feet over the top and always landed right side up. I loved that little bike. I don't know of any other bike that crested that cliff until the Honda Elsinore bikes were affordable enough for young folks to afford. We had a big long "MX track in that gravel pit that we all knew where the best line was and we spent hours every week pretending to race around, trying to get up on the tank to keep the front wheel digging. That little Hodaka didn't need any of that body movement. It just went where it was pointed. Best little dirt bike I have ever had the chance to ride. I think my brother or my parents sold it when I went to boot camp in '77.
 
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