Hodakability

The dirt riding boom across the U. S. was just getting wound up to launch when Yamaguchi went up in two-stroke smoke in 1963. Although I had been personally clued in to the joys of off-road riding practically from the time of my first ride on any motorcycle in 1960, the earliest Japanese imports of the day were not yet on that wavelength. The Yamaha Omaha Trail of 1962, followed by the ubiquitous Honda Trail opened up the pathway for a cyclist to get dirty in a manner that did not involve bugs in the teeth or leaky British machinery. Pacific Basin Trading Company (PABATCO) was a small firm operating out of a small town in the hills of Oregon that happened to be the U. S. importer of Yamaguchis. When the Japanese company gave up on motorcycle production, the enterprising folks at PABATCO decided to design their own small, dual-purpose chassis and power it with the Japanese company's engine.

The first Hodaka was the 1964 Ace 90 you see pictured here. Like the original Model T, it came in only one color, and like the Volkswagen Beetle, it was designed from the ground up to be a single, long-running model with constant engineering tweaks and updates. Even the Hodaka ads were similar to those memorable ones made in the '60's for the Beetle. Hodakability is probably the brand's most famous ad concept. The Hodaka brand began with the Ace 90, progressed to the Ace 100, and then the 100-B. The B model I rode once was absolutely the most comfortable off-road machine I have ever ridden. Just as a comparison to my '71 Yamaha AT-1CMX, the sloped seat on my bike makes me slide a little too close to the tank, and the seat is not particularly soft. The one on the Hodaka shared the perfection of its riding position, and the Hodaka was one of the first Japanese off-road machines to have wonderfully squishy, long-travel suspension. Why, then, don't I have an Ace 100? Comfort isn't everything.

Hodaka expanded their line a bit as the years passed, but the later iterations were somewhat rare then, as well as now. First there was the 100cc Super Rat motocrosser, then the Wombat 125cc, the Combat Wombat 125cc motocrosser, and finally, the 250cc Thunderdog. The company gets an obvious A in cute names for cute motorcycles. In my estimation, there were probably less built of each of these succeeding models. There are still a number of Hodaka enthusiasts around. Click the links below to visit some of them.

Hodaka Heaven
Hodaka World
1973 Combat Wombat