Hodaka Was The Most Outrageous Motorcycle Brand Of All Time

Had a 125 Hodaka back in 1973 at our shop. Super reliable and a great trail bike. Made the mistake of switching to the Honda MT 250 when it came out. Was disappointed for a number of reasons. The biggest was electrical issues and keeping water out of the air box. The Wombat was a reliable bike that handled the hills of the Massachusetts Berkshires well. Bought a Can Am 250 in early 1975 and loved that bike. Following a riding related spinal cord injury in mid 1975 I had to give up off road riding and took up a wheelchair due to paralysis from the waist down. Life actually turned out well despite the SCI but I really miss off road riding. But the one thing I really miss is the work that went into preparation for enduro riding. Loved the routine of riding on the weekend and then the evening work following a day on my job on my bikes as I prepared for the next weekend of riding on Cape Cod., the Berkshires or a number of other NETRA Trails in New England. That and getting to see Jimmy Ellis race at Southwick or Pepperell was my life back then. Hard to believe that was 50+ years ago. Thanks for the memories.

wow - haven't heard the words "Combat Wombat" for over 50 years - a memory I was surprized to still have hidden in the cobwebs of my brain

I’m 80 and sold motorcycles in the’60’s & ‘70’s. I definitely remember the Hodaka’s.

I'll never forget Hodaka, my first was a dirt squirter my last was a super rat that sits proudly in the corner of my shop. It runs once a year and as good as when I got it in the 70s.

It’s a damn shame that PABATCO and Hodaka went away, Hodaka was a great Bike.

My first bike at age 14 was a '78 Road Toad. Loved the huge green tank. $450 out the door with all the street stuff stripped off. I had no idea at the time that Hodaka was in any way cool, or that it was going out of business. Now I feel lucky to have ridden such an iconic bike.

We need another company like this something to change the perspective on the motorcycle industry. To show that motorcycles are a family sport for all walks of life.

I lived in a small town in Western Canada in the 70s. We had a Hodaka dealer there. I bought a new 1975 Hodaka Road Toad 100cc and was on that bike every day it seemed. Good times. Still riding today and on a R1200GS now. Well done Goon. Thanks for the memories.

I'm 66 now, and when I was a teen, in SoCal...Hodakas were everywhere!! Never had one, but rode a few. Great little bikes. I had freinds who had them, and everyone loved them. They even put the Ace 90 and 100 engines in Mini bikes built by Bonanza. They won all of the mini mx races then. Super cool bikes, and great memories.

When I was 15, here in Finland one could already buy the Dirt Bike magazine, and there was an article about a Hodaka bike. I had never heard about the brand, but it looked right, and the motojournalism of then Dirt Bike was funny; something about handicapped flamingo and stuff. The test was enjoyable, and I even copied some of the details of the Hodaka to my moped, a Finnish made Tunturi Sport , a PUCH- engined moped looking a lot like the early Hodakas. A bulletproof machine made for Finnish environment. I miss those days. Motorcycles were simple but reliable, no excess electronics, 2 stroke engines, light and nimble. Later I bought a 100 cc Kawasaki, and the engine was possibly the best engine I have ever tested or ridden. For it's size, it was like a steam engine, and the best all around 2 stroke ever. Now I am old and ready for scrap heap, terminally ill. But I have great memories. Like you 60+ year olds like me.

In January 77 I bought a brand new Hodaka 250ED Thunderdog. I had only been riding a dirtbike for a year and that was an Ossa 250 Stiletto. I bought the Hodaka for trailriding. But when I went out with some co-workers to the desert. Their club was putting on the next race and they needed to check out the course and mark it. So we headed out from camp with my coworker who was senior expert #1 and another senior expert #3. Both were on open class bikes, a Yamaha and a Husky. We rode across the Johnson Valley at race speed and they pulled up at a pass to wait for laggards to catch up. I was about 3 car lengths behind these 2 fast guys getting there long before all of the other experienced riders. In the midst of all the "Where the hell did you come froms?", I didn't tell them there were a number of times I felt I could have passed them both, but I didn't know where they were going and they did. So they and all the others were all over me to start racing. So a couple races later I did. Took a 2nd place. Most of the rest of my races were similar results. 1st, 2nd and 3rd. I rode a SCORE sanctioned offroad race at Saddleback where all of the SCORE classes took part. All the bikes raced together. Open class started 1st. Then 250s moved up and them when ready got the green flag. Then after we were gone, the small bore bikes took off. Statt on a little oval tracl like 1/8 mile. 1/2 way around the 1st turn a hard left into the infield and over a TT jump with a kicker at the top and I was 3rd overall not only ahead of all the other 250s, but all but 2 open class. A few turns later my engine quit and didn't want to start. Got it going and pulled up at the pit for the car racers. The rubber piece that mounted the carb to the intake had split. Bummed some duct tape from some car racers and got it going again, dead last. Bike ran good for a while and I was passing riders left and right. Towards the end of the race it started acting up again and I stopped in the pits for some more tape. Took off again. Wound up 2nd 250 and 3rd overall. At the end of 77, the owner of the shop where I bought my 250 and my buddy bought his new KTM 250 told us he was retiring and wanted to sell the shop. My buddy and I put our heads together to try to buy it. Applied to a local bank branch for funding. A few days later we got the call that we were approved. We went straight to the shop to tell him and he said that someone else had just left having bought the place for the inventory. A few months later we learned that Hodaka had folded. I still have my 250. And have bought parts from StricklyHodaka who provided some of the pictures and video.

Man my first bike was a Hodaka 90 with the changeable sprocket. What a hoot it was. I’m 16 and worked all summer and one of my fellow workers wanted to sell his bike. I had enough saved that I could afford it. I begged my parents and they said yes. What a great introduction to bikes. 😊

Hodaka, Bultaco, and Cooper were the bikes of my youth. Never owned or worked on em, but my sister's BF took me riding all the time. That little Hodaka was fun in the woods. Born A Goon vids are making me realize how lucky I was to be around some of the old bikes

I had a Hodaka Ace 100. Chrome tank, upside down shifting, lots of fun! Ahh...the good old days. Thanks for posting this vid!

I had a 1973 Hodaka 125 Wombat when I was a kid. Had a lot of fun.

Man, that marketing campaign seems awesome. I wish there was a company that gave whimsical names like “Super rat” and “Thunderdog” to their motorcycles. Making those motorcycles super reliable helps too

Loved my 175 Combat Wombat and I put a 10" sprocket on the back wheel, so that thing would climb pine trees. Turned that bike into a trials runner and had great fun for way less than a Honda or Yamaha, etc. I so wanted to be Brad Lackey when I was a teen - he was the man to beat on two wheels. Memories of Saddleback Mountain and the canyons of SoCal. Other m/c names come to mind, like Bull Taco, Husqavarna, Norton, etc, etc. Great times!

I have a pretty interesting Hodaka story. I grew up riding mini bikes in the late 60's and got pretty good on them and started going to the new mini bike races in Brevard county Florida. I was collecting lots of trophies and was one of if not the fastest riders. we all rode typical unsuspended lawn mower engined MB's, with the fastest ones being slightly modified. It was race what you brung with only three classes by age including the open class. Then the honda 50 and 70cc Trails started showing up with transmissions and suspension and bigger/better tires. They were tough to beat. I was a voracious minibike/minicycle magazine reader and showed my Dad (who was an engineer out at Cape Canaveral) an article about the new Bonanza Minibike...it looked close to a traditional mini bike but had full suspension and it had a Hodaka 100cc 5 speed motorcycle engine with an expansion chamber and foam air filter. I never said anything about buying one but next thing I know a big crate shows up and it's the Bonanza. the thing would do 60 MPH and would pull wheelies at that speed too. We show up at the next race with it and I am pulling massive power wheelies thru the pits and several of the fathers went to the organizers and protested. We were informed we wouldn't be able to race. At that my Dad talked to them and pointed out that we had been racing against the honda's for months and they had transmissions and full suspension and that the rules said nothing about engine size. The organizers agreed and I was allowed to race. I literally lapped the field like five or six or seven times. After that they changed the rules that said no 5 speed transmissions and we never raced again until i got a YZ100 and started my motocross career (a guy who was ranked 5th in the state of Florida in AMA 125cc Expert class motocross in '74 and raced in the Daytona 200 in '75 as an 18 year old Sr. in H.S. on a privateer fully sponsored (Island Yamaha, Merritt Island Florida) TZ-350 along with a partial AMA road race season.

I wanted one of those so bad when I was a kid. Couldn't afford it back then. My Grandfather gave me a Rupp minibike for Christmas about the same time these came out. Rode the hell out of that thing. But always wanted a Hodaka.

I'm 61, you given me and delivered perfectly ALL the answers I've wondered about for a lifetime.. This really hit home! Excellent documentary! 🇨🇦 👊