Hodaka
Hodaka is a US-Japanese company that manufactured motorcycles in the 1960s and 1970s.
Beginnings
Messrs. Pabatco ( Pa cific Ba sin T rade Co mpany) was founded in 1961 in Athena, Oregon as a branch operation of the Farm Chemicals of Oregon founded and acted primarily with fertilizers and grain. In order to circumvent currency restrictions on the export of American wheat to Japan, attempts were made to import Japanese Yamaguchi motorcycles. That was a great success. By 1963, more than 5000 machines had been sold to over 480 dealers. In April 1963, Yamaguchi suddenly went bankrupt, leaving Pabatco with a functioning dealer network with no goods. The Hodaka Engineering Co. in Nagoya, Japan, which manufactured the engines for Yamaguchi , had similar problems . At Pabatco, they knew what American customers wanted and suggested that Hodaka design, build and market complete motorcycles. Hodaka did not have any great alternatives, as there were still around 300 engines on the shelves.
Motorcycle development
Henry "Hank" Koepke was the head of the motorcycle department at Pabatco. In order to stand out from the numerous competitors, he wanted to offer a model that was simple, robust, reliable, with good performance values, and also cheap to use and inexpensive. Development and testing took place in Athena and production in Japan. The first Hodaka motorcycle, the Ace 90 , was introduced in 1964. Shell acquired Farm Chemicals of Oregon in 1965 and was amazed that it now owned a motorcycle factory. Ed Miley , one of the three main shareholders, took care of Hodaka from now on. In June 1966 the 10,000 left. Ace 90 the factory in Nagoya, amazing for a company that three years earlier was on the verge of extinction.
Models
Ace 90
When developing the Ace 90, the Pabatco team tried to combine the best features of the leading competitor models in their model. The double-loop tubular frame, something that other trial machines didn't have, was copied from the British Cotton . For an economical storage of spare parts and for a higher resale value by avoiding annual model changes, it was decided, like Henry Ford long before, to manufacture all vehicles in just one color, namely red. The model had a 90 cc single-cylinder two-stroke engine with an output of 6 kW (8.25 hp) at 7500 rpm. To prove the reliability, Frank Wheeler drove 3800 miles through Baja California without a technical defect. The Ace 90 has been used in many competitions in motocross, trial and even road racing.
Ace 100
Due to the competitive success and at the request of customers, the decision was made in 1968 to increase the displacement from 90 to 100 cm³ and to equip the transmission with five instead of four gears. Since the company only wanted to offer a single model, the Ace 100 replaced the Ace 90. In 1968 Harry Taylor won the Daytona Roadrace in the 100 cc class and broke all records in this class. With a top speed of over 160 km / h, he even left the two-cylinder Yamaha behind.
Ace 100 MX (Super Advice)
In 1969 the motocross machine Ace 100 MX was created. A further developed engine and improved spring elements were installed in the known chassis. The Super Rat was successful in competitions and also achieved great sales success.
125 wombat
With a further increase in performance, the Wombat with a 125 cm³ engine was created in 1972. The competitive version of the wombat was called the Combat Wombat . The official US team was reported on Hodaka for the international six-day trip that took place in the USA in 1973. That same year, Frank Wheeler drove 10,000 miles around Australia in 21 days. As a result, sales increased again and more models were brought onto the market.
Dirt Squirt
a Moto Cross version with a 100 cm³ engine.
Road Toad
with 100 cm³ engine for off-road use.
Super combat
with 125 cm³ engine as a motocross machine.
ED 250
The ED 250 was a new development for off-road use and appeared in 1975 with electronic ignition and alloy wheels
250 SL
The SL was a road legal ED 250.
Hodaka 250
A motocross machine with a displacement of 246 cc and a 36 mm Mikuni carburetor
The end
While it is debatable whether Hodaka sparked the trials motorcycle boom, it is clear that it brought a lot of people to motorsport through an affordable competitive vehicle. There were several reasons for the company's demise in 1979. On the one hand, they had failed to use new technologies in order to be able to hold their own against much larger competitors. On the other hand, the competitors were able to subsidize their off-road machines through their profits from the sale of street motorcycles and thus flood the market. Due to the recession of the late 1970s and an unfavorable exchange rate, Shell decided to terminate the contract with Hodaka in Japan. The Hodaka manufacturing plants were sold to the Daelim company in Korea .
