Another incredibly cool Vintage racer, this time a Hodaka Combat Wombat. VintCo helps get you back on track and keep the ride going. Visit us at www.vintco.com/ for your Vintage motorcycle parts. #vmx #hodaka #vintagemotocross
Bought one new and road it in the Sierra's and the Santa Cruz Mtn's. Great bike. Very well balanced and had a natural feel to it. You hardly ever had to fight it to go where you wanted. For the time it was easy to get up on the tank and plant the front. One of my all time favorite bikes. Stolen out of my locked shop. Only motorcycle I have ever had that was stolen. And I've owned north of 40 bikes in my time. Still have a few 😁 I'd put it up in the top 10 of dirt bikes. Not pro-racers, but weekend bikes that got you out and back in one piece. Replaced it with a Hodaka 250 and it was not the same feeling bike at all ... 🙃 Mostly the bikes were designed by Pabatco in Oregon and built in Japan. The workmanship was pretty good. It was American riders who came up with the specs 😊
Used to ride a Honda SL175 back in the early 70’s. 1 guy came up with a brand new Wombat…unloaded it from his pickup truck bed, started it, placed it in 1st gear and started to ride. When he attempted to upshift to 2nd the transmission locked up. No amount of attempts to unlock it were successful. We helped him load it back in his truck and he took it back to the dealer……about a month later he came back, the bike was “fixed” at the dealership supposedly. He unloaded it, started it up placed it 1sr gear and when he went to second it locked up again! He proceeded to pick the bike up and tossed it into the creek we were riding next to. Said anyone who wanted could have it. A couple of us fished it out for him so he he could get it back after his temper cooled down. Nobody bought a bike from that company again…they all switched to Hondas! Cheers
My first bike as well. Bought a Combat Wombat from South Bay Motorcycles in Chula Vista, CA in 1974 when I got to my first duty station in the Navy (NAS Imperial Beach). I drove the hell out of that poor bike between deployments; finally blew it up and gave it to a shipmate.
I was in northern Maine when a Hodaka shed opened just outside of Loring air force base in 1973 or 1974. The wombat was about six hundred dollars, the one with lights. That's the one I wanted, but ended up getting a Suzuki TM-250, AS I was going to race. Sure wish I would have got the hodaka, they are awesome bikes!!
Hodaka’s were like belly buttons back in the late 60’s.- early 70’s , cause everybody had one . Once the Honda Elsinore’s came out it put just about every other manufacturer’s bike on the trailer . Technology back then in Moto-cross bikes was staggering the rest of the 70’s into early 80’s with tons of innovations from those who chose to play in the big leagues. Unfortunately Hodaka just couldn’t seem to be able to catch up & due to money & management issues became extinct. Great little bikes though for many , many years . 😎👍
Raced and rode a 71 Super Rat in 73. My AMA No. was 73. My friend had a first yr Combat. My Super. Rat was faster. Stock accept for a Webco head. Fun bikes and almost indestructible.
I always thought Hodaka was an American 'Oregon' Company?....sheesh....did i ever get that wrong. for......*looks up*......uh.....about 50-something years'. Japanese?.......... What? .......... For Real?
They were designed, and assembled in that little town in Oregon. The engines was made in Japan by Hodaka. Their success was their demise, because once the big names took notice of their market, they couldn't compete with that kind of money.
