Laying the top down mechanically provides a rising rate for the springs as the shocks compress due to the decreased mechanical advantage applied by the swing arm. This is caused by the shocks becoming more perpendicular to the swing arm as they compress due to the geometry of the configuration. This...

I vaguely remember reading (probably 50 years ago) that the airbox should have enough clearance and volume so as to allow unrestricted laminar flow to the whole filter at full throttle, as if there was no airbox.

Judging by the pictures, that appears to be the spark plug wire coming out of the cases behind the flywheel, across the back of the engine between the cylinder and head, and laying on top of the exhaust pipe. Looks like the coil is behind the flywheel.

Excellent story Bob, and love the snow on the bikes Ed. It must have been deep! Thanks for sharing and Happy Thanksgiving.

Wow what a mess Clarence!

Hahaha Matt, I hope it wasn't my handiwork! Sounds like something I might do. LOL

As a general rule on clutches you need to have at least one steel plate between every fiber plate in order to take advantage of the friction between the plates, but you can double up on steel plates anywhere in the stack to achieve the desired overall thickness without adversely affecting clutch ope...

The schematic for the 03 shows 5 steel and 4 fiber. That's probably why the rebuild kit had that configuration. I'm just trying to make sure to keep everyone confused.

Thank you all for the laughs. Makotosun I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. Yours hit just a little too close to home!

I think having it all lumped into one basket is consistent with Hodaka's approach... keeping it simple and using basically the same bike for every different use. I kind of like it the way it is but would continue to be entertained by the forum regardless of the organizational aspect. Probably would ...

Hahaha, excellent!! That one will be hard to top Victor!

Paul I feel like we should set aside a whole evening for discussion of the Coriolis Effect on moving objects relative to the surface of the Earth, such as hurricane systems and toilet drains. I wish we didn't live so far away from each other.

I have C755 4.10-18 Cheng Shins on both of my race bikes. Very light and fit and wear well. Duro also makes a 4.10 that is comparable and Dunlop has a vintage small knobby set that looks even better but I haven't tried them yet. I have all three options here in stock at my shop and they should be av...

And yes before someone jumps all over me I know that water drains clockwise in the northern hemisphere. It was a joke

Matt could it be that like a toilet bowl draining... in the northern hemisphere we naturally circle to the left and in the southern hemisphere we would turn to the right? :roll: I once had an old-timer tell me that the Indians turned more naturally to the right because the throttle was on the left s...

Vic, with regard to draining and filling the gear oil over and over, if you lay the bike on it's left side you can remove the clutch cover and clutch without draining the oil. Just trying to streamline your process a little.

I'm with Brian that the piston will expand at a greater rate than the pin when they heat up thereby relieving the tight fit. However given the experience that Ed recites often about seizures due to the tight fit, I suspect that the problem isn't when the engine heats up for the first time, but when ...

Vic, your photo appears correct on my PC and Bill's has him on his ear. Vic did you find any ball bearings while your head was turned?

I think this is what Dal is talking about, from https://ironandair.com/blogs/news/hodaka "For 25 cents, readers could order a pamphlet — The Hodaka Story — that explained the company’s philosophy, preached about how riding should be fun and affordable and claimed that because the backcountry fo...

Thanks guys! I have to tell you that I am so proud of Chase. He's a good kid and he would have fit right in with us 50 or 60 years ago when we were getting started with dirt bikes. He helps me on the farm too! Sarah Lane was trackside at Unadilla taking pictures and she always gets really great shot...

I have ridden the National track at Unadilla many times and it's always a special experience, but this time I got to do it with my 13 year old grandson Chase! Many years ago as a very small child he helped me build my Super Toad. It was only fitting when they announced that there would be a Junior c...

Vic if I'm understanding you correctly I think you are saying that with the bike in neutral and idling when you pull in the clutch lever the bike stalls, still in neutral. This would be something more than dragging plates. Something is wrong with the clutch outside of the actual plate stack. I will ...

The early 80's YZ's and IT's had double leading shoe front brakes like that, but they had leading axle forks with much more travel than the forks in the picture would provide. The picture might be a Yamaha wheel married to 34mm Hodaka forks (which were the same forks Yamaha used in the early 70's.)

The early Ace 90s had that swing arm. I believe it changed around 1966.

Re-reading your post it appears the spacer may be 3mm longer than the inside shoulder measurement. I feel that might be excessive if the inner and outer races of the bearing are flush with each other.