The Beginnings of a Super Rat
Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 6:36 pm
At Hodaka Days 2017, I took 2 bikes along, and came home with 5. Long story, but one was a fairly complete, though a bit long-in-the-tooth '72 Super Rat. The Carb was off, the pipe was badly modified, the tank rusty and the seat just a pair of mounts. Other than that, not a bad deal, and it came with a clean Idaho Title (now a Washington Title) and a box of parts.
The story is the fellow my friend got the bike from had it as a kid in about 1975. He and his brother rode the smack out of it, and at some point it needed repair and either they couldn't afford it or couldn't figure out how, but it was parked (ran when parked) in his garage/shop since 1975 in the state you see it.
My son also came home with a Combat Wombat project, which we tackled first, but I will detail later, but it relates to this build as well. The Combat needed a pipe, and they tend to be a bit rare. My son located a fellow in Tacoma with a "lot" or a bunch of Hodaka parts including a bunch of tanks, pipes and three rollers. A trip to Tacoma, a lowball offer accepted, and now I am starting to resemble Bruce at Hodaka Parts in Idaho! The key items we needed (seat and pipe) were in the mix. and the price for the lot was about what I was looking to pay for just those two parts!
Included in the new lot was a set of late model Super Rat wheels in nice shape (18"/21") and a variety of tanks in various states of disrepair. 5 bins of frame and motor parts, so we should be able to build most of this bike out of inventory! It is not going to be a restore at this point, more of a custom rider for the Bad Rock and maybe some vintage racing.
Well - as luck would have it, my son was a bit bored, so he plowed around and cleaned the carb and installed it, and added a nasty chamber from something that sorta fit. Slide on a good tank from one of our other bikes and we have a rat to test and see if the motor can be made to fire.
A bunch of kicking, starting fluid and oil in the cylinder to see if we can get anything out of the old girl. Discovered it needs the kick start retainer replaced. (add to the list)
Long story short, we got it to light off, and actually, it sounds pretty good. At least we know it has no odd noises and the tranny seems OK. An order to Paul for the upgraded shifter tonight and we are about to go spelunking into the case!
My son also came home with a Combat Wombat project, which we tackled first, but I will detail later, but it relates to this build as well. The Combat needed a pipe, and they tend to be a bit rare. My son located a fellow in Tacoma with a "lot" or a bunch of Hodaka parts including a bunch of tanks, pipes and three rollers. A trip to Tacoma, a lowball offer accepted, and now I am starting to resemble Bruce at Hodaka Parts in Idaho! The key items we needed (seat and pipe) were in the mix. and the price for the lot was about what I was looking to pay for just those two parts!
Included in the new lot was a set of late model Super Rat wheels in nice shape (18"/21") and a variety of tanks in various states of disrepair. 5 bins of frame and motor parts, so we should be able to build most of this bike out of inventory! It is not going to be a restore at this point, more of a custom rider for the Bad Rock and maybe some vintage racing.
Well - as luck would have it, my son was a bit bored, so he plowed around and cleaned the carb and installed it, and added a nasty chamber from something that sorta fit. Slide on a good tank from one of our other bikes and we have a rat to test and see if the motor can be made to fire.
Long story short, we got it to light off, and actually, it sounds pretty good. At least we know it has no odd noises and the tranny seems OK. An order to Paul for the upgraded shifter tonight and we are about to go spelunking into the case!