Another 250SL back from oblivion

[Darrell]

I wonder if this worked. Can you see pictures? If you can't then I screwed this up.

If you can, then here's another Hodaka 250SL back to life. It was given up for dead in 1977 (cause: terminal kickstart failure) and rolled in to the back bushes to rot with only 830 miles. Nothing, except the front wheel and steering head, moved or turned when I got it.

[Thunderdogdownunder]

Great job Darrell and what a great story I always love seeing these bike brought back to life rather than
being sent the scrap yard you have saved another one. Any idea how many of the white and blue were made .

[admin]

Darrell you have done a fantastic job with this bike. Especially knowing what you started with. Your smile tells it all!
How many were made?? That's easy Ken will tell everyone when the Hodaka book comes out next June
Thanks
Paul

[Darrell]

Darrell you have done a fantastic job with this bike. Especially knowing what you started with. Your smile tells it all!
How many were made?? That's easy Ken will tell everyone when the Hodaka book comes out next June
Thanks
Paul

Thanks Paul, it sure took a lot of patience and high hopes to get it all apart - at least the same way the factory put it together .

How many were made? I dunno...and I wouldn't want to spoil the ending. I also wonder how many are still around? The overall healthy population of all species of Hodaka must be on the increase as I'm sure that in recent times more Hodakas are leaving the junkpiles than are entering them.

I know that mine is #383 and had the blue stripe up the middle of the tank on the tank.

Darrell
on Vancouver Island

[admin]

I look forward to seeing it up close next June in Athena for our 50th anniversary.
I have a good friend who might describe next years Hodaka Days event as "epic"
See you there.
Sincerely
Paul

[rtboone]

Darrell
Great restoration!
I like how you attached the heat shield.I restored one of these last fall and it's shield had three broken and cracked mounting welds. I wish I had thought of doing it that way before I spent way too much time trying to re-weld through the holes in the shield.

You might want to check on the front brake cable routing. The manual suggests that you route the cable through the speedometer mounting plate behind the speedometer to keep the cable from possibly snagging on the speedo when the forks are compressed and locking the front brake.

Have fun & ride safely

Tom

[admin]

Darrell the shocks are on the way to me right now. They will be here next week.
Thanks
Paul

[Darrell]

Darrell
Great restoration!
I like how you attached the heat shield.I restored one of these last fall and it's shield had three broken and cracked mounting welds. I wish I had thought of doing it that way before I spent way too much time trying to re-weld through the holes in the shield.

You might want to check on the front brake cable routing. The manual suggests that you route the cable through the speedometer mounting plate behind the speedometer to keep the cable from possibly snagging on the speedo when the forks are compressed and locking the front brake.

Have fun & ride safely

Tom

Thanks Tom, the cable didn't look quite right to me so I rerouted it through the speedo bracket. But the cable seemed a bit short for that so now I have it in front of the speed and inside the headlight ears, and that seems to fairly direct routing.

As for the heat shield, I welded sheet metal T-nuts, usually used for cabinet and furniture assembly, to the pipe. Then I used flat and conical rubber tap washers to insulate the heat shield from the pipe, so it's an attachment system just like the older Hodakas.

Today another bug showed up to work out - the odometer just quit working, I wonder what to do about that.

I'm anxiously awaiting Progressive shocks from Paul because the stock ones are seized; they just won't budge. It'll be a whole new world once I get those on. Darrell

[BrianZ]

Nice job on the restoration Darrell. I can't imagine riding a dirt bike with a seized shocks! You'll like the Progressive shocks. They're reasonably priced and work really well.

Brian

[rtboone]

Darrell
Thanks for the shield repair info. Sounds like a solid fix.
As for the brake cable, I am sending a photo of the routing as suggested by the manual.
With the cable in front of the speedo, the cable can loop over the speedo on fork compression, and cause an instant "endo" when the forks rebound locking the front brake. This would be bad for you and your beautiful new scoot.
With the cable behind, there is no way this can happen.
I hope this helps.
Tom

[Darrell]

Darrell
Thanks for the shield repair info. Sounds like a solid fix.
As for the brake cable, I am sending a photo of the routing as suggested by the manual.
With the cable in front of the speedo, the cable can loop over the speedo on fork compression, and cause an instant "endo" when the forks rebound locking the front brake. This would be bad for you and your beautiful new scoot.
With the cable behind, there is no way this can happen.
I hope this helps.
Tom

Thanks Tom, I went and put the cable back just like in your photo. Way back in the day somebody must have learned the hard way about the front brake locking.

Darrell

[KirkN]

Sweet sweet sweet looking machine! I often wish I had mine back again!

Kirk