New to Hodaka - Looking for Guidance

[Kokomo03]

Hello, I am new to Hodaka motorcycles, however have lived 80% of my life on two wheels on the dirt and street. I am currently the Sales Manager at Harley-Davidson of Wausau, in Wisconsin. Grow up racing MX, currently getting my 4 year old son into it. Have worked on bikes my whole life, currently have a 1969 HD Sprint in my garage.

Recently my uncle passed away, who also lived most of his life on two wheels, both in the dirt and on the street. He has two Hodaka’s that will both in end up my garage shortly. One, a 1972 Wombat, the second a 1974 Super Combat.

The ’72, has most of the parts still assembled on the bike, the ’74 is currently a rolling frame. However all the parts (assuming I can find them) are still in his garage. Now, neither of them have ran in at least 15-20 years. There for I have no idea what the condition of either one internally. I am sure that I will need new/pre-owned parts along the line.

I am looking for a couple things at this point of the game:
- A few pictures of each of them as they were factory
- What is the BEST service and/or parts manual out there for guidance putting them back together
- Any other suggestions, or things that would help me along

Any advice is appreciated !

Thank you for your time

Kokomo Stevens

[viclioce]

Hi and welcome! There are two manuals you should get, I believe. For the 1972 you should get the manual for a the Model 94/94A Wombat. They are very similar with minor differences in things like exhaust pipes and such. You can look at the serial number on the right front engine case by the clutch lever to find your serial number. Then compare it to the chart on the Strictly Hodaka home page wherein there is a link for serial number identification.

Your Super Wombat I believe is a Model 97 and takes a bit of a different shop Manual so I would want to have that one as well. Again, by confirming the model number with the serial number chart, you'll be sure to have the right info you need.

This place and also hodaka-parts.com are your two best resources for original NOS OEM parts. When you know exactly what you're looking for, eBay also becomes a good resource as well. Some times the prices don't vary much from new to used on eBay, so make sure to do your due diligence when shopping around for parts. I believe both of the Hodaka sites offer some used parts as well.

If you go back to the home page, there is also a section with photos of members' bikes. There are several great factory restores and some "modified for race" versions as well. I had originally planed on attempting a factory restore of my 125 Wombat Modeel 3, until I found out by research that it was a FrankenBike! Good luck with yours. I'm betting good odds that your uncle didn't leave those two bikes in bad shape. Start with cleaning the carbs fully and fresh oil and a known good spark plug. Then go forward from there! Good luck! ; ) Victor

[Bullfrog]

The Strictly Hodaka web site . . . where we are right now . . . has a wealth of information. Click on the banner at the top of this page, then go surfing around. You'll find illustrated Parts Manuals, photographs of bikes, Hot Tips, etc.

You'll need the Official Hodaka Workshop Manual for the Wombat and Combat Wombat. This Manual covers the Model 94/95 bikes . . . and by extension is about 90-95% applicable to the Model 97.

Ed

[socalhodaka]

Its helpful to let us know where about you are located, good chance another Hodaka nut is near you.

[Kokomo03]

Awesome ! Thanks Guys. Step one is getting the bikes out of his garage and locating whatever parts he has for them there. This will be a core all in its own as he was a bit of a pack rat and we have about 8 inches of snow here already. I do have the serial numbers for both bikes. The '72 is C - 11718 and the '74 is F - 27357. I'll use the chart on this website to figure out which manuals I need to get rolling.

I live in Marathon Wisconsin, about 7-8 miles from Wausau, Wisconsin, which if your draw a X on Wisconsin, you would be the center of the X.

Again, thanks for the direction and when I get some photo's I'll post them for you guys to take a look at.

Coke