The Hodaka Club Forum

One new US company that began selling motorcycles in the heyday of off-road motorcycling was Pacific Basin Trading Company, better known as PABATCO. The Oregon-based company had forged a deal with Japanese motorcycle manufacturer Yamaguchi (which used Hodaka engines) to import 49-cc and 80-cc machines in 1961.

Yamaguchi motorcycles ceased trading in 1963 as a result of the fierce competition that had developed in the Japanese motorcycle market. With the loss of their suppliers, the PABATCO company employees (chiefly Harry “Hank” Koepke and Adolph Schwartz) decided to design a motorcycle specifically for the American market. A deal was done with Hodaka to supply complete machines in 1964.

WoW, that's a cool story. Join the Hodaka Club, come to Hodaka Days and you can't meet some of the folks that worked at PABATCO.

Great story "gears11" but the Yamaguchi's in 1961 were 50cc and in 1963 the Ace 80 was available.Yamaguchi's ceased operations for other reasons than the one described in your post. Sorry not picking on you but I want to see the history told correctly especially on this forum. For years and years and years there were all sorts of different stories and ideas . When Ken wrote the book last year every piece of information was at his disposal. We left no rock unturned. Information from Oregon, Japan,Portugal,Australia and Vermont. The new Hodaka Book has the Yamaguchi history from pages 11-17.
Was your post pulled from a publication someplace ??

Thank you for posting and reading my long winded reply.
Paul

Hey Paul,

The info might have come from here: http://classicmotorcycles.about.com/od/ ... Hodaka.htm.

--Russell

Thank you Russell. It looks like I need to try and tweak that article if I can. Just goes to show what has been written in the past and what is not correct.
Thank you
Paul

I could be wrong, but I suspect that gears11 has pasted the story into the thread to "legitamize" the link he included for his companies website.

SPAM = spiced ham. A product that is tasty with eggs and toast.

spam = annoying ads. The associated products must be avoided to discourage this behaviour.

Brian

The article also states the ace 100 was upgrades to a four speed, all ace 100 were 5 speed. However we were putting 5 speed kits in our racing 90's.----------------Clarence

Clarence you were there and you were doing it back in the day!!
Paul

I have one of those Ace 90 5 speed upgrade gear sets sitting in my stash of parts. The ratios are closer than the later Ace 100 gear sets with fifth being 1 tooth lower and first being 1 tooth higher. I guess the closer ratios would help with the slightly lower power output of the 90.

Brian

+1 Brian - that was a creepy first post/attempt to legitimize a link from "gears11"
When I saw it, I thought of that quote: "You ever look at something so stupid, it makes you squint?"
But it sparked some good conversation...especially for us still learning Hodaka history.
And I never thought about the origin of the name SPAM - Dang that's good to know!

I thought SPAM stood for : Some Parts Actually Meat......

Brian the 5 speed kits for the ace 90 were available in a wide ratio as well as a close ratio. There wasn't a nut to hold the sprocket on it was a snap ring and it worked well. ----------Clarence

I put the close ratio 5 speed in my 90 racer in the day--I remember the cool main shaft with some of the gears on splines and the snap ring on the sprocket. When I sold the shop in about 1972 I also sold the short tracker. Along about 1996 I started a search for the old bike. One friend said he saw it in a yard sale, another said it had left the state. By time I located it the engine had been split and the whole works left outside for decades. Many parts were missing along with the CR 5-speed. This is the bike that hangs in my living room today, less the trany. Hey Brian--would you like to part with 5-speed CR?

Maxie

In 1968 I got a quote for an Ace 90 wide-ratio gear set kit from a distributor that was selling me parts at dealer cost. The wide-ratio set was list $62.51 less 40% discount. I sent my deposit one month later (remember doing business by COD?). Alas, my check was returned as the distributor had just dropped the Hodaka line. Blast! I wanted top end.

As I remember it (Wow, that was many decades ago!) the close ratio CR was a specialty item for the 90 with splines on the mainshaft and a snap ring on the sprocket while the wide-ratio was the same as the new 100s would have. The 5-speeds required machining of the cases on the 90s but both the CR and WRs fit right in the 100s---check me on this Clarence!

Max

The gear set I have does not include the output shaft. When I bought it it was described as "close ratio MX gear set for all early Hodakas from the Ace 90 to 125". It consists of the splined mainshaft, a gear pair as well as 2 individual gears that slide onto the mainshaft, the 5 gears that ride on the output shaft, and the kickstart gear, but no output shaft. All the output shaft gears and kickstart gear are stamped with a "91". I guess it wouldn't help anyone upgrading a 90 to a 5 speed, unless of course the output shaft was sold as a separate item.

This brings up an interesting question, what became of the Hodaka model 91 designation. Was 91 used for optional parts? Hodaka started with 90, then 92, 93, 94, 95, etc, but no 91. It's not important, but I have this problem where I just need to know.

Brian

P.S. Max, if you really want the gear set I suppose I could be persuaded to sell it, but I'm not sure it's what you are looking for.

Here are the Ace 90 5-speed installation instructions:

Brian--I think the #924601 countershaft will work. It was used on Ace 100CC thru Super Combats. I'll have to study a bit more on this and see what I have to make it work.

Scribbler--Thanks for posting the instructions. I misplaced mine decades ago.

Thanks guys!

Max

Scribbler-
Could you pls email me ([email protected] ) directly, the installation instructions? I can't save or print a really clean version, and it would be nice to have for the Resonator Revisited.

Bob

Instructions sent to Bob.

Max. I tried to respond to your email but I get a Delivery Status Notification (Failure). Contact me direct at [email protected]

Brian

Brian your Ace90 5 speed transmission is a close ratio. The 91 series parts were racing items for the Ace90. The wide ratio transmission had 2 gears on the main shaft and the others had to be pressed on. The close ratio transmission had only 1, 11 tooth gear on the main shaft #914501R. The counter shaft 914601R would also need the 914610R secondary sprocket collar. But a 5 speed ace100 counter shaft should work well.-------------Clarence

Brian--contact info sent to your site.

Max

hodakamax wrote:Brian--contact info sent to your site.

Max

Max, I didn't receive anything. I sent you another email via the forum.

Brian

Brian--I just sent you a message via the Hodaka Club--My address is in the directory.

Max