The Hodaka Club Forum

I have a question regarding a method of motocross start with my Combat Wombat. Those of you who may not know some races require you to leave your bike in neutral until the flag drops then you put the bike in gear and take off. I think my (our) Hodo's have an advantage that as long as your foot is on the shifter the bike acts like neutral so when the flag drops just release pressure and take off. There is nothing that I know of that makes this cheating but sure is a hole-shot advantage. I have not tried this yet but sure sounds like a good idea!

My question is; will I end up spraying transmission parts and oil all over the place by the third start or will this not cause any damage?

When you put the bike in first gear and hold the lever down, it's still in gear. You can stomp it into gear without the clutch but you'd want to make sure your hand had reached the bar. This is not good on the tranny at all. I think I'd just practice the right way until I got very good at quick starts. I have not seen the hand on the helmet start for years.

Max

Max is right, what you described might be valid for a step through Honda 50 from 1966 with a semi automatic shift feature, but not for a Hodaka. If you want to find out what happens, try it, just have it pointed in a safe direction.

As I remember, my 350 Jawa from the sixties had that feature where you could run through the gears without using the clutch lever, clever for the times.
As the lever went through its motions it also engaged the clutch as you shifted. Wow, that was eons ago!

Maxie

PS--Actually I tried the kick it in gear starts in the days and even though the tranny is robust I certainly wouldn't recommend it. As AZ says, be prepared! Picture this; You're standing on one foot and running the throttle with your right hand, left foot on the shifter, kick it in gear before your left hand reaches the bar and you'll see what AZ is talking about.

I don't know where you came up with this impression - "I think my (our) Hodo's have an advantage that as long as your foot is on the shifter the bike acts like neutral so when the flag drops just release pressure and take off." - but it just ain't so. Thankfully, you can easily test the concept with risking damage.
- start the bike
- pull in the clutch lever
- toe the machine into first gear
- hold the shift lever down with your toe while releasing the clutch normally
- note that you have started moving

Ed

DOH! That was supposed to read ". . . without risking damage."
Ed

Darn it! I thought I was on to something. Thank you for the replies.

The last part of the question was whether not using the clutch will spray parts about. Probably not but it is really hard on the ball receiver and springs and when done from a standing start will shorten service life a lot. But, if you have to have two hands on the bars to control launch, just use the clutch. Jam shifting will NOT result in a controlled launch. Better to learn a second gear start and work on your hole shot techniques.