The Hodaka Club Forum

hi all. well found a 71 ace 100 leaning on the out side of a barn in pringle south dakota . hasent moved for 15 years as far as i could find out. figured it would be a good project for my 9 year old grandson and me, we redid a go cart last winter down to the frame took every thing we needed to apart very fun we both learned a lot, so i jump on it, got it free, if i ever sell they get first dibs to take back. my 2 cousins and i rode dirt bikes back in the day and one of them got a brand new hodaka we thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. so theirs a little back ground. was at first going for a restore but now just clean up and get in good running shape lots of surface rust ,gas tank was full of rust , carburetor has varnish in it ,needs new cables , took the magneto cover off got about a cup of water out of it and its been in my garage for about 2 months. so will split the cases and see whats in there , and most rubber parts are not so well. good thing i dont know what im doing or id shut my eyes and run like hell. any way glad your all here just might need some advise. will throw some pictures up some time thanks

I enjoyed reading about your find. I picked up a '69 Ace 100 that had sat behind a barn in North Dakota entangled in a mass of wrecked farm machinery that was being loaded up for a trip to a scrap yard. Fortunately, the son of the original owner put it up for bids on ebay and I bought it for $35. It had sat there under the elements since 1972 when the motor locked up from running regular gas in it. It was a rusty crusty heap of crap and now it is a daily rider and an absolute gem. For a fun warm-up to the project, you might enjoy reading the book Harry Hears a Hodaka with your grandson.

just picked up" harry hears a hodaka" this morning when i got a service manual . the grand son needs to grow a couple of inches to ride, so looking forward to a cold winter so i can hibernate in the garage and stall him till spring

Harry Hears A Hodaka is a great little book, and the first thing I thought of when I read your opening post! I made all 3 of my grandsons read it and write book reports on it for school. And I told them they each had to share their acquiring a Hodaka & having to work on it with me as well. They did well on the book reports and the bikes, though I do MOST of the work. But they learned! Good luck with your grandson and the new find! Victor