The Hodaka Club Forum

I have been around Hodaka's since I was a teen in the 70's, But one of the bikes I just acquired to restore is a 1970 100 MX with a factory yellow frame. This is one of the 250 1970 MX bikes built that year and I happened to find one in a photo on this site that I will attach.
I cant seam to find any details about this bike, how many in this color were made?
Where all 250 this color?
something new to me...your help is much appreciated.

I am going to say hodaka never sold a production bike that was yellow. I have been wrong before. ---Clarence

Where did you get your info on the 250 that were built? I have never heard of any yellow ones.

Hey Ed you out there?

I'd hazard a guess that Rick's comment might have come from a melding of two different and un-related situations over the last half-century.

1) I'm with Clarence. I'm sure there were never any "factory" yellow frame ACE era motorcycles.
2) However, there were the black frame ACE era machines which were put together for export to Nigeria.
AND
3) It is my understanding that the Forest Service may have purchased some ACE era bikes and re-painted the frames in yellow. HOWEVER, it seems certain that the Forest Service would never have purchased Super Rats for use in the forest.

So, if you toss items 2 and 3 in a bowl and mix thoroughly for several decades . . . I can see how Rick's story might have been born.

Ed

I worked for the Forest Service for 34 years starting in 1963. I was a hodaka dealer beginning in 1965. I rented about 5 +/- to the Flathead National Forest, I rode them every day ,thank you taxpayers! If the Forest Service painted anything, it would have been Forest Service green. I sorry, but I did paint one yellow once but it was not a super rat. I sold allot of super rats when they first came out and none were yellow. ----------------Clarence

The yellow does look sharp. If it were mine I'd probably keep it yellow.

Thanks guys, I have looked a little closer and the strange thing is the patina on this frame looks the right age so I sanded a section from it and then sanded a section from an orange bike I am also restoring and they have the exact same under coating colors but this one has a yellow top coat and the other is orange???
When I saw the bike in the club photos I figured I was on to something?
anyone know who's bike this is?

Rick it is mine give it back- - -Joking! what part of the country are you in? Show us a picture -----Clarence

okay Clarence thanks for in info, as a dealer was it possible to order one in a custom color?

the 250 comes from the build sheet information, my frame is in the first 250 in 1970 45263 - 45512
so I was wondering if it was a special addition or possibly a custom order?
Rick

I'm sorry Rick, but I think you need to "let go" of the concept of a factory yellow paint job. It just didn't happen. There was no ordering with custom colors . . . the ONE exception being the batch which were custom painted for a specific export purpose (Nigeria) - and those frames were black.

In those days Hodakas were Red and Chrome. You could get any color you wanted as long as it was Red and Chrome.

Ed

Thanks Ed...much appreciate your input. I think you are right I had never seen one but when I saw the photo above on this site and the color is exact to what I have it got me wondering and I like to keep thing stock so I did not want to mess it up!
I also rebuild hot rods old classic cars and I do them right and most of the time to concourse level of quality. So these bikes will be better than factory when done. So I had to get to the bottom of the yellow color. Thanks so much to all for your information.
Rick

Clarence I am in Utah, and will take some pics tonight when I arrive back home.
Rick

here is the photo of the yellow frame...
Rick

is that a mount for the coil on the yellow frame?...i didnt think that the 1970 rats had them...the coil is mounted to the frame with a removable bracket.

I don't know about the very first Super Rats, but all the one's I have seen had a couple of frame changes compared to an Ace. The yellow frame has some of the brackets you would find on an Ace, and not on a Super Rat (those being the welded on mount for the coil and a mount right in front of that for a horn).

I see lots of rusted bare spots, but I don’t see any different color under the yellow. Maybe it’s just the photo. Could be someone just decided to strip the OEM paint off the frame before painting it yellow? You never know. Maybe someone just decided they didn’t want to have a Red Hodaka “like everyone else?” Victor

I would have thought that a factory painted yellow Rat would have the air filter can painted to match it.

Wayne from Oz.

Your frame looks very like the same color as the one in the earlier photo. Not a common color unless you own a Caterpillar.

Having the same patina as others from that age suggests it was painted a long time ago. But apparently not by the Japanese. Probably, then, someone took the time to strip the frame to bare metal and paint new using professional paint. Both red and light yellow would be proper to prime in white, which may be why the primer coats look similar. I doubt rattle can would have lasted this long.

If you like it yellow, paint it yellow. It's different anyway. Not many like it.

I wonder also, if anyone took a really close look at the OP’s photo. Careful scrutiny reveals that it is not a SR frame. It’s either a Wombat or DS frame. Probably a Wombat frame, considering the rather conspicuous “94” number plate. But I wouldn’t know for sure, I’m only guessing.

Roger

Roger, I think you are right about the first photo in the thread. That is a Wombat length seat and a pretty long fender loop behind the seat. The 94 on the number plate could be a claim of which model frame was used I suppose. The later bare frame photo is pretty clearly from the ACE days - that is a pretty short seat/fender loop.
Ed

Thanks for all the knowledge and ideas, I will attache the other photos...I am convinced that the bike should be red not yellow. And Yellow is not my favorite either. Since these bikes I purchased are my first Hodaka builds I am learning as I go.
I found some information on older chats that talk about anomaly's in Frame Numbers...this frame is A45384 I also see that the super rats had a prefix with the letter B. This number falls in the Super Rat number sequence but the letter does not match up. I also read on old chats that there were several anomaly's that had wrong Prefix Letters. I also read that Hodaka never made other bike models within other model number sequences.
The others in this chat have mentioned that this frame looks like an Ace 100 Frame and I agree with them from what I have learned at this point. But the frame number goes against this idea?
So with all the knowledge you all have looking at this frame number do I have an MX or Ace 100 Frame?
Thank you all for your support and help. I am really enjoying these bikes and have loved them since the 70's.
The engine that came with this frame did not help me at all because it was a Wobat motor, the old owner told me it was an MX frame and he had verified that. But of course he may have not been truthful or just got bad info. Let me know your thoughts.
Rick

You have a Ace 100. Your coil mount, shows that also . The numbers as shown in some publications do not match reality. B frames are available. The Super Rat also had the narrow tank, clamp on bracket for the coil. I will look up your frame numbers. --- ----Clarence

1970 Ace 100. The prefix and frame number are not anomalous, it is the Strictly Hodaka chart which is wrong. There was a time when the chart did not attempt to identify the end numbers in a build sequence, and at that time, running your frame number through the chart would have given a correct answer. Now that there are starts and stops in the number sequencing, errors arise. Yours is probably the fifth or sixth in the past year or so to fall within the now-named Super Rat number sequence.

Rest assured that the factory did not make random errors in stamping prefixes, and did not duplicate sequence numbers. They seem to have made accounting errors in record keeping, and at this point it is problematic to fix those record errors. Likely, both Ace and SR bikes were being built more or less simultaneously, or in build sequences shorter than recorded, and the number assignations became jumbled in the books. That the current chart is inaccurate is documented. Suffice to say that your bike is an Ace 100, not an MX100.

If there is no red paint beneath the yellow, whoever painted it yellow stripped it to bare metal first. If you really want to, dig around in hidden areas where tubes are welded to gussets. It is often impossible to remove 100% of the original paint, and you might find traces of red hiding in the crevices, or inside the steering head under the bearing races. Places where getting abrasives into the spaces is difficult.