Motorcycle News - Blue Wombat: Analog’s ice-cool Hodaka restomod
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“The functionality of taking a vintage off road bike to your local park or trail never seemed practical to me,” says Tony. “However I have always loved the Hodaka brand, and when I had the chance to grab a couple of Hodakas at a swap meet a couple years back I scooped them up.”
Both Hodakas were parked in the shed until last winter, when Tony decided to revive the Wombat 125 as an ice-riding beater for friends to learn on. But as soon as he dragged it into the Analog shop, he realized there was a lot more wrong with it than he thought.
Tony discovered a plethora of other issues—and even though none of them were insurmountable on their own, the project soon evolved into a full-blown shop build. “By the time I sorted out everything that needed to be done, the ice riding season was almost over,” says Tony. “So I switched to a mini enduro build instead.”
The wheels are a mixed bag of parts. The front hub’s from an older Kawasaki dirt bike that PJ Grakauskas at Chi-Jers Vintage Bike Works helped to identify. (Since it’s a more common part, it was easier to source new brake shoes for it.)
The Hodaka’s 123 cc two-stroke motor went off to a friend, Ryan Hunt, for a full rebuild. (He’s also the son of Devlin Hunt, Tony’s metal-shaping mentor, who sadly passed away a few years ago.) The motor went back into the bike with a new coat of wrinkle black, rebuilt carbs and K&N filters.
“We isolated a ground and put a diode big enough to block current on one of the cycles of power,” he explains,” so the LEDs see a positive and a negative—like a DC signal but in half wave form. This causes an on/off effect, but the cycle is so fast you hardly notice it. The longevity of the LEDs in this scenario is suspect… but so far so good.”
Dane Utech at Plz.be.seated handled the saddle upholstery. Tony pulled in his go-to pin striping guy, Brando, to add Hodaka logos to the seat and bar pad, and adorn the air cleaner with a ‘Blue Wombat’ logo. Oh, and the polished front fender and number board were clear coated, “so that I never have to polish them again.”
The final touch comes from friend and CNC expert, Kevin at Free Form design. He surprised Tony with a pair of aluminum Hodaka tank badges for his birthday last year, which were powder coated blue before being added to the build. “They were pretty, but the blue makes it pop on the chrome tank,” says Tony. “He forgave me for coating them later.”
“I am a bit of a stickler for not putting my builds in shows or in the public’s eye before they are roadworthy and ridden,” says Tony. “It’s proof to myself in that everything I build is meant to be ridden, and no one should see it until it has been ridden.”
“The truck is going to a good home, and the Blue Wombat is with me in TN. It may go to a new home as well… but I know it will probably be the most expensive Hodaka ever built.” Analog Motorcycles | Facebook | Instagram | Images by Daniel Peter Motorcycles via Bike EXIF https://ift.tt/2Mf9b0c September 21, 2020 at 12:22PM Leave a Reply. |
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November 2020
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9/21/2020
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