Yamaguchi Bicycle Factory started making bicycles in Tokyo in 1914. After WWII, in 1953, they made motorcycles using their own parts, but the drivetrains were supplied by Fuji Motors and another Japanese company called Hodaka Industrial Company. This 1973 Hodaka Combat Wombat 125 is listed here on Facebook Marketplace in Menasha, WI, and the seller is asking $2,995. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Lothar… of the Hill People for the tip!
In 1961, an Athena, Oregon company named Farm Chemicals, which sold Shell Farm Chemicals for agricultural uses (Shell Oil Co. products), created an import company called Pacific Basin Trading Company (PABATCO). The company wanted to get into the import business to try to ward off any downturns in the farm economy and had its eye on furniture, boats, and motorcycles. A couple of motorcycles from a Japanese company called Yamaguchi caught their eye due to them being deemed a quality product, and Yamaguchi was eager to break into the American motorcycle market. Win-win.
By 1962, Yamaguchi SPB50 Scramblers were being imported, and, surprisingly to PABATCO, the CEO of Yamaguchi ran the company into debt, financing his daughter’s bid for the Japanese Parliament. It turns out that she was successful and became Japan’s first female senator, but the company was in ruins. It was Hodaka to the rescue, as PABATCO asked them if they could supply entire motorcycles rather than just engines, and they came through with flying colors, despite having only been founded about a decade prior to that, in 1951.
If all of that is confusing, all you need to know is that Hodaka started making motorcycles around 1964, and they were imported and sold by Pacific Basin Trading Company out of Oregon. PABATCO also imported British motorcycles from Cotton, Villiers, Avon, and others, but most of us know them for Hodakas. Sadly, Hodaka went out of business in 1978 due to the consumer shift from small dirt bikes to bigger street bikes, and the weak U.S. dollar exchange rate compared to the Japanese yen. When introduced, the Hodaka Combat Wombat 125 was a very good motorcycle, but the unfortunate timing of Honda introducing the CR-125 Elsinore the same year, an arguably much better motorcycle, made the Combat Wombat somewhat of a non-player. The beefier Super Combat in 1974 was better, but by then, Kawasaki and Suzuki were also on the hunt and had better bikes.
This Hodaka Combat Wombat 125 has been in storage for the last decade, and its 78-year-old owner is now selling off his collection. The seller says it starts, runs, and drives like a five-year-old bike, and it looks great to me. It’s powered by a two-stroke 125-cc single and is backed by a 5-speed manual. If you want something a bit unusual for riding or vintage motorcycle shows, it would be hard to beat this Combat Wombat 125. Hagerty is at $3,200 for a #4 fair-condition bike, so this one could be a great buy at just under $3,000. Have any of you owned a Hodaka?
What a find! Plus a great history lesson Scotty about a bike that to me was a blast to ride. Having graduated from riding a Honda 50 to deliver newspapers up to a well kept/used 2 year old Hodaka Ace 100 was huge. Suddenly that sheep trail to the top of a steep and good sized hill was not a challenge anymore-1st gear was so big it’d spit and snarl that bike clear to the top on the trail tires it came with.
Rode it for a few years then had a friend offer to trade his old 250 Pursang straight across.
Another learning moment on many different tangents..
This Combat Wombat looks to be a really nice example. Another one that would garner an older crowd at the weekly Bike Night.
I’d like to second that. This is a great history lesson on a manufacturer I’ve never heard of. I have to admit, the unique name, Hodaka Combat Wombat is a bit of a mouthful lol. Love the chrome tank, and it certainly looks like it’ll go anywheres. I liked reading your experience too Nevadahalfrack, just reading about some real world experience with these is a treat. Once again, I appreciate your research Scotty. It’ll be neat to see what other folks have to say as well.
Thanks, guys! That’s darn nice of you. I’m sure there are a few experts out there who will hopefully fill in any blanks or errors in the history and timeline. If I were a gamblin’ man, this one is close enough and the price is low enough to make an offer and hopefully not lose money on it after enjoying it for a year or two.
If you go for it Scotty, please let us know!!!
The Combat Wombat! The coolest name in motocross bikes, ever.
Having owned a few of the Combat Wombats during the 70’s the memories come screaming back. Hodaks’s were “good” bikes but were always considered stepchildren to the XR’s, YZ’s and RM’s of the times BUT what they did have going for them was affordability. Now you are seeing quite a few of these on BAT and other platforms and they seem to command a pretty penny. This one seems to be priced fairly reasonable in comparison. All across Facebook and Instagram there is a “resurgence” of the Hodaka namesake and people seem willing to pay a hefty price for the brand 50 + years later!
Always liked the Hodaka styling.
If you hang out here long enough, just about every motorized contraption will show up, especially if SG has anything to say. This “Lothar” must have saved the bosses life in a war, sure gets a lot of tips approved, No one grabbed my FL manure spreader, Hurst shifter, or that IH Transtar cabover, but can gloat in the tape player and driver simulator,,, what? Oh yeah, the Wombat, sorry. No not Womp rats like Luke Skywalker used to shoot, it’s a rat like creature none the less, with cube shaped droppings and another poor name the Asians may have thought was cute. The bike itself was a great machine, sadly lived in the shadows of the “Big 4”, and were every bit as good. The chrome tank was awesome, although few stayed like that. This bike cost $695 new in ’73, or about $50 less than a Honda, and didn’t have near the dealer network, but some were sold. I read, Shell oil owned PABATCO, but can’t recall who actually sold them. Gambles, maybe? I don’t think anyone regretted buying a Hodaka.
My first bike was a Bridgestone 100 street bike that I pressed into duty off road. My second was a Hodaka Super Rat that was no compromise off road, but I pressed it into duty- in between cars- to ride the couple miles back and forth to work on my country road route. The Super Rat was looked at as a pretty potent little bike in its day.
And just like that on today’s BAT a Hodaka ACE 90 is up for sale! https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1967-hodaka-ace-90-2/
Have a friend who had one in the late 70’s. We would ride together, me on my Harley Davidson Baja. Thanks for bringing back the memories!
A friend had a small Hodaka (wish I knew more about it). His was a full suspension but similar to the garden variety minibikes at the time (early 1970’s). What really separated the Hodaka from the other (lawnmower engined) minibikes was that the Hodaka had a motorcycle engine and transmission. Would love to hear if anyone else had one of these.
I had two street Wombats back in the day. You just could not kill the bike. Too deep stream crossings, gritty muddy gunk jamming the shifter. It didn’t care. Just carry some basic tools and they’ll go anywhere the Big Four would, albeit a tad slower. If I wasn’t 70 years old I’d buy it, for sure!
They went a long way. I remember the Ace 90 back in ’67 then the Ace 100. The local Suzuki dealer also sold Hodaka but he never did sell a 100; it was 90 all the way. He said that it was the distributor who couldn’t get them. He had a better theory; the dist. had a bunch of 90s he couldn’t sell so he wouldn’t bring in any 100s.
I didn’t talk to the dealer for a long time. Then I saw some 125s and was quite impressed. Then it seems to me that a “Super Rat” came out. I didn’t know much about them because by then I was into the Bultaco/Maico/Greeves/Husqvarna/CZ crowd. Bultaco was the one I really went after because it was closer.
Does anyone know anything about the Super Rat?
The Super Rat was 100cc and Hodaka’s purpose built motocrosser prior to the 125cc Combat Wombat. Mine wasn’t stock when I got it. To start with, it had plastic tank and fenders. It had been ported, and the carb jetted to run with those larger, altered ports and a Hooker expansion chamber. It ran very well. I don’t think the guy I bought it from ever had a stock bike in his life. He had been planning on racing the Rat, but then got into Bultacos and flat track.
A friend (around 1970) had a minibike with a Hodaka engine/transmission on it. I did a little looking around and found that KG Engineering in Holliston, MA made bikes like this. There is a website OldMiniBikes which mentions these. Does anyone else recall these Hodaka powered bikes?
I graduated from McEwen High in 1966. Where? Athena, an Eastern Oregon farming community of a bit over 900 souls. The population was that for so long that if an old timer died you knew a baby was being born. I saw Scotty’s excellent
history write-up unfolding in real time and knew the folks involved. If you want to see Yamaguchi / Hodaka bikes just go to Hodaka Days. Each year the town fills up with them. The Main Street parade is only about 3 blocks long. LOL. :-) Terry J
P.S. go to Hodaka Days Athena Oregon for the web page. :-) Terry J
Always wondered who copied who? Hodaka Combat Wombat or Norton Comando Combat showed up on the market within a year of each other?
I had a few different bikes the smallest was a Harley AMF I ran it hard and while winding high I missed a gear and she winded higher and blew the piston. And when ordering a new piston they had 4 different ones and each had a different color dot on the piston that told the size and my piston was to shattered and I could not find the dot so I took what they had in stock installed it and ran for a few months Then my neighbor wanted it so I sold it an got a new Suzuki 450L and that was the best bike I ever had and drove it over 20 years
Had a Dirt Squirt 100 back in the day. Always wanted the Wombat. Bultaco 250 was the Dream!
Agree….it’s a nice one which reflects the price….own a few an pick up one of these mini’s the other day…..
Do the front brakes inspire confidence?
https://www.motorcycleclassics.com/classic-japanese-motorcycles/history-of-hodaka/
We had a couple of Hodakas when I was young. I spend countless glorious hours roaming the hills outside of town in SE Idaho and on vacation at my grandparents cabin in central Utah. We had what I suspect was an Ace 100 (it had lights) and later a Road Toad, which was painted lime green, hence absent Hodak’s signature chrome gas tank. I thought I was in motorcycle heaven until we purchased a Can Am 250. That bike was a real screamer!
Sold a nice one of these in 2005 for $800 and thought that was good for the time.
I worked at Yamaha of Chattanooga (TN actually in East Ridge) 1966 to 1969 owner picked up Hodaka sold only 100 Aces if I remember correctly about $425. I had to have one, the Yamahas were oil injected but had to mix oil with gas for the Hodaka. The tranny on the Hodaka was far superior to Yamahas, Honda, etc you could speed shift and not use the clutch with no issues. They also had more front fork travel and rear shock travel than anyone out there! It was a great bike for the time thanks for the info more than I ever knew about PABATCO