Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

We play dirty. lyran 125 MX Regular Price~ Invento ry Reduct ion Price- $650.00 * * * * Sachs 2 1 HP SA E engine 6-speed close shift ing gear box. It's ready to race at only 190 pounds. Specia l purchase allows sale pr ice of less tha n dealer cost. * New and uncrated. * Limited sup ply - first come first served.. available for immediate shipment Olsen Cycle Sales 3905 St ate St., Salem, Orego n 97301 503/399-1 9 16 Two Hodies out of the box $100 rebate .---------I I I I I I on the purchase of any 1975 Yamaha Mot orcycle 125cc thru 650cc purchased on or before March 9 , 1975 wit h this ad. John Moore I I I I I I supports.. . M.O.R.E. non pro f it Can you do any .....?.,e ----------- ",0. This includes the 400 MX Monoshock. " M.O.R.E. I c&ee ~ of Califo rn ia Open Sundays 1129 N. 11th St. Sacramento , CA 95 826 $10 a year prevent s bad laws and gets you all th e state news. 1010 W. Chap man, Orange, CA 714-633-0064 ~"""""""I""~'~'~'~'~"~ ~62 KEENER~.· · • : :: '. Flat Track Handleba rs $14 .95 . : :: ~~ mentesa • MAlCO ... ~"" • : N. J. Products : • • : P. O Box2225 . : South Bend, Ind.46615 • ;; 219-289-3077 :: ........................................ · - dale brown suzuki jiM fishbACk's 2441 LongBeach Blvd., Long Beach (2 blocks southof Willow) JointheDale Brown Discount Club Try us fo rall hardto get Suzu ki parts YAMAllA oi ro~]j j.\rrJj.\ BAY AREA BULTACO Sales 32 Servic e tt© (714) 822-2252 9008 Sierra Ave., Fontana, Ca . By E. C. Birt Just before I left Los Angeles, land of fast motorcycles (some of them) and smog, the new 125 Super Combat had been released to the dealers. I made a stop by Tiger Distribut ing to have a chat with Mike Hamil ton (chief bottle washer and gunk brush) and have a peek at his new Super scooter. The all n ew Hodaka was a sigh t for sore eyes, sitting th ere in its n ew blue and com pe tition o range paint jo b . Decked out in full racing trim with its plastic fe nders , D.I.D. ri ms, and reed valve engin e. Different fro m to p to botto m an d loo king like it was ready to do a job. I caug h t mysel f day dreaming b ack to yes teryear wh en I saw my first Hodaka, with its 9 0cc p ower plan t , little bitty wheels, lights an d a chrome tank that had a sha pe all of its own . Here sat the fourth generation of the Hodaka racing line. This bike had been d eveloped b y the hands of more trail bike wins in th e deserts, motocross and T .T . than any other 100cc bike made. J ack Morgan hung up his No. On e plate that he held in the desert for five ye ars rid ing Hodakas, Frank Wheeler made his r ides ov er half of the world on Hod akas, Some of today 's !'-IX heroes that are big ti me factory riders made their star t on Hodakas. \\b y on a Hodaka? I su p pose the same reason th at I raced o ne for five years , becaus e it was the best handling bike of its size and it would hang in there without letting me do wn. As I m ade my way across the co un try to fl orida I started seeing these bikes on th e !'-IX tracks that we stopped at, and the y were winning just the way they wer e. T oo n ew yet and too few for the boys with a porting tool in one hand an d a welding torch in the o ther to have done any work o n the m . Three we e ks after I arrived in Florida a truck pulled up to the shop with five bran d new Hodakas in it, one of each model. the bill of lading marked E.C. Tes t Benc h, Shipper Th igpen A ca ll to Thigpen Distributin g. an d I was informed by the general manager Mr. Dave Campbell that these bikes ar e for you to test , E.C., and do with as y o u see best. Since the 125 Su pe r Comb at an d 100cc Super Rat MX are the n ewes t members to t he Ho daka family th ese are th e first 0 f the five that we will look at from top to botto m, inside an d out in thi s series on Hodaka, Th ey co me fro m th e factory race re ady, and Hodaka says th at th ey will win j us t th e way they are , box sto ck. We're go ing to find out. We pulled th e bikes o ut o f th e crate s and put th e han dleb ars o n th em, poured in some pre-mi x and ti me from out o f the box till we ha d smoke running out of the tailpi pes too k 15' minutes. A couple of h ot laps down the alley wo rked to blowou t the cobwebs an d p acking crate d ust. We loaded the bikes in the van and headed down the road ab qut a half a mile to the game reserve whe re we have a practice track. Here we could see wha t the bikes could do in th e sand and chec k out the jet ti ng. With a few laps on the bi kes 1 co uldn ' t make up my mind if the 125 was a little slow or if the 100 was a rocket sh ip. Well. tomorrow's race wo uld tell. After an hour of practice time on the bikes they were running perfectly and the jetting was spot o n. This was really nothing new to me because no Hodaka that I' ve tested sin ce Day On e has ever been off mo re th an one jet size fro m what the factory put in it . In today 's mar ke t the two things th at y ou should lo o k a t are handling first an d hors epower sec o nd. Handling is th e key and ho rsepower is like pawns on a chess board ; it can be moved aro und to fit your needs without too much pro bl em. With Hodaka's reed eng ine, the job is a simp le one. If y o u want to find o ut if a bi ke real ly han dles, j us t co me o n down to florida and enter a race . We' re the o nly state 1 know of that has wall-to-wall We even h ave whoop-de-docs. whoop-de-doos in our berm turns, an d a straightaway th at is n at and smooth is a

• Cover