Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/141056
'" " ., '" ,... "M Ol .~ « ~ w Z W ...J U > U The Combat Wombat test came to an abrupt end shortly after this photo was taken ...and so did the Managing Editor . Bike proved incapable of surviving200 ft . drop over cliff unscathed ...ditto the b y John Huetter Photos b y Dave Schoonmaker When Cycle News te sted Hodaka's new 125 Wombat ·en d uro-tr ailb ike -fun m.achine thing we en coun tered a mil d , tr ac tabl e, messin ' around }enduro-ish motorcy cle with m ost all th e right parts on it . Well , except for having most of th e right p arts, th e Wombat 's offspring, name of Combat Wombat, ain't non e of th ose th in gs. T he Combat has been stri p pe d, zapped, piped an d p orted an d me ssin ' ar ound definitel y is not part of its game. This h yper-wombat is a screame r. Sum med up : Pipey but fas t, a veritab le j e t. With nothing that n eeds replacing for ra cing except th e rear sh ock s. It is a very n ice en try , and p ossibl y the budget racer's best choice , in th e 125 class for mot ocross. Th e po rt in g an d bi gger carb are not just so Hodaka can j ac k up th e price ; th ey wo rk. Th e Combat Womb at is a match fo r any s tock 125 pure racer in th e drag race to th e first co mer af ter the gate drops, (O r th e nag waves o r the band snaps o r wh atever.) Th e Com bat doesn't like to be lu gged and is n ot a pl aybike . You wick it until y ou fe el guilty and ch u m with your foot at the very pos itive gear bo x to keep it o n th e powerband, and you en d up go ing so me fast . " V " porting, al u mife rrlc bonded cy linde r (T hat me ans it has an ironliner , which pro ce eds sm o o thl y into th e ports , is not re movab le , and is very hard.}, 28 m m Mikuni, aU the. go odies take th e p oor little 12 HP Wombat engi ne and ge t it put ting out so me thing more lik e 19 o r 20. At th e sam e time, d ry w eigh t go es under 200 lb . . . -¥ . _. The Wombat's natural habitat, in Combat form. is motocross trscks.Tt ~ ikes bouncing of f berms. .r -;. .. ..... - .... .r- . : Handling and dimensions both fa vo r a light rider. A gan gly , long-legged kid wh o weighs abou t 135 p ounds wo uld be the ideal rider fo r th e b ik e as far as fi t. It 's n ot all that tall , in spite of a de ep, well-p added seat, but guys and girls on th e sho rt side mi ght have more t ro ub le adapting to it. T he ex tra tw o in ch es in wheelbase cu t o ut so me of th e surpris e wheelies of the Supe r R atbut the front end is still very easy (maybe too easy?) t o pull up the re and wa ggle aro un d. T he telescop ic "Hodaka's own " fo rks look thin and puny b ut wo rk lik e ch am ps . They ab sorb, sti ck in comers I alo ng with the 21 ·in ch Nitto on an alloy rim, and don't twitch . The rear shocks pogo : boing, boing. Lo ts o f spring and ' not much dampening. They are the only items on the machin e that might get replaced o ut of the box. Period. (Some big gu ys didn 't like the narrow 3 2" bars ; some little gu ys might.) Dimensions and powerband of the Combat Wombat make it a go o d hand ler for tight, twisty tracks. It does not wa nt to h an g o ut predictab ly on sweepers or lon g rolling b erms with its present shocks and swingarm. Best te chnique we co uld come up with was to run very fast into co m ers and, literally, bounce it off the berm, at the same time keeping the throttle very close to full t il t and come scootering out in th e new, hopefully desired, direction. It is light en ough to be co n tro lled easil y during these maneuvers with a wet weight under 210 pounds.. .and th ey 're not lying abo ut that part. The engine is a little pipey and there is a d efinite snap as it co mes on the pipe. The thing to do is keep it on the p ipe if yo u wan t to go somewhere. You'll ge t there in a "respec table hurry. ILLUSTRATION BVJOHN HUETTER