1973 Hodaka 125 Wombat Motorcycle Road Test - 4-Page Vintage Article

Description

1973 Hodaka 125 Wombat Motorcycle Road Test - 4-Page Vintage Article
Original, vintage magazine article
Page Size: Approx. 8" x 11" (21 cm x 28 cm) each page
Condition: Good
HODAKA 125cc
WOMBAT
The basic Hodaka may set some sort of record before long because
the thing is going into its tenth year of production. In that re-
spect Hodaka seems almost British-like, while their competitors have
introduced model after model. The seemingly constant Hodaka, how-
ever, has undergone a great number of changes over the years, and
the Wombat 125 is the latest trail bike from Pabatco.
A good charge through the water brought the Wombat to a standstill with moisture in the plug lead.
• The first Hodaka was ready to be sold in
1964. It was a short, spindly affair that had
skinny seventeen-inch wheels at both ends
and a 90cc four-speed engine. For some still
obscure reason the bike was named the Ace
90 by its Japanese makers. While the Ace 90
was extremely light, it was blessed with un-
usual reliability. The standard machine
weighed slightly less than 170-pounds wet.
People bought it by the tens of thousands,
and some modified it into every imaginable
form of competition bike. Through the
years, the Hodakas gained a gearbox speed
ratio, underwent a couple of engine capacity
increases, and acquired longer and longer
wheelbases. And a myriad of small detail
changes have accompanied the major modi-
fications to allow each new Hodaka to better
perform its function.
This newest Hodaka is a street-legal off-
road bike that is particularly well suited to
rather rough, woodsy enduros. The U.S. im-
porters, in an effort to out-obscure the Japa-
nese factory, have named the 125cc five-
speeder the Wombat.
At first glance, the Wombat looks almost
identical to its immediate forbearer, the 100-
B. That kind of threw us off a little: we
didn’t care for the 100-B. It didn’t have
enough muscle to carry us over the trails
with any kind of verve at all, it was too
short-coupled to provide a comfortable seat-
ing position for a full-sized adult, and it had
an alarming tendency to end up on top of its
rider at the first hint of a hillclimb. Closer
examination and a few days on the trails
proved that the old faults and deficiencies
had, for the most part, been corrected.
The Wombat’s increased urge comes from
a much-modified engine. A new cylinder en-
larges the bore by 6mm to 56mm, giving an
actual capacity of 123.15cc. The stroke re-
mains the same as the 100-B at 50mm.
Crankcase cylinder-boss area has been in-
creased and the cylinder studs have been
moved farther apart in order to provide bet-
ter cylinder support and more room for
transfer port volume. Both cylinder and
head have appropriately increased cooling
fin area to cope with the increase in displace-
ment. Crankshaft bearing area is also greater
than in previous engines to handle the extra
weight and pressure.
Gearbox internal ratios have been
changed to allow the Wombat the greater
road speed range made possible by the big-
ger engine. And tooth design on the gears
has been changed to make them much
stronger. Continued from the previous Ho-
dakas is the ball-type gear engaging system
that is carried in the hollow lay-shaft.
A new alternator with an all-steel fly-
wheel has two lighting coils which provide
45 watts of power at 2500 rpm. As a result,
lighting on the Wombat is much improved
for greater night riding safety. The ignition
system remains as it has always been with its
easily maintained breaker points and remote
high-tension coil.
As we said before, the Wombat looks so
much like a 100-B that really close inspec-
tion is required before the differences begin
jumping out at you. But the first time you sit
in the saddle and place your hands on the
bars and shut your eyes, it feels like a com-
pletely new machine. The wheelbase is two
inches longer (now 52.5-inches), and the seat
is an inch lower. Our six-foot test rider feels
entirely comfortable on the Wombat.
Along with the new frame is a longer and
wider swingarm which allows plenty of
clearance for fitting a 3.50 x 18 knobby tire
when the Wombat is used in muddy terrain.
Standard rear tire is a 3.00 x 18 trials pat-
tern Nitto.
New shock absorbers control the action of
the rear wheel. All compression-stroke
damping has been removed, but the rebound
is fairly severely controlled by the hydrau-
lics. The dual-rate springs on the much-im-
proved new shocks are three-way adjustable
in the pre-load position.
A new 21-inch front wheel, shod with a
2.75 x 21 Nitto trials tire, will please every-
one who doesn’t ride in a loose, sandy area.
The bike starts quickly and without any
undue contortions on the part of the rider.
The cold-start knob is mounted on the car-
buretor and the key switch is under the seat
and near the aircleaner. There is plenty of
boot-to-footrest clearance, and the only
slight problem is that the chrome-plated leg
guard on the exhaust system sticks out a bit
too far and prevents the rider from getting a
full boot sole on the kickstart pedal. The
boot rubs on the guard from about mid-calf
to knee during the starting stroke. One of
the flatter-section pipes, as used on Yam-
ahas, Suzukis, and Kawasakis would give
more leg clearance during starting and
bounding through the woods as well.
The clutch lever has moderate pull pres-
sure and a dab down on the left foot pedal
selects low gear (the other ratios are selected
by pulling up on the lever). The crankshaft-
mounted clutch gives some peculiar-feeling,
jerky engagements at times, but provoked no
ill effect. On the 100-B we tested a couple of
years ago, the clutch was a weak point. If
you tried to compensate for lack of engine
torque by slipping the clutch, say on a hill,
the clutch would overheat and fail to release.
Perhaps the clutch has been fixed, or per-
haps the new engine’s torque range is so
much better matched to the bike’s needs and
gearbox; we seldom needed to slip the clutch
and never had a problem when we did.
We found the Wombat’s standard gearing
to be perfect for enduro-type trail/street go-
ing. Buzzing along at 5 mph in low gear, you
can crack the throttle and do a wheelie or
zip up steep dirt mounds. Top revs in high
gear will give about 58 mph. The engine
would easily pull higher gear ratio (standard
is 10.45 in high), but low gear pulling in the
hills would be seriously impaired.
With the Wombat’s combination of 52.5-
inch wheelbase (relatively short), 30 degrees
of fork rake, and 4.92-inches of steering
trail, the handling is best suited to tight
woods riding, uphill runs with lots of turns
and switchbacks, and loose dirt trails. Steer-
ing is virtually neutral; light and precise.
The bike goes where you aim it, as opposed
to some others which seem to have built-in
homing devices for every deep rut and boul-
der on the trail.
On one particularly serpentine uphill
horse trail, we were able to keep going by
lifting the front wheel when approaching a
turn, and pivoting the direction of the ma-
chine on the rear wheel at the same time.
Any longer or heavier machine would have
stalled. The Wombat’s ground clearance and
footrest height were also perfect in this go-
ing. Nothing dug into the hillside to disrupt
the rider’s concentration.
Another thing the Wombat does particu-
larly well is go downhill fast. Suspension
control and balance are such that you are
able to follow a chosen path without the rear
wheel trying to continually overtake the
front. Even when bounding fairly high in the
air in loose rocks, the little bike instills con-
fidence. Our one complaint in this respect
was the front wheel brake; a little more stop-
ping power up front would make the combi-
nation near perfect.
The Wombat’s open-bottomed, serrated
footrests provided perfect boot grip, even in
very muddy going. A boot slipping off a
footrest at just the wrong time is one of the
most common causes of loss of control in the
mud. Long rubber mud flaps at both ends of
the front fender keep mud from packing the
engine fins and the rider’s goggles.
The front of the seat rises to blend
smoothly with the rear of the tank to pre-
vent injury to the rider. We found the seat to
be extremely comfortable.
Other enduro niceties are the front wheel
driven speedometer, with one-tenth mile re-
setable odometer, and the huge urethane
foam aircleaner. The entry tube for the air-
cleaner goes up under the edge of the seat so...
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