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Hodaka, which means ‘growing taller’, was owned jointly by Japan and America. The company manufactured motorcycles between 1964 and 1978. Within this period, almost 150.000 machines were produced by the firm. Before 1964, Hodaka produced engines for Yamaguchi motorcycles.

The headquarters of the company were in Athena, a rural town in Oregon, USA. The firm’s bikes were distributed all over the world by PABATCO for Pacific Basin Trading Company. PABATCO is credited with designing and engineering many of the Hodaka motorcycles.

Hodaka/PABATCO began manufacturing whole motorcycles in 1964 using the off-road design. They toyed with the idea of producing reed valves and even considered introducing them to the market. That, however, was never actualized as they dropped the idea without explanation. The honor of being the first company to produce reed valves thus went to Yamaha.

Hodaka went down in the late ‘70s owing to a series of economic crises. For starters, the US dollar exchange rates were falling against the Yen. Then, there was a change in the demand for the hitherto popular dirt bikes in favor of the larger road motorcycles. The company’s fortunes went down and Shell made moves to acquire it. Hodaka turned their offer down.

Some of the firm’s tooling was purchased by Korea-based Daelim after Hodaka’s closure in 1978.

Interesting Facts

1. Hodaka was owned by the Oishi brothers. They went to Europe on an extended visit and bought approximately 50 European and English motorcycles to study back in Japan.
2. There was a rumor that Hodaka may have created the entire Yamaguchi SPB50, not just the engine as was widely believed.
3. Hodaka was rumored to have borrowed the design for its shift mechanism in the gearbox and patented the spring-board shifting mechanism it created.
4. Hodaka is believed by some people to have been responsible for the trail bike craze in the USA.
5. There is an annual even in Athena, Oregon dubbed Hodaka Day. Held in June, the events of the day include Hodaka motorcycle parades, a motorcycle show and a motocross competition.
6. A book that details the complete history of Hodaka called “Hodaka: The Complete Story of America’s Favorite Trailbike” was published in 2014. It was written by Australian Ken Smith and contains the most comprehensive information about the Hodaka brand.