Small Oregon Town Celebrates Hodaka Motorcycles

Vintage Motorcycle Owners Gather in Athena Each June to Remember

Mar 14, 2009 Cheryl Probst

The eastern Oregon town of Athena, population about 1,300, grows considerably each June as owners of these old motorcycles converge to talk about the good ol' days.

An Athena business gave birth to the Hodaka motorcycle. Both that business and Hodaka are now defunct, but the spirit lives on. Hodaka enthusiasts from all over the United States come to Athena for the annual Hodaka Days; at least one owner has ridden his Hodaka cross-country for the event.

Bad Rock Trail Ride Opens Celebration

The Bad Rock Reunion Trail Ride on June 26 kicks off the 2009 three-day celebration. This is the only event that is open to vintage dirt bikes that aren’t Hodakas. Bad Rock is a 40-mile cross-country ride through the Blue Mountains. It starts at Weston, a few miles on the other side of the highway from Athena. The original Bad Rock ride in 1973 was more than 450 miles across the snow-covered Blue Mountains, and was a qualifier for a qualifier for the U.S. International Six-Day Trials team.

Hodaka Days runs June 26 through June 28 in 2009. Hodaka Days is sponsored by the Hodaka Club; information about this year's celebration can be found on organizaiton's website.

Saturday’s events kick off with Hodaka owners riding their bikes down Athena’s main street. Other activities include observed trials at the grain elevator and educational seminars and a bike show at the city park. A scrambles takes place on Sunday.

Pabatco Employees Designed Hodaka Motorcycles

Athena hasn’t grown much over the years; the population was only 1,000 back when Pacific Basin Trading Co. (Pabatco) began importing motorcycles from Japan. The agribusiness had imported 5,000 Yamaguchi motorcycles for its 480 dealers by the time the Japanese manufacturer went bankrupt in 1963. This bankruptcy threatened Hodaka, another Japanese company, which made the engines for the Yamaguchis.

Creative Pabatco employees decided they’d design their own motorcycles, and Hodaka would expand from making engines to making the whole bike. Three years later, Hodaka had shipped 10,000 Aces, as the first Pabatco bike was named. Pabatco was the exclusive distributor in the United States.

Road Toads, Wombats and other funkily-named Hodakas soon followed the Ace, as Americans took to dirt-bike riding with a passion.

Over the next decade, Pabatco was acquired by Royal Dutch Shell Oil Co. which kept the motorcycle division. In the late 1970s, the dollar was devalued against the yen, making Japanese products too expensive to buy. When Shell couldn’t buy the Hodaka plant, it closed down Pabatco’s motorcycle business in 1979.

First Hodaka Retailed for $379!

But Hodaka motorcycles still live on in the United States. That first Hodaka dirt bike, the Ace, also was street legal. It sold for $379 retail. Today, restored Hodakas sell for several times that amount.

Filmmaker Peter Starr who was on the 1973 Bad Rock ride, details Hodaka's connection with Athena on in an article, Ode to Hodaka, on the Hodaka Club's website.

About 600 Hodaka enthusiasts attended the first Hodaka Days in 2000. Proceeds from Hodaka Days are donated to a local charity, such as the Athena library.

Athena is a rural community located on State Highway 11 between Pendleton, OR, and Walla Walla, WA.

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