Australasian Dirt Bike — September 2017

ALRON
German brand Hercules tried a
rotary-engined enduro bike in 1975
andtherewasevenanAussiebike
called the Alron that came out of
Perth.RonLyonwasthemanwho
decidedthetimewasripeforan
Aussiebuiltoff-roaderandsohebuilt
his own frames to take Ossa engines.
The bikes were available in either
250or400formandasanenduroor
motocross model. Testing of a
prototype showed the way to go
designwiseandAlrongotgood
resultsintheendurositentered,with
regular podiums.
Initial plans were to build 10, then
increase production to 40 a month for
threemonthstotestdemand.
Unfortunately, although there was
plenty of interest from individuals,
distributors and dealers could not be
convincedthey’dsell.
Alronroseandfellinabouttwo
yearswithonly35bikesbeingbuilt,
only five of which were the road-
registerable version.

HODAKA

Thiswasabrandthatdisappeared

duetomarketforces.ThePacific

BasinTradingCompany(Pabatco)in

Oregonsawanopportunityinthe

growingAmericanleisuremarketand

askedJapanesecompanyYamaguchi

to provide it with bikes.

These machines had Hodaka motors

andsoldwellbutYamaguchiwent

outofbusinessin1963.Pabatcothen

designeditsownbikesandasked

Hodaka to build them.

Hodakaswereagoodbikeintheir

dayandstillhaveakeenfollowing

amongst the vintage crowd but they

arebestremembereddaysfortheir

modelnames.Firstupwasastreet-

legal trailbike called the Ace 90,

nothingstrangeaboutthat.An

increase in capacity saw it renamed

the Ace 100 but when an MX version

oftheAce100cameoutitwascalled

the Super Rat.

So things were starting to get a little

strange.A125Wombatcameout

followed by Combat Wombat, Dirt

Squirt,RoadToad,SuperCombatand

the final model, the 250 Thunderdog.

Bytheearly’70s,Hodakawas

facingproblemsduetogrowing

competition from Yamaha and Honda

in the U.S. Shell Oil purchased

Pabatcoandshutitdown.Nomore

Wombats, Rats or Toads.

YANK EE

Adventurebikesareapopularmarket

nichetodayandmostwillsaythe

market segment was pioneered by

BMWwiththeBMWR80G/Sin1980.

But it could be argued that the Yankee

500two-stroketwinwasthefirst

dualsport, although nobody had

thoughtofadventureridingwhenit

came out. In fact,Trail and Track

magazine referred to the American

bikein1975as“dirtriding’sfirst

superbike” and suggested it might be

agooddesertracer.

The Yankee 500V (ADB#403) was

basicallybuiltbyjoiningtwo250

Ossa engines. It produced 36hp at

4000rpm but an optional kit raised

thatto70hp.Itusedasix-speed

gearboxandhadareardisc.Thebike

HERITAGE I BIKES YOU NEVER HEARD OF

The Alron frame, built by Ron Lyon in Perth, handled

well but the bike never caught on with buyers

Hodakas were great playbikes and well priced. They

were bulldozed by the Japanese Big Four

The Road Toad sported a 98cc engine with oil

injection and Mikuni carb. Naturally, it was green

Rokon’s pullcord starting was no big deal on the

motocrosser but an acquired taste for enduro,

requiring long hours in the gym doing arm curls so

you could yank the starter with your left hand and

hold the throttle open slightly with your right