Yeah it says South Africa prefers to not evolve.... Actually I though SA went away a long time ago I guess because SA never does anything...nothing. Where is it anyway???
I live in a state where I can own & license 2 stroke bikes. There's just something about the pop & crackling at idle of the old bikes that warm the heart.
The world needs bikes like these, cheap, reliable, easy to ride and fix. I spent hundreds of hours in my late teens on a TS185, visiting friends and going for rides looking for places to go off road, never let me down once though I bent my share of handlebars, footpegs and levers.
@terracer I live in New Zealand and we can still get a Suzuki TS 125, basically unchanged since the 1980's, as a farm bike, however, I don't think there is any way it can be made road legal and it's so primitive that it isn't much fun to ride.
@terracer The emission standards kill any possibility of cheap simple 2 strokes. And complex 2 strokes, direct fuel injection, exhaust valve are as expensive as 4 strokes. The answer for the amateur who wants a simple bike for fun in the WE is chinese with the 250, 300 and 450 Zongshen engines.
The XR150 is, relatively speaking, pretty inexpensive, and definitely fun! I bought one two weeks ago, and really enjoy it! Unfortunately, it’s going to be sitting for a few weeks, as I’m having to recover from a MOHS surgery on my shoulder🥺. But it’s carbureted, no ECU, and has Honda quality!
The best thing about Hodaka were the model names. There was the Dirt Squirt, the Road Toad, the Wombat, the Super Rat, the Thunderdog, and my nomination for best motorcycle model name of all time: the Combat Wombat.
@@bikerdood1100 It's called having a sense of humor. PaBaTCo owners were also their advertising genius, it's an Oregon thing, you wouldn't understand. They were quirky and wanted their bikes to focus on being fun because trail riding is fun! The first thing they did after starting their company in 1965 was take two Ace 90's down to Baja California and rode them on backroads and burro tracks all the way from the border to Cabo San Lucas and back. All of these smaller Hodakas had a relatively huge 2.8 gallon fuel tank, because little 2 strokes aren't exactly miserly with fuel, and there were times they had to get someone to bring them fuel on this adventure. There also was an introductory ride/advertisement in moto magazines about their touring around Australia on their new Road Toad 100.
The DT 175 and TS 185 were great fun to ride both on and off road back in the early 1970’s. I found them to be surprisingly capable in challenging dirt conditions.
Had a TS 185 back in 1976, loved the bike. I was an idiotic 16 year old without any real knowledge and lucked into the bike for the silliest reasons. I hated the ergonomics of the Yamaha and the Honda was 885$ compared to 675 for the Suzuki, so I bought the Suzuki. It wasn't until months later riding trails with friends did I realize the gem I had!
Before I was old enough to ride on the road I had a Suzuki Trail Cat TC120. It had 3 speeds for the road and 3 very low ones for trails selectable by a lever on the crankcase.
The first Yamaha DT 175 that you showed was my third ever bike back in the seventies, even down to the colour. What a great little machine that was. I spent many a happy hour every weekend thrashing around the old mine dumps in southern Johannesburg, before having to spend more hours trying to get all the talcum powder fine sand out of every nook and cranny, on both the bike and me, afterwards. Great memories.
If you're referring to that white DT175, I think it was the best looking DT in the whole range! Seems like South Africans are big fans of Bikerdood's channel 😊 Love his content!
I'll never forget my '71 Kawasaki F-7 175, it had the totally enclosed, Kei-Hin carb, sitting in front of a rotary valve intake, always thought it was a strange design, but I was always the one that kept riding after a 2ft. high river crossing! it ran forever and NEVER let me down, marriage , kids, and time finally separated us, and I thank bikerdood for keeping those memories alive!!!
No family would ever keep me from my bikes I taught her to ride so we do everything together Teaching her to ride was the smartest thing I ever did because never moans when I go out got a ride and I get to use her bikes too More for me 😂
My first bike, brand new from Collins Motorcycles Truro (gone now), was a TS 185. OGL 749R. Man, I had some fun with it. I was 17 back then. Gran bought it, and Mum went nuts!
This vid brings back some very fond memories of my 1971 TS-185. It was an outstanding enduro/dualsport bike - very reliable, low maintenance, very good power, pretty neutral handling, and a joy to ride. By the way, the Yamaha 175 Enduro back then was a CT-175 -- the DT model was the designation for their DT-250 Enduro. During your discussion you referred to the 175 as both a CT and DT. 👍
I had a 73’ TS185 back in the day. It was one of the best trail and dependable bikes I ever owned. Sure wish I never would’ve sold it cause I’m sure I would still be cruising it around town today.
I let it run out of 2 stroke oil on the freeway riding from the south coast through Sydney to Gosford on the north side. Rear wheel locked up at 100 k/h managed to pull the clutch in reasonable quick, still left a long streak. Got to our new home after adding some oil, latter wipped the head and barrel off and not a mark, light hone and decoke. As good as new.
I had a few of these bikes in the late seventies and early eighties. They were huge fun and dirt cheap to run and repair. Still some of my favourite all time bikes. Good video.
We always had yamaha dirt bikes, DTs, MXs, and YZs. But i did enjoy the Bultaco's i had, 250Alpina, 360Matador and a 370 Persang. Maybe a Bultaco story?
I still like the Styling of the old Enduro Bikes of the 70s. I started Riding Enduro Bikes in 72 when I was 12 Yrs old. My first Bike was a Suzuki Ts or Tc? 100. It has the High Low Range Arm on the side of the Engine. It worked great for climbing big Hills. They were great Bikes and very reliable. My favorites rite as far as looks was the Hondas. Thanks for bringing back some old Memories.👍👍😁
In Australia you could still buy a DT175, with front disc brakes, up until the mid 2000s. I had a brand new one in 1991, and my dad still has a 2000 model. Great bikes.
I put a 11 tooth primary sprocket and a 52 tooth secondary sprocket on it for mountain riding . Could still street ride up to 50mph . Didn't have to shift a lot of gears riding in the mountains .
Thank you. I really enjoyed your video, that brings back such great memories of the bikes that my friends and I have ridden. I still have a 75 CL175 Enduro unfortunately overweight for dirt riding.
My first bike was a Honda XL 125, then upgraded to a Yamaha DT 360 and then changed to road bikes in a Yamaha TX650, with the real soft frame. But still loved riding it
Your videos preview a lot of the bikes my friends and I had as a teenager. Now I find myself buying a few of them when I find clean stock examples. It's surprising how little people will let classics like these go for.
So many fond memories of these bikes as a kid, especially the DT175 that a neighbor had and I lusted after for many years. Still peruse the for sale sections looking for one locally.
I remember reading about the “Hodaka Road Toad” in an early 70’s copy of the US magazine Cycle World that had made its way onto UK magazine stands. It sold me on small two strokes for dirt bike fun. Now here I am with a 1250GS, the total antithesis to the “Road Toad”. It’s a funny old world….
My mate Jeff was a little older than me, and he had a DT175, when I had a Fizzy. One day while we were riding I indicated, and pulled over on the left, but Jeff didn't see me stop... His handlebar hit my elbow, just a little tap, but it sent him into a tank-slapper, and off he came, dislocating his shoulder! He then had to ride to the local hospital, without using the clutch. Happy memories, strangely!!!
I had a 73 Kawasaki F6. It was my 3rd bike and the first of a series of orange motorcycles for me. I trail road that bike from age 13 until my 2nd year of college. It was a tad heavier than other bikes but had excellent power considering. What was nice was the oil injection meaning I could travel far away from home and still fill up at a gas station without having to bring two stroke oil with me. The longest off road journey I took was 60 miles each way including riding over a few high railroad trestles. Did that without having to ride on any roads except to cross them. It was quite an adventure for a bunch of 14 year olds. I ended up towing a friend's Suzuki the last 20 miles when his dual range transmission locked up.
My Dad and I used to run enduro's on 100cc Hodaka's in the late 60's. I used mine for a couple of years to throw a paper route and saved up to buy a 1971 model Suzuki TS185. It was the first new vehicle I ever payed for with my own money. Dad and I then ran one enduro with me on my new 185 and he still on a 100cc Hodaka. The following weekend, Dad had his own 185. They're both really great bikes in their day. The main thing I liked about the Suzuki was "finally," no longer having to mix gas and oil. I had never before been able to just pull up to a gas pump and not have to worry about the oil mix. I found this video very interesting. I never knew that Hodaka had produced bikes as large as a 175.
I've got a couple of Wombats and a couple of Ace 100s and a mongrel Wombat Ace thing I'm piecing together, But I've never seen a 175, I don't think the 175s were very common they also made Hodaka 250s The white Hodaka in this video is a 250 enduro, the 250 Hodaka motocross bike was called a Thunder Dog I've never ridden one myself but those Suzuki 185 have a very good reputation I remember them being used as rental bikes and they were said to be indestructible
I would love to see you cover the larger displacement trail bikes of this era...250-400cc from the same manufacturers. Great job, it brings back a lot of memories as I saw a few bikes I actually owned over my childhood/teenage years! Ah, the good old days! Keep up the fantastic work!
Wow.... Some of these individual models are unknown to me, but the ranges are largely very familiar. I recall the utterly bizarre look of the first monoshock bikes when they first appeared in the UK. The various Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha sub-200cc dirt bikes were simply everywhere in the early eighties. Back then, they always wore knobblies, as the notion of road-biased tyres for dirt bikes hadn't yet hit the marketplace. Those spindly swing arms! Those tiny (cable) front brakes! These were not bikes for a long journey, but around towns and cities or out in the forestry, they were perfect. Or... They seemed perfect. It staggers me that anyone who rode one of these is now tottering nervously around on a huge adventure bike they are unable to climb onto with ease. Somewhere, as our bellies have got fatter and our hair thinner, we have lost our perspective. Excellent video. A perfect espresso blast of nostalgia.
Quite so, since retiring, my son has taken over my 800GS and I thoroughly enjoy riding Honda XR150L, Yamaha XTZ125 and Zongshen ZSM200, that also gets used for my Learner bike training hobby.
My father had a brand new Suzuki DS 185 in 1979. It the first full size bike I ever rode. That bike put all the 125's&250's motorcross that were 5yrs newer to Shame in the back woods of Ohio. All good woods bikes are air cooled.
I had that exact dt 175 Yam Enduro right down to the colour as a teenager in the early to mid 70’s! I STILL have the battle scars to prove it too!🤣👴🏻🇨🇦
1st bike I owned & learned to ride on was a Honda XL175. A 1976 model in blue purchased at Scona Cycle in Edmonton Alberta. Among the more docile bikes vs its contemporaries but super reliable. I recall riding it into what I thought was a puddle that turned out to be a rather deep hole made by a backhoe it was submerged up to the tank...With the help of a buddy riding a Suzuki we extricated the bike & I pulled the spark plug, kicked it over to expel the water. Plug back in I got 'er started & rode it back home. 3 oil changes to purge the engine of any water & she was good as new. I regret selling it decades later.... Prior to selling I pulled the head to change the rings & there was no evidence of any wear due to my little mishap years before.
8:09 My very first bike was a TS100ER in the same style as the red 185 in the video (mine was the white scheme with the blue stripes) Crazy reliable, very slow, but it got me started in dirtbikes, something I still enjoy at age 56. These days riding a Sherco 300SE Factory Enduro 🙂
I love small bikes & the DTs, in another video I mentioned the 175 I put into a 90cc Harley, it's so light & has just enough power it goes anywhere. Since then I got a dirt track DT400 with a bend in the frame, I'm building it into a custom chopper lol, the mono-shock steel swing arm is perfect for a bobber/ chopper. Your channel and videos are top-notch...
@@blackhat400 Thanks for the advice, I will look into them, it's my first road bike. A 185 is the biggest bike I have got to ride so far lol so I'm open to anything...
Ah the sound of my early teen years when ring dings ruled the town. The best era late 70s 80s and early 90s to be a bike guy from small 2 stroke enduros to learn on, up to the massive superbikes of 90s that introduced a young 20 something into the world of 150 mph plus club
@@bikerdood1100 No doubt the cost of a 600 now over 10 12 grand new is crazy. I bought a new 600 yrs ago while working part time high school job at minimum wage. high school kike making min. wage could not afford thet now unless he paid it off over 6 or 7 yrs on part time job while student
Kawasaki also made the bigger brother KE250 which was a nice all rounder circa 1980. I had one brand new and loved it. After 2 or 3 years a small patch of rust broke out in one lower corner of the red painted fuel tank which surprised me due to the randomness. Other than that it was completely trouble free and was a good bike even on the freeway where cruising at 60mph was no problem. It had tons of power and was economical. Wish I'd kept it longer. New price was $1900.
@@bikerdood1100 27hp and 25Nm in a very light bike made for quite startling quarter mile acceleration slightly better than a full-sized heavy British 650 four stroke sports bike (Thunderbird 6T/Dominator SS/Firebird Scrambler) and it was far quicker from a standing start than my big old heavy shaft-driven Guzzi V7 750 classic.
@@skippmclovan1135 well a lot of bigger bikes are always that great at standing start type acceleration Over taking is a different matter entirely of course, non o& the gear change nonsense required just waft by on a tide of torque, so way better over any longer distances. A different sort of ride
had the 125 Suzuki Duster and it kept up with the bigger bikes because it handled so well and being 2 stroke but wished i had the 185 or the yammy 175 .Loved this vid just wished it was longer
Hodaka were a thing in Australia too, but the market probably wasn’t big enough here to save them. I had a 1973 (I think) TS100 when I was 15 and rode the wheels off it until I got my brothers hand me down 1977 TS250 and got my learners permit the day after I turned 16. What a freedom machine! I did lust after the DT Yamahas of the day though, as they looked much more modern and the monoshock was cool, if not actually any better than the Suzuki’s twin shocks. I still have a couple of ts185’ in the shed. Gear bikes and still going to this day. Rrrrrang dang dang dang 😎
Being a Aussie we had bush and deserts everywhere I would ride 1K from home and I was in the bush back in the 70's. I had a XL175 at that time there were trail bikes all over the place. 1974🐊
Where I grew up we had fields at the top of the street People rode on the fields for decades then because one person complained the police turned up and it wasn’t long before a bylaw was passed and that was that
Dad had the Hodaka Wombat 125. Was a fairly good bike at the time but the chain and sprockets were undersize. I had the DT100 and Dad upgraded to the DT250.
I love the sound of these machines under the narration. Xl185 was the most fun bike I ever had; I was 15, probably weigh 100 pounds had a job had a girl had a bike and I lived with my mom and dad, so I stacking up cash. If I had an unction to be in the desert, I could be in the high desert on South Mountain 10 minutes after I have the thought. I had to cross over an interstate overpass, and there was a mean dog there every single time, and that bastard never got me, but he knew when I went in to South Mountain Park, he knew I was coming out in some number of hours so that was harder to get out of there in one piece.
I remember back in the day, I ended trials and sold my Bultaco Sherpa. I was Yam RD 250 equipped, though I often fancied a Honda XL 250. Top dogs of the trail bikes were Yam DT400 then XT500. Al little later my bruv bought a new Yam XT 250, I was torn between riding the moors on a XT 250 too or hooning around with my mates on Yam RD's & Suzuki GT's. Gradually we figured getting jiggy with gals was easier if we had cars.
I had an early DT1 on Okinawa; I bought it used and think it was a year or two old.. The engine had piston slap when I bought it. It sounded like a wooden match could be slid up between the cylinder wall and the piston skirt. Three years later, it sounded exactly the same. The ignition system was crude. If it had been any more primitive, there would have been a flintlock bolted onto the cylinder head. But, it was utterly reliable. The manual had the standard graph for RPM, torque, and horsepower - with one extra curve I have never seen elsewhere, “Pounds of fuel consumed per horsepower produced”. It bottomed out (most fuel efficient operating speed) directly where the torque curve peaked. That might be the sweet spot for other (all?) engines? Courtesy of Half Vast Flying
The earlier ke175 with the salmon colour tank is exactly the same as mine, brand new in 1975 420pds, only things i would of liked is a lockable fuel cap and lockable seat, which the suzuki had, but ke was much smoother to ride
I rode a Suzuki 185 in the mid 70's. Put a Bassini pipe on it, ported the intake, and larger carb, Wesco piston and the biggest widest knobby that I could fit. A friend had a Honda 125, he would make a run at a hill that I could start at the bottom of. It was a thumper. Stretched a lot of chains and broke a lot of signal lites and a few motor mounts...fun bike, fun times.
I've got a yellow TS185C in the garage similar to the orange one in your film. The later TS's had a reed-valve which helped the midrange, it actually pulls reasonably well from low revs and has a nice mid-range for a 2-stroke. The most I've seen on the speedo is about 69 mph but past 60 the vibrations go up massively and I wouldn't want hold 60+ mph for too long for both my sake and the bike's!
A friend had the same yellow model with a long-range "camel" tank. He used to ride it home and back to his army base, over 650km, each way over weekend passes, outperforming his friend's Honda CD200.
@@DaveZee01 mine came with singe orange body work that has a larger tank. I've never fitted it as the stock tank looks better (the graphics on the orange tank are a bit 80s, more like the ER graphics) and after about 70/80 miles I need to get off the TS anyways!
When I was 13 in 1978 I had a TS100, even now I can still remember that sound. Where I lived at the time we were surrounded by farm tracks and lanes and me and a group of mates used to spend the weekends and school holidays just riding for miles, happy days, I progressed to a RM125 the following year, very different bike and very scary at that age. When my eldest son turned 13 in 2007 I bought him a kawasaki KE100 for his birthday, very similar to the TS100 although it seemed smaller than I remember.
@@bikerdood1100 yes although they don't come up for sale very often, I often think I was lucky growing up in 1970s England, it just seemed like I was surrounded by bikes and bikers.
Nice video - thanks. Here in the UK, I've not encountered any Hodakas or any deserts to ride them in. But I did enjoy riding my mate's TS250 off-road in my parents' garden. Brief off-road excursions with my CB175 showed why ordinary street tyres are not ideal off-road.
@@bikerdood1100they were very well built, if not the fastest or most high tech for their time. As a teenager, I owned an Ace and later a Combat Wombat. The one thing about them that was bothersome was the 20:1 gas/oil mix. Between the prodigious smoke output, and keeping the exhaust pipe and silencer clean, that was really their only drawback. Back then, Klotz castor based oil(Benol) was what we used, which didn’t gunk up the pipe as quickly. Smelled good, too!
The early 70's Kawasaki 175 had 21.5 horsepower and a LOT of low end torque. More than most 250's! I had the Kawasaki 100 Trail Boss 10 speed transmission.
First bike I got in the late 70's was an Old Stock Trail/Trials style DT 175.. £499.. in 1979.. yes, FYC 2 T.. just wish I'd that plate now..! Test over and next bike.. went 4st an road the then 80 Kawasaki Z250 Scorpion.. AYC 290 W. Loved, but hated lack on going that little off road.. So same stable as brilliant Dealer and... Green Meanie 81 KE 175.. BYB 890 X.. really went off everywhere on it 😁.. miss ever parting with that bike.. BUT Wedding etc.. Boy's and Toys had to give.!
Problem for me with the Scorpion was that I’d just passed my test and ran a 500 Guzzi along side which was only slightly heavier, and had a lot more go Consequently I hammered the poor Zed to death Still feel a touch of guilt whenever I see one
@@bikerdood1100 The Z was the best of the 250's at that time over weight of CB, XS and if I'd recall the Yam..!! PS.. it was XS.. Suzuki the GSX Not much over 24hrs of ownership and Sunday run out.. a car with overtaking me took to side swipe and take me off the road.. some months later and the norm straight through a ROUNDabout lane driver almost took me out total.. so a Trail bike again, at least I could always get on the grass. Today.. Himalaya fills the gap..
I owned a 1981 Yamaha DT175H back around 1990. Great bike for both trail riding and commuting back and forth to work. At the time I worked at a Yamaha dealer, so all the better.🙂 Funny true story: My very first motorcycle was a 1972 Yamaha AT-2, a bike similar to the DT175 but with a 125 top end. I bought it as a fixer-upper when I was 15 years old in September of 1981. I paid my $100, pushed it the three miles home, and set about learning how to install and time new points, install a new air filter elment, and then learn how to actually ride it. I started from scratch. In 1981, a vintage bike like my AT-2 was not sought after by anybody because the bike at the time was 9 years old and seen by people as merely obsolete and no more. Certainly not collectable or desirable for anything other than being viewed as an obsolete dirt bike. The new 1981 model dirt bikes were in the midst of a serious technical evolution where every model year had great changes to the suspension, chassis and engine, a 1972 AT-2 was merely an obsolete bike that nobody wanted, unless you were a teen with no money to buy something better. 🤣 Years later, around the late 1990s, I began hearing how vintage dirt and dual-purpose bikes like the AT-2 could suddenly fetch a lot more money that I'd ever consider paying for one. As time went on, this seemed to grow and vintage bikes in good condition reportedly could fetch prices in the thousands of dollars, and this was incredible to me since a new 1972 AT-2 sold for well under $1,000. Don't quote me but I think it listed brand-new for about $699.😮 To me, this was an eye-opener because I rode my AT-2 for a couple years and remembered clearly how back then, you nearly couldn't give it away.
The market has gone a bit crazy for smaller bikes I suspect that because they had no real value a few years ago they simply got ridden into the ground and scrapped Life for a small bike is very tough no wonder so few survive today
At least these bikes were actually usable off-road. Unlike the current crop of 'Adventure' bikes. With huge engines and weighing so much that if you dropped it (which you will off-road) you would need the strength of an olympic weightlifter to pick up again.
I owned and road more than a few of these. And the TS 185 was the standout, the gearbox was indestructible, geometry forgiving (for the time) and the motor made it a fun bike to ride.
Brilliant video I remember a lot of those bike and you reminded me of a few I’d forgotten that was a brilliant time for these types of bikes and they have stood the test of time being as popular as ever if not more so. What do we have now over engineered over sized over weight monsters with tft screens which I hate let’s see how these fare in years to come not as well as the bikes you’ve just reminded us of I’ll bet .
I lived out in the countryside in the 70's and 80's...all the proper motorbike men had a big bike for summertime riding and one of these smaller models for when the roads were snow and ice covered with lashings of salt. Eventually as we aged and got better incomes we bought old cars for winter. I recall Hodaka as all available motorcycle magazines were purchased and they advertised heavily in the American Cycle World.
Most of us Kiwi kids in the late 70's early 80's got our start on the farm bike versions, like the AG 175 rather than the DT. Learned on the farm XL 185 so it was a no brainer to get my own when I got a licence.....then crashed it and bought a CB 650...because that's what you do 👍
Great video , when I was a kid in the late seventies my brother had a Dt125 and I had an xr75 damn I miss those days, a freind of ours had a Suzuki Ds 185 lol, I wanted so badly for that to be my next bike but unfortunately my dad kind of lost interest in riding every Sunday and we all just moved on to other things and interests lol girls mainly aaaauuuugh! Wished we all woulda stuck with dirt bikes 😅
The Suzuki TS185ER was produced in Japan until around 2018, exported to Caribbean countries with lax exhaust gas regulations until the first half of 2023, and re-exported to Amsterdam in Europe, where 2-stroke aversion was mainstream.
i had the 185 suzuki um the yellow one for years , it would do anything you asked of it an lasted for years was probably one of the best bikes i ever owned , wife got mad at me for having to many bikes an it went sadly , what happened was a guy came to the door looking for parts because the local bike shop didn't have what he needed so he said there's a guy lives there try him an she answered the door an decided we weren't a bike shop get rid of all the ones you don't need for work or racing so there it is 🙁
I can see your mistake there First thing I did when I met my wife was taught her to ride She mounted we had too many bikes so I brought one just for her She didn’t complain that one She currently has 3
@@bikerdood1100 when i met my wife was 17 with a 69 kaw 500 triple she has hung onto my back riding wheelies at 100 mph more times than i can count one yr i took my bike to the canadian nationals with a tent spent the night missed her drove home got her drove back to qualify for noon 400 miles in 4 hrs , if she trusts my driving an would rather not have her own bike i'm ok with that lmao but i can understand getting your loved one riding , i grew up racing mx turned to street when i got lisc. an to this day believe thats the safe way to learn to ride , some things your just to old to learn an bikes are one of them , learn to let go of the bike when your 12 is not the same as at 45 say an dirt is easier on the body than ashfault i have the scars to prove that an the broken bones.because if you ride your going to crash at some point , my wife can buy any bike she wants as long as she likes the backseat because i love her
Oh yes, the DT175 with mono-chock suspention. I liked that suspention so much, that I went on with a Yamaha TR1 XV 1000 with a simmilar one... ;o) I must have been unlucky, the 2 TS 175 I have tried, they felt boring. And the rest of the bikes I unfortunately never met.
Thank you for your summation of the 175ish series of the 70s. The Hodaka piece is actually missing any picture of the actual 175. You have many other models but the 175 is not shown. They are elusive as just over 600 175s were made before Hodaka folded.
My dad got me a shinny new 1974 Suzuki TS 185 when I was a kid, great bike. I rode and raced it for several years. You could pretty much double the power of all the 2 strokes with a pipe, carb., porting and head work. The Honda's were dogs, I don't care what the stated power was, it was probably more like 13 hp.
I had a Suzuki 90cc with 4 low gears and 4 high gears and upgraded to a TS185. Had a friend who had a stepdad that took a Honda xl 125 bored and stroked it with all kinds of tweaks and it would outrun a 250.
Авто/Мото
The Yamaha dt 175 is still being made and available brand new today in South Africa. 40 years of production for a motorcycle must say something!
Amazing
Not so in Europe and the US
Hi 🎉 bosswolf,
Wasn't the SP185r a street legal red devil of Suzuki🎉 ......
👍
Sold my carb bikes in uk as fed up of removing jelly and blocked everything
Yeah it says South Africa prefers to not evolve.... Actually I though SA went away a long time ago I guess because SA never does anything...nothing. Where is it anyway???
I had a Yamaha DT 175 Enduro in the 80s it was absolutely one of the best bikes i have ever owned. Wish I had it now 😊
Suspect they fetch silly money these days unfortunately
Nice bike that one.
I had an early 70s DT 175 and it pulled hard, very torquey
I live in a state where I can own & license 2 stroke bikes. There's just something about the pop & crackling at idle of the old bikes that warm the heart.
I understand they are banned in some US states
Ridiculous
@@bikerdood1100 Which states ban them? I've never seen this.
The world needs bikes like these, cheap, reliable, easy to ride and fix. I spent hundreds of hours in my late teens on a TS185, visiting friends and going for rides looking for places to go off road, never let me down once though I bent my share of handlebars, footpegs and levers.
It does , it also needs young people to be ridding them
@terracer I live in New Zealand and we can still get a Suzuki TS 125, basically unchanged since the 1980's, as a farm bike, however, I don't think there is any way it can be made road legal and it's so primitive that it isn't much fun to ride.
@terracer The emission standards kill any possibility of cheap simple 2 strokes. And complex 2 strokes, direct fuel injection, exhaust valve are as expensive as 4 strokes. The answer for the amateur who wants a simple bike for fun in the WE is chinese with the 250, 300 and 450 Zongshen engines.
they get shipped overseas
The XR150 is, relatively speaking, pretty inexpensive, and definitely fun! I bought one two weeks ago, and really enjoy it! Unfortunately, it’s going to be sitting for a few weeks, as I’m having to recover from a MOHS surgery on my shoulder🥺. But it’s carbureted, no ECU, and has Honda quality!
The best thing about Hodaka were the model names. There was the Dirt Squirt, the Road Toad, the Wombat, the Super Rat, the Thunderdog, and my nomination for best motorcycle model name of all time: the Combat Wombat.
What were they drinking back then 😂
My first bike was an Ace, and then I moved up to a Combat Wombat! Yes, weird names, but good bikes! My question is, what is a Grom?
Amazing names.
@@bikerdood1100 It's called having a sense of humor. PaBaTCo owners were also their advertising genius, it's an Oregon thing, you wouldn't understand. They were quirky and wanted their bikes to focus on being fun because trail riding is fun!
The first thing they did after starting their company in 1965 was take two Ace 90's down to Baja California and rode them on backroads and burro tracks all the way from the border to Cabo San Lucas and back. All of these smaller Hodakas had a relatively huge 2.8 gallon fuel tank, because little 2 strokes aren't exactly miserly with fuel, and there were times they had to get someone to bring them fuel on this adventure. There also was an introductory ride/advertisement in moto magazines about their touring around Australia on their new Road Toad 100.
@@tauncfester3022 indeed
I’ll explain irony at some point
Should have worn my William Shatner corset otherwise my side might have split 😂
The TS185 was an excellent motorcycle. I owned a 1975 model that I purchased new for $650. It was a do it all motorcycle.
Nice 👌
The DT 175 and TS 185 were great fun to ride both on and off road back in the early 1970’s. I found them to be surprisingly capable in challenging dirt conditions.
Brilliantly
Yes had buddies with both loved riding both of them, great on off road bikes for a teen in 70s.
Had a TS 185 back in 1976, loved the bike. I was an idiotic 16 year old without any real knowledge and lucked into the bike for the silliest reasons. I hated the ergonomics of the Yamaha and the Honda was 885$ compared to 675 for the Suzuki, so I bought the Suzuki. It wasn't until months later riding trails with friends did I realize the gem I had!
The Suzuki 185 was called the "Sierra".
@@arnenelson4495 good name
my first bike was a 1972 Suzuki TS125 in orange colour...lots of fun on and off road
TS was a popular learner choice
Used to see them everywhere but like a lot of smaller bikes you just don’t see them anymore
Before I was old enough to ride on the road I had a Suzuki Trail Cat TC120. It had 3 speeds for the road and 3 very low ones for trails selectable by a lever on the crankcase.
Nice
Not something any bike features now
I had a 1976 Suzuki TS185,it was my first bike and I loved it
Nice 👍🏻
I always have great memories of my Honda 175,,great bike!
Cool 😎
This brought back a lot of fond memories. Thanks.
Glad you enjoyed it
The first Yamaha DT 175 that you showed was my third ever bike back in the seventies, even down to the colour. What a great little machine that was. I spent many a happy hour every weekend thrashing around the old mine dumps in southern Johannesburg, before having to spend more hours trying to get all the talcum powder fine sand out of every nook and cranny, on both the bike and me, afterwards. Great memories.
Fun times
If you're referring to that white DT175, I think it was the best looking DT in the whole range! Seems like South Africans are big fans of Bikerdood's channel 😊
Love his content!
@@DaveZee01 Hey Dave; it's a really good channel. My DT was the earlier one with the gold paintwork; what a great little bike.
they had a habit of breaking their rear wheel spokes
I'll never forget my '71 Kawasaki F-7 175, it had the totally enclosed, Kei-Hin carb, sitting in front of a rotary valve intake, always thought it was a strange design, but I was always the one that kept riding after a 2ft. high river crossing! it ran forever and NEVER let me down, marriage , kids, and time finally separated us, and I thank bikerdood for keeping those memories alive!!!
No family would ever keep me from my bikes
I taught her to ride so we do everything together
Teaching her to ride was the smartest thing I ever did because never moans when I go out got a ride and I get to use her bikes too
More for me 😂
My first bike, brand new from Collins Motorcycles Truro (gone now), was a TS 185. OGL 749R. Man, I had some fun with it. I was 17 back then. Gran bought it, and Mum went nuts!
Unfortunately so many dealerships are long gone
That's what grandparents do, spoil the grandchild. 😊👍
This vid brings back some very fond memories of my 1971 TS-185. It was an outstanding enduro/dualsport bike - very reliable, low maintenance, very good power, pretty neutral handling, and a joy to ride.
By the way, the Yamaha 175 Enduro back then was a CT-175 -- the DT model was the designation for their DT-250 Enduro. During your discussion you referred to the 175 as both a CT and DT. 👍
Depends on where you are in the world
Never called the CT in Britain 🇬🇧
Point well taken! @@bikerdood1100
I had a 73’ TS185 back in the day. It was one of the best trail and dependable bikes I ever owned. Sure wish I never would’ve sold it cause I’m sure I would still be cruising it around town today.
There’s always other bikes
That’s the beauty of them
I let it run out of 2 stroke oil on the freeway riding from the south coast through Sydney to Gosford on the north side. Rear wheel locked up at 100 k/h managed to pull the clutch in reasonable quick, still left a long streak. Got to our new home after adding some oil, latter wipped the head and barrel off and not a mark, light hone and decoke. As good as new.
I had a few of these bikes in the late seventies and early eighties. They were huge fun and dirt cheap to run and repair. Still some of my favourite all time bikes. Good video.
Very unlike most modern bikes which are heavy and expensive
We always had yamaha dirt bikes, DTs, MXs, and YZs.
But i did enjoy the Bultaco's i had, 250Alpina, 360Matador and a 370 Persang. Maybe a Bultaco story?
They are in my video on European trail bikes
I don't know if it's nostalgia or missing the simple 2 stroke design, but I'm wanting another small cc 2 stroker trail bike these days.
Maybe because the modern alternatives are heaven, complex and expensive
I still like the Styling of the old Enduro Bikes of the 70s. I started Riding Enduro Bikes in 72 when I was 12 Yrs old. My first Bike was a Suzuki Ts or Tc? 100. It has the High Low Range Arm on the side of the Engine. It worked great for climbing big Hills. They were great Bikes and very reliable. My favorites rite as far as looks was the Hondas. Thanks for bringing back some old Memories.👍👍😁
Simplicity was there great attribute
I just bought a DT175 T-shirt, to remind me of my old MX model. Cracking little bike!
Brilliant
In Australia you could still buy a DT175, with front disc brakes, up until the mid 2000s. I had a brand new one in 1991, and my dad still has a 2000 model. Great bikes.
That’s late
Water cooling I expect
I loved the Suzuki TS 185, made excellent power for it's engine size as you said. It felt much lighter than the Suzuki 250 Savage here in the U.S.
Was measured lighter than the 125
I put a 11 tooth primary sprocket and a 52 tooth secondary sprocket on it for mountain riding . Could still street ride up to 50mph . Didn't have to shift a lot of gears riding in the mountains .
my first real motorcycle was exactly as shown the yellow '73 ts185 in 1976 at age 12...a lifetime sickness begins ;)
i had 69 250 savage 260 lbs dry weight 20 some hp i was glad to get rid of it i kinda wish i had a 185 they look sleek
i had 19 75 185 ,,i had it raced up and put rm fenders etc ,i loved that bike had it for years very fast took it of road lots happy days
Thank you. I really enjoyed your video, that brings back such great memories of the bikes that my friends and I have ridden. I still have a 75 CL175 Enduro unfortunately overweight for dirt riding.
Well stirring memories was the aim
My first bike was a Honda XL 125, then upgraded to a Yamaha DT 360 and then changed to road bikes in a Yamaha TX650, with the real soft frame. But still loved riding it
Friend of mine took his test on an XL 125
Good bike for taller riders
Your videos preview a lot of the bikes my friends and I had as a teenager. Now I find myself buying a few of them when I find clean stock examples. It's surprising how little people will let classics like these go for.
Shh
Might not last
I'm keeping my eye open for a couple good ones too.
So many fond memories of these bikes as a kid, especially the DT175 that a neighbor had and I lusted after for many years. Still peruse the for sale sections looking for one locally.
You never know
@bikerdood1100 at some point I'll come across a DT175 or XR200R and I won't be able to resist haha. It's a sickness
I remember reading about the “Hodaka Road Toad” in an early 70’s copy of the US magazine Cycle World that had made its way onto UK magazine stands.
It sold me on small two strokes for dirt bike fun. Now here I am with a 1250GS, the total antithesis to the “Road Toad”. It’s a funny old world….
I think I’ll stick somewhere in between 😂
My mate Jeff was a little older than me, and he had a DT175, when I had a Fizzy. One day while we were riding I indicated, and pulled over on the left, but Jeff didn't see me stop... His handlebar hit my elbow, just a little tap, but it sent him into a tank-slapper, and off he came, dislocating his shoulder! He then had to ride to the local hospital, without using the clutch. Happy memories, strangely!!!
Ouch !!
I had a 73 Kawasaki F6. It was my 3rd bike and the first of a series of orange motorcycles for me. I trail road that bike from age 13 until my 2nd year of college. It was a tad heavier than other bikes but had excellent power considering. What was nice was the oil injection meaning I could travel far away from home and still fill up at a gas station without having to bring two stroke oil with me. The longest off road journey I took was 60 miles each way including riding over a few high railroad trestles. Did that without having to ride on any roads except to cross them. It was quite an adventure for a bunch of 14 year olds. I ended up towing a friend's Suzuki the last 20 miles when his dual range transmission locked up.
If you rode off-road in England when I was 14 you probably got arrested
😂
My Dad and I used to run enduro's on 100cc Hodaka's in the late 60's. I used mine for a couple of years to throw a paper route and saved up to buy a 1971 model Suzuki TS185. It was the first new vehicle I ever payed for with my own money. Dad and I then ran one enduro with me on my new 185 and he still on a 100cc Hodaka. The following weekend, Dad had his own 185. They're both really great bikes in their day. The main thing I liked about the Suzuki was "finally," no longer having to mix gas and oil. I had never before been able to just pull up to a gas pump and not have to worry about the oil mix. I found this video very interesting. I never knew that Hodaka had produced bikes as large as a 175.
Never had a road bike I didn’t pay for myself
Poor parents
Dam it
I've got a couple of Wombats and a couple of Ace 100s and a mongrel Wombat Ace thing I'm piecing together,
But I've never seen a 175, I don't think the 175s were very common they also made Hodaka 250s
The white Hodaka in this video is a 250 enduro, the 250 Hodaka motocross bike was called a Thunder Dog
I've never ridden one myself but those Suzuki 185 have a very good reputation
I remember them being used as rental bikes and they were said to be indestructible
@@bikerdood1100
We were poor, like we couldn't afford toy guns we had to play with broken real ones 🥺
I would love to see you cover the larger displacement trail bikes of this era...250-400cc from the same manufacturers. Great job, it brings back a lot of memories as I saw a few bikes I actually owned over my childhood/teenage years! Ah, the good old days! Keep up the fantastic work!
Already have
Brilliant video. Enjoyed that immensely. Boy, that brought back some great memories.
Glad you enjoyed it
Wow.... Some of these individual models are unknown to me, but the ranges are largely very familiar.
I recall the utterly bizarre look of the first monoshock bikes when they first appeared in the UK.
The various Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha sub-200cc dirt bikes were simply everywhere in the early eighties.
Back then, they always wore knobblies, as the notion of road-biased tyres for dirt bikes hadn't yet hit the marketplace.
Those spindly swing arms!
Those tiny (cable) front brakes!
These were not bikes for a long journey, but around towns and cities or out in the forestry, they were perfect.
Or... They seemed perfect.
It staggers me that anyone who rode one of these is now tottering nervously around on a huge adventure bike they are unable to climb onto with ease.
Somewhere, as our bellies have got fatter and our hair thinner, we have lost our perspective.
Excellent video.
A perfect espresso blast of nostalgia.
Glad you enjoyed it
Quite so, since retiring, my son has taken over my 800GS and I thoroughly enjoy riding Honda XR150L, Yamaha XTZ125 and Zongshen ZSM200, that also gets used for my Learner bike training hobby.
The greatest days of my life was riding my Hodaka with my friends on the acers of strip mines right behind my house in Pittsburgh.
Nice 👍🏻
my 1st bike, back in 77 when I was 16, was a 74 TS185, great little bike!
Cool 😎
not that small for a 16 year old
My father had a brand new Suzuki DS 185 in 1979. It the first full size bike I ever rode. That bike put all the 125's&250's motorcross that were 5yrs newer to Shame in the back woods of Ohio. All good woods bikes are air cooled.
Probably says more about your dads riding than the bike
I wanted a DS 80 as a kid in 1978.😕
I had that exact dt 175 Yam Enduro right down to the colour as a teenager in the early to mid 70’s! I STILL have the battle scars to prove it too!🤣👴🏻🇨🇦
😂😂
1st bike I owned & learned to ride on was a Honda XL175. A 1976 model in blue purchased at Scona Cycle in Edmonton Alberta. Among the more docile bikes vs its contemporaries but super reliable. I recall riding it into what I thought was a puddle that turned out to be a rather deep hole made by a backhoe it was submerged up to the tank...With the help of a buddy riding a Suzuki we extricated the bike & I pulled the spark plug, kicked it over to expel the water. Plug back in I got 'er started & rode it back home. 3 oil changes to purge the engine of any water & she was good as new. I regret selling it decades later.... Prior to selling I pulled the head to change the rings & there was no evidence of any wear due to my little mishap years before.
Got the most out the tough little critter
8:09 My very first bike was a TS100ER in the same style as the red 185 in the video (mine was the white scheme with the blue stripes)
Crazy reliable, very slow, but it got me started in dirtbikes, something I still enjoy at age 56.
These days riding a Sherco 300SE Factory Enduro 🙂
Still like the loose stuff then
@@bikerdood1100
100% mate, yes.
Never owner a tarmac bike actually. We poke around in gullies and forests cutting our own single track these days 🙂👍
I love small bikes & the DTs, in another video I mentioned the 175 I put into a 90cc Harley, it's so light & has just enough power it goes anywhere. Since then I got a dirt track DT400 with a bend in the frame, I'm building it into a custom chopper lol, the mono-shock steel swing arm is perfect for a bobber/ chopper. Your channel and videos are top-notch...
That’s different
I think you"l find the DT400 a bit of a damp squib,, better the It400
@@blackhat400 Thanks for the advice, I will look into them, it's my first road bike. A 185 is the biggest bike I have got to ride so far lol so I'm open to anything...
Yes i had a TS185 same model as the orange one you showed(blue),sat my test on it ,great little bike👍
Now the poor kids get 4 stroke 125s
So it’s either 15 pesky horses
Or 12 slightly more useable ones
Or less of course
Pants in a word
Absolutely pants
Had the later DT125 with a tear drop tank as they called it
Brilliant bike..So reliable.,👍🍀
😎cool
Ah the sound of my early teen years when ring dings ruled the town. The best era late 70s 80s and early 90s to be a bike guy from small 2 stroke enduros to learn on, up to the massive superbikes of 90s that introduced a young 20 something into the world of 150 mph plus club
All got over they top and stupid expensive now
@@bikerdood1100 No doubt the cost of a 600 now over 10 12 grand new is crazy. I bought a new 600 yrs ago while working part time high school job at minimum wage. high school kike making min. wage could not afford thet now unless he paid it off over 6 or 7 yrs on part time job while student
Kawasaki also made the bigger brother KE250 which was a nice all rounder circa 1980. I had one brand new and loved it. After 2 or 3 years a small patch of rust broke out in one lower corner of the red painted fuel tank which surprised me due to the randomness. Other than that it was completely trouble free and was a good bike even on the freeway where cruising at 60mph was no problem. It had tons of power and was economical. Wish I'd kept it longer. New price was $1900.
Remember the KE 250 well
Used to be a common site but like so many have become a rare site now
@@bikerdood1100 27hp and 25Nm in a very light bike made for quite startling quarter mile acceleration slightly better than a full-sized heavy British 650 four stroke sports bike (Thunderbird 6T/Dominator SS/Firebird Scrambler) and it was far quicker from a standing start than my big old heavy shaft-driven Guzzi V7 750 classic.
@@skippmclovan1135 well a lot of bigger bikes are always that great at standing start type acceleration
Over taking is a different matter entirely of course, non o& the gear change nonsense required just waft by on a tide of torque, so way better over any longer distances.
A different sort of ride
Hey I suggested this class 175/185s so cool! Great job man!
Glad you enjoyed it
had the 125 Suzuki Duster and it kept up with the bigger bikes because it handled so well and being 2 stroke but wished i had the 185 or the yammy 175 .Loved this vid just wished it was longer
Well I can always make more
There’s limit film of some bikes
And the limited attention span of people of course
Hodaka were a thing in Australia too, but the market probably wasn’t big enough here to save them.
I had a 1973 (I think) TS100 when I was 15 and rode the wheels off it until I got my brothers hand me down 1977 TS250 and got my learners permit the day after I turned 16.
What a freedom machine!
I did lust after the DT Yamahas of the day though, as they looked much more modern and the monoshock was cool, if not actually any better than the Suzuki’s twin shocks.
I still have a couple of ts185’ in the shed.
Gear bikes and still going to this day.
Rrrrrang dang dang dang 😎
Interesting
No response from here so I’m assuming they were never imported
Being a Aussie we had bush and deserts everywhere I would ride 1K from home and I was in the bush back in the 70's. I had a XL175 at that time there were trail bikes all over the place. 1974🐊
Where I grew up we had fields at the top of the street
People rode on the fields for decades then because one person complained the police turned up and it wasn’t long before a bylaw was passed and that was that
@@bikerdood1100
Dad had the Hodaka Wombat 125. Was a fairly good bike at the time but the chain and sprockets were undersize. I had the DT100 and Dad upgraded to the DT250.
Cool
I love the sound of these machines under the narration. Xl185 was the most fun bike I ever had; I was 15, probably weigh 100 pounds had a job had a girl had a bike and I lived with my mom and dad, so I stacking up cash. If I had an unction to be in the desert, I could be in the high desert on South Mountain 10 minutes after I have the thought. I had to cross over an interstate overpass, and there was a mean dog there every single time, and that bastard never got me, but he knew when I went in to South Mountain Park, he knew I was coming out in some number of hours so that was harder to get out of there in one piece.
Oddly some have complained about the engine sound 🤷🏼
I remember back in the day, I ended trials and sold my Bultaco Sherpa. I was Yam RD 250 equipped, though I often fancied a Honda XL 250. Top dogs of the trail bikes were Yam DT400 then XT500. Al little later my bruv bought a new Yam XT 250, I was torn between riding the moors on a XT 250 too or hooning around with my mates on Yam RD's & Suzuki GT's. Gradually we figured getting jiggy with gals was easier if we had cars.
Most of those bikes are covered in some of my other videos as a matter of fact
The KE 175 is the only 2 stroke above 125cc i ever rode that didn't scare the hell out of me haha.
Two strokes work better at lower capacity anyway anything above 250 and the draw backs become more apparent
I had an early DT1 on Okinawa; I bought it used and think it was a year or two old.. The engine had piston slap when I bought it. It sounded like a wooden match could be slid up between the cylinder wall and the piston skirt. Three years later, it sounded exactly the same.
The ignition system was crude. If it had been any more primitive, there would have been a flintlock bolted onto the cylinder head. But, it was utterly reliable.
The manual had the standard graph for RPM, torque, and horsepower - with one extra curve I have never seen elsewhere, “Pounds of fuel consumed per horsepower produced”. It bottomed out (most fuel efficient operating speed) directly where the torque curve peaked. That might be the sweet spot for other (all?) engines?
Courtesy of Half Vast Flying
Feel sorry for the bike
Obviously had a hard life at some point
Great video! I had a Suzuki TS 175, great bike.
Glad you enjoyed it
The earlier ke175 with the salmon colour tank is exactly the same as mine, brand new in 1975 420pds, only things i would of liked is a lockable fuel cap and lockable seat, which the suzuki had, but ke was much smoother to ride
Ahh
That stuff was for posh bikes
Would be handy though
What's amazing is the condition of these bikes.
Expect some re build work has gone on
Possibly at some expense
I learned to ride on a Honda trail 90, then an XL 125, then a YZ 125. The 70's was awesome !!!
Cool 😎
We used to rent the Suzuki TS185s on weekends while stationed in Anniston Alabama for MP school. $5 an hour. What a blast!
That’s value for money
I rode a Suzuki 185 in the mid 70's. Put a Bassini pipe on it, ported the intake, and larger carb, Wesco piston and the biggest widest knobby that I could fit. A friend had a Honda 125, he would make a run at a hill that I could start at the bottom of. It was a thumper. Stretched a lot of chains and broke a lot of signal lites and a few motor mounts...fun bike, fun times.
Used and abused
Just as their maker intended
Used and abused
Just as their maker intended
I've got a yellow TS185C in the garage similar to the orange one in your film. The later TS's had a reed-valve which helped the midrange, it actually pulls reasonably well from low revs and has a nice mid-range for a 2-stroke. The most I've seen on the speedo is about 69 mph but past 60 the vibrations go up massively and I wouldn't want hold 60+ mph for too long for both my sake and the bike's!
Some strokers can be pretty buzzy
A friend had the same yellow model with a long-range "camel" tank. He used to ride it home and back to his army base, over 650km, each way over weekend passes, outperforming his friend's Honda CD200.
@@DaveZee01 mine came with singe orange body work that has a larger tank. I've never fitted it as the stock tank looks better (the graphics on the orange tank are a bit 80s, more like the ER graphics) and after about 70/80 miles I need to get off the TS anyways!
When I was 13 in 1978 I had a TS100, even now I can still remember that sound. Where I lived at the time we were surrounded by farm tracks and lanes and me and a group of mates used to spend the weekends and school holidays just riding for miles, happy days, I progressed to a RM125 the following year, very different bike and very scary at that age. When my eldest son turned 13 in 2007 I bought him a kawasaki KE100 for his birthday, very similar to the TS100 although it seemed smaller than I remember.
Yea we saw a lot on the 100cc versions of these bikes in the Uk
@@bikerdood1100 yes although they don't come up for sale very often, I often think I was lucky growing up in 1970s England, it just seemed like I was surrounded by bikes and bikers.
@@sambrooks7862 not so now
Feel like an endangered species
@@bikerdood1100 yeah, we were at a bbq yesterday and we're all getting old, there's not going to be anyone to pass the torch to, quite sad really.
Nice video - thanks.
Here in the UK, I've not encountered any Hodakas or any deserts to ride them in.
But I did enjoy riding my mate's TS250 off-road in my parents' garden. Brief off-road excursions with my CB175 showed why ordinary street tyres are not ideal off-road.
Well me neither I don’t think they were ever sold her, maybe competition bikes but I’ve never seen one
@@bikerdood1100they were very well built, if not the fastest or most high tech for their time. As a teenager, I owned an Ace and later a Combat Wombat. The one thing about them that was bothersome was the 20:1 gas/oil mix. Between the prodigious smoke output, and keeping the exhaust pipe and silencer clean, that was really their only drawback. Back then, Klotz castor based oil(Benol) was what we used, which didn’t gunk up the pipe as quickly. Smelled good, too!
I did a fair amount of off-roading on a CB160 with bald street tires. It bottomed with a fierce "KLANG!" 😉
Would love to see a video of the Indian Dirtbikes of the 1960's and 1970's.
Indian the company I assume
These were of course Asian built bikes rebadged
Either during the Clymer era post of course
The early 70's Kawasaki 175 had 21.5 horsepower and a LOT of low end torque. More than most 250's! I had the Kawasaki 100 Trail Boss 10 speed transmission.
Cool but I think power was nearer 16 hp 😎
First bike I got in the late 70's was an Old Stock Trail/Trials style DT 175.. £499.. in 1979.. yes, FYC 2 T.. just wish I'd that plate now..!
Test over and next bike.. went 4st an road the then 80 Kawasaki Z250 Scorpion.. AYC 290 W. Loved, but hated lack on going that little off road.. So same stable as brilliant Dealer and... Green Meanie 81 KE 175.. BYB 890 X.. really went off everywhere on it 😁.. miss ever parting with that bike.. BUT Wedding etc.. Boy's and Toys had to give.!
Problem for me with the Scorpion was that I’d just passed my test and ran a 500 Guzzi along side which was only slightly heavier, and had a lot more go
Consequently I hammered the poor Zed to death
Still feel a touch of guilt whenever I see one
@@bikerdood1100 The Z was the best of the 250's at that time over weight of CB, XS and if I'd recall the Yam..!! PS.. it was XS.. Suzuki the GSX
Not much over 24hrs of ownership and Sunday run out.. a car with overtaking me took to side swipe and take me off the road.. some months later and the norm straight through a ROUNDabout lane driver almost took me out total.. so a Trail bike again, at least I could always get on the grass.
Today.. Himalaya fills the gap..
I owned a 1981 Yamaha DT175H back around 1990.
Great bike for both trail riding and commuting back and forth to work.
At the time I worked at a Yamaha dealer, so all the better.🙂
Funny true story:
My very first motorcycle was a 1972 Yamaha AT-2, a bike similar to the DT175 but with a 125 top end.
I bought it as a fixer-upper when I was 15 years old in September of 1981.
I paid my $100, pushed it the three miles home, and set about learning how to install and time new points, install a new air filter elment, and then learn how to actually ride it.
I started from scratch.
In 1981, a vintage bike like my AT-2 was not sought after by anybody because the bike at the time was 9 years old and seen by people as merely obsolete and no more.
Certainly not collectable or desirable for anything other than being viewed as an obsolete dirt bike.
The new 1981 model dirt bikes were in the midst of a serious technical evolution where every model year had great changes to the suspension, chassis and engine, a 1972 AT-2 was merely an obsolete bike that nobody wanted, unless you were a teen with no money to buy something better. 🤣
Years later, around the late 1990s, I began hearing how vintage dirt and dual-purpose bikes like the AT-2 could suddenly fetch a lot more money that I'd ever consider paying for one.
As time went on, this seemed to grow and vintage bikes in good condition reportedly could fetch prices in the thousands of dollars, and this was incredible to me since a new 1972 AT-2 sold for well under $1,000.
Don't quote me but I think it listed brand-new for about $699.😮
To me, this was an eye-opener because I rode my AT-2 for a couple years and remembered clearly how back then, you nearly couldn't give it away.
The market has gone a bit crazy for smaller bikes I suspect that because they had no real value a few years ago they simply got ridden into the ground and scrapped
Life for a small bike is very tough no wonder so few survive today
We had 1975 Yamaha DT125(red w electric start! Magic!!)& a DT175 (blue) those were tough and fun bikes, I’m looking for one to restore now.
👍🏻
At least these bikes were actually usable off-road. Unlike the current crop of 'Adventure' bikes. With huge engines and weighing so much that if you dropped it (which you will off-road) you would need the strength of an olympic weightlifter to pick up again.
The current crop are touring bikes in drag in reality
@@bikerdood1100 I certainly wouldn't take one off-road.
But they still sell the small bikes and they're pretty good.
@@ronfox5519 better a lot of the time
Especially when compared the 2 wheeled buses they call adventure bikes
@@bikerdood1100
Haha!
Two wheeled busses. I'm gonna use that.
You tell us everything we need to know, except where to find one!!!!!😊😊😊😊😊🏍🏍🏍👍👍👍🍺🍺🍺
Well I’m not a salesman 😂
Or I’m i trying to sell anything
If I knew where some of These bikes were I’d try to buy myself
I owned and road more than a few of these. And the TS 185 was the standout, the gearbox was indestructible, geometry forgiving (for the time) and the motor made it a fun bike to ride.
Suzuki often seemed to have excellent gear boxes
Finding neutral apart
Had a Kwaka 90SSS 1971, rotary valve, simple - good with high and low dual sprockets. Oiled plugs sometimes but was eady to swap.
Two stroke owners got used to regular plug changes
Brilliant video I remember a lot of those bike and you reminded me of a few I’d forgotten that was a brilliant time for these types of bikes and they have stood the test of time being as popular as ever if not more so. What do we have now over engineered over sized over weight monsters with tft screens which I hate let’s see how these fare in years to come not as well as the bikes you’ve just reminded us of I’ll bet .
Glad you enjoyed it
I lived out in the countryside in the 70's and 80's...all the proper motorbike men had a big bike for summertime riding and one of these smaller models for when the roads were snow and ice covered with lashings of salt. Eventually as we aged and got better incomes we bought old cars for winter. I recall Hodaka as all available motorcycle magazines were purchased and they advertised heavily in the American Cycle World.
Proper 😂
I personally enjoy riding bikes of all sizes
Except mopeds, too slow for safety
I remain no fan of the motorcar
I’m stubborn that way 😂
I've got a 1982 KE125 Love it 🙂
Cool 😎
I rode a TS185 aged about 10. Wasn't until i got on a CR80 that i realised what a high performance two stroke was. Made the 185 feel like a moped
Well yeh when you rev them
Hardly user friendly things in my experience
Most of us Kiwi kids in the late 70's early 80's got our start on the farm bike versions, like the AG 175 rather than the DT. Learned on the farm XL 185 so it was a no brainer to get my own when I got a licence.....then crashed it and bought a CB 650...because that's what you do 👍
Well yes as you do
Have you heard of a "Mountain Goat" the Kiwi bike with a Kawasaki engine ?
I love these bikes.
It’s a popular video that’s for sure
In the seventies Southern California desert racing had a hundred cc class. Hodakas were everywhere!
You wonder how it it went wrong for them
I owned one of the Yamaha DT 175’s. Bought it new in 1975 for about $800.00 and rode it to work for several years until i got an RD 350!
Must do a video on the rd 350
I had that same Hodaka Road Toad. 100cc was not enough to get out of it's own way. Cool looking though.
How did they come up with their names
@@bikerdood1100 it was the seventies, every thing was cool back then.
I had a dt100 ,dt250 ,dt 400. All great bikes. Yamaha knows how to make a reliable bike
Need to do a DT video
Great video , when I was a kid in the late seventies my brother had a Dt125 and I had an xr75 damn I miss those days, a freind of ours had a Suzuki Ds 185 lol, I wanted so badly for that to be my next bike but unfortunately my dad kind of lost interest in riding every Sunday and we all just moved on to other things and interests lol girls mainly aaaauuuugh! Wished we all woulda stuck with dirt bikes 😅
I just found a girl and taught her to ride a motorcycle
Problem solved 😂
@@bikerdood1100 LoL, wished I woulda thought about that like forty or so years ago 👍
Any of these would be fun!
True
The CT 175 was a great bike to start your riding career on. It was lighter than the 125 and had much more usable power.
125 can be a bit revvy
I loved my Suzuki ts 185, rode it everywhere.
What they were made for
Had a Suzi 185. Great bike
Cool 😎
Hello its fantastick bike.Thank you.
Nice 👌
The Suzuki TS185ER was produced in Japan until around 2018, exported to Caribbean countries with lax exhaust gas regulations until the first half of 2023, and re-exported to Amsterdam in Europe, where 2-stroke aversion was mainstream.
Interesting 🤔
i had the 185 suzuki um the yellow one for years , it would do anything you asked of it an lasted for years was probably one of the best bikes i ever owned , wife got mad at me for having to many bikes an it went sadly , what happened was a guy came to the door looking for parts because the local bike shop didn't have what he needed so he said there's a guy lives there try him an she answered the door an decided we weren't a bike shop get rid of all the ones you don't need for work or racing so there it is 🙁
I can see your mistake there
First thing I did when I met my wife was taught her to ride
She mounted we had too many bikes so I brought one just for her
She didn’t complain that one
She currently has 3
@@bikerdood1100 when i met my wife was 17 with a 69 kaw 500 triple she has hung onto my back riding wheelies at 100 mph more times than i can count one yr i took my bike to the canadian nationals with a tent spent the night missed her drove home got her drove back to qualify for noon 400 miles in 4 hrs , if she trusts my driving an would rather not have her own bike i'm ok with that lmao but i can understand getting your loved one riding , i grew up racing mx turned to street when i got lisc. an to this day believe thats the safe way to learn to ride , some things your just to old to learn an bikes are one of them , learn to let go of the bike when your 12 is not the same as at 45 say an dirt is easier on the body than ashfault i have the scars to prove that an the broken bones.because if you ride your going to crash at some point , my wife can buy any bike she wants as long as she likes the backseat because i love her
Oh yes, the DT175 with mono-chock suspention. I liked that suspention so much, that I went on with a Yamaha TR1 XV 1000 with a simmilar one... ;o) I must have been unlucky, the 2 TS 175 I have tried, they felt boring. And the rest of the bikes I unfortunately never met.
Depends when and where you were using it I suspect
TS 250 Suzuki and the ankle breaker 360 Yamaha for me.
That’s z two stroke singles
Kick like you mean it or else
The most fun you could have without tarmac so much more useable that the monster duel sports bikes popular today
Very true
Thank you for your summation of the 175ish series of the 70s. The Hodaka piece is actually missing any picture of the actual 175. You have many other models but the 175 is not shown. They are elusive as just over 600 175s were made before Hodaka folded.
Try finding one was the problem
Who knows how many survivors there are and are Acton film
My dad got me a shinny new 1974 Suzuki TS 185 when I was a kid, great bike. I rode and raced it for several years. You could pretty much double the power of all the 2 strokes with a pipe, carb., porting and head work. The Honda's were dogs, I don't care what the stated power was, it was probably more like 13 hp.
Good dad
I had a Suzuki 90cc with 4 low gears and 4 high gears and upgraded to a TS185. Had a friend who had a stepdad that took a Honda xl 125 bored and stroked it with all kinds of tweaks and it would outrun a 250.
Well out running the 250s probably says more about the rider I expect
Those Suzuki 90s were nice little bikes
Did it have the chrome exhaust ?
In recent years I had a Honda 185 and sold it. As far as I know it is still running
Small bikes do have the advantage off easy maintenance so it’s much easy to keep em rolling
I have a 1990 model TS 185, and it has unsurpassed reliability, quality and power, far above the Yamaha DT and more economical. your videos are good.
Thanks
The compression on the Suzuki is measured from when exhaust port closes, not from bottom dead center.
Well it is a two Stoke
So of course
Some stokers still run a relatively high compression however
MZ 10:1 for example