Wart's Up?: 1976 Hodaka Road Toad

Nowadays we call them dual sports - Swiss army knife bikes that can do both on road and off road.  Back in the 70's we called them enduros after the enduro events like the International Six Day Trial, where competing bikes had to be street-able as well as able to handle the rough stuff.  When the nuts at Hodaka finally built an enduro, of course it had to have a wacky name, and it did:  Road Toad.  Find this 1976 Hodaka Road Toad for sale on Fox Island, WA for $3,900 via craigslist.

This Toad has only hopped 687 miles since it rolled out of the factory 40 years ago.  It doesn't look like a barn find, or maybe it was and the seller cleaned it up before posting it for sale.  Who knows, since the ad text (ALL CAPS) is only 43 characters long.  Guess you gotta call Bob to find out.

With an ad that is short even for a tweet, it's unknown if the lights and accessories work or even the engine works.  The engine is a 98cc reed valve, two stroke single.  This engine was the first Hodaka to have oil injection, so you didn't have to do the oil and gas mixing thing.  It also boasted a 26mm Mikuni "racing carb".  You found 26's on 125's from the big four, not on their 100's.

The frame for the Toad was a version of the MX Wombat frame.  I just love Hodaka's bike names.  Unfortunately, it doesn't share anything with the Dirt Squirt, but I was still able to type Dirt Squirt.  Back to this low mile example, the pipe on this bike looks good, the chrome nice and shiny and the seat unripped or split.  Even though the price seems high to me, you'd be hard pressed to buy a new dual sport for the same money and have something even half as cool.

See a better example of 1970's wacky-ness? email us here: tips@dailyturismo.com

Gianni is Daily Turismo's Pacific Northwest correspondent. His first motorcycle was green too, but it was from brand K.