Some builds begin with a sketch or a plan. The Blue Wombat began with childhood memories of watching CHiPs and dreaming of dirt bikes. Decades later, Tony Prust brought that memory to life in chrome, powder coat, and two-stroke smoke.
Tony Prust has always been drawn to vintage dirt bikes. The spark came when he was a kid, glued to episodes of CHiPs. The off-road segments stuck in his mind. Riding old enduro machines on trails looked like freedom. Practical? Not so much. By the time Tony was old enough to ride, modern dirt bikes made more sense than trying to wring performance out of old iron. Still, the romance of those little trail bikes never left him.
Hodaka, in particular, always stood out. The brand had a playful streak that no one else could match. Their models had names like Road Toad, Dirt Squirt, Super Rat, Combat Wombat. No one today comes up with names that fun.
Years later, when Tony spotted a pair of Hodakas at a swap meet, he scooped them up. Books, memorabilia, parts — he started collecting anything he could find connected to the quirky little brand.
The one that stuck was a 1973 Hodaka Wombat 125. At first, the plan was modest. A ratty second ice bike for friends to try out. Something to thrash around on in the winter. But when he rolled the bike into his shop and started peeling back the layers, reality hit.
The forks were the wrong size and shoved into the stock triples. The front wheel came from who-knows-what. The tank leaked like a sieve. The shocks were shot. Every time he tried to fix one problem, two more popped up. What started as a beater snowball’d into something else entirely.
Tony leaned into the process. He fabricated neck extensions so he could retrofit an SR500 Yamaha front end he had lying around. Race Tech springs and Gold Valve emulators made the suspension work like new.
A Kawasaki dirt bike hub was identified by his friend PJ from Chijer’s Vintage Bike Works, which let him track down fresh brake shoes. The rear wheel stayed stock, rebuilt with a Buchanan’s stainless spoke kit. The stance was sorted with a pair of Royal Enfield shocks from an older build, resprung to fit.
The bodywork took shape with a mix of fabrication and restoration. Tony bobbed the rear fender and had it re-chromed. He hand-shaped and polished a new front fender, plus a front number plate.
Both pieces were clear powder coated to lock in the shine. A repopped chrome tank from eBay fit the bill, and the finishing touch came from Brando, who hand-painted Hodaka logos on the seat and bar wrap along with the “Blue Wombat” name on the airbox.
The color scheme came together around a set of blue Oury grips Tony had on hand. The frame and other parts were powder coated in a blue with a flat clear finish that gave it an anodized look. Combined with the polished alloy and chrome, the bike had a clean, sharp presence that matched its playful name.
The engine was handed off to two-stroke specialist Ryan Hunt, son of Tony’s old metal-shaping mentor Devlin. Ryan rebuilt it from the ground up, pausing midway so everything could be powder coated in wrinkle black. The exhaust heat shield got the same treatment. The carbs were rebuilt and a K&N filter slotted into the stock airbox.
Lighting and wiring turned into their own challenge. Tony wanted LEDs, so he converted the electrical system to run on 12v. That meant building a system with a small reg/rec on the lighting coil, blocking cycles with a diode to trick the LEDs into seeing DC current. It’s a half-wave setup, but it works. For now, the lights stay steady, with a Denali D4 up front and Analog Motor Goods’ own Reverse Bates tail light out back.
Small touches make the bike even more personal. Kevin from Free Form Design, a friend and CNC machinist, had once surprised Tony with a Hodaka logo cut from aluminum. Powder coated blue, it now pops against the chrome tank. A custom seat came from Dane Utech at Plz.be.seated. Magura classic controls, Fly bars, an aftermarket speedo, and blue grips tie the cockpit together.
The Blue Wombat was mostly finished over a year ago, but Tony held it back. He wanted it running perfectly before showing it. At one point a mistake meant the top end had to be rebuilt a second time — a frustrating setback, but one more step in making it right. For Tony, no bike goes public until it’s been ridden and proven.
By the time the Blue Wombat came together the ice season was long over, so Tony aimed it at a different role. A mini enduro, playful and light, but finished to a standard that few Hodakas could ever dream of.
The first photo shoot came in bittersweet fashion. Tony was preparing to relocate from Illinois to Tennessee, and on the same day he said goodbye to his daily-driven 1964 Chevy C10. Photographer Daniel Peter shot the bike alongside the truck before it left, capturing one chapter closing as another opened.
The Blue Wombat lives on with Tony in Tennessee, at least for now. Whether it stays or moves to another home, it stands as a perfect example of how even the humblest little trail bike can be reborn with craft, persistence, and a little obsession. It might just be the most expensive Hodaka ever built.
Special thanks to Alpinestars and Bell Helmets for the gear during the shoot.
[ Built by: Analog Motorcycles | Photography: Daniel Peter ]
