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In case you didn't know, the NT647GT Hawk is the bike journalist's bike,
because aside from being enormously satisfying to ride, it's relatively
cheap. Bike journalism doesn't pay a lot and it's tough to decide to buy
anything when you have access to a lot of new bikes to take home every day.
Hawks didn't sell well when they were new for some reason, and now they're
kind of hard to come by. But when you do, it won't be over four grand (US$)
and it will make you glad you ever threw a leg over a bike.
The frame is a production version of the GP proddie racer RS250, complete
with stylin' single sided swingarm. Ultrarigid, equipped with a 52 degree
v-twin engine with character. No, it doesn't make much horsepower, but check
this- three valves per cylinder, twin sparkplugs, and a fine, flat torque
curve. But none of that matters when you take it for a spin, and realize
that not only would it be a nice bike for a beginner, but a spin through
the canyons (Oh God how much I miss the beautiful backroads of the US) and
you realize that it would be a fine, challenging mount for the advanced
rider.
I took mine out to Trackriders at Willow Springs before I left, and had
a wonderful day squirting past more affluent riders (who had obviously never
raced) on their ZX-7Rs, 916s, and 900RRs. Passing everyone everywhere, on the brakes because it's so light, in the
turns because it's all tires (just look at one from behind and you'll know
what I'm talking about), and even on the straights because it allows you
to carry a lot of speed you keep building on as you exit a turn. The weaknesses
it shows when pushed at racing speeds is the forks, and I've fixed that.
And the engine, well, in the real world, how much power can you actually
use? It's Honda Civic reliable, even on the mild performance state I've
got mine. Sure, what I really want is a Ducati 916 with the full corsa 955
kit, but this I can afford. Better yet, I found one, and it's mine already.
Nyah nyah.
I smuggled my Hawk to the Philippines the hard way. Totally disassembled
it, and took the frame as check in luggage. I traded
in a badly crashed but still well running FJ1200 at Christman's Cycle Recyclers for: 1993
adjustable rebound cartridge style 600F2 forks, complete with brake calipers,
F2 rotors, a 900RR adjustable shock, and a pair of 1994 VFR wheels. The front is 3 1/2" wide,
which means I can run the best tires from any company, and the rear is 5
inch, which means I can run 170s on the rear. A 180 series tire fits, but it makes the bike feel like it grew a couple of inches longer. I also got the rear axle spindle
assembly, which meant I was be able to bolt everything right on, just having
to make a spacer for the longer axle and a small bracket for the brake mount.
The bike already had F2 clip-ons, but I'm going to leave my control cables
long enough to run the other bars I happen to have lying around, FJ1100
low rise jobbies, complete with massive master brake cylinder and huge steel
end weights. Sure, they're not the most sporting things in town, heavy and
all, but I think a little stability in the front end and a little rise will
be nice around town, especially as the 900RR shock raised the tail a good half inch. The rake still isn't too steep. I'll switch back to the clip-ons
for the track.
The engine is stock, but I got a Two Brothers exhaust with the new oval
can and the high durability ceramic silver finish and the Factory Config
10 jet kit. But one day just for fun I fitted an old Ontario full race muffler that makes it obnoxiously loud, just the thing for the brutal streets of Manila. After you look through the attached links, you'll realize that
I should have researched the net first and just bought the correct jets,
but heck, I don't feel bad about sending a little money to Factory for their
tireless efforts developing bikes on a dyno. Anyway, I run it with cheap
Uni pod filters because the stock filter is really expensive. I'd like to
get K&N's for it, and in any case the intake doesn't matter on this
particular bike since the real restriction on intake is the mild cam. Otherwise,
I'm a big fan of keeping the factory air box to preserve midrange.
Later I'll flycut the cylinders down a little to raise compression and slot
the cams for optimal advance. At that point, I'll do a mild head cleanup,
matching ports, etc. I also got a Corbin seat. Since they make each one
to order, I asked for a black one with no red piping, and I'm glad I did
coz it looks bitchin'. At some point I'll put a nose fairing on it and I'm
looking for someone local to make an aluminum gas tank. I'd actually like
to try to make a pressurized airbox, but don't hold your breath. Ditto for
the aluminum rear subframe. It's a minimal bike, but I found stuff to take
off and toss, and the previous owner had already done some of that, hacksawing
the bungee rails and taillight stuff right off.
The bike alas has been made totally obsolescent by Honda's VTR1000 and maybe even the Suzuki SV650 but
I plan on keeping this one for as long as I live anyway, and I've had a
lot of bikes in my day. She's a keeper.
http://www.hawkgt.com/ This one has good links
the Hawk Connection - racing Hawks in the Bay Area and selling hotrod parts to support the habit.
http://www.reish.net/hawk/Personal site with tons of great tech info
And heck, there is a whole honda Hawk Ring
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