Lowering Link

[CoolBenge]

Anybody know if a lowering link is available for the Hawl. Karen stands about 5'2" and her Hawk is too tall for her.

Tim

[tkm433]

Re: Lowering Link

Anybody know if a lowering link is available for the Hawl. Karen stands about 5'2" and her Hawk is too tall for her.

Tim

There is really no easy way to lower the Hawk.

First off it does not use a linkage type suspension that is not a way of doing it.

Unless you find a shorter rear shock that might be able to accept the stock spring you might be out of luck.

There was an aftermarket shock listed on ebay a few weeks ago that was designed to do what you want to do so I guess if you are willing to spend the money you can find what you need.

Small stuff that you could do but it would not lower the bike much would be if you are using the stock size tire 150/70 and 110/80 is to replace them with a 150/60 and a 110/70 being that these tires would lower the bike just a very little amount.

The final one would to replace the shock end bearings with offset drilled bronze bushings which would work for lowering a bike but do not know how long they would last. They use bronze bushings in older bike swingarm pivots and linkage so it could work on the Hawk rear shock.

[jaysun0ne]

doesnt a corbin seat give you an extra inch???

wich is taller corbin or stock?

if you can weld i can show you what i did even though i raised my seat an inch it could be done in the opposit direction

your best bet is to do a number of small things untill you got it right.

[Hanadad]

Right, links do not apply in this case. By the time you messed around getting custom machined parts made up to mount the shock differently, you'd exceed the cost of a new, shorter (and superior to stock) shock. Unless you can DIY. Remember though, you are messing with the bike's geometry, and even if you lowered the front also, the swingarm angle will be compromised. If she dosen't ride to athletically, it my not be noticable to her and functional, but still compromised. A cutdown seat is usually a safe and relatively inexpensive place to start.

[nomoduc]

doesnt a corbin seat give you an extra inch???

wich is taller corbin or stock?

Yeah but it is also a lil wider to spread weight around. A friend of mine took off cover of her seat and shaved down foam as much as she could without taking to much comfort away.

[MrDude_1]

tell her to get over her fears, take a safety course so she knows how to REALLY ride, esp the low speed stuff..... and by the time shes done, she'll realise she doesnt need both feet flat on the ground to ride safely.
shes the same height as alot of racers, and the shorter stature of alot of the people who design sportbikes...

besides.. a hawk is light. nice and easy to single foot stop.

[joel]

A few things:

Corbin seats effectively raise the height due to being wider.Many shorter of inseam Hawkers have them made with a "nose job" to narrow the front.Several people have cut down the stock seat but there isn't a bunch to work with.

Fitting a 150/60 rear can help,as can running a 110/60 front-and dropping the forks.The problem with f'ing with ride height is that a Hawk really wants more in the rear so everything you do to such an end means a bike that loses the Hawks strong suit.There's also the issue of reducing ground clearance.Of course both depend upon the rider's style and honestly,if a person is good enough to care about the bikes handling then he/she is easily able to cope with not being able to flatfoot a bike.I agree- more skills and confidence is better than making a bike worse.My friend Jess is barely 5'3" and barely over 100lbs - no problems at all with riding my quite tall Mille and f'ing fast on her "too big for her" 750.It's all about confidence.

Jeanie Creech has a Wilbers that is reduced length I believe - I think,not 100% sure.

[drinmotoracer]

+1 on shaving the stock seat. I have done this for a bunch of friends. It keeps the suspension in check, and is easy to do yourself and saves $$$ vs. getting an aftermarket adjustable shock.

[joel]

Have to add: at a rally,I almost jacked myself up on someone's notHawk that was lowered via dogbones.The thing felt fairly normal to me until I came up to the big sweeping left I've done dozens upon dozens of times on Hawks and everything else I could blag.It felt like riding a normal sportingish bike until the LHS decked out HAAAAAAARD way before I was expecting.It would've been entirely my fault for smashing it up but I was thinking " hmm,might was well just have got a cruiser".

[drinmotoracer]

Have to add: at a rally,I almost jacked myself up on someone's notHawk that was lowered via dogbones.The thing felt fairly normal to me until I came up to the big sweeping left I've done dozens upon dozens of times on Hawks and everything else I could blag.It felt like riding a normal sportingish bike until the LHS decked out HAAAAAAARD way before I was expecting.It would've been entirely my fault for smashing it up but I was thinking " hmm,might was well just have got a cruiser".

Uh... crap that would have sucked ... what is "LHS"?

[CoolBenge]

Corbin Seat

The bike has a Corbin Seat. I may try to snag a stock seat to see if that helps. I agree with all who said that once she gains confidence she'll be ok.

[jaybird]

You could change the geometry of the subframe a bit.