Hello all,
I recently got my Hawk (first week in April), after having wanted a small, lightweight bike to play with for some time. I looked at Monsters and SVs and Buells and whatnot but had completely forgotten about the Hawk GT. A friend of mine had one in college, a brand new gray one that I got to ride once but I didn't even consider one until stumbling across a classified ad by accident. That got the search going. To my surprise, the prices were about half what I'd pay for a Monster or good SV! I finally settled on a gray 88 I found on cycletrader.com at a dealer in Iowa. Did all the dealing via email and the phone and a week later a big crate showed up with my new toy inside.
It was a one owner bike and from their pics I could see it had a Supertrapp exhaust and stainless brake lines, and the ad said it had new tires. I was pleased however when it arrived to find that it also had a Progressive shock and when I rode it could tell that someone has been in the forks as well, they're a lot stiffer than stock. All fluids, the plugs, and air filter had just been changed too so that was another added bonus.
It was pretty clean when I got it, with 22k on the odometer, but a few weeks of cleaning, polishing, painting and whatnot have really worked wonders on this 18 year old classic. Let me offer two suggestions for this type of thing. Castrol Super Clean and a small assortment of cleaning brushes, from nylon to brass to steel (from Lowes), and a can of Duplicolor mettalic-silver wheel paint. The Super Clean and brushes remove all dirt and discoloration from the cast aluminum and make it look like new. The silver paint went on the brake and clutch pedals, the front forks and bar-end weights, etc. Oh, and a can of satin black as well for bolt heads, kickstand etc. A few hours of work with Simichrome polish for other metal bits too.
Ok, I know, it's a bike, go ride it, have fun, right? Well if it's worth doing, it's worth doing to the extreme and so with a few days of work, what was a decent bike (with flawless paint thank goodness) now looks probably as close to brand new as you can get.
Oh, forgot, I put on clipons from a VFR800 as well.
I'll post some pics when I get a chance.
Anyway, way more info that you wanted to read I'm sure, but hey, it's a new toy and I'm excited to have it.
Kurt
I recently got my Hawk (first week in April), after having wanted a small, lightweight bike to play with for some time. I looked at Monsters and SVs and Buells and whatnot but had completely forgotten about the Hawk GT. A friend of mine had one in college, a brand new gray one that I got to ride once but I didn't even consider one until stumbling across a classified ad by accident. That got the search going. To my surprise, the prices were about half what I'd pay for a Monster or good SV! I finally settled on a gray 88 I found on cycletrader.com at a dealer in Iowa. Did all the dealing via email and the phone and a week later a big crate showed up with my new toy inside.
It was a one owner bike and from their pics I could see it had a Supertrapp exhaust and stainless brake lines, and the ad said it had new tires. I was pleased however when it arrived to find that it also had a Progressive shock and when I rode it could tell that someone has been in the forks as well, they're a lot stiffer than stock. All fluids, the plugs, and air filter had just been changed too so that was another added bonus.
It was pretty clean when I got it, with 22k on the odometer, but a few weeks of cleaning, polishing, painting and whatnot have really worked wonders on this 18 year old classic. Let me offer two suggestions for this type of thing. Castrol Super Clean and a small assortment of cleaning brushes, from nylon to brass to steel (from Lowes), and a can of Duplicolor mettalic-silver wheel paint. The Super Clean and brushes remove all dirt and discoloration from the cast aluminum and make it look like new. The silver paint went on the brake and clutch pedals, the front forks and bar-end weights, etc. Oh, and a can of satin black as well for bolt heads, kickstand etc. A few hours of work with Simichrome polish for other metal bits too.
Ok, I know, it's a bike, go ride it, have fun, right? Well if it's worth doing, it's worth doing to the extreme and so with a few days of work, what was a decent bike (with flawless paint thank goodness) now looks probably as close to brand new as you can get.
Oh, forgot, I put on clipons from a VFR800 as well.
I'll post some pics when I get a chance.
Anyway, way more info that you wanted to read I'm sure, but hey, it's a new toy and I'm excited to have it.
Kurt
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