Hey from Erin!

[wainair]

Hey folks, just thought I'd pop my gt forum cherry with a little intro post. Great little forum you guys have here. I've always wanted a Hawk since my friend got one in 1990 and recently I noticed a NT400 in my area so I started to look around to see if there were any forums out there and long story short, here I am! I've been looking for a new bike to get me back on 2 wheels. I've been taken with the Supermotard craze but found that all the bikes that had any umpf are $8000cad and up, have a seat height about 6" higher than my inseam(damn 29"inseam) and are maintenance heavy bikes to operate. Then I remembered the venerable old Hawk! And man what a change it was to go to the maintenance/tech section of the forum and not find page after page of complaints about blown hoses, overheating, not starting cold, not starting hot, blown engines, blown head gaskets, oil in coolant, coolant in oil fried stators that don't put out enough volts to effectively power the headlamp and charge the battery. Go to a Husqvarna forum or worse an Aprilia forum and check out the Supermoto bikes and you will see how lucky you guys are with your 20year old NT's! So not to ramble on but I'm back on the NT bandwagon now hopefully I can find one out there in nice shape for a nice price.

Cheers, Tom
aka wainair

[NT400]

Welcome Tom ...

Where you from mate ??? You can't have seen a NT400 in the States , can you ???

[Swipe]

Welcome to the forum. Hope you get fixed up soon. Why not look for a 650 instead or is this for soley for supermotard racing?

[wainair]

I'm in Canada actually. Yes, the bike I saw was a NT400Bros! Someone must have brought one home with them after working as an ex-pat or something. I'd love to get a Hawk but if I can get essentially the same bike that says it's a 400cc bike, great! The insurance bill will be much less and later I can just rig up a hawk motor and swap it out at a later date if I want more umpf. No one need be the wiser! "Honest, it's a 400... look at the ID plate!"

I like the Supermotos but I don't think I'll get one. There are alot of dirt roads where I am but not enough to justify the added price. Maybe later on down the road I'll get an old enduro of some sort and convert it. I don't want to race, just have fun on the backroads.

[motorcycleman]

Welcome! I don't know what your insurance rates are like in canada but my liability only insurance runs $120 a year... for my hawk 650. Compare the rate with the 400! The 650 will give you more usable power than the 400. And remember, its not the power of the current 600 class supersports!

[wainair]

Just as a indication, last year I had a little Honda Ruckus 49cc scooter to play with in town, and my insurance for a year, liability only, was $134 CAD. I have a clean 6year+ record too. Ontario is brutal for it's insurance rates. They are a bunch of crooks.

[jaysun0ne]

shop around for your insurance
canada rates are all over the place

i know we have a few toronto guys and one montrealer here on the board
ask around

650 is unusual a 400 in canada! im willing to bet theres less than 5 in north amarica

anyone esle ever even hear of a 400 in north amarica

[squirrelman]

maybe consider this: our friend here in Buffalo, Tom, runs HPW cycle service 716 297-2300. He has a really nice blue '88 with some nice mods and has just decided to sell it. i've looked the bike over carefully, and it's in good condition, except for some deterioration on engine finish, and an excessively loud custom exhaust. Niagara Falls, NY

[NT400]

In my opinion if you like the bike buy it . It's not that easy to find a 650 motor later , but there are other options . Apart from the engine all other parts are identical so you can keep the little one for parts and get your self a 650 .That's what I intend to in the future .....And the NT400 is a NC25 .

[flypiguk]

nt400

hi

did u know that the bros has a close ratio box compared to the hawk,and yes you can swap them over?

flypiguk

[wainair]

Heres what I'm looking at....what da ya think?

[Swipe]

Nice and clean, and a MkII as well.

[wainair]

If I've got this right in my head a close ratio gear box should be better in twists and below 80kph right? Keeps the engine in the powerband down low. That is more the style of riding I will be doing. Twisty country roads, around town and very little highway riding. I'm passed super fast top end speeds I'd rather be quick down low.

[wainair]

Yeah I thought it looked nice and clean too. It's in from Japan. I'm going up this afternoon to see if I can hammer out a deal with the seller, wish me luck

[Swipe]

Good luck, I hope you manage to secure a deal.