Twin Hawk Shakedown!
 

So this weekend I trucked the Hawks down to go play in the dirt with some friends of mine that will be on the KAT run later this year. Combined practice and shakedown for the machines we are taking. My lovely lady couldn't join us thanks to a service trip clinical she is attending, so my friend Richie would ride my blue Hawk and I would ride her red one.

We rode this on some public, word-of-mouth type of trails nearby. If you recognize them, more power to ya. LOTS of ridge riding, some stairstep, mix of dirt, gravel, mud and soft loam and leaves...hate those, hides whats underneath.

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My good friend Nate has this complex where he has to take bikes never designed for dirt offroad. So he slapped Shinko 804/5s on a shiny Suzuki TU250X, changed the front wheel to a 19" and is planning on using it on the ride.

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The clutch actuating rod ended up slipping on the trip, making him think he had a busted clutch, but a readjustment fixed the issue. While testing he managed to fill his riding jacket with loam. :clap:

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Lots of the riding was pretty tough, technical climbs and descents requiring at least some previous dirt experience. Lots of fallen trees across the trail...not limbs, trees, 10-12" diameter trunks. The Hawks hopped right over these. Bigger ones we traversed with more care.

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I was pretty impressed with how the Hawks did. Pros were fantastic torque, even with the re-gear 15/40, Amazingly good suspension, though the blue Hawks triple tree got a little tweaked (easily straightened). Cons were the low hanging rear brake lever and the shifter made of some real soft steel, bent very easily. Which made them easy to bend back but they didn't take much of a hit. Also need to shim up that rear brake lever to keep it in the right place for the stop, it got jammed on for a very steep descent and caused 3 falls before we figured out the rear wheel was locked!

Also both Richie and my lady had commented on the weird negative dihedral (read: droop) of the handlebars, so my friends sold me some spare Protaper SE bars for cheap, much nicer bar position!

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I frankly am impressed with the bikes. They did amazing for what they are, far better than I anticipated. Some of the terrain we encountered I fully expected the bikes to fart out on, but they just climbed right up it without issue. I still have lots of things I need to add or adjust on the bikes before the trip, but I was glad they came out of the shakedown pretty much intact.

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After our ride, we settled into Nate's heated garage to watch BDR videos, drink bourbon, eat pizza and wrench on the bikes. Fantastic weekend.

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Thanks for the great write-up and fantastic photos! You hit the one con that people have been debating as of late regarding the Brozz/Shark's rear drum brake and if a drum is ok. Several have chimed in of this hidden 'danger' and I have gone on to mention that rear disc brakes on my Chinese enduro bikes have not been great, and that is with no dirt riding!

Nice write up and pictures. :tup: Looks like you guys had a good trip.

I've had the...um...pleasure of drums on trails before. They did fine. I was running Kenda Challenger tires on that bike and they really weren't the best for off-road traction but I still had to put a lot of pressure on the brake to slow down on descents. With the aggressive tread of the rear tires I put on the Hawks and that rear disc, I felt I could use more braking to stay slower for longer on a descent. The rear disc doesn't work well on the tarmac because most of your braking is with your front...all the weight shifts forward and you immediately lock up.

Long story short, I feel that drums on a light bike like the Brozz/Shark that will be mostly tarmac makes sense and will work fine. Discs are nicer and are better for braking certainly, but make more sense for low speed off road work on light bikes like these.