Hawk 250 ?s
 

Been wanting to get another bike for quite some time now and tried getting a xr650l but wasnt able to. Im thinking about getting a hawk as i havent realy read anything bad about them. I used to have a 200cc cool sport enduro 3 years ago and beat the crap out of it. From what ive gathered the hawks engine is same one i had just a 229cc not 200cc. My old bike i felt was small, being 6'4" and 250lbs how will the hawk measure up. My old bike i had to regear so that i could cruise at 60mph without winding it out and looks like id have to do same to the hawk. Im thinking on ordering it thru these guys: https://www.txpowersports.com/New_ha...bike-250cc.htm . How are they ordering from and has anyone done one with payments thru affirm (if so how does it work). If anyone is in southern nh ( bottom sw corner to be exact) would i be able to see one in personanf possibly sit or ride one. Ive read just about every post on it and watched nearly every video that there is plus ive had a china bike before so know what to look for/do.

Also might wanna add that bike would be used about 65/35 (road/dirt) and that i work 15 miles from my house.

i just got mine from them last week... paid with a card so cant help with affirm. shipping was fast via ups freight. i live in louisiana so it was at my door in 3 days. so they are good in that department. only problem i had was the bill of sale was dated wrong. after 3 attempts to call i finally got an answer and was advised to send an email. they sent me an itemized invoice which my state prefers. registered it no problem. make sure to research this part very well.

as far as your size im not sure. i am 5'9" and 170 and the bike is a little tall but doable. maybe one of the bigger guys here can chime in. so the only thing i would worry about is customer service if you have a problem.

Txpowersports seem to be hit or miss. It seems that they lack in details (i.e. paperwork) but will get the bike to you on time. Their advantage is they are in the same city as RPS (Ricky Power Sports) who are the distributors for the Hawk and Magician, as well as a few other bikes, quads, etc.

The other issue you might have is street-legality. Check the registration sticky (it might just be a thread) on what states the Hawk has been successfully registered. RPS have never bothered to get their two 'street' bikes (Hawk and Magician) EPA/DOT certified as 'On Highway' so, even with all the street-legal bits and parts, both bikes are technically only certified as off-road; many, if not most states have allowed them to get a plate, but it couldn't hurt to check prior to ordering. TXpowersports will have NO problem shipping you a bike that you can't register and then point out that 'You should have looked!' Then again, I am sure many mail-order outfits will do the same...

Okay, looks like NH is good to go according to the Hawk registration thread...

http://chinariders.net/showthread.php?t=17919

I know i shouldnt have a problem with registering it and if did vt is 10 minutes from my house as im 10 minutes from mass or vt. According to hawk250.com both the moderator and another guy on there didnt have any problems.

I'm 5'11" 180 and can sit flat footed. I plan on reshaping the foam on my seat to push the notch back about 2" as I find for me I'm sitting to close to the tank. Changing the sprockets to a taller gear ration will make it more street friendly. the 15/50 stock sprockets are geared way to low even for off road.

:hi: Where in Louisiana you live?

So I think I can give you a great insight into the Hawk and how big you are, because I am basically the same size as you. For starters, the power is adequate enough that I can keep up with traffic just fine. You won't be passing people on the highway, but around town its got just enough to get the job done. With gearing, intake, and exhaust upgrades and a properly tuned carburetor it's just right (in my eyes).

It doesn't feel small. I find the distance between the seat and pegs to be comfortable. I have to put a little effort into swinging my leg over, but it's not overly high either. Once in the seat, I can flat foot it easily and also nearly stand up out of the seat (34" inseam).

Honestly, the only issue you may have is one many of us Americans have, which is the small gap between the peg and the shifter and brake pedal. I don't mind the brake pedal much, but the stock shifter sticks out from the bike too far, so I installed an IMS shifter for an XR400 (MSR shifter also works) that moves the peg closer to the bike and gives more room. The extended MSR shifter is also a bit longer to buy more room. I tend to ride with the balls of my feet on the peg, so pedal "room" isn't much of a problem to me. Old habit from sporty street riding lol.

Another area that needs a little additional love being a larger rider, in my opinion, is the suspension. The rear shock/spring is adequate, but the forks have too much rider sag. I highly recommend making new preload spacers for the forks. The stock units are 15.2mm long and 22mm diameter. Find some 22mm (or 7/8") O.D. pipe and cut yourself some new ones. I currently run 35mm of preload, and I get about 3 inches of sag out of 8 inches of travel, which is perfect.

Also, with the forks, as I am sure you have probably read by now in your searching, you will want to change the fork oil. I started with the recommended 210ml, but added 20ml more fluid - 230ml per fork - to reduce the compressed air gap and increase the progressive spring effect as the forks compress. I find it to still ride very comfortably, and I still get a lot of suspension travel without too much harshness. Obviously, you can tune all of this to your liking.

You definitely need to re-gear it. If you are going to stick with the knobby tires, then the venerable 17 front and 45 rear is always a great starting point. You can also stick with a 15 front and go to a 41 or 39 rear sprocket and get the same basic ratio as the 17/45. If you do exhaust mods or an aftermarket exhaust as well as the intake mod or pod filter, then you can step up the gearing a little. I run a 17/43 with a 128 link chain, and I love it. Bike can easily reach and cruise at 60mph, and maintain it without being wide open on all but the steeper hills or a really strong headwind. I can max out at 67mph on flat ground.

I believe Jerry has a 17/39 or 40 sprocket setup and loves it (correct me Jerry lol)

The Hawk can be a great commuter bike once you set it up for it. If you mainly plan on using it on the road but might want to do some off roading, then definitely consider some dual sport tires like the Shinko 705, 700, 244, or the Kenda 761 or 270. If your plan is to only use it for road-duty, then get some street tires.

For purely road tires there are two recommendations I can make that offer sizes just about perfect for the Hawk.
If you are on a budget, then the Shinko 230 Tourmaster is a GREAT tire. I have these on my Goldwing and love them. You could run an 80/90-21 (slightly smaller diameter than stock) and a 120/90-18. Both tires can be had for about 120-130 bucks.
If you are feeling a little more spendy then the Bridgestone BT45 Battlax comes in a 90/90-21 and 120/90-18. These are a close match in diameter, and offer better wear than the 230's, but also cost almost twice as much.

Im 6'4" but will usualy wear pants with a 32 leg as i have a longer torso. Good to know that itll fit good. ive also read and watched some your stuff. Plus this place is a treasure trove of info

the double L aka lafayette... it was your post about registering your hawk that got me serious about buying it...

this is my 3rd bike (honda 50 ninja250 before) and im also fairly competent in wrenching so i figured this bike would be a perfect fit for me...

/ derail

but yea i would class this as a full size bike for sure... i get on it like another poster said like a horse... left peg with the kickstand down and swing the ole hip over... even gets it to pop from time to time... which feels awesome

For my what my opinion is worth, as long as you know what kind of problems you can face with one of these bikes and be able to work on it yourself, the Hawk is a great bike. Once you spend the time sorting out the little various issues, they are a great bike for the money.

What makes these bikes great is the owner support and information on this site. Without that I don't think these bikes would be as popular as they are.

Another company that generally has a good reputation with selling these bikes is the company I ordered mine through. Killermotorsports.com
https://www.killermotorsports.com/rp...dirt-bike.html

Also, I forgot to touch on the Affirm financing. I didn't use it for my bike, but I have used them in the past for other things such as tires. It's a pretty easy and straight forward process, and you can setup auto payments. Logging in to make a payment is pretty easy as well since they use your cell phone for the login process by sending you a code. Just be aware that for the price range of this bike you will likely only have options up to 12 months, so make sure you can afford the payments - For the Hawk, with interest, you would be looking at payments around 130ish a month.

Last thought - if you can afford it, then I would also suggest looking into the TT250. It's about a grand more than the Hawk, but you get better suspension and a counterbalanced engine for your money. You also get good dealer support from CSC. That said, a lot of the TT250 parts also work on the Hawk, and CSC has been a lifesaver for me when it comes to small parts.

Thanks for info on affirm. Do you have to have first payment when order is it due the month after ordering. Im not afraid of tinkering after all ive had a china bike before. Hows the power between the push rod 200cc vs the 229cc. My old cool sport was a 200cc only reason why ask

On a side note has anyone heard anything else about the sprocket issue or has rps sorted it out.

When I used Affirm for something they didn't require anything up front. They set the first payment about a month from when you are approved.

I am not quite sure what you are asking about in regards to the power of the Hawks CG250 engine. As far as how it's delivered, it has decent low end, but it's very strong in the middle of the powerband, between 4000 and 6000rpm and has decent top end pull until about 7500-8000rpm, then you can feel it fall flat. In short, it has a very flat power curve to it, but it won't take well to trying to lug it in a higher gear at 3000rpm.

As far as the sprocket issue. I have a 2017 and I had my own adventures with it. Not sure if you have seen it yet, but I have a thread on it. I managed to find a simple fix to the likely cause of the failures besides improperly tightened sprocket studs. As far as I know there are 2 people that have used mix little fix with great success.

Simple version. The sprocket relies on the snap ring for primary retention and the groove for the snap ring on some wheels seems to have been machined just a little bit too far out. I used a thin wave washer behind the studs, tightened the nuts down with threadlocker to around 30lb-ft and it has been solid ever since.

I also upgraded the sprocket studs to NOS Honda units due to the pins on the cush drive side of the studs having a lot of play, but this seems to also be a hit or miss quality issue. I seemed to get the best of both worlds with mine, but even in that case you are looking at maybe $25 to fix the issue. I have almost 1000 miles on this fix now and it is still rock solid and has given me no issues...and I haven't been the most careful or gentle with it either. That thread is here, in case you haven't seen it yet. If you just want the basic details and part numbers just go to the last post of mine on this page. http://chinariders.net/showthread.php?t=19265&page=3