New Hawk 250
 

Hello all. I just ordered a new Hawk and it should be delivered tomorrow. I have also ordered the mikuni carb that has been suggested here. My plan is to assemble the bike and do the exhaust and air box mods and install the new caburator before I ever start it. I have a couple questions before digging in. What main jet and needle position would be a good starting off point? I live about 600' elevation. Also what oil would be best to break the motor in on. Thanks

Look up how to adjust the valves...that's a good first step in getting your hands dirty with DIY Hawk work, and it's relatively easy and only takes about 25 minutes. The valves are insanely tight from the factory and you will need to do a gap adjustment on them to get your engine running optimally, then you can move on and tune the carburetor.

Install the Mikuni, leave the needle position as-is (the clip will be in the middle of the needle which is fine, not too rich or too lean), and go with a #105 or #110 main jet. The engine will run lean on the stock #100 at full throttle. Otherwise you shouldn't have to make too many adjustments to the Mikuni carb.

For oil, with the warm summer temps, SAE 20W-50 motorcycle oil works well for engine break-in. Make sure you buy motorcycle oil as motor oil has friction modifiers that will cause the clutch to slip. You'll see "wet clutch compliant" on motorcycle oil containers. Don't start the engine until you've drained the factory oil...it's crap and only in there to protect the engine during shipping.

Other initial mods worth doing are changing the sprocket size...17T/45T is a popular combination on a 428 chain and will allow the Hawk to cruise into the 55-60mph range. Change the fork oil as well. The included oil is garbage and if you're a larger guy you'll bottom out those front forks fairly easily.

Thanks Chris. That is the info I was looking for. I ordered the sprocket and a chain the day after I ordered the bike. I did not expect the bike to beat them here. Lol. Thanks for the info on the shock oil. I will definitely change it.

Congrats on your New Hawk!
 

Welcome to the forum! I would also change the brake fluid. Post some pictures of your new Hawk!

Enjoy the ride!

Avoid using synthetic oil for at least the first 500 mile or until you feel the engine has loosen up and is broke in.

I use rotella oil in my bikes. It is good to go and as often as we have to change the oil in the hawks it is cheap. I think I have 15w/40 in it now.

Congrats on the bike.

Congrats and welcome, yes Rotella 15w40 is the perfect oil as it is the grade state on the engine label. I change the oil every 5-600 miles....and mine have had 6-7 oil changes in the 1st 500 miles for good measure. Now I have 2200 miles on it in a year.

Welcome!
X3 on Rotella 15W40

Thanks for the info. Bike cam in and I have it assembled. The manual says it holds 1.6 qts of oil. I draind the factory stuff out and refilled with rotella. After putting in just 1 qt the site glass and dip stick both read full with the bike held up straight. I let it sit for about 20 minutes with the side plug out when I drained the factory stuff. It seemed like it was all out. I have ran the bike for a short drive around the block and checked it again and it still read full. How much oil are you guys using? On another note. Although the ride was short it was awesome. Thanks for all the info.

Middle of the sight glass while upright is about correct. 1.6qts is like dry engine I recall.

great man, glad it went together for ya. Would not hurt to change the oil again after 75-100 miles while breaking in. I had a bunch of crap in mine and the screen had a bunch of tiny bits of metal.

I may be alone in this suggestion but who knows what they use for assembly lube and I want all the flecks of crap out of my engine.

Thanks again for all the great help. I changed the oil again at 20 miles and went out and put 30 miles on the trails today. The bike worked great except for one small issue. Every once in a while it did not want to go into nutral while running. When it happens it feels like the clutch is grabbing. If I just take off and try again everything is fine. I adjusted the cable at the handle bar. Taking free play out. It seemed better but still did it a couple times. It seems to do it more after a long ride then coming to a stop. Is it possible the clutch is just breaking in. I have the oil to the top of the dipstick full mark. Could that be to much oil causing it. At the end of the day if it doesn't hurt anything I can live with it. I think the bike is great. Can't beat it for the price. Very happy with the purchase. And the support on this forum. Has been very helpful. I hope to learn enough about to help the next new guy if I can.

Don't trust the dipstick; only use the sight glass as your reference.

We've changed the oil on our new Hawk 3 times, exactly according to manual instructions, and we add exactly ONE quart and the site glass is always perfect.... hard to understand where the .6 quarts is "hiding!"

Thanks again for all the info. Swamped the sprokets for a 17 45 combo and love it. I have one little problem if someone could chime in on. I have mikuni carb with a 110 main jet. When the bike is warm and I leave a stop sign it has a slight hesitation of idle. The mixture sqrew was 1.25 turns out. I moved it to 1.75 turns out and it didn't seem to help. What do you guys sugget. Is it a pilot jet issue, more turns on the mixture or should I try moving the needle up. Since I can't turn the sqrew with the carb on I just want to maximize my efforts when I take it off again. Thanks as always for the info.