[CSR_Sprocket]

Hey Sicario - did you ever get your Hawk registered in NY?

When I spoke with Don at APSC (well, mostly listening to his sales pitch), he told me that the Hawk had gone through EPA certification (though he claimed that he was involved, I took that with a grain of salt). Still, I was Jones-ing to get another bike after some cretins stole my 2005 DR-Z400 off my front porch in the middle of September. So on Monday, October 19th, I put $1,399 on my Mastercard and started rubbing my hands in anticipation. And reading forum posts here where the best and brightest butts who have ever straddled a Chinese saddle are happy to help each other out. Especially Weld and Spud (-:

My Hawk arrived that Friday, October 23rd. The documentation (MCO, BCO, ODS) arrived on October 29th. That afternoon I spent about 45 minutes on the phone with Foremost getting insurance. They didn't list Haosen as a manufacturer and the Foremost rep didn't have access to a VIN decoder. She (the rep) was very diligent, though, and started reading me a list of Chinese motorcycle manufacturers. When she mentioned, "Chongqing", I recalled reading that name on this site and we called it a winner. After the insurance cards arrived in my email inbox, I downloaded the required DMV forms and typed in the information (rather than hand-write it, because at times even I cannot read my own writing). This may have been part of the key to my success, though.

The morning of October 30th I took the APSC documents, DMV forms, and my insurance cards down to the DMV office in Troy NY. I was nothing but POLITE to the people behind the counter. I've witnessed too many people being turned away more for their attitude than for the technicalities. In short, I had absolutely no problems getting the Hawk registered and plated. The next day I rode it to a local bike dealer (Ronnie's in Guilderland) and paid my $6 for a mandatory state inspection sticker. The title arrived in the mail last week. The make is listed as HAOSE.

That success seems to have been a coin toss, though. The same day that I registered the Hawk at DMV I also attempted to register a 2002 Honda XR100R that I'd bought last July so my GF could learn to ride in a place without cars, curbs, and pedestrians. NY law requires dirt bikes be registered and insured - even if you are only going to ride it on your own property. Alas, the Previous Owner (PO) had never registered the XR, so all I had was a HAND WRITTEN bill of sale. Unlike the Hawk docs, that wasn't good enough for the people behind the DMV counter that day. For my troubles in trying to be "legal" about off-road riding, all I got for the Honda was two more blank DMV forms and a short lecture about how I needed to have the PO to fill them out before coming back. I was still polite, but I still haven't contacted the PO. Probably never will. I may give it a try at another DMV office. Or I might just sell the bike and buy my GF a scooter with airbags.

I'm hoping that this post, in some way or another, helps out Sicario or anyone else needing to brave the arbitrary landscape of a New York State governement office:

If at first you don't succeed, try another office (and use the knowledge you gained from previous visits). Or try the same office on a different day and claim that you gave it your best shot and really just want to do the right thing.

Or something like that.

Cheers,

Sprocket Man