This month make 3 years that I have owned my Hawk 250. I just rolled over to 7200 miles this pass weekend. Here's the whole story on how it all came about. We already had a Chinese ATV my daughter wanted to get a UTV so we can all go ride together. She and my wife were in an automobile accident and they both got a small settlement from it. So while looking at the UTV's and another ATV I ran across the Hawk 250 on APSCUSA for just over $1200. My daughter told me I should get one if I like it and she would pay for it if I ordered her the UTV. Of course I told her she couldn't do that but insisted on me getting it for my Christmas present because I've done so much for her. This where I broke down into tears. So on October 10, 2016 I call Don with APSCUSA to see what kind of deal he could make on the two if I placed an order for the Hawk along with a UTV. I had no intention on buying a bike but made me an offer I couldn't refuse. $1,099 for the Hawk and $2,249 for the UTV. Both were a steal.
When I got the Hawk I couldn't believe what I got for $1,099. Looked to be a strong bike. Much bigger than I thought it would be. So once assembled, checked over and oil changed I took it out for a spin down the street. I was impressed with the low end torque even on a fresh engine. So that weekend we took everything out to the spillway for a shake down run. Once I got some time on the engine I did a few WOT runs and realized it needed tuning but for the most part it ran good enough for the trails. For the most part I was happy with the purchase.
This is where chinariders came into play. Started reading what others had done, bought jets, watched a few Motochezz videos and got her tuned and running great. Or so I thought until I took that first ride on the street and realized I could barely break 60mph on the stock speedo. That's when all the mods started. Ordered a 40 tooth rear sprocket and that made a huge difference. No more screaming little china engine. As most of you know the mods didn't stop there. lol
So here we go. Things that were a must do when I got the Hawk to make it a fun bike were carb tuning, gutting the cat, sprocket change and of course an accurate speedo and tach from Matt. All the other stuff were great improvements but were not necessary to have a reliable and enjoyable bike.
Only failure/issues I've had with the bike were minor. One was a blown neutral safety diode which RPS replaced. Second was a bad sending unit which RPS replaced. Other than that the bike has ran perfect and drove great. 2016 models seem to have been a good year for these bikes. We have a few of us that bought them about the same time and I can't remember any complaints about anything major failing. Stock chain lasted well over 2500 miles and was still within spec. when I replaced it with another stock chain someone gave me on here. I had no problems with the rear hub coming apart that seem to appear when the 2017 models came out.
What I love about my bike now that I have done all the mods and head work is that now the bike feels more like a solid jap bike that runs 65+ mph effortlessly and is very comfortable even on long 2-3 hour rides.
Would I buy another Hawk is a trick question. My answer would be yes if I only had the same choices I had back then. There wasn't a wide selection of bike 3 years ago as they have today.
Today I would probable go with a Orion RXB-250L, SSR XR250 or even a Pitster Pro LXR 250F.