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Ariel Red Hunter · 08-28-2016, 10:13 AM

I mentioned in passing that the Hawk has a 21 inch front rim, and an 18 inch rear. These are probably the closest to perfect sizes around these days for off-road use, and works well on-road as well, with the right tires. You will find you have all kinds of tire choices for those wheels. The tire choices depend on where you ride. Where I live (on the northern slope of the Adirondaks), trials tires (with rim locks) work very well. Wet rocks, tree roots, wet ledge, and they work pretty good on the road. Better than knobbies on the road. Trick with trials tires is low tire pressure, which is why you need rim locks. How low? Depends on your weight. Four to eight pounds front, six to twelve pounds rear is a place to start. I always used to carry a spare front and rear tube with me, just in case. Three tire irons as well. So you probably need to install a burrito tube to carry them in. I always carried a long thin bicycle pump on the frame for emergency uses. You can take some of the plastic trash off the bike to balance the extra weight, if you want. It will pay dividends to spend the money for high quality, heavy duty natural rubber tubes, like Michelins, for example. Natural rubber is tougher and more tear resistant than synthetic rubber is. If you ride a lot on sand, like the Mojave Desert, you may want to switch to a 19 inch front rim for more flotation. But that is an expensive alteration for a entry-level priced motor-cycle. I must warn you that it is imperative to keep all of those spokes snug. I use the short spoke wrench, because it is harder to over tighten them with one. Mark where you start and tighten every third spoke all the way around, then go around again on the next spoke, then again for the last ones. It will take you three trips around the rims to get them all tight. If the spokes are tightend regularly, and you still break spokes, order a set of spokes from Buchannon's and replace them one at a time just like you tightened the spokes, except not as tight until you have got them all in there, then go around three times and get 'm snug. You probably won't have spoke breakage issues if you never let any get loose.

08-28-2016, 10:13 AM	#38
Ariel Red Hunter Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: akwesasne, NY-13655 Posts: 2,220	Hawkie-Talkie part 2 I mentioned in passing that the Hawk has a 21 inch front rim, and an 18 inch rear. These are probably the closest to perfect sizes around these days for off-road use, and works well on-road as well, with the right tires. You will find you have all kinds of tire choices for those wheels. The tire choices depend on where you ride. Where I live (on the northern slope of the Adirondaks), trials tires (with rim locks) work very well. Wet rocks, tree roots, wet ledge, and they work pretty good on the road. Better than knobbies on the road. Trick with trials tires is low tire pressure, which is why you need rim locks. How low? Depends on your weight. Four to eight pounds front, six to twelve pounds rear is a place to start. I always used to carry a spare front and rear tube with me, just in case. Three tire irons as well. So you probably need to install a burrito tube to carry them in. I always carried a long thin bicycle pump on the frame for emergency uses. You can take some of the plastic trash off the bike to balance the extra weight, if you want. It will pay dividends to spend the money for high quality, heavy duty natural rubber tubes, like Michelins, for example. Natural rubber is tougher and more tear resistant than synthetic rubber is. If you ride a lot on sand, like the Mojave Desert, you may want to switch to a 19 inch front rim for more flotation. But that is an expensive alteration for a entry-level priced motor-cycle. I must warn you that it is imperative to keep all of those spokes snug. I use the short spoke wrench, because it is harder to over tighten them with one. Mark where you start and tighten every third spoke all the way around, then go around again on the next spoke, then again for the last ones. It will take you three trips around the rims to get them all tight. If the spokes are tightend regularly, and you still break spokes, order a set of spokes from Buchannon's and replace them one at a time just like you tightened the spokes, except not as tight until you have got them all in there, then go around three times and get 'm snug. You probably won't have spoke breakage issues if you never let any get loose.
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