Florida Man Checking In

[Gimpster]

Hey everyone,

I have posted a few things already, but realized I never did an intro post. I bought a 2020 Hawk DLX earlier in the year, and I've just been tinkering around with it as I have time. Bought it based on how little I ride, and how I wouldn't feel too bad if I screwed it up a bit tinkering.

I work in IT for a living, nothing fancy. Native Floridian. I love forums, wish they would come back to life... and I say this as a former employee of Facebook. Groups are just a really poor substitute in my opinion, and tried to give them a lot of product feedback. Long time rider, but gave up street riding for the most part. Got tired of being hit or having near misses, maybe I'm older/wiser... but it just seems a lot more scary out there now.

Anyway...

This is my Hawk. I did a Brozz 250 swing arm, TT250 brake lines and put some EBC brake pads + motul fluid. Did a very small tail tidy. Otherwise stock, but upcoming plans are replace this crap chain. I am not doing sprockets, I actually like how the bike is geared from the factory and suits my riding style + riding environment really well.

[goJimH]

Originally Posted by Gimpster

Hey everyone,

I have posted a few things already, but realized I never did an intro post. I bought a 2020 Hawk DLX earlier in the year, and I've just been tinkering around with it as I have time. Bought it based on how little I ride, and how I wouldn't feel too bad if I screwed it up a bit tinkering.

I work in IT for a living, nothing fancy. Native Floridian. I love forums, wish they would come back to life... and I say this as a former employee of Facebook. Groups are just a really poor substitute in my opinion, and tried to give them a lot of product feedback. Long time rider, but gave up street riding for the most part. Got tired of being hit or having near misses, maybe I'm older/wiser... but it just seems a lot more scary out there now.

Anyway...

This is my Hawk. I did a Brozz 250 swing arm, TT250 brake lines and put some EBC brake pads + motul fluid. Did a very small tail tidy. Otherwise stock, but upcoming plans are replace this crap chain. I am not doing sprockets, I actually like how the bike is geared from the factory and suits my riding style + riding environment really well.

Nice looking bike! Welcome to the forum.

[culcune]

Originally Posted by Gimpster

I am not doing sprockets, I actually like how the bike is geared from the factory and suits my riding style + riding environment really well.

Got it; so you're a masochist

Seriously, I always questioned peoples' decision to keep their sprockets stock. Unless one bought a dual-sport with street friendly gears from the factory, such as any of the Bashan bikes (Brozz, Storm, Enforcer, etc), or the Lifan X-Pect, I felt EVERYONE needs to change their sprockets. Then I went on a desert ride on the outskirts of Phoenix on a borrowed Hawk 250 (carbed model). The owner has it geared 17/39. Got it up to around 63-65 on the freeways and highways getting to the starting point meetup place. But, once on the ride (mild, sandy conditions) I realized the street gearing wasn't optimal. I have been offered to buy the bike from the seller assuming he holds on to it, and if I did I would keep the gearing. Why? I plan to commute with the beast 33 miles roundtrip daily (year round). However, all that being said, based on what you wrote and past members' posts, there are people who live in rural areas who really don't use the bikes other than for recreation, but do ride on dirt roads to get to the woods, or rural roads, and need their bike street registered. You are obviously in that group. Enjoy the heck out of your bike!

[Gimpster]

LOL, well like you pointed out.. ultimately people live in different areas and have different use cases for the bike.

The area I can enter to trail ride is about 5 minutes from my house, through residential zoned streets with a speed limit of no > 40mph, but mostly 30-35. So I'm cruising at a pretty comfortable (to me) RPM. If I want to take the bike out of the area, I have a little 4x8 aluminum utility trailer I can move it around on.

The trails I'm riding are a lot of sugar sand and mud, so I appreciate the low end grunt on the stock gears. Nice to just click it up to 2nd and leave it there.

I'm so scared shitless of Florida drivers I have ZERO desire to go 65-70 on this thing. Last time someone hit me, I was laid up 3 months. The fact I throw my leg over a motorcycle at all pains my wife, and surprises me

Originally Posted by culcune

Got it; so you're a masochist

Seriously, I always questioned peoples' decision to keep their sprockets stock. Unless one bought a dual-sport with street friendly gears from the factory, such as any of the Bashan bikes (Brozz, Storm, Enforcer, etc), or the Lifan X-Pect, I felt EVERYONE needs to change their sprockets. Then I went on a desert ride on the outskirts of Phoenix on a borrowed Hawk 250 (carbed model). The owner has it geared 17/39. Got it up to around 63-65 on the freeways and highways getting to the starting point meetup place. But, once on the ride (mild, sandy conditions) I realized the street gearing wasn't optimal. I have been offered to buy the bike from the seller assuming he holds on to it, and if I did I would keep the gearing. Why? I plan to commute with the beast 33 miles roundtrip daily (year round). However, all that being said, based on what you wrote and past members' posts, there are people who live in rural areas who really don't use the bikes other than for recreation, but do ride on dirt roads to get to the woods, or rural roads, and need their bike street registered. You are obviously in that group. Enjoy the heck out of your bike!