Hawk is here, yay!

[Weldangrind]

Any interest in expanding on the reg/rec, for those who would benefit?

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by Weldangrind

Any interest in expanding on the reg/rec, for those who would benefit?

Only once I know it clears when the tank is installed lol. Otherwise it has to come back off until I can think of an alternative mounting location.

[Megadan]

Well, the reg/rec did not fit with said bracketry. Time for a re-think.
Another change I made was while servicing the forks. I now have 54mm preload spacers in the forks. I took up all of the soft rate of the fork springs, so it rides much much firmer now, and the rider sag is just about perfect for me.

On the plus side, I got everything done. I ended up removing the skid plate and center stand for now, it will go back on once I can tear into it again for the other upgrades later this year. She is all back together now. First ride of the year was in drizzle/snow mix in 38 degrees. Nothing was going to stop me.


I realized I never did show what that hole in the road did to my front wheel, so here it is!

Here is my 520 chain setup. with the 13/31 combo I ended up with 100 links exactly, with the axles about 2/3 of the way forward. I wanted to aim for 102, but the adjusters were too far back for my liking. I have just enough room to slip the chain off with them pushed all the way up.


Just because I like pictures. 2 Hondas and one wannabe Honda.

[ben2go]

Any damage to the tire on the bent wheel?

The chain will wear enough to make it easier to remove next time.

Have you considered relocating the R/R up toward the fame neck under the tank? I was thinking around the area where the air injection system mounted.

I like it. Looks stealth.

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by ben2go

Any damage to the tire on the bent wheel?

The chain will wear enough to make it easier to remove next time.

Have you considered relocating the R/R up toward the fame neck under the tank? I was thinking around the area where the air injection system mounted.

I like it. Looks stealth.

As far as I can tell the tire is fine. No cuts, scrapes, bulges, or weird changes to the thread or sidewall pattern/shape.

I did consider further up the backbone near the frame neck. Also considering making a battery box tray under the seat where the airbox is, and mounting it to the outside of that tucked up enough to not be entirely visible.

[Megadan]

Finally, after 2 days of endless rain, I got to get my true first ride of the year in with my Hawk. How I missed it...

With the new preload spacer setup I am going to reduce the oil level of the forks, but they ride perfectly for the road, manuvers are much more stable.

[JerryHawk250]

I know the feeling. Lol Feel great to get out and ride. I managed to put 68 miles on Saturday and 114 miles on Sunday. We are heading out camping for the weekend. Will spend the day at Tower Trax getting some off road riding in. Spillway has been shut down for a while due to having to open it because of high river levels. Only riding you could do out there right now is with a jetski. lol It may be another month before they open it back up. They started yesterday putting back bent in the bays. it will take some time to dry out and fix the washed out areas.

[Megadan]

I have some plans in the works to take a weekend trip to a nearby State park about 2 or 3 hours away with several hundred miles of trails open to bikes and ATVs with a camp ground. Not sure if I can pull it off, but I am sure going to try.

I just got my 12 tooth front sprocket in so I can swap for better trail oriented gearing. Will give me the same effective gearing as a 17/46 combo.

[Megadan]

I have a couple of tinkering plans in the works. If I have the time this weekend, I plan on modding my ignition pickup bracket to advance the timing a bit, and making a video about it in the process. I am just curious to see what kind of difference it makes with the pickup advanced a couple of degrees.

The other change I want to make is to the exhaust. I never have liked the style of muffler that came with the ebay exhaust, so I finally ordered something different to swap it out with. Here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/263092374543

It's about the same length of the one from the ebay system, but has styling I like more, and more importantly, a removable silencer. At highway speeds, the ebay system is just loud enough to get irritating, and it would be nice to have the option to make it quiet when I am having an "old person" day, and just want some peace and quiet.

[JerryHawk250]

Originally Posted by Megadan

I have a couple of tinkering plans in the works. If I have the time this weekend, I plan on modding my ignition pickup bracket to advance the timing a bit, and making a video about it in the process. I am just curious to see what kind of difference it makes with the pickup advanced a couple of degrees.

I've thought about doing the same thing. I don't think when they assemble these engines that they are all installed the same. This might explain why some of us can do over 70 mph and some struggle to get over 65 mph. My last ride out I hit 75 mph before I had to slow down for a curve. I probably could of got another 1 or 2 mph. My timing may be advanced more than others and some may be decreased more than others. There could possibly be 3-4 degrees difference in timing from one bike to another.I just haven't had the time to play around with it. It's running so good I hate to mess with it. But you know me, I can't leave things alone either. lol I'm curious to see the outcome.

[JerryHawk250]

Originally Posted by Megadan

The other change I want to make is to the exhaust. I never have liked the style of muffler that came with the ebay exhaust, so I finally ordered something different to swap it out with. Here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/263092374543

I have one similar on my wish list.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RCKHKAO...v_ov_lig_dp_it

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by JerryHawk250

I've thought about doing the same thing. I don't think when they assemble these engines that they are all installed the same. This might explain why some of us can do over 70 mph and some struggle to get over 65 mph. My last ride out I hit 75 mph before I had to slow down for a curve. I probably could of got another 1 or 2 mph. My timing may be advanced more than others and some may be decreased more than others. There could possibly be 3-4 degrees difference in timing from one bike to another.I just haven't had the time to play around with it. It's running so good I hate to mess with it. But you know me, I can't leave things alone either. lol I'm curious to see the outcome.

It is possible that there are small variances in ignition timing, but I can't imagine them being that far off from each other, unless the bracket on the pickup itself is inconsistently positioned.

Mod for mod our bikes should be roughly the same, but the size of the riders is likely vastly different. I am a giant of a man, so when seated on the bike I create more frontal area, which means a higher coefficient of drag, and thus a bit slower. On your average day I am lucky if I see past 67. If you hopped on my bike you would probably hit 70+ no problem. I have hit over 70 before, but it takes perfectly flat ground and zero wind lol.

This is my last step in the stock engine modifications list just to see what can be squeezed out of this bike without doing actual engine mods like the head porting, etc. Plus, who can pass up an essentially free mod for a little bit of extra "go".

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by JerryHawk250

I have one similar on my wish list.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RCKHKAO...v_ov_lig_dp_it

I had actually looked at one of those. That is about 5 inches shorter than the ebay can. I just decided to go with a bigger can so it will hopefully still be a bit less obnoxious with the silencer out.

[JerryHawk250]

Originally Posted by Megadan

It is possible that there are small variances in ignition timing, but I can't imagine them being that far off from each other, unless the bracket on the pickup itself is inconsistently positioned.

Mod for mod our bikes should be roughly the same, but the size of the riders is likely vastly different. I am a giant of a man, so when seated on the bike I create more frontal area, which means a higher coefficient of drag, and thus a bit slower. On your average day I am lucky if I see past 67. If you hopped on my bike you would probably hit 70+ no problem. I have hit over 70 before, but it takes perfectly flat ground and zero wind lol.

This is my last step in the stock engine modifications list just to see what can be squeezed out of this bike without doing actual engine mods like the head porting, etc. Plus, who can pass up an essentially free mod for a little bit of extra "go".

It may not be much but like most of the components on these bikes there are some large tolerances. The slack factor lol.
I'm 5'11" but only weigh about 175 and know that's a factor for higher speeds.
I know the idle timing is 15* BTDC but does anyone know what the full advance timing is? I know my old 200x was 12* BTDC at idle and 35* @ full advance and this was with 10:1 compression. I'm not getting any knock now running premium on the Hawk at 10:1 so I'm sure we could add a few more degrees of timing with no issues.

[JerryHawk250]

Originally Posted by Megadan

I had actually looked at one of those. That is about 5 inches shorter than the ebay can. I just decided to go with a bigger can so it will hopefully still be a bit less obnoxious with the silencer out.

At 55 to 60 mph the gutted stock exhaust is not to bad but anything over that it gets loud. I'll wait and see how yours sounds. I'm stuck on the fence on either the ebay exhaust system everyone is using or just get the can and put on the stock pipe.