New Hawk, new adventures.

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by JerryHawk250

The lever set is the same as the ones I have except I have the cable clutch. They work way better than stock. I thought about doing the conversation too before I ordered the levers. Wasn't sure how well it was going to work. Now I'll know. lol

I am trying it out of curiosity, but also have a love of hydro clutches. I have never liked cables if I could avoid them. Not many people here have bothered with it, so I figured I could do a proper test/review of it and see if I like it more than the cable system.

I have a feeling the most challenging part of the whole setup will be getting the slave cylinder adjusted correctly. I am going to try and get around it by marking the position of the clutch arm on the engine case where my current adjustment is at.

[JerryHawk250]

Originally Posted by Megadan

I have a feeling the most challenging part of the whole setup will be getting the slave cylinder adjusted correctly. I am going to try and get around it by marking the position of the clutch arm on the engine case where my current adjustment is at.

That was my biggest concern too. I would much rather the hydraulic clutch. Hope it works out. I know I can get just the hydraulic clutch lever to match my brake lever.

[wedooit]

Wow, you guys here are in a masters division! If you guys charged for your time and experience, you might be able to retire early! Nice pictures Dan, I am jonesing to get out, but we are so backed up with work in our shop, and our yard looks like a truck stop, backed up with work, and I have a new bike being delivered next week. SO we are working thru the weekend to catch up....AND my weeds on our 10 acres are growing like weeds! lol! Am anxious to see how the hydraulic clutch project works!!! Thanks again guys!!!

[pete]

wow...
looking at the slave cylinder..

fixed body... straight ridged shaft..
and a pivoting clutch arm that arks at the shaft end..

everything you don't do when setting up a hydraulic ram...

the body needs to pivot so it can follow the ark of the clutch arm..


..

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by pete

wow...
looking at the slave cylinder..

fixed body... straight ridged shaft..
and a pivoting clutch arm that arks at the shaft end..

everything you don't do when setting up a hydraulic ram...

the body needs to pivot so it can follow the ark of the clutch arm..


..

I agree with you, but if you looked at the travel range and position of my clutch arm, there really isn't much arc to it. I think as long as the body and arm are all lined up straight it should do ok. If it lasts will be another question.

[Megadan]

Since the weather decided to suck and rain for most of the day I got my new throttle cable installed. I also have two backups just in case lol. I am fairly certain as to what caused the failure of the cable right at the barrel, and that is the fact that the barrel has to rotate in the throttle tube quite a bit between closed and even half throttle, and the hole for the barrel was pretty tight. I used a small round file and opened it up just a bit so the barrel can move freely. If it happens again I will be looking to make my own upper cable that utilizes the rear barrel position on said throttle cam to eliminate the need for said rotation. Why these cables don't come with the extra inch of length needed to do so is beyond me...

Anyway, while I had everything off to do install the new cable I decided to do my valve lash and wrap the head pipe to cut down on all of the heat and the pants burning . When I went to do the header wrap I spotted a small trace of carbon at the slip joint for the mid pipe so I pulled it and applied a nice coating of tail pipe sealant. I then re-angled my riser adapters away from me and adjusted the handle bars along with the controls to match to make the bike more comfortable for me. I then finally finished up my tinkering by adding some small spacers to the rear mounts for the front fender to angle the front up a bit - a suggestion via OneLeggedRider. It definitely enhanced the "4x4 mode" look of the bike by opening up more air gap between the front of the fender and the tire.

Then, as if the universe itself took pity on me, the rain stopped for a little while and the sun came out, so I decided to go for a quick ride. Made for a pretty good picture opportunity, so I couldn't resist.

[OneLeggedRider]

The fender definitely looks better, I don't know why more people aren't doing it. ��

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by OneLeggedRider

The fender definitely looks better, I don't know why more people aren't doing it. ��

Probably because they are simply happy with it the way it is. It's a subtle enough change that some people might not even see the difference.

[Megadan]

Got my 33 tooth rear sprocket in today and installed it. Much better! The 35 rear with the Shinko 700 tire diameter (about an inch smaller than stock) had the bike effectively geared like a 17 front 48 rear on a stock tire. Now its geared exactly like a 17/45, and it honestly feels no different in terms of pulling power, and much stronger than my last bike in the higher gears.

[China Rider 27]

Looks good!! I like how your muffler rides high up, some others seem quite bit lower. Is that a different muffler or did you paint it to match?

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by China Rider 27

Looks good!! I like how your muffler rides high up, some others seem quite bit lower. Is that a different muffler or did you paint it to match?

It sits higher because it is bolted to the front mount bolt location of the grab handle directly. I had my last one mounted in the same location. Not good for clearing the air box, but mine is hacked anyway and repurposed. I did not paint it though, it came black. It looks different because I removed the plastic end cap from the ebay system, cut down the outlet pipe, and bolted up the end cap from the original Hawk muffler.

[JerryHawk250]

You could always pick up a piece of 6" stainless pipe from a muffler shop to push it back to the stock position. I used my stock header pipe and extended it 6".

[Megadan]

What I would love to do is just get a longer muffler and kill two birds with one stone. I would like to tone down the exhaust note just a little bit more. I have considered repacking this one to see if it helps. My last Hawk was just a hair less obnoxious than this one, and I can only equate the change to the head work.

[JerryHawk250]

Originally Posted by Megadan

What I would love to do is just get a longer muffler and kill two birds with one stone. I would like to tone down the exhaust note just a little bit more. I have considered repacking this one to see if it helps. My last Hawk was just a hair less obnoxious than this one, and I can only equate the change to the head work.

Yeah, the head work does make it a little louder. I need to repack my muffler too.

[OneLeggedRider]

I used one of the forward mounts and my bike is LOUD. but I had to push it so far on the header I'm probably only benefiting from 2/3 of the packing. When I let other people ride it I can hear it coming from a long ways off.