17 Hawk in use again

[Vtunimog]

Somewhere back in 2020 i parked my Hawk and started riding my KLR mostly. Now my 22 year old daughter wants to ride and thinks the hawk is the perfect bike for her to learn to ride on.

After not riding for a while I noticed the bike is definitely a bit unstable in the front end. While I don’t expect her to ride very hard and push the bike the cornering is a bit loose. Any suggestions to stiffen up the front end ?

On the positive note, I had a 2 amp battery maintainer on the bike while In storage , I filled the bike with some gas, while the battery is toast I was able to get it to fire off pretty easily by the kickstart and the bike ran like a champ with no problems at all.

Any input is appreciated

[Thumper]

Dual sport tires are unstable. Put a knobby tire on the front, at least.

[Megadan]

Check the headstock bearings and wheel bearings. If either one has play/is loose it can cause that unstable feeling.

Fork oil would be my second stop. The front ends are soft as it is, but with good fork oil set to even levels it should firm up some.

If it is the original tires they may be starting to harden from age as they would be 5 years old. That can cause some odd feeling steering and ride quality.

[severely]

Originally Posted by Megadan

Check the headstock bearings and wheel bearings. If either one has play/is loose it can cause that unstable feeling.

Fork oil would be my second stop. The front ends are soft as it is, but with good fork oil set to even levels it should firm up some.

If it is the original tires they may be starting to harden from age as they would be 5 years old. That can cause some odd feeling steering and ride quality.

What Megadan said. It may also be a good idea to check wheel spoke tension and trueness of the front wheel before mounting the new front tire. Good luck.

[Vtunimog]

Originally Posted by Megadan

Check the headstock bearings and wheel bearings. If either one has play/is loose it can cause that unstable feeling.

Fork oil would be my second stop. The front ends are soft as it is, but with good fork oil set to even levels it should firm up some.

If it is the original tires they may be starting to harden from age as they would be 5 years old. That can cause some odd feeling steering and ride quality.

Thanks Dan, nice to see you still active here. Thanks to everyone who responded -

I did all the bearings (Honda if I recall) in 2019, but I don’t recall doing the headstock. I will check the fork oil, I did it when I first got it and noticed that after even 700 miles or so the oil was black. I put in Amsoil fork oil I think, but I will check the level and see if the oil is dirty.

I have a decent tire on the front (Shinko 805?) that still looks new. I kept the Chinese tires for spares if needed.

I noticed fork braces made a different on other bikes, I wonder if a brace would help this ?

Thanks for the advice, I will take a look at oil and bearings

I took it out the other night and miss the simplicity of the bike.

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by Vtunimog

Thanks Dan, nice to see you still active here. Thanks to everyone who responded -

I did all the bearings (Honda if I recall) in 2019, but I don’t recall doing the headstock. I will check the fork oil, I did it when I first got it and noticed that after even 700 miles or so the oil was black. I put in Amsoil fork oil I think, but I will check the level and see if the oil is dirty.

I have a decent tire on the front (Shinko 805?) that still looks new. I kept the Chinese tires for spares if needed.

I noticed fork braces made a different on other bikes, I wonder if a brace would help this ?

Thanks for the advice, I will take a look at oil and bearings

I took it out the other night and miss the simplicity of the bike.

Yeah, I still poke around here from time to time. Been busy with other life things of late so I am not quite as active as I used to be.

As far as the fork brace goes. Yes, it absolutely makes a difference in the front end rigidity. Huge difference. These spaghetti thin forks have a ton of flex to them, so it makes for a very loose and vague front end feel, especially if you have been riding something more modern with thicker/stiffer forks. I know I have to re-adjust when I switch between my Honda and my Hawk. My VFR's front end feels like it's made from a solid bar of aluminum, and my Hawk feels like the front wheel is just mildly influenced by the bars without the brace on there.