Just bought a carbd hawk 250 help
 

Hi y’all, so I just bought my hawk 250 yesterday off Amazon and I live in Florida. Just wanted to drop in and say hi and kinda tell y’all my ideas for the bike and see if you guys have any improvements on what I have to say. So my first mod will probably be to put a nibbi 28fl on it and try either a 110 or 115 main jet on it( going off the carb calculator….I have no idea what I’m doing). Then I’m planning on a jfg exhaust and eventually want to get a 295 mm rear shock and raise the forks about a quarter of an inch. I’m also planning on getting an aftermarket head, thinner head gasket, and a 300 big block which I hear only makes it a true 250 somehow? Possibly looking at eventually switching the wheels and tires out with the smaller tbr7 ones… I just want a bike that I won’t die on riding on the highway, this is also going to be my girlfriends main mode of transportation so a drop in height would be appreciated too lol. Oooh also looking to get a 17/42 sprocket combo but I’m wondering if it could get better top speeds with another gearing. I’m 5’8” and my girl is 5’4-5’5 I weigh about a buck 40 and she’s right around 100. It’s nice to be a part of the community and I’m hoping y’all can help shed a little light. Thanks for taking the time to reach the end and I’ll be looking forward to hearing y’all’s responses.

It's not really a highway bike for starters...especially 2up.

All those mods a doable...But you will unlikely ever come close to 20hp.
17/42 will be ok for flat roads.

if you want to do highway miles with a GF on the back...get a different bike. 400cc or more.

If you both want to learn to ride back roads then get 2 bikes.

Oh for sure I wasn’t talking about her riding on the back nor I, I just wouldn’t be comfortable with that. I have a car but her engine blew on her truck so I talked her into getting a bike instead of another pod car for the price.(we only had 2,600 and that’s definitely not going to get you something as reliable as this bike) I just wanted to see that after all this if she would be able to fit on it and also not get ran over on the highways. We’re almost never planning on dirt so I’m looking for top speed all the way. Florida is also flat where I live. I’m also planning on getting another hawk or maybe a tbr7 down the line so we can both ride. We’re basically going to be switching between who rides the bike and who drives the car. So I feel well both be able to ride the bike.

The 17/42 sprockets will quite possibly be too high for you, and your girlfriend. The Hawk has a big enough rear tire that you may be better to run a 46-47, and a 17. The exhaust, and proper jetting of your carb ,along with a better chain, Honda rear sprocket studs, and what ever sprockets you decide on , are probably the only mods that you may want to do to a new bike. If you are determined to go with a big bore, the you should also port the head, and then the PE28 may be a little smaller than desired. I would at least run the bike some with the common simple mods, before going the whole 9 yards with it.
You can get killed on any bike, and a light bike is especially affected by wind, and passing trucks. You stated that you may go with smaller wheels, or eventually buy a TBR7, but like the other guy said, these are not ideal highway bikes. One of the cheapest, and usually low mileage small cruisers is the Suzuki Savage/S40, LS650, and a pretty good one is going to cost you about what a new TBR7 would cost. They are easy for anyone to handle, because they are low, and they have plenty of torque, and a very wide ratio transmission to optimize the torque, There are other options out there as well.

I weigh as much as the two of you together. My 2 cents, don't go lower than a 45 rear sprocket. It's the perfect sprocket combo for this bike, the power it makes, and the speeds it is capable of. With the exhaust upgrade and a 17/45 sprocket combo you will be lookin at top speeds of about 65-68mph, and a bike that will happily cruise along at 50-60mph all day long. That is the realistic best these bikes can do.

Just my 2 cents.

Yes the bikes can go on highways...but I would not recommend it.

Even if you spend the full $2600 modifying the bike to make better at a job it was not designed to do...The novelty will ware off on the highway.

I think the money could be better spent on another bike/vehicle platform with highway performance out of the box and probably safer for your girlfriend.

Thank you for the input! We’re definitely staying away from highways I just want to be able to hit highway speeds. What megadan is saying sounds good to me… I’ve thought about the 45 rear so what exactly would be the benefit of a 46-47 over a 45? Sorry I just don’t rly understand gearing yet. And I understand cruisers are perfect for a lot of people, but she seemed to really want a “dirt bike” and a wr250r has been my dream bike since I was probably 7-8

That actually sounds really good to me, we live off of a three lain main road (non hwy) and I just mainly wanted to make sure the bike wouldn’t be stuck going nowhere in an emergency. Also… to make sure. You’re saying that just with an exhaust upgrade and the sprockets it’s capable of 65-68?

When I got my first Hawk I rode it mostly stock with only 17/45 sprockets and a vm26 carb with proper jetting for the bike and it could propel my 6ft4 self along up to 63mph at full throttle after break in was complete.

I then installed an exhaust and did the airbox lid mod, adjusted my.jetting, and the bike could reach up to 68mph.

The stock exhaust is choked off by a rather crappy catalyst and is the.biggest single restriction on the carbed Hawk.

The 46, or 47 recommendation is in the same ballpark as a 45 rear. Dan said that he would recommend not going to a lower tooth count rear than a 45 with a 17 front. More teeth on a rear sprocket gears it lower, more on the front gears it higher, but at a lot faster rate. Say that if one tooth difference on the rear equals 2%, then one tooth on the front would equal around 6% difference.

I love my carbed 250, I weigh 300lbs and got it to 65 on a flat road BEFORE doing the sprockets and chain. Just a carb, air filter and exhaust put it there. Haven't tested top speed now that I have 17/45, 428 and an oil cooler, but I imagine it'll be higher lol

All that being said, ffor what you want and what you have, you'd be better off getting a different bike. Hawk is great for offroad/trails, getting around town, not great for the highway, especially for longer rides.

At the very least if you insist on the hawk carbed go ahead and pick up an oil cooler if you plan on redlining her to do highway speeds.

If your are going by the stock speedometer, your bike realistically did about 60mph.

All of my speeds are via a GPS reading for that very reason.

Most people find the stock speedo to be 8 - 10% off at 60+mph

Already planning on getting an oil cooler, but again… not really planning on going on the highway, our roads speed limits are 45 and everyone goes 60 I just wanna make sure we’ll both be able to be safe out there (which I believe we will even if it’s stock.)

Thank you so much… I only have one more thing to ask. It may be stupid but higher? Lower? That’s really my main question idrk what the difference is… is it just longer in the gears or does it make top speed higher… I get that you’re losing torque for top speed or vice versa. I’m basically asking why would the 17/46-47 benefit us specifically over the 45?

Higher and Lower are used to describe.changes in gear ratios. Other adjectives often used are the terms "taller" and "shorter"

Let's say the standard sprockets are a 17 front and 50 rear. This gives us a numeric gear ratio of 2.94:1, or 2.94 turns of the front sprocket to 1 turn of the rear.

A "tall" or "high" gear is one that is numerically smaller. So if we wanted to gear it higher we would install a 45 tooth rear, which gives us a ratio of 2.65:1

Essentially, it's a higher/taller gear because you get a higher output rpm since gear ratios divide rpm to multiply torque (vice versa if over driven.)

I have the TT250 Tach/speedo, not sure if it's anymore accurate than the stock though lol

This one;
https://cscmotorcycles.com/zt3-107a-...2018-up-tt250/

Likely not that accurate out of the box. Only way to know would be to compare it to a gps

Yeah, Like Dan said ,. Like in a car, 1st gear is often called low. On a car a 4.50 to 1 rear end is geared way lower than a 3.50 to 1, because it means that the driveshaft has to turn four and a half times to turn the wheel once. On a motorcycle the total you get by dividing the number of teeth on the rear sprocket by the number on the front is how many times the front sprocket must turn to turn the rear wheel once. A 46, or 47 was only a number I threw out there, because I am running a 46/17 on my Hawk, and it's just about as Dan describes the 45/17 gearing. It's basically 2% "lower", which would only be the difference ( in theory) of one bike topping out at 100 mph, and one at 98mph, or in more realistic terms one bike running 70 at 8,000 rpm, and one running between 68,and 69.

Well you said "won't die on on the highway" lol. You might not die, but you're gonna feel like you might. There's no power left in it to get out of the way when you need to at highway speeds.
Also as a main/only mode of transportation it is not comfortable for long rides - there are ways to make it more comfortable obviously, but it's no cruiser.

I've turned mine into a bike capable of highway transport and it's decently comfortable after a new seat, seat pad/cushion, windshield, anti vibration grips, etc but after you get it ready for all that you've spent hundreds more lol.
Looking back if I have 2500 cash might have gone a different route, got something capable of hitting 80 lol

But I'm poor, got approved for 1500 through amazon and didn't look back.

Personally, after seeing how these things come stock I wouldn't feel safe on it straight outta the box....you need to go over a lot of stuff, every bolt, brakes, all cables, make sure all lights work, CHECK THAT CHAIN! etc, etc.

My bike arrived missing the front axle nut, the rear brake light was not adjusted properly so it never came on when touching the brakes (until I adjusted it)
Had a short in the start/kill switch, the chain was also incredibly loose on mine and simply fell off one day. Luckily got it back on and babied it home.
The stock rear brake setup is held together by a pin, which fell out while riding on me and I lost rear brakes. I drilled a bigger hole there, put a nut, bolt, washer, lock washer and blue loctite on it and fixed it.

I've also heard people getting it with the chain too tight, which can lead to snapping that thing.

It's "safe" after all the kinks are worked out.

The road I live off is also 45 and everyone does 60. After plenty of mods it's fine for that, but stock I think 45-48 was my top speed before the break in lol

Just bought some retells t6 5w-40 is that good for the hawk?

No, It's not . It's too thin for Florida, and it's synthetic. Break in the motor with regular old non synthetic (Dino oil).. If you can return the T6 , or exchange it , get T4 15-40, or some regular non synthetic motorcycle oil 10-40, or 15-40

Thank you, will do!

T6 also comes in 15w-40. It's what I run in my Hawk, and have since the 200 mile mark when I did the first oil change.

I have some T6 15w40 on hand, but haven't got around to using it yet, because I bought 2 gallons of Quicksilver brand full synthetic a good while back on sale from Amazon. I run synthetic in my bikes, except for the Hawk, because I was under the impression that you were supposed to break in a motor with Dino oil. I think some claim it helps the rings to seat better, but I just do it because of what I have seen on online. My Hawk is about due for an oil change , and I will probably just run what T-4 I have left in it, and then switch it to full synthetic. I have also ran the Walmart Super Tech full synthetic motorcycle oil in my Brozz, and my Virago , but I have never seen it in gallons.

First 200 miles were done with T4 and a ZDDP additive. After that I switched to T6. It hasn't been an issue.

I ended up getting stp pro formula sae 10w-40. I do have a receipt and can return this and just buy t4 on Amazon haha but let me know! Ik it prolly doesn’t make a difference but I’m wanting to know the difference except it comes out of the ground from places like Texas and the Middle East