Hawk Assistance New Riders

[HawkRider]

So my best friend and I bought him a hawk awhile back (augustish), and he absolutely loves it! Ill be buying mine here in the next few weeks and being that I am in Texas, Ill be getting it pre-assembled here in Houston.

However here is the issue.

My buddy can work on jeeps all day long, and I have a very small amount of mechanical knowledge. We see videos about re-jetting and sprockets and things like that, its a bit confusing but we are both eager to learn.

So China Riders, What mods should we do to our RPS Hawks? And what maintenance should we do on them and how often? We love these bikes and love riding them on and off the road. We want to keep them going for a while. Any information helps out! Thank You!!!!!!

[Sport Rider]

that's a pretty broad request.

as a newish owner, I'd say the first change is the carb. do a search here, there's a bunch of references to ones on ebay that should guide you. also get a 30 pilot and 115 main jet to fit the new carb. the jets are pretty common and you should be able to find them at your local bike shop if you don't want to wait for them online. settings for the pilot screw should be 1.5 turns out. Needle should be in the second clip to start.

second change I did was the 17 tooth sprocket on the front. when you do this change, there is a small tab that tucks in behind the starter on the sprocket cover. that has to be removed in order to get the cover back on. the issue is there is just not enough room with the larger sprocket to get that little tab back behind the starter. it's easy to remove, just use anything you got. I used a grinder because I have one, but a hack saw or anything else handy will do the job. it doesn't have to be real pretty. it's hidden from sight.

Next change is the 45 tooth rear sprocket. You may not want to do this if you plan to ride primarily off-road. I am doing it because I want more street speed and won't be doing heavy trail riding. of course, you can always swap them around based on the type of riding you plan to do at the time.

Regarding the bike in general when you receive it, first thing you should do is change the motor oil and fork oil with some reliable brands. the stuff from china isn't very good quality.

Some have also recommended changing the plug for a good quality brand name to get better hot spark. I have not done this yet.

Other than that, I'm really happy with the bike now that it's all sorted out. I just ride it like I stole it and enjoy!

[Azhule]

Originally Posted by Sport Rider

Regarding the bike in general when you receive it, first thing you should do is change the motor oil and fork oil with some reliable brands. the stuff from china isn't very good quality.

Don't forget about that brake fluid , Mag 1 DOT 4 would be my recommendation, but any known DOT 3 or 4 fluid will do

[culcune]

Originally Posted by Sport Rider

that's a pretty broad request.

as a newish owner, I'd say the first change is the carb.

I would argue--do the countersprocket ('front' sprocket) first. These come geared really low (high number rear sprocket--56 and low number front sprocket 13 or 14) for pure off-road. I would suggest change the front sprocket to a 17 tooth as your very first modification. From there, if you want to be mainly streetable with some dirt trail riding, you could look into changing the rear sprocket to a 45 tooth from the stock 56. The third mod should be the carb, once you decide you like the way the bike is geared.

@Sport Rider--the only reason I say this is not to insult you and your suggestion, but I think people have reported carb issues changing them out (I am writing about relative newbies which 'Hawkrider' states he is) which were probably not issues at all but rather newbie issues such as adjustments as opposed to anything being 'wrong.'

[Sport Rider]

Originally Posted by culcune

I would argue--do the countersprocket ('front' sprocket) first. These come geared really low (high number rear sprocket--56 and low number front sprocket 13 or 14) for pure off-road. I would suggest change the front sprocket to a 17 tooth as your very first modification. From there, if you want to be mainly streetable with some dirt trail riding, you could look into changing the rear sprocket to a 45 tooth from the stock 56. The third mod should be the carb, once you decide you like the way the bike is geared.

@Sport Rider--the only reason I say this is not to insult you and your suggestion, but I think people have reported carb issues changing them out (I am writing about relative newbies which 'Hawkrider' states he is) which were probably not issues at all but rather newbie issues such as adjustments as opposed to anything being 'wrong.'

no offense ever taken, so don't worry about that part!

I guess the better suggestion would be to get the carb running well first. that might be through use of the stock carb, pulling the caps to get to the jets, etc. I struggled to get it running initially, but definitely due to my not being familiar with it at all. I felt it just ran so lean that it was concerning. until I got the carb set and it ran well, I was ready to call my purchase a bust.

I found the stock sprockets to be usable IF off-roading was my only interest. I did my 17 very early on though because I knew I wanted more street-ability. I guess I figured I KNEW what that was going to do for me. but I wanted to get it running right first.

You certainly have good logic to your suggestion though. Perhaps the right approach is to do ALL of the changes as soon as you are able. start where you have the most concern, but I personally recommend all of them....including the valve adjust and brake fluid that I missed!

[SeerAtlas]

i gotta ask you guys.. what elevations are you having issues w the carb? we have two hawks , are at about 1k in the ozarks and having zero carb issues. check for air leaks first.
i've even got a mikuni in the box w a full range of jet sizes, that until i plan a mountain or beach trip, just aren't being touched. where is the op in texas? i think i'd talk to some other owners there at similar altitudes. aside from the "make it mine " crowd, the stock hawk has few issues, unless you want more than 35 mph :} then gear change is critical. resetting the idle mixture really helps almost everyone. online is a guy in vermont called cheetos or cheese something. has some good hawk related vids on youtube. might even b on this board.
oh, and i run 16/45 and sustained 60-65 ish is no prob and i can still trail.

[pistolclass]

The Guy is Motocheez. He is in CT but bike is registered in VT cuz CT sucks, I know cuz I live here and with a name like pistolclass you can imagine I have more than just a problem with the rules regarding motorcycles here.

His videos are great. I learned a bunch watching them.

[Sport Rider]

Originally Posted by SeerAtlas

i gotta ask you guys.. what elevations are you having issues w the carb? we have two hawks , are at about 1k in the ozarks and having zero carb issues. check for air leaks first.
i've even got a mikuni in the box w a full range of jet sizes, that until i plan a mountain or beach trip, just aren't being touched. where is the op in texas? i think i'd talk to some other owners there at similar altitudes. aside from the "make it mine " crowd, the stock hawk has few issues, unless you want more than 35 mph :} then gear change is critical. resetting the idle mixture really helps almost everyone. online is a guy in vermont called cheetos or cheese something. has some good hawk related vids on youtube. might even b on this board.
oh, and i run 16/45 and sustained 60-65 ish is no prob and i can still trail.

I'm in the Charlotte NC area myself. elevation here is about 800-1000 feet. once I got the stock carb tuned, it was starved for fuel at about 45mph. it would just start to sputter at that point which was telling me either main jet too small or float level too low. not really sure which since I did not drill/cut and take it apart. after the mikuni install, it was running up to 50 with no other changes. then went to 17 on the front and getting 55 to 58. I have not gone to the 45 rear sprocket yet. the difference in the carbs to me was the feeling that it was running strong and smooth all the way up to the top speed. I'm sure my limit now is HP vs weight and wind resistance. these were all on flat roads, by the way. on a downhill I've gotten to 68. again, 17/50 on it right now.

keep in mind though...I claim NOOO carb expertise! these results are just seat of the pants and doing some of the suggested changes by the experts here.

Hmmmm....perhaps THAT's my problem!

[Ron B]

I adjusted my valves before I even started mine. they were completely closed.

[Sport Rider]

thanks guys. I forgot both of those!

[Ron B]

my new hawk came with 15/50 and at 48mph the rpms are up there.