New Hawk, new adventures.

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by China Rider 27

Good to see Megadan on the trail again! That weather looks great for riding. I've been riding most sunny or cloudy non rainy days I can in the low 40's. I wear long johns under my pants and the liner in my jacket and a scarf around my neck. The fingers get cold but the sound of the engine keeps calling me out!

I will gladly ride in the low 40's. That's nice weather for this time of the year in my parts. It's the mid 20's and low 30's I tend to shy away from if at all possible.

[Megadan]

One thing that has been eating up a lot of my time and making it hard to do work on my bikes is related to my work. I am being considered for a senior technician position, which comes with some added responsibility as well as a fairly healthy pay increase. I am doing everything I can to try and prove I am worthy of said position at the moment. It would be the highest income level I have ever been at in my life if I get it.

[China Rider 27]

As efficient and thorough as you are that should be a done deal! Maybe you should list your work here on the forum for accomplishments. If they need a good reference have um make a post and we will reply! Good luck!

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by China Rider 27

As efficient and thorough as you are that should be a done deal! Maybe you should list your work here on the forum for accomplishments. If they need a good reference have um make a post and we will reply! Good luck!

Efficiency and thoroughness are key elements in what I do as a career. Keeping production machines up and running is the name of my game. People get cranky when a machine is down for a long time, or repeatedly breaking down.

[Megadan]

Finally got around to a proper start of the year bike prep. Greased the greasy things, checked the spokey things and other fasteners. Fiddled a bit with the carb as well after getting a few odd lean surges at light throttle. I am pretty confident I have the carb dialed in about as good as I can get it for the temp swings (60 high, 30 low). 138 main, 35 pilot, and 2 1/4 turns out on the idle mixture after a good cleaning and valve check. I should probably go a bit bigger on the pilot jet, but it hasn't surged since I cleaned it so I can only assume it had a tiny bit of varnish after being stored. Once it warms up a bit more I will drop to a 135 main and turn back the mixture a bit.

So I am finally happy with the carb setup, and soon will be screwing it all up again... I like to torture myself lol.

[Megadan]

Fittingly a new goody arrived right in time for my birthday to myself.
I ordered a Fast Ace shock ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 )

Yes, I went shorter. Firstly because the Brozz swing arm lower shock mount is a bit higher than the Hawk, but I also want to actually bring the rear end back down just a hair. If I am correct, this combination should lower the back end about 2 inches from where it sits currently, or 1 1/2 down from stock. The high ass end with my current shock makes the seating position just a bit uncomfortable on longer rides, even if it does make it handle very sharply.

The spring rate is also a bit lighter at 1000lb/in vs. 1200lb/in. However, the Fast Ace shock also has about 60% more travel.

One thing I will say, you can tell the quality difference over the current shock I have. The bushings actually have needle roller bearings on each end of the shock, and the material quality is tangible. It is also a lot lighter.

I just need to paint the Brozz swing arm and then install it with said shock and see what the results are. If I am satisfied with the results I will probably put up my current rear shock for cheap if anybody would be interested.

[OneLeggedRider]

I knew you would come around to my way of thinking eventually (most people do ) and get tired of riding downhill all the time. But I am surprised you went with the 1,000lb version, folks our size are usually better off with the 1,200... Anywho, if you decide to shed the old monoshock I'll buy it for cousin Jay.

Also we want details about spacers and fitment issues.

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by OneLeggedRider

I knew you would come around to my way of thinking eventually (most people do ) and get tired of riding downhill all the time. But I am surprised you went with the 1,000lb version, folks our size are usually better off with the 1,200... Anywho, if you decide to shed the old monoshock I'll buy it for cousin Jay.

There was no 1200lb version available for this shock, but the angle of the shock is actually altered with the brozz swing arm, and so is the leverage on the shock thanks to the centerline intersect. Plus, I have lost a bit of weight over the last several months and my Hawk rides a bit stiff out back now, plus the front is still softer than the rear, which makes the ride a bit weird.

If it doesn't work I can probably just sell this shock off and find another option. This didn't actually cost me any money out of my pocket. I used bonus points we earn at my company to get amazon gift cards, and then bought them with that lol.

[OneLeggedRider]

Sweet, well let me know if you decide to sell either of them, I'm in quite a few groups so if either didn't work out for Jay I could still pass it onto someone else and break even.

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by OneLeggedRider

Sweet, well let me know if you decide to sell either of them, I'm in quite a few groups so if either didn't work out for Jay I could still pass it onto someone else and break even.

I will keep both options in mind.

As for the lowering of the back end, you actually did inspire that to some degree. It was also just a lack of better options that made me pick the lesser of two evils. I honestly don't mind how high the back end is, but lowering it a little also falls in line with some future potential plans of mine.

[OneLeggedRider]

Well you of all people I don't have to give any lessons about rake and trail. But surprisingly enough my bike is more stable on almost every surface compared to cousin Jay's Hawk. Now mind you I have upgraded the tires to Kenda Trakmasters, but I don't think that's the reason. And going down the highway it transitions into the curves smoothly. I think the Chinese copied a bike but didn't spend any actual engineering time on it.

[OneLeggedRider]

Also straight line stability, we will ride through my little town and I can lay completely back on the seat and steer it with my weight. Try that on Jay's stock Hawk.

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by OneLeggedRider

Well you of all people I don't have to give any lessons about rake and trail. But surprisingly enough my bike is more stable on almost every surface compared to cousin Jay's Hawk. Now mind you I have upgraded the tires to Kenda Trakmasters, but I don't think that's the reason. And going down the highway it transitions into the curves smoothly. I think the Chinese copied a bike but didn't spend any actual engineering time on it.

I do agree that they copied a design with little effort to maintain proper chassis geometry. That being said, the rake and trail on these bikes at static ride height is around 28 degrees and 4.5 inches. My bike at static height is not that much different, and nowhere near enough to create unsteady handling characteristics.

Where I think the real issue comes in, at least for lighter riders, is that the dual rate spring travel up front is longer on the softer rate than the rear, so under load the rake and trail decrease. For big heavy guys like us, we load down the rear end enough to neutralize it, at the cost of bottoming out the shock on bigger bumps. When I ran a stock rear shock with higher preload on the front, my bike was as stable as a rock with my big butt in the seat.

[OneLeggedRider]

Well back in the 80s when I was racing 2 smokes in Hare Scrambles the rake and trail was different. The front always set a little higher than the rear and was stiffer. But the bikes handled great and could cover any terrain.

*Note.. Hare Scrambles were primarily 4 stroke, and even when they opened it up to 2 strokes that won consistently, we never got the proper recognition and were treated like step children winning a secondary class. But my first and third season I did run a 4 stroke Honda.

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by OneLeggedRider

But the bikes handled great and could cover any terrain.

See, and that is why I actually want to change up the rear just a little bit. My bike is excellent on road the way it is, but on a loose surface like a gravel road, that is when the front end starts to show it's ugly side just a hair. It isn't uncontrollable, but let us just call it a bit "nervous" feeling. The kind of feeling where you know if you give it just a little too much input you will be eating dirt. That is actually the reason I removed my fork brace for a while, the extra bit of fork flex actually helped nullify some of the feedback and made it easier to keep it steady.

It improved a bit when I took some preload out of the rear so it had a bit more sag out back when I sat on the bike, but it was only a minor improvement. I am hoping to gain back some more stability in lower traction scenarios without hurting how it handles on pavement too much. Which I can also gain some back with the fork brace re-installed.

By increasing the trail under static load from droping the tail a bit and giving more travel and lower ride frequency to the rear in relation to the front, I am pretty sure I will have it right about where I want it.