It Took a Lot to Get My 2024 Hawk Going

[Hawks & Turkeys]

Thought I would make a list of improvements I had to make to get my 2024 Hawk running over these past eight months. Here we go:

- Replaced the worthless factory battery with a Mighty Max.

- Upgraded the "thick wires" that came with the bike and ran from the battery to the solenoid and the solenoid to the starter. The wires were simply not delivering enough power to drive the starter. I found a company on eBay that made custom length cables (Gauge Wire and Cable) and made me a 3" cable to cover the short distance from the battery to the solenoid. I bought a standard length cable to run from the solenoid to the starter.

- Completed a valve lash - AKA a valve adjustment. NGL - I had never done a valve adjustment before, but there are a lot of good videos out there and it seems almost a requirement on new Hawks.

- At the suggestion of an obscure YouTube video I saw, I installed a charging port from the battery that allows me to charge the battery without having to constantly remove the damn side panel with its one screw that is just waiting to be stripped.

- Removed the analog speedo and instrument panel and installed a digital upgrade, whose wiring I screwed up, causing the bike to refuse to start for a month. I believe that I had some conflict with the new, blue & white tach wire, and the existing blue and white CDI box wire, whose power is critical. i wound up pulling out the whole mess and going back to the analog speedo and panel. Oh well...

- After seeing that my gas gauge was off by half a tank (!) I ordered and installed a new fuel gauge float in the gas tank. Ordered it from CSC Motorcycles. It has a longer arm which allows the gas tank float to, well, float.

- My factory throttle cable was 3/4 of an inch too long, far too long for the adjusting threads to shorten the cable enough. As a result, the bike would not idle without stalling out. I had to maintain constant pressure on the throttle grip to allow the engine to rev. I found a company called Venhill in the southern US. They produce custom length cables and ship them to you. It's a more detailed process than I expected - think of the nipples or barrels that have to fit into the throttle grip and carburetor, not to mention the cable length. But the result was great. My new cable is a perfect fit.

My bike was assembled and delivered to me in January 2024 by Orion Powersports of Texas, along with an upgrade to a fairly small Nibbi carb. Other than the digital instrument panel mess, I didn't create any of these problems. This is how the bike was delivered and the issues I encountered.

My blue Hawk runs really well now, eight months after delivery and I'm genuinely enjoying it. But I cringe when I see videos of new Hawks on the road and owners proclaiming that the bike runs great with no issues. That is simply the exact opposite of what I encountered. I'm out.

[zero_dgz]

Orion Powersports of Texas

Suddenly it all makes sense...


I personally would not trust Orion to prepare a bowl of cereal, let alone assemble a motorcycle. When I bought my RXB I elected to save $200 or whatever it was they were charging for their "professional" assembly service and I have never regretted it one tiny bit.

[bigdano711]

Originally Posted by Hawks & Turkeys

Thought I would make a list of improvements I had to make to get my 2024 Hawk running over these past eight months. Here we go:

- Replaced the worthless factory battery with a Mighty Max.

My factory battery still works fine. I have a charger ready to go, have not needed it, yet. Wait, one time when I left the key on overnight, I had to charge it. When I first got it.

Originally Posted by Hawks & Turkeys

- Upgraded the "thick wires" that came with the bike and ran from the battery to the solenoid and the solenoid to the starter. The wires were simply not delivering enough power to drive the starter. I found a company on eBay that made custom length cables (Gauge Wire and Cable) and made me a 3" cable to cover the short distance from the battery to the solenoid. I bought a standard length cable to run from the solenoid to the starter.

Standard Hawk owner fare, no biggie.

Originally Posted by Hawks & Turkeys

- Completed a valve lash - AKA a valve adjustment. NGL - I had never done a valve adjustment before, but there are a lot of good videos out there and it seems almost a requirement on new Hawks.

Standard with any bike, no biggie. Same, I had never done a valve adjustment before. Isn't it great learning new things?

Originally Posted by Hawks & Turkeys

- At the suggestion of an obscure YouTube video I saw, I installed a charging port from the battery that allows me to charge the battery without having to constantly remove the damn side panel with its one screw that is just waiting to be stripped.

Completely unnecessary, but good for you! They have hardware that will fit down at your local hardware store, bud.

Originally Posted by Hawks & Turkeys

- Removed the analog speedo and instrument panel and installed a digital upgrade, whose wiring I screwed up, causing the bike to refuse to start for a month. I believe that I had some conflict with the new, blue & white tach wire, and the existing blue and white CDI box wire, whose power is critical. i wound up pulling out the whole mess and going back to the analog speedo and panel. Oh well...

I was successful with my Zanella digital speedometer. The instructions were spot on, color for color. Not sure why you had an issue.

Originally Posted by Hawks & Turkeys

- After seeing that my gas gauge was off by half a tank (!) I ordered and installed a new fuel gauge float in the gas tank. Ordered it from CSC Motorcycles. It has a longer arm which allows the gas tank float to, well, float.

Yep, the gas tank is an issue. Well documented, too.

Originally Posted by Hawks & Turkeys

- My factory throttle cable was 3/4 of an inch too long, far too long for the adjusting threads to shorten the cable enough. As a result, the bike would not idle without stalling out. I had to maintain constant pressure on the throttle grip to allow the engine to rev. I found a company called Venhill in the southern US. They produce custom length cables and ship them to you. It's a more detailed process than I expected - think of the nipples or barrels that have to fit into the throttle grip and carburetor, not to mention the cable length. But the result was great. My new cable is a perfect fit.

???

Originally Posted by Hawks & Turkeys

My bike was assembled and delivered to me in January 2024 by Orion Powersports of Texas, along with an upgrade to a fairly small Nibbi carb. Other than the digital instrument panel mess, I didn't create any of these problems. This is how the bike was delivered and the issues I encountered.

Aha, the heart of the matter. I would NEVER let someone else do something I am perfectly capable of doing myself. I even change my own oil now, in all my vehicles and small engines.

Originally Posted by Hawks & Turkeys

My blue Hawk runs really well now, eight months after delivery and I'm genuinely enjoying it. But I cringe when I see videos of new Hawks on the road and owners proclaiming that the bike runs great with no issues. That is simply the exact opposite of what I encountered. I'm out.

I disagree. The only real issue was the gas tank. At least you got an "ok" carb and not that PZ30. Did you do ANY research before buying a Hawk?

[Sdmfjon]

Originally Posted by Hawks & Turkeys

My blue Hawk runs really well now, eight months after delivery and I'm genuinely enjoying it. But I cringe when I see videos of new Hawks on the road and owners proclaiming that the bike runs great with no issues. That is simply the exact opposite of what I encountered. I'm out.

Couldn't agree with you more!! These bikes do not perform well out of the box. They need a lot of tinkering and tuning to get them, let me use this term "ridable".

People say they are reliable, Im having doubts

[Dusman]

My Hawk is very reliable, but it's not really a Hawk anymore since I've changed about every part on it, and have significantly modified the frame to make it stronger/stiffer. My Hawk was mostly stock for the first 7,000 miles, and did fine as long as I did valve adjustments every 2,500 miles, ran non-ethanol gasoline, and put dielectric grease on all the major electrical connections.

I don't recommend the Hawk DLX for folks who want to just put the thing together out of the crate and ride around with some guaranteed reliability. I'd recommend a Lifan KPX250 if you're looking for a fuel-injected Chinabike that has consistently been shown to be pretty reliable out of the crate.

If you want a carbureted "Hawk-like" motorcycle that is reliable out of the crate, the CSCTT250 is the way to go, but you're going to pay over twice the price to get it shipped to your house and it will still require some tinkering (i.e., re-jetting the carb based upon your elevation, chain adjustments, valve adjustments, etc.). I would have recommended the Brozz 250, but it's out of stock at Peace Sports and I'm not sure if they'll get them back in stock anytime soon.

[Sdmfjon]

After 2 months, 500 miles, 2 different carburetors,

The best the bike has ever run is on the stock carburetor,
35 pilot (stock )
Needle 2 (stock )
Main 108 ( up from 102 )
Adjust pilot screw until it doesn't stutter at 1/4 throttle.

Had to take the wheels to local shop and spend 300 to have them true and balance. ( We're really bad from factory )

CSC does put the bike together well and they grease everything!! I have not had any issues other than the motor not running correctly and the wheels.

The battery does suck, but the wires coming from it are small too. I changed to a 100CCA AGM battery and custom made positive wires from larger wires. No issues starting up now.

[Hawks & Turkeys]

[QUOT



Did you do ANY research before buying a Hawk?[/QUOTE]


It's a fair question and I did do research - watched all kinds of videos with pros & cons. I tried to insure against problems by having a distributor build the bike for me. And they did. But... one, a lack of tech support from Orion Powersports; and two: I'm sure I was lulled to sleep by **some** expectation that in buying a new bike, it would arrive in some reliable shape. I was wrong.

[Zapkin]

Let's be real—if you're considering a Hawk 250, it's important to set the right expectations from the start. This bike isn’t going to be road-ready right out of the box. You’ll need to put in some work to get it there. But if you know that going in, you’ll avoid disappointment.

Why does the Hawk 250 cost around $1,700, while something like a Honda 150 costs twice as much (and that's before dealer fees)? Well, with the Honda, you’re paying for convenience—you can ride it straight away without worrying about much. That’s just not the case with a Hawk.

But here’s the upside: you’re still paying much less overall, even after you spend a bit more to tweak and upgrade your Hawk. Plus, the process of getting it just the way you want teaches you a lot, and that’s part of the fun. In the end, you’ll have a bike that suits your needs for way less than a Honda, and you’ll know it inside and out.

[Aussie_in_MO]

Fun fact, knowing what I do about the local Honda dealership and their "techs", I'd still expect to have to do a lot of wrenching before I was confident in a showroom fresh bike.
Give me a crate bike any day!

[Hawks & Turkeys]

Originally Posted by Zapkin

Let's be real—if you're considering a Hawk 250, it's important to set the right expectations from the start. This bike isn’t going to be road-ready right out of the box. You’ll need to put in some work to get it there. But if you know that going in, you’ll avoid disappointment.

Why does the Hawk 250 cost around $1,700, while something like a Honda 150 costs twice as much (and that's before dealer fees)? Well, with the Honda, you’re paying for convenience—you can ride it straight away without worrying about much. That’s just not the case with a Hawk.

But here’s the upside: you’re still paying much less overall, even after you spend a bit more to tweak and upgrade your Hawk. Plus, the process of getting it just the way you want teaches you a lot, and that’s part of the fun. In the end, you’ll have a bike that suits your needs for way less than a Honda, and you’ll know it inside and out.

Yes, yes, and yes. I maybe spent $300 in upgrades or repairs and I learned a lot. When I was watching videos on the Hawk while deciding whether to buy one, I saw any number of videos that declared the bike a mechanical disaster, a DMV registration nightmare...but that seemed to be the earlier models, pre-counterbalanced engine, where there were reports of nuts and bolts coming loose. With my 2024 carb model, I was not expecting the level of poor workmanship that I found, like the pitiful battery and solenoid wires, or the too-long throttle cable (that the distributor should have handled). Live and learn, and keep riding, because that's what makes it all worth it.

[Zapkin]

Originally Posted by Hawks & Turkeys

Yes, yes, and yes. I maybe spent $300 in upgrades or repairs and I learned a lot. When I was watching videos on the Hawk while deciding whether to buy one, I saw any number of videos that declared the bike a mechanical disaster, a DMV registration nightmare...but that seemed to be the earlier models, pre-counterbalanced engine, where there were reports of nuts and bolts coming loose. With my 2024 carb model, I was not expecting the level of poor workmanship that I found, like the pitiful battery and solenoid wires, or the too-long throttle cable (that the distributor should have handled). Live and learn, and keep riding, because that's what makes it all worth it.

Well, I am sad you had this experience, I love my little hawk, flaws and all and if something breaks it's so cheap to fix that its almost laughable. I mean damn bro, you can get a new engine for 300 bucks.

[buzz]

Well said Zapkin, I love mine too.

[zero_dgz]

I'm also going to buck the trend here and say that the Bashan Enforcer (aka BSR250/Raven) I bought for my nephew was pretty much just assemble and ride. All I had to do to it was adjust the valves and put all the stuff together on it that needs putting together out of the crate. It ran and rode just fine with no aftermarket upgrades. I did wind up bending the tab on the carb float at one point, but that's all.

He has since added many mods to it but all of them have been convenience and preference things. Luggage, a tachometer, a homebrew skid plate, one of those universal windshields, etc.

[Hawks & Turkeys]

Originally Posted by zero_dgz

I'm also going to buck the trend here and say that the Bashan Enforcer (aka BSR250/Raven) I bought for my nephew was pretty much just assemble and ride. All I had to do to it was adjust the valves and put all the stuff together on it that needs putting together out of the crate. It ran and rode just fine with no aftermarket upgrades. I did wind up bending the tab on the carb float at one point, but that's all.

He has since added many mods to it but all of them have been convenience and preference things. Luggage, a tachometer, a homebrew skid plate, one of those universal windshields, etc.

Happy for you - that's the way its supposed to be, right? "Assemble and ride" and it runs right.