The View From the Real World
THE VIEW FROM THE REAL WORLD
Honda's Hawk GT is a neat machine, but will it play in Peoria? Three Cycle World readers take it for a ride and answer the question.
DAVID EDWARDS
LETTERS. Boy, DO WE GET LETTERS. EVERYTHING from hand-scrawled one-liners asking if you can have our test bikes when we're through with them (no), to single-spaced, margin-to-margin epistles lamenting the state of the sport and asking us if we think motorcycling will still be here in the year 2001 (yes). And each month, the U.S. Postal Service delivers to us three or four letters that carry the same plea: Where are the standard motorcycles? A fair number of you, it seems, are tired of race-replica sportbikes, Main-Street muscle-cruisers and dirigible-spec touring bikes, and would like a nonspecialized motorcycle, an all-arounder that serves well no matter what the riding situation.
Well, Honda must have received some of those same letters, because when its 1988 lineup was unveiled, a different kind of motorcycle shared the spotlight with the Hurricanes, the Shadows and the Gold Wing 1500. Called the Hawk GT, it promised to be a new-age standard motorcycle.
Given these circumstances, we decided to bring the Hawk and some of the letter-writers together, to see if the two were compatible. So, we selected three Cycle World readers who had sent in letters bemoaning the fate of the old-style standard, arranged for them to meet at our offices and took the trio for a weekend ride on the Hawk.
Richard Brownley, from Salt Lake City, Utah, is a 39year-old doctor, a kidney specialist at the University of Utah. A motorcyclist for only two years, he’s making up for lost time and rides a 1981 Yamaha XV920, a 1985 Yamaha RZ350 and a 1986 Yamaha SRX600, averaging about 9000 miles per year.
I wish the manufacturers would offer standard bikes again You know the kind; no bodywork (too expensive to replace). five-gallon gas tank (good range). wide and long seat (long-distance comfort), powerful engine with good mid-range torque (smooth running::).~ and-the best part-you can set them up the. way you nt them (touring, sport-touring, sport only. racing). Thanks for listening and keep the rubber side down and the shiny side up.
Sincere1Y~
I £ra~21J
D~fli$1 Morris PeortcL Illinois
Los Angeles, California, resident Barry Sommer, 34, has 16 years of riding experience, and by trade is a knife sharpener and restorer of samurai swords. He owns three bikes— a 1967 Ducati Sebring, a 1971 Triumph Bonneville and a 1982 Suzuki GS1100— and rides approximately 3000 miles each year.
Daniel Morris lives in Peoria, Illinois, where he’s a development technician for the electronic ignition systems used on Caterpillar truck engines. He’s 30 years old and rides a 1980 Suzuki GS850 that’s been tailored for sport-touring. He’s been riding for 10 years and logs about 10,000 miles a year.
After two days and 600 miles of riding, which included everything from lane-splitting through clogged beach traffic, to sedate interstate droning, to down-’n’-dirty mountain-road scratching, each of our guest riders had formed strong opinions about the Hawk GT.
The bike’s appearance drew the first comments. Morris thought the Hawk looked “like a Hurricane without the bodywork,” a styling move he thought wasn’t all bad. “There’s something about bodywork that says ‘Don’t look under here,’ as if they’re trying to hide something,” he said.
Brownley agreed. “On this motorcycle, everything is upfront. You can see the entire engine, you can see the weld joints on the frame. That’s good. For certain people, a BMW or a Triumph is the archetypal motorcycle. The Hawk will appeal to them. But at the places where we stopped on the ride, the bike also got a lot of attention from sportbike riders.”
“Yes, it is a high-tech bike,” added Sommer, “as long as you know what to look for,” referring to the Hawk’s aluminum frame and single-sided swingarm.
Brownley continued: “I think an important question here is, what does this motorcycle have that an SRX600 doesn’t? What will allow it to make the boat where the Yamaha missed it? The SRX was kick-start only and had twin shocks; the Hawk has electric start and a single shock. It’s classical and yet it’s modern, and that may allow it catch both audiences.”
“Or it may be its death knell and appeal to neither,” observed Sommer.
Brownley summed up the Hawk’s styling with a comment both Morris and Sommer concurred with. “The more I looked at it, the more I liked it,” he said.
While the Hawk GT’s looks drew unanimous favor, its seating position was given three emphatic thumbs-down. And each rider complained of heat along the right side of the motorcycle. Sommer and Morris, each 6 feet 2 inches tall, were the most vocal detractors of the GT’s ergonomics.
“The seat just isn’t right,” said Sommer. “It’s too cramped for riders over 6 feet, and I’d like the footpegs moved forward.”
“For me, the seat isn’t wide enough, and I couldn’t scoot back,” said Morris. “And because it’s slanted downward, I kept sliding into the rear of the gas tank. I was a little worried about the family jewels.”
At 5 feet 9 inches, Brownley was a better fit for the Hawk. “The tank wasn’t a problem, but I, too, would have preferred that the seat didn’t have the step-up at the rear.”
All three agreed that the rear seat was next to useless. “I wouldn’t carry a passenger on this bike,” Sommer said.
There were other complaints that reflected each rider’s personal preferences. Brownley felt the radiator cluttered the bike’s looks. “I would have preferred an air-cooled engine,” he said. Sommer didn’t like the clamp-on cast handlebars. “I’d like the option of easily changing the bars,” he said, “I think it should have tubular handlebars.” Morris would opt for a bit of aerodynamic aid. “It needs a fairing—nothing big, though—something like the old GPzstyle handlebar fairing.”
Both Morris and Brownley would have liked more motor, as well. “The engine is nice and smooth, but in fifthgear roll-ons there’s not much there. I’d want a larger engine,” said Morris, who weighs over 200 pounds. Brownley echoed those feelings. “I was impressed by the engine’s smoothness and the evenness of the powerband, but I’d like to see a 950 Hawk to go along with the 650,” he said.
Sommer, admitting a sentimentality toward the Triumph-size engine displacement, disagreed. “I would be very satisfied to have it stay at 650cc,” he said. “On the highway, it cruised with no problem, and I once had it up to an indicated 110. It was rock-solid; I was extremely impressed.”
The most informative responses came when we asked for an overall opinion of the Hawk, and if Honda had indeed succeeded in re-inventing the standard motorcycle.
“A standard-style motorcycle should be able to carry a passenger and luggage. This one won’t,” Brownley stated simply. He did, however, give the Hawk points for originality. “I admire Honda for taking the gamble to be different and not make just another lookalike rocketbike. I hope the day is coming when you can walk into any brand of dealership and buy a bike like the Hawk.”
“It sure isn’t a standard,” said Morris. “I think it’s just too small to go anywhere, sales-wise, in the Midwest. Besides, back there, people want cruisers. The Hawk looks like a cult-bike to me.” But while he doesn’t feel that the Hawk is the second coming of the standard motorcycle, Morris has no doubts that it is a very good motorcycle. “It’s a high-quality machine. It feels like one solid piece of metal, one unit. There’s no slop. It’s got class.”
Sommer was even more enthusiastic. “Honda has done a fine job of getting back to basics. The Hawk does everything I want a bike to do: I like the way it handles, I like the power, I like the riding experience. It’s a bike I would own and want to keep, a nice addition to my collection. It’s a 1988 Bonneville; the closest thing to a Bonneville that I’ve ridden.”
And while he agreed that the Hawk is not going to meet some riders’ criteria for what a standard motorcycle should be, Sommer’s closing statement shows just how close the bike is: “If it had a better seat and different handlebars, Mr. Honda could have my money tomorrow.” E3
appreciate^the combiira Uo ”oi cfsubs,i,ufeI lines. My Yamaha^MHCleaa modem longer-legged orque and something oí a Hart I arque and somefhing oí a Harlev soTmH unT (P"Y 'or its newness on whichever bike I havlm?ridrt rat‘°"ali2ati°ns), I hop like Christmas momina all oL?d " h® longest «me. It's to go buying anéete ^1 don''need Happily yours,
Richard Brownley Sdlt Lake City. Utah
.1 have been a rider for 16 years and it's my humble opinion that the rampaging technological improvements which now envelope our industry suck wet armcxdfflo tut Why should I own a machine that has more body parts than AS old Schwarzenegger. more computer circuits than my microwave oven and more horsepower than Gene Autry's ranch. not to mention costing more than a• month's rent at the Waldorf-Astoria?
Cordic1~Y yoUrs
Barry Sommer LOS: ge1eS~ CalifOrrUa
