Super Hawk Reader Poll: "If They Build It, We Will Come."
SUPER HAWK READER POLL: "IF THEY BUILD IT, WE WILL COME."
THE POLLS ARE CLOSED and the votes have been tallied. And your decision, registered with us via mail and fax, is this: If Honda has any sense at all, it will build a 1000cc V-Twin-powered Super Hawk as proposed in the July edition of Cycle World.
You were very specific and detailed about some elements of this proposed and, for now, highly theoretical machine:
You told us, in the 150 responses we’ve so far received, that the bike should be offered here and in Europe as soon as possible; that it should be sold both as a hard-core World Superbike competitor and as a softer-edged sport-tourer with choices of no fairing, half-fairing and full-fairing; and that it should sell for somewhere between $5000 and the current list price of a CBR900RR-currently $8299.
Regarding some other details, however, you were less unified in your opinions. Some of you want fuel injection. Others specify that EFI isn’t required, that carburetion will suit you just fine. Some of you like the glamour and high-tech nature of an RC30-style, single-sided swingarm, even going as far as to say that the bike’s muffler needs to be on the same side as the swingarm, thus leaving the open side of the wheel uncluttered and visible, and easing its removal for tire changes. Others of you think the added weight and cost of a single-sider is incon sistent with the idea of market-
ing a lightweight, affordable motorcycle that truly carries on the heritage of the Super Hawk name.
One thing you were remarkably unanimous about had to do with color and graphics. “Make it red,” most of you said. And many of you made highly sarcastic and disparaging remarks about trendy graphic treatments such as those found on this year’s Suzuki GSX-Rs, and urged Honda’s designers to eschew use of them.
Your responses made one other thing clear: You’re fans of the V-Twin engine. A great number of you own Honda Hawk GTs. A few of you either own, or are about to buy, Ducati 900SSs. And a number of you also are former owners of the original Super Hawk, and would buy an up-to-date V-Twin that carried that name. Some of you are so enthusiastic, in fact, that you want to buy the first one off the production line.
As promised, we’ll forward your responses to the Super Hawk question to the decision makers at American Honda. And, along with you, wait to see what happens.
-Jon F. Thompson
