Just picked up an '02 and found this forum. I figured I'd do an intro thread before I go through and look for cures for the few issues I have with the bike at the moment. Feel free to point me at threads if anything's covered already, though. I've only had it a few days so I haven't even looked at most of the things wrong with it (i.e. stuff that will take some effort). The bike has about 5300 miles on it.

I have somewhere around 50-60k miles of street and track riding on two GS-500s, an FZR-600 (40k+), and a couple of SV-650Ses. I've done track days at Barber, TGPR, and Jennings.

First, here's the bike:


It's been laid down on the left side but most everything seems okay. I picked it up because it was CHEAP (the kid had to unload it), and I've always admired the bikes. To be honest, a VFR would suit my riding better, but they're also about twice what I paid for this.

All I've done so far:
Flipped the front wheel around so that the tire is spinning in the right direction, this made a HUGE difference in the handling, obviously!

Fixed the front turn signals (bought some crappy LP surface mounts) and repaired some horrible DPO wiring issues.

When I got it the front preload and rebound were set to max, and the rear preload was one notch from minimum with rebound somewhere in the middle. I haven't backed the preload down as I'm rather advanced in my gravitational skills, but I ran the rebound to a little higher than minimum (much better) and bumped the rear preload to a couple notches from max and left the rebound where it was. The bike has rather new D208s.



As for the outstanding issues... Most annoying at the moment is that the fuel gauge doesn't work, reads empty all the time. It's bad enough having 100 mile range, but this makes me so fuel-paranoid it's hard to enjoy riding. Oh, to have a reserve petcock!

The handling is a lot better, especially in sweepers, but I still don't have a lot of confidence in it. I've only ridden it in town a few days, but even on my practiced interstate onramps I haven't gotten rid of the chicken strips because the front end feels numb. At residential speeds, the front feels like it's going to fall out from under me! Very disconcerting. It's better at speed but still not confidence-inspiring. This is my first time on D208s, but this is more severe than just tires, I think. The only other time I've experienced a front end this bad was on old BT-50s and I'm certain that there are no tires that bad left on the market.

I get that stall sometimes during idle, but I saw the FAQ on that and I'm gonna have some fun with the carburetors when I get the chance. I'm sure I can sort that out. It feels like they could use some synching, too.

It came with Two Brother's carbon pipes and it sounds like the devil's own motorcycle, but it's far too loud for my tastes; I'm not the look-at-me type. I may try repacking them, but I think new mufflers are in order.

Thanks in advance if anyone has advice, and I look forward to putting a lot of miles under this thing... 100 at a time.

EDIT: Oops! forgot something really important. I want bar risers! NEED bar risers! I have too many miles crouched over my Fizzer and I'm too old for more of this. I see that the Hawk has the same fork size as the Hawk GT, VFR, F3... and about 80% of the other bike in the universe. Anyone have luck with Heli bars? Or better, something that costs a bucket less than Heli bars.

 

Welcome aboard....this site has everything a Hawk owner will ever need. Well except for a few more motorcycles in the barn....a man can always use a few more..

 

Describe what you mean by "fall out from under me" when you talk about the front end. Where are you located? There's probably someone in the area that may be able to help you get the bike set up. See the sticky for the Forum Member Locator.

Many have had luck with Helis. CBR1000F bars, 92-97 VFR bars, and HawkGT bars also give you some rise.

 

I'm in Floridiotland. What I'm feeling is past suspension settings, I think. Have you ever ridden the old BStone BT-50s? They were very "pointy" tires so they didn't have good feel between turn-in and full lean. They were OEM on the CBR-900RR and IMO the sole reason that 16" front wheels got a bad reputation. This is worse than that.

At speed I have adapted to turning in earlier than I do on the Fizzer and it's okay once it takes a set. But at slow speeds, like 90º turns in the neighborhood, the front goes very numb and the bike doesn't turn much as I push the bar. It makes me very nervous and I almost have to stop and waddle the bike through a turn like a n00b that doesn't know to countersteer.

I've ridden a lot of bikes from, Triumph cruisers to R6s and Buells, and I haven't had this problem to this degree. One thing that just occurred to me... the front wheel was on backwards and I have no idea how long that tire spent spinning the wrong way, or if that would even matter. It was a lot better when I swapped the wheel around, but maybe a new tire will fix it up.

 

Welcome aboard... I have Helibars on mine and will never go back to the stock bars again so I would definitely recommend them - also some VFR bars work well, search the forums for more info on bars.

 

This may be myth, but seems to me I remember hearing that if a radial tire is run in the wrong direction, it can cause the internal woven belts, whether steel or fabric or whatever, to seperate a certain amount. If that is true, then it stand to reason that it could cause tire failure, or to a lesser degree it may just make the front end feel really squirmy.
If the front still has a lot of life in it, maybe you can find a friend that has a front wheel you could swap for a quick ride, just to know for sure?

 

Welcome my brotha! Nice bike! Looks just like my 2002 SH:P
I'd recommend that you go with the Helibars cuz I have 2" risers and I'd like more

 

 

Two Brothers are the cats meow.....heheheheh Love em.