I want the good, the bad, the ugly.
I'm completely in love with the way they look, and they're supposed to handle quite well as far as i've read?
In addition to the good, bad, and ugly, what's a price range i should expect to pay for an example that needs some love? I'm not wanting to buy one fully sorted ready to rock, i want to do a mild "resto-mod" on one, after a fashion. Looking for a fun easy-ish project to do over the winter to ride next year.
I have nothing to add other than my brother will trade you his '86 Nighthawk 700s for the MX-6 
Here's a horrible cell phone picture.
Both are among my favorite bikes ever.
I like the looks of the Hawk GT, but for the price you can get the sv650 or sv1000s like mine
so really as usual I have nothing helpful to say
In reply to 2.0dohc:
Your sv looks a little small in your picture. How much can you get a full size one for? 
I love...no, make that LOVE Hawk GTs. They were way ahead of their time in 88-91, and I'd still say my old 88 was the best handling bike I've ever had the pleasure of straddling.
However, 2.0dohc is right. You could get a more modern, reliable bike for similar money. They have an enthusiast following, so unless you find one in a storage auction you're probably going to be stuck paying $2k or better for it. If I ever buy another, I'll pay full price for an outstanding example rather than trying to find a fixer-upper.
My good friend had a really nice one. Slow, Slow, and more Slow. But this is from a guy who rides modern liter bikes, so most things are slow.
Funky looks. Not a fan.
The V Twin beat you up on long rides. Same reason I got rid of my TL1000. V Twin sportbikes for the lose!
V-twin sportbikes for the WIN! I love my SV and don't know if I could go back to an inline-4 sportbike after owning it. It just wouldn't be the same...the instant torque, the sound, and the sound.
But you are going to pay the same for a Hawk GT as you would for a decent SV. The cheapest one I have seen was $1400 for a project.
IIRC Alex has/had an awesome Hawk GT.
Carson wrote: I have nothing to add other than my brother will trade you his '86 Nighthawk 700s for the MX-6
I'm not sure if i'm ever going to sell the MX6. I've discovered some fairly disturbing facts about that car, and i would never feel good about selling it. I'll run it til i'm done with it, then probably just part it out.
Let's just say that the front of the car is mangled and missing a huge portion of it's sheet metal. 
Sweet bike, though!
And for the record, i'm cool with paying a premium for an old bike that may not be as reliable as a newer SV or whatever. I'm sure it'll be fast enough for me, i wouldn't be into straight line speed or anything with one of these, just wanting something to ride on nice days, away from traffic out in the country.
I just want a Hawk GT, maybe a Ducati Monster, but i know i can't afford that, so i'll stick with the Hawk i think.
$1500 for a project is AOK by me.
Old Honda bikes are expensive to repair as they age. Buying one with no idear on the actual history would be an expensive and scary propsition. But we've already covered that on the local board haven't we?
Bobzilla wrote: Old Honda bikes are expensive to repair as they age. Buying one with no idear on the actual history would be an expensive and scary propsition. But we've already covered that on the local board haven't we?
Why yes, i do believe we have. Where's your sense of adventure Bob? Don't you race a Metro or something?
If you want it, and are happy with it, do it!!! There is nothing wrong with an old Honda, parts are NOT that expensive, and are available. There's a real good reason Honda sold millions of bikes---they were good,and they were fun. And they were(are) reliable.
EvanB wrote: IIRC Alex has/had an awesome Hawk GT.
L'il old me? Aw, shucks.
They're not expensive to repair, almost no stock parts are NLA, and those that are tend to be interchangeable with another model. Honda uses the parts bins like crazy, so if you think laterally (the letters C, B and R are magic when it comes to Hawk parts), you'll just about always be able to get what you're looking for brand new from a dealer. If that's your thing.
This was my first bike and I still have it. I worked in a shop for years, and I've ridden more bikes than I can count. I still looked forward to riding home on my Hawk every night. That should tell you something. I'm not an anomaly: most folks that get one are hooked for life. Yes, you can certainly get more bike for the money these days, and there's nothing wrong with that. But if you want a platform that's easy to mod, still relatively modern while being increasingly idiosyncratic, you'd be hard pressed to do better.
That sad news is my motor seized...about a year ago...and I haven't got around to pulling it yet. This is somewhat of a freak occurrence - I've literally never heard of another catastrophic engine failure not due to aggressive engine builds in the 10 years I've been in the Hawk community. It's not the fault of the motor, I had some kind of problem that I wasn't aware of until it was too late. The fact that Honda has been using this basic motor since around '85 (in the VT500 Ascot) through today (in the DN-01 and the NT700V) says a ton about the design of the motor.
The silver lining to my situation is that now I have an excuse to send the motor to J.D. Hord (basically Yoda to Hawkers) to build while I've got it out. A streetable 80-ish hp motor is a very real thing these days. That's plenty. I also have a piped/PC'd '97 TL-S, so I know from big power.
You'll spend $1500 on the low end. I highly recommend joining and lurking/conversing at hawkgtforum.com. You're much more likely to get a better bike for your money there than from just a random dude on Craigslist.
Specific questions? Fire away.
EvanB wrote: V-twin sportbikes for the WIN! I love my SV and don't know if I could go back to an inline-4 sportbike after owning it. It just wouldn't be the same...the instant torque, the sound, and the sound.
Did you know that a GSX-R1000 makes more torque at 3800 RPM than a GSX-R750 makes at peak?
If you want torque, smoothness, and instantaneous power, take a modern 4 cylinder liter bike for a spin. If you want some slow, vibratey piece of crap propped up by urban legends, some bad ass e-bikes, and a sweet and unique swingarm, ride a Hawk GT. A custom Hawk GT definitely does LOOK sweet. Too bad its a turd. Its like a customized Sportster 883. It can look good, but deep down, its still a turd.n There is a damn good reason they are not made any more. yet I can still buy a CBR 600.
Also, a streetable 80-ish horsepower? Out of a 600+CC engine? WTF? And you are proud/pay money for this "feature"?
Another area where the I-4 ghetto stomps the V Twin.
It's all a matter of opinion. I have ridden some liter bikes and I must say, they are very fun. But my V-twin SV just does it for me. I guess it is like a Jeep or Porsche 911, it's not the power that counts but the experience you have with it.
Opinions have nothing to do with the fact that it takes a "tuner" to get 80 streetable horsepower out of a 600cc engine. Might as well ride a Harley.
Bare in mind that we're talking about twenty year old bikes with even older design engines. Torque (or the lack thereof) makes people say funny things. Honda's own top of the line CBR600 made 85 hp in 89. Guess they're "Harleys", too?
We get it: you don't like twins, and you're into big power, and you think the Hawk is a Japanese Sportster. This is the wrong thread for you.
I love my big Vtwin, do the 1L sportbikes make more power, well yes, but the Vtwin thumping away makes me happy in ways it probable shouldn't
and if I could have found a ride able nt650 for what I paid for my sv I would have a honda in the garage
2.0dohc wrote: and if I could have found a ride able nt650 for what I paid for my sv I would have a honda in the garage
This^
If Honda had continued producing the Hawk GT, SV650 sales would be far less than they are today.
And I LOVE sv650's..................
93Celica, I don't know where you are, but....
http://springfield.craigslist.org/mcy/1764452843.html
I think they're great bikes and I've owned two so far. If you care a lot about performance, newer, more powerful bikes with better brakes can be had for about the same money. At the low end, you'll pay about $1500, at the high end, about $3500. Lots of parts interchangeability. Folks often swap the front end for one off a CBR600F2/F3. IIRC, rear shocks were sometimes upgraded to one off a CBR900RR. Front wheels were often swapped from a CBR600F2/F3, Rear wheels were often swapped off a VFR750 (If you're lucky and/or have contacts in Japan, sometimes an RVF400 or later NSR250). I've never heard of a streetable HawkGT putting out 80+hp (most I've heard was mid-60's), but I guess things might've gotten better since I sold my last one about 8 years ago. The cranks were the weak point when trying to build power. Some folks have swapped the higher displacement motor from the Honda XRV750 Africa Twin for more power. I've also heard of someone swapping an RZ350 motor in one. The chassis designation was "RC31." It was one of the few bikes of its era with an aluminum beam frame and also one of the few bikes with a waaaay cool looking single-sided swingarm. Lots were raced in the lower amateur racing classes (WERA D Supersport/Superbike, etc).
I'd like to add my $.02. In a past life (the early ninties) I worked as a tech in a few bike dealeships, I've ridden every note-worthy sport bike from that period, and chose to own an nt650. Mine was a bit modified, but not over the top, clip-ons, a cbr900rr rear shock, two brothers exh system and carbs jetted to match the exh system. I owned mine for almost ten years and put about 30k miles on it, and it never let me down. (
execpt for the one time that I really wanted to run from the cops, but knew that I didn't stand a chance, that wasn't the bikes fault) I wish that Honda would make a new nearly identical version with larger engine and a just a bit longer in wheel base to better fit the 2010 version of me.
You'll need to log in to post.
