First long ride Superhawk impressions.
05-14-2010, 05:02 PM
#1
Bytes
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Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: This side of hell
Posts: 105
First long ride Superhawk impressions.
I just got back from my first long (well pretty long) ride on my hawk. I bought it last December and I have been aching to get it out on the road. My buddy has a CBR600RR and we'd been talking about riding from Salt Lake City to Boise, so we did it. Lot's of rain, but when it was dry we had a blast.
I was concerned about the range of the bike. Didn't matter, being 50+ years old I'm ready to get off about every hour or so and take a stretch.
How would my wrists handle a long ride? Great! I think the hawk has the best riding position of any bike I've ever ridden. Not too radical and not too pussified. We switched bikes off and on and it is way better than the 600 IMHO.
I was wondering how it would handle prolonged high speeds (90-120). My hawk is a 98 with 40k miles on it. Well, it ran great and was strong as hell. Just like it was on a rail.
I was hoping the seat wouldn't make my *** sore and it didn't. I just love the riding position, again, the best of any bike I've ever ridden.
I did think the I4 of the 600 was a little nicer cruising. Not as much vibration but I got tired of all the shifting when in town. I can pretty much leave the hawk in 3rd gear and never worry about it until I need to stop. Torque is a wonderful thing to have in a motorcycle.
Overall, I rate the bike at an A+ and I am really bummed that they quit making them. I am glad as hell that I researched bikes and found this forum before making my purchase. I think I will be pretty hard pressed to find a bike I like better.
Oh, one stupid thing. I had read that the RRs can go bad so I bought another stock one last winter. My plan was to just throw it in my tank bag and do a replacement if the one on the bike died on the road somewhere. When I was unpacking my stuff at the motel in Boise I noticed it wasn't there. Kind of a bummer because I had a nagging feeling I would need it before I got home. Turned out I didn't but it could have been bad. There are a lot of stretches of nothing between Salt Lake and Boise.
I was concerned about the range of the bike. Didn't matter, being 50+ years old I'm ready to get off about every hour or so and take a stretch.
How would my wrists handle a long ride? Great! I think the hawk has the best riding position of any bike I've ever ridden. Not too radical and not too pussified. We switched bikes off and on and it is way better than the 600 IMHO.
I was wondering how it would handle prolonged high speeds (90-120). My hawk is a 98 with 40k miles on it. Well, it ran great and was strong as hell. Just like it was on a rail.
I was hoping the seat wouldn't make my *** sore and it didn't. I just love the riding position, again, the best of any bike I've ever ridden.
I did think the I4 of the 600 was a little nicer cruising. Not as much vibration but I got tired of all the shifting when in town. I can pretty much leave the hawk in 3rd gear and never worry about it until I need to stop. Torque is a wonderful thing to have in a motorcycle.
Overall, I rate the bike at an A+ and I am really bummed that they quit making them. I am glad as hell that I researched bikes and found this forum before making my purchase. I think I will be pretty hard pressed to find a bike I like better.
Oh, one stupid thing. I had read that the RRs can go bad so I bought another stock one last winter. My plan was to just throw it in my tank bag and do a replacement if the one on the bike died on the road somewhere. When I was unpacking my stuff at the motel in Boise I noticed it wasn't there. Kind of a bummer because I had a nagging feeling I would need it before I got home. Turned out I didn't but it could have been bad. There are a lot of stretches of nothing between Salt Lake and Boise.
98 Superhawk
05-14-2010, 06:14 PM
#3
Senior Member
SuperSport
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: NY State
Posts: 667
When you find the new one (finned I hope), put that one the bike and keep the old one as the spare. You know that the old one will fail at the worst time so get ahead of it.
05-14-2010, 07:25 PM
#4
Bytes
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Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: This side of hell
Posts: 105
LOL. Just got done doing that. When I called my wife asking her if she had seen it she let me know that it was right on the table where I left it. Got the old one stored under the seat now. Live and learn.
05-14-2010, 07:26 PM
#5
Member
Squid
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 68
Salt Lake City and Miller Motor sports Park are beautiful.
The drive from North of Vegas thru Southern and Central Utah is wonderful.
You are Lucky to live in such beautiful country.
As far as comfort on the Superhawk goes, we all have different impressions.
I found additional comfort in modifying a few things on mine from stock form....
1. new hand grips.... almost anything I have seen on the shelf absorbs more vibration. close to the best $17 I have ever spent.
2. heli bars ... if you like the height/angle/vibration within the stock clip-ons, save the money, I bought used from a forum member, problem you will always wonder what if?
3. new seat... do not try to save money and recover/repad the stock seat, problems in the stocker is the shape/angle/body material composition. the seat is built with cheap materials and flexes too much. buy a used seat, I Really LOVE my Sargent, and have it recovered but, not repaded. I promise this one will increase saddle time between stretching.
4. double bubble dark tinted wind screen..... slightly better wind protection, I replaced mine within the first 30 miles of ownership, and a huge aid in instrument panel vision. My cluster has some digital display and it is hard to read in the sunlight.
not in replacement but still more comfort increasing.....
5. half tank bra..... absorbs vibration, protects from scratching and provides additional grip.
-soft and sticky tires. replace them more often, who cares it is only money.
-stainless steel front (at least) brake lines. increased feel breeds confidence.
just some thought. Hope to hear you continue to enjoy.
Sean
The drive from North of Vegas thru Southern and Central Utah is wonderful.
You are Lucky to live in such beautiful country.
As far as comfort on the Superhawk goes, we all have different impressions.
I found additional comfort in modifying a few things on mine from stock form....
1. new hand grips.... almost anything I have seen on the shelf absorbs more vibration. close to the best $17 I have ever spent.
2. heli bars ... if you like the height/angle/vibration within the stock clip-ons, save the money, I bought used from a forum member, problem you will always wonder what if?
3. new seat... do not try to save money and recover/repad the stock seat, problems in the stocker is the shape/angle/body material composition. the seat is built with cheap materials and flexes too much. buy a used seat, I Really LOVE my Sargent, and have it recovered but, not repaded. I promise this one will increase saddle time between stretching.
4. double bubble dark tinted wind screen..... slightly better wind protection, I replaced mine within the first 30 miles of ownership, and a huge aid in instrument panel vision. My cluster has some digital display and it is hard to read in the sunlight.
not in replacement but still more comfort increasing.....
5. half tank bra..... absorbs vibration, protects from scratching and provides additional grip.
-soft and sticky tires. replace them more often, who cares it is only money.
-stainless steel front (at least) brake lines. increased feel breeds confidence.
just some thought. Hope to hear you continue to enjoy.
Sean
Last edited by sschuyten; 05-14-2010 at 07:29 PM. Reason: grammer
05-15-2010, 12:32 AM
#6
Senior Member
SuperSport
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: NY State
Posts: 667
Salt Lake City and Miller Motor sports Park are beautiful.
The drive from North of Vegas thru Southern and Central Utah is wonderful.
You are Lucky to live in such beautiful country.
As far as comfort on the Superhawk goes, we all have different impressions.
I found additional comfort in modifying a few things on mine from stock form....
+1 on all of these
1. new hand grips.... almost anything I have seen on the shelf absorbs more vibration. close to the best $17 I have ever spent.
ProGrip 699
2. heli bars ... if you like the height/angle/vibration within the stock clip-ons, save the money, I bought used from a forum member, problem you will always wonder what if?
I have a set of used Helis that I need to powder coat and install, I currently have VFR bars installed. What is the "what if?", you lost me.
3. new seat... do not try to save money and recover/repad the stock seat, problems in the stocker is the shape/angle/body material composition. the seat is built with cheap materials and flexes too much. buy a used seat, I Really LOVE my Sargent, and have it recovered but, not repaded. I promise this one will increase saddle time between stretching.
Sargents are awesome
4. double bubble dark tinted wind screen..... slightly better wind protection, I replaced mine within the first 30 miles of ownership, and a huge aid in instrument panel vision. My cluster has some digital display and it is hard to read in the sunlight not in replacement but still more comfort increasing.....
Yup
5. half tank bra..... absorbs vibration, protects from scratching and provides additional grip.
-soft and sticky tires. replace them more often, who cares it is only money.
-stainless steel front (at least) brake lines. increased feel breeds confidence.
Yup
Having desent suspension helps too.
just some thought. Hope to hear you continue to enjoy.
Sean
The drive from North of Vegas thru Southern and Central Utah is wonderful.
You are Lucky to live in such beautiful country.
As far as comfort on the Superhawk goes, we all have different impressions.
I found additional comfort in modifying a few things on mine from stock form....
+1 on all of these
1. new hand grips.... almost anything I have seen on the shelf absorbs more vibration. close to the best $17 I have ever spent.
ProGrip 699
2. heli bars ... if you like the height/angle/vibration within the stock clip-ons, save the money, I bought used from a forum member, problem you will always wonder what if?
I have a set of used Helis that I need to powder coat and install, I currently have VFR bars installed. What is the "what if?", you lost me.
3. new seat... do not try to save money and recover/repad the stock seat, problems in the stocker is the shape/angle/body material composition. the seat is built with cheap materials and flexes too much. buy a used seat, I Really LOVE my Sargent, and have it recovered but, not repaded. I promise this one will increase saddle time between stretching.
Sargents are awesome
4. double bubble dark tinted wind screen..... slightly better wind protection, I replaced mine within the first 30 miles of ownership, and a huge aid in instrument panel vision. My cluster has some digital display and it is hard to read in the sunlight not in replacement but still more comfort increasing.....
Yup
5. half tank bra..... absorbs vibration, protects from scratching and provides additional grip.
-soft and sticky tires. replace them more often, who cares it is only money.
-stainless steel front (at least) brake lines. increased feel breeds confidence.
Yup
Having desent suspension helps too.
just some thought. Hope to hear you continue to enjoy.
Sean
05-15-2010, 01:05 AM
#7
Member
Squid
Join Date: Jul 2006
Posts: 68
Shaken or Stirred
I see why I lost people.....Friday afternoon gin martinis got the best of me.
I teach PE, my wife is the classroom teacher.
I was trying to indicate by installing heli-bars instead of staying with the stock clip-ons he could avoid having to wonder if, as we know they do, make a difference. I debated the benefits and how substantial they could be? Every bit of the experience has been worth the price of the risers.
Suspension is on the list. Hard spending money on the Hawk during Glamis season. High octane race fuel is way expensive.....and sooooo worth it. Smells great too.
Sean
additionally ditch the backpack and go with a Tank Bag.
I teach PE, my wife is the classroom teacher.
I was trying to indicate by installing heli-bars instead of staying with the stock clip-ons he could avoid having to wonder if, as we know they do, make a difference. I debated the benefits and how substantial they could be? Every bit of the experience has been worth the price of the risers.
Suspension is on the list. Hard spending money on the Hawk during Glamis season. High octane race fuel is way expensive.....and sooooo worth it. Smells great too.
Sean
additionally ditch the backpack and go with a Tank Bag.
05-15-2010, 02:04 AM
#8
Senior Member
SuperSport
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: NY State
Posts: 667
05-15-2010, 08:03 AM
#13
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SuperSport
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: NY State
Posts: 667
Peter Fonda hid the "deal" money in a plastic tube in his gas tank. Before taking off he threw his watch to the ground because it did not matter what time it was. All in the first few minutes of the movie. As a result of seeing this, I never wear a watch when I ride either.
05-15-2010, 09:39 AM
#14
Junior Member
Squid
Squid
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 19
05-16-2010, 10:48 PM
#15
Senior Member
Back Marker
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
Posts: 117
The SH is one of those very underrated all-around bikes. Its a shame the production run of these gems were so short. I would imagine the SH would have been the SV1k/650 killer by today's measure.
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