Looking into buying a hawk
 

I'm pretty sure I will end up with it (WOW Motorcycles - 31291 1998 HONDA VTR1000 SUPER HAWK) but I have a few questions for those in the know.

First a little backround..

My name is Adam, I'm 30 and have been riding/wrenching since I was 16 and allowed to buy a junkyard bike because the ground rule was if I could get it running I could ride it.. I started with a pile of an RD125 and two weeks later it was tagged and registered :) I went from that to a CM250, to an RD350, to an XS650, then an xs1100, and then the YZF600R. I sold the YZF600R 5 years ago with 60k miles on her and haven't had a bike since. I'm itching to get back in the saddle after I went to the recent YZF600r group meet at deals gap my 3rd year bikeless. The Vtwins just speak to me. I ride in full race leathers, always, no excuses and preach safety and riding smart, it is the yzf600r forum way (I have the same user name over there if anyone else frequents the forum) I know my way around a wrench (was employed as a mechanic at a kawasaki dealership for a time) and am not afraid to get dirty but I like to know what I'm up against at the same time.

So my question, The bike does not have a manual CCT so I should be expecting to change it right away as the bike has 30K on it correct? Also the bike seems to have the stock R/R in it and the R1 R/R mod is highly suggested as well right? I prefer to ride then wrench but want the bike to live as long as possible and consider this to be typical maintenance for a high miles bike and would rather do everything now than wait for something to go wrong. Are there any other things I should plan to do?

The bike cosmetically is flawless, looks like a brand new bike, has a seat cowl, Corbin Seat, Heli-Bars, Micron Exhaust, more or less all the stuff I would do to it comfort wise(though I'm not a fan of the micron, I may have kept the stock exhaust or chose something different, it is a tad loud.. louder than the D&D on my YZF loud [which I chucked for a stock exhaust as quickly as I could]). I have a previous spinal fracture (T4 and T5) that make the reach to the bars (even with the heli's) a little uncomfortable, does anyone have suggestions as to maybe another set of bars that would come a tad more twords the rider?

Well you pretty much nailed the biggies and of course the front springs are too light for almost anybody. I was stunned to hear the Microns are louder than D&D, I wouldn't have thought it possible!

There's somebody that makes a Superbike handlebar "kit" but I don't recall the specifics, there was a posting not to long ago that you might search for.

The price seems a little high but it's a dealership so it's to be expected. All I will say is I paid $1500 with roughly the same mileage in a private sale and it had exhaust, FOX shock and forks done. If you can get to $2000 you're probably OK.

Let us know!

If it looks flawless, that's a pretty good price for a dealer.

You can use what ever superbike bars you want as long as they have the right diameter for the controls. You can also look into riser styles and find a slanted or bent pair that will bring the bars up and back to get them closer to you. Lines will need to be lengthened and some of the plastics might need to be shaved.

The Superbike bar setup is a riser setup like the old superbikes (before the factory clipons).

Welcome to the forum, Adam! With the 2 issues taken care of you can begin to enjoy this bike with no worries. You will not regret owning one! The low end grunt of the twin is a total 180 to what you were used to on the i4. I just ran the dragon for 2 days on mine and WOW! For my gearing it was 2&3rd pretty much the whole way. I had some serious fun and I'm sure you will too!

ATGATT!

Got home with it a bit ago, talked the dealer into throwing in some new gear with the bike (for a friend, they didn't have anything in my size and I wasn't going to tell them I changed my mind and wanting something else after they agreed to throw some stuff in lol I should have asked them to give me a set of pitbull stands they had there that would have cost about the same)

It came home in the truck because when I went up it was raining cats and dogs and I didn't want my first ride in 5 years (and the last bike was a YZF600R that weighed more and had less power) I'd rather have a nicer day to start getting used to her. I did take it for a test spin though when I got home and it was all dried up and HOLY Shiznit its got some nuts. I think I'm gonna love this bike. I also found that its much easier to get a comfortable seating position on it when both feet are on the pegs. I noticed when I put my feet down my ass seems to slide back in the seat and my arms have to reach a little farther.

I'm sure I will be bugging the crap out of yall in my first little stint here before I become properly accustom to the bike. I will also get some better pictures later.

Bike looks awesome from the picture taken. I like that color a lot. Glad to see another hawk added to our group.

Nice looking bike! Definitely not stock color. Just curious, but when you mentioned putting both feet on the pegs, where were you putting your feet to begin with?

Great looking hawk!. Congrats on the new ride, your going to enjoy it. Welcome to the club!

on the ground at a stand still sitting on the bike at the dealership. this particular dealer is in a warehouse with over 750 bikes. they cram them in tight and its hard to get a feel for one on the showroom, I know its there job but I wasn't 100% sure I was going to buy and didn't want to waste a salespersons time, I've been there and this place is always busy. I ended up making friends with one of the sales people though who is a stand up guy and has already bought stuff from my shop :D Poor guy had to put up with me being in his hair for almost a week before I picked out the right one though.

No, the bike has been repainted but it was done right, and its a beautiful color in person. Im sure its either the cell phone camera or my truck but its a much darker deeper red than it looks in the photo, but it has a brighter red metal flake in it too so it almost changes color when the sun hits it.

I HATE white wheels on a chain driven bike.. yeah it looks pretty but damn.. 30 seconds down the road and the chain has already slung crap all over it :lol:

I was going to comment on those. First order of business would be a nice fresh coat of powder paint! Hell with trying to keep 'em clean!

Quick set of slightly better then cell phone pics

and a quick youtube vid

New Hawkness - YouTube

I like the white wheels, especially with the big white super hawk down the side. But they are a pain to keep clean.

Nice bike, great color (except the wheels....) Get a chainguard on that thing or you'll be cleaning oil off everything all the time :-)