mattvdsande

Hello all!

I just bought my first Superhawk. 1999 with 21.000miles. Completely stock with no modifications. (only thing not stock rear turn signals removed, would like to buy tail light with integrated turn signals) Previous owner was mature and mainly freeway/touring miles. The bike does not have a ding or a scratch, almost to good to be true........Could any Superhawk veterans please inform me a little about the bike and what to look out for. The bike has new tires, battery, sprocket and chain. Also had the carbs cleaned due to not being ridden by former owner for over a year. Bike runs well except a little clacking when cold or first few miles. Seems to go away after bike warms. Is this normal and do I need to be prepared for flying parts? I am not used to this noise on previous 600cc bikes. Also it has stock exhaust and would like to go with something that lets traffic know I'm there. Not really for performance reasons. Any recommendations that won't make me go bankrupt? I have noticed the bike likes or feels better under higher RPM's and feels smoother. I will work my way up to that but still a little weary on the power and what to expect. I apologize for the bombardment of questions and blabbering but any help and info is greatly appreciated.

-Matt

Hawkrider

Matt, to the forum...and the addiction!

I'll answer a few of your questions:

At 21000 miles it may be time to change out the cam chain tensioners. They can break internally which will cause valves to hit pistons. APE manual CCTs are the norm but we have a member here making an upgraded version for less dinero. Some of what you might be hearing is the carb slides clacking away. It's completely normal and occurs mostly at low rpm. I had some valve chain clatter but it only happened when the bike was warm. A cold clatter may be nothing more than minor piston slap and/or clutch noise.

As far as smooth running, remember it's a twin and that's the way they are. I rarely exceed 5-6k rpm when around town. Twisties is a different story, but anyway.... Performing a carb synchronization can help low rpm carburetion and may smooth things out a tad.

A decent set of exhaust slip-ons will run you about $500. If you don't mind the little extra weight and heat of the stock exhaust then you can drill out the baffles (bafflectomy) and get significantly better tone for about $10 and an hour of your time.

Bike looks sharp. I like the black ones. Keep the shiny side up!

mattvdsande

Hey Greg! Thanks for the welcome and response. Any way of looking/knowing if the cct has been replaced?

-Matt

haknslash

Welcome to the madness. A virgin VTR (unmodded)! Just wait I'm sure haha. Cans are a must to wake the sound of the twin up in the VTR.

You mention the LED tail. Check out my stick in the knowledge forum about making your own LED tail. I plan to alter my mod soon by adding flexible LED strips for my turn signals inside my stock tail.

RK1

Matt;

If the oem ccts were swapped out for ape manuals, you can tell by looking at them.


https://www.superhawkforum.com/forum...ape+cct&page=2

Above link has good picture of the original cct at post 50, lowest picture.

http://cbrzone.com/sprockets.html

Second link for picture of manual APE cct.

https://www.superhawkforum.com/forum...ad.php?t=11365

last link to download the service manual if you don't already have one.

captainchaos

Welcome aboard! Gotta love the black '99's with red graphics. I love that one. If you're on the cheap just remove the first baffle and drill some holes in the second one (you need to get a really long drill bit) and it'll sound about as good as and as loud as aftermarkets.

VTRsurfer

Welcome. My '05 has had the cold start clatter since new. Seems clutch related since it only appears after releasing the clutch lever. Goes away after warm up. I've never worried about it. Have you ever heard a dry clutch...now that's loud clatter.

Don't worry about the power, it's very linear, no surprises like with high revving inline 4's. Like Greg said, normal riding there's no need to go above 4 or 5k rpm. Enjoy the TORQUE.

VTRsurfer

Oh, and by the way, I think it's bogus that you people up there lost the "Surf City" designation to Huntington Beach.

mattvdsande

Wow!!!!! Thanks for all the advice and welcomes! I did notice the CCT is stock and I have seen the threads for the member selling the self machined kit. It seems like he has been given lots of good feedback so I will look into those. Also thanks for the manual, saved to my pc. This bike really is night and day compared to my previous bike (99 cbr 600), although I am getting used to it. ( owned it just shy of a week ). I will continue to do my research throughout the site so I don't ask already asked questions.

Thanks again!

Cheers
-Matt

RK1

One other thing, Matt. Like Hawkrider said- probably a good idea to sync the carbs- needed every time they are pulled from the bike.

If the P.O. pulled the carbs to clean them but didn't sync them, the bike will run a bit rougher and vibrate more than if they were dialed in.

oahu hawk

welcome to Hawkdom Matt...

kmm996