The SH was mentioned as an alternative "Smart Buy" in the new Motorcyclist. The section's primary focus was the Aprilia Falco. I didn't buy the mag, but they basically said the VTR was strong and fast, but had a tiny tank. Well, duh.

 

They got the size of the tank wrong, too. They said that early US Super Hawks had 3.5 gallon tanks, which is wrong, and they implied that later models for this market got larger tanks, which is wrong.

 

The US models all had the larger tank, which is still small. I saw the article too.

 

The US models always had a 4.2 gallon tank. Euro models got a 5 gallon tank in 2001? (I think it was '01)

 

Canada also got the larger tank (19 litres vs 16 litres on the pre-2001's). I didn't realize that the Super Hawk (sold as Fire Storm here in Canada)never got the larger tank when I bought my 2003 U.S. bike. I can get 80 miles on a tank when I am flogging it on old tires in the cold.

 

In the August 2009 issue of TWO (Two Wheels Only), an excellent British magazine, they listed the FireStorm as the best buy for bikes under 3,000 pounds.

There have been a number of other mentions in magazines over the years. The only thing that held the SuperHawk back was that it was not raced, and therefore not popular among the lemmings that want to ride what everyone else rides.

My '05, purchased new very late in the year in August '05, has a very low VIN of 00028. They sold very few '05s in the USA. That's part of the fun of riding one, they are very rare.

 

Huh. I usually check out TWO at Barnes & Nobel. I wonder how I missed the write-up.

Any chance of you posting a scan of the story, VTRsurfer?

BTW: I just ordered the report for the SH from Motorcycle Reports. This basically has every (US) review the bike appeared in. It almost always wins comparisons. The only one I recall off the top of my head that it lost was against a newer Ducati Supersport 1000. In some ways I think it should be compared against the ST4, not the SS.

R.

 

Motorcyclist used to be a good magazine. A really good one before Gordon Jennings died.

I'm glad I got the current subscription for free 'cause if I'd paid 49 cents for it I'd feel I'd been ripped off.

 

Canada never got the 19 l. tank. That capacity was listed in the specs for the 2001 model but all of them came with 16 l. tanks. If Honda Canada ever brought in 19 l. tanks, I would have bought one in a second.

 

I saw that one. that review was BULLSHIT!. they state the pros and cons of the hawk and the SS side by side. they SAID the hawk had it beat in power, handling, price, but then they were like, "well, yeah the hawk is better at everything, but we just like the ducati better so... ducati wins!" The most batantly unfounded, biased review I ever saw. and an SS of all things? c'mon. the SS is the 3 legged dog of the ducati fleet. at least bring out a superior machine if you're gonna give a duc a free win over the hawk. maybe next time will pit the hawk against a vespa. I'm sure they could use a win. I'd like to beat that reviewer with a vespa till the twitches stop.

 

Yep, I couldn't agree more. They talk about the SS being a "more involving tool," meaning (I suppose) that's it's more difficult to ride well, making it a challenge. With that logic, you'd think a Z1 would be the perfect bike! Bet Ducati bought an ad facing this story.

The Brit mags are so much better than the US ones, but they seem to have gone down hill somewhat, too. I used to love RIDE (when I could find it), but it's lost something in the last few years. The only American magazines worth anything are Motorcycle Consumer News -- which is subscription only -- and Horse, because it shows work being done sometimes. The rest are just advertorials.