New guy here, and a little intro. I had heard of the Superhawk a long time ago and have wanted one ever since, but never got the chance to even see one in person. Then this past February I had come across a '98 about 20min from me so I bought it. Well I am not a fan of red and neither is my wife so I bought it knowing I was going to repaint it. I always felt the CB700S was Honda's first sportbike so I wanted to draw on an idea that would show where the inspiration came from. Well this is what I had come up with. Took about a month of taking up the garage for the repaint (pieces everywhere) but I like it a lot better now. Still need to get different grips, and either repaint the bar ends or get new ones.

 

Welcome aboard. I have a huge thing for original paint on bikes for many reasons, but as long as YOU like it better that's all that matters. Only thing I would've recommended beforehand knowing how hard nice original bodywork like yours is(was) to find and how expensive it can be, would've been to acquire some cheaper rashed/mismatched color/etc. parts off ebay for cheaper and paint those and either keep or sell off the good stuff. Otherwise love those brakes, Mig exhaust and the CBR wheels always look good too. Congrats on your "new" Superhawk.

 

Unfortunately the bodywork looked better at a distance, but for my definition of good bodywork vs someone else's though too, it has a few cracks on the exterior on a few pieces and some of the inside of some pieces are missing little bits and all.

You do make a good point, but didn't even occur to me about trying to find other plastics. I had an sv650sf before this and trying to find any spare plastic for that was worse than trying to find a needle in a haystack....unless I wasn't looking in the right places which knowing me is a good possibility 😂.

So I also have to ask as my curiosity has been peaked, are these not stock wheels on it then? Cause the guy I bought it from had a laundry list of things he or the previous owner before him had done to it (including putting gsxr brakes on it), but he never mentioned different wheels.

 

Originally it had 3 spokes wheel - so its a popular mod to swap five spokers in - And all the Honda bikes with 5 spoked wheels swap in 3 spokers...

 

Looks like you have F3 front and 900RR rear, 6-spoke wheels. Those are not stock front rotors. Looks like they're oversize and you have GSXR calipers. Also looks like you have an F4/F4i rear shock.

What's holding up your cans? I see no hangers.

 

Relocated the blinkers and a bracket made to hold them in about (1/4" off) the same location as the blinkers

 

That's cool. It's a clean look, but it gives me anxiety because I'm afraid they're going to fall off.

 

Migs actually don't use wrap around muffler straps like most. There's supposed to be a bracket bolted to the underside that bolts to your passenger pegs. Yeah I don't think I'd be 100% comfortable with them bolted up to the undertail either... If the brackets that go underneath are missing you might consider conventional high mount hangers off the subframe and just getting some wrap around muffler straps.

 

The previous owner had done that little mod with the exhaust and had put about 5k miles with them hanging that way, plus my almost 1000 miles, and they are still solid....but there is a first time for everything (to fall off 😂 )

They do have brackets for them (homemade I believe) and couldn't figure out how they hang from the passenger pegs. There didn't seem to be enough room to wiggle the right side exhaust to get it down far enough, and the brackets don't seem to line up on either side without needing an extra 4" long strap to connect the pegs and muffler mount. The left side will go low enough but that's where the extra 4" long strap that would be needed.....or is there something I'm missing?

I'm almost thinking going with a totally different exhaust that mounts lower so I can have the rear pegs on so my wife can go with me.

 

This is what you're supposed to have-a forum member's bike and a pair I sold awhile back...

 

I have those brackets for the bottom, and that top bracket must be what the previous owner used to do the current mounting job. The bottom brackets were spray painted black and the paint is chipping, so I figured they were homemade.

So how do the rear pegs mount around the exhaust? I would assume there is a spacer that I don't have?

 

Correct. Most (not all) brands of high mounts came with longer bolts and spacers to move the pegs out enough to clear the mufflers. It's probably about 2". I believe the bolts are socket head M8 X 1.25 and the length varies with the brand. I believe Jardines were 70mm and some others 90mm. The bolts are easy enough to find. Hardware stores won't have them long enough so I remember finding them on Ebay. The spacers are probably a lot harder to find without having to make your own. If you want to mock everything up and measure the space between the passenger peg and subframe I'll see what I have, I think I still have a few sets of these I hoarded over the years...

You can see the bolts and spacers in the 2nd and 3rd pics I posted

 

Thanks a lot for the info! I'll look around and see what I find.