fuel question
 

looking at buying a 98 superhawk 996. don't know much about them and was wondering some things. 1st i know that the 98 is carbed, did they make a fuel injected hawk? also, the bike has 17,000 miles on it. price is 3500. is this around normal? any known problems engine wise with this many miles? the bike is owned by a older man that owns a bike shop. all maintenance has been done.

I'd look that bike over well. Good chance that if it's his personal ride a lot of good things have been done to it. If it's a trade in that might be another story. There are guys here with 10's of thousands more miles than this bike! $3500 is probably a good/fair price depending on the mods that have been done. Good Luck!

There is an Fi Superhawk - it's called the RC51!

They are all Carbed...As far as price goes, that depends upon your location...doesn't sound like a bad deal...bet you could get them down a bit though...lol...As for problems..well I will let others on here speak to that...I am no mech...Good luck, let us know if and when you get it...and don't post up about it unless you have pics!!! those are the rules...ok there not really, but they could be!

thanks guys. it is his personal bike. he just bought a new bmw. the only mods that i can tell are a set of two brothers slipons. sounds awesome. right now i have a 99 yamaha r1. it runs like a raped ape but handles like a slug!! the older ones usually do. how is the handleing on the hawk? i've heard that they are very lite steering!

If he is running 2bro you can bet it is probably jetted as well...and as for handling, I don't have a frame of reference on that one,...only street bike I have ever owned....but she handles fine for me...I hear horror stories about other makes of
bikes..

the biggest handling difference would be that the Superhawk is a 'pivotless frame', ( the swingarm is mounted to the engine, not the frame ) and has a 'tuned flex design', the engine mounts are tuned to varying amounts of flex. some folks notice what feels like flex when cornering hard but it doesn't cause any problems just feels weird. ignore it. the 'Hawk prefers smooth moves when being cornered not to be slammed into the turn like the race replicas.
and the engine will allow you to make those ricky racer types feel inferior when they can't shake you through the twisties.

I'll bet he did some suspension work on the front at least. The shock for the back is a little spendy but he would have access to the best parts train in the business. As a newb you might not know what you're looking at so start reading and you'll find out what some of this stuff looks like. The work on the front forks is nearly all internal and does not show. This is what a Penske rear shock looks like. Grand Pooba has the Fox and Ohlens makes one too!

that's 'The Grand Pooba' :kneelking:

You guys are fukkin killing me! I'm changing my custom title again!

'Sprung' as opposed to unsprung, I assume...

Maybe you could be 'Laden.' Don't act like it's not catchy!

hey hoghead5150,
The Superhawk can hold its own as far as handling. On one ride not too long ago, I was leading an '01 R1 and a '02 Gixxer 1k down some twisties and the R1 crashed out trying to keep up! There's alot more to it than just the bikes, but the 'hawk seems forgiving and stable to me compared to other machines i've ridden.

And my proverbial $.02
Price is as others have said, about right. Buyer beware, it is used.

Typical issues? Water pump seals, but that is not wide spread, happens to some. Regulator/rectifier failure, happens to more than a few of the older SH's, and some of the newer ones. Cam chain tensioners have failed on 50k or so bikes. Truly? No larger a failure rate than many other bikes, and the fix is the same, replace with fresh OEM auto units, or install manual ones (manual is a misnomer, you adjust them once, and most owners will never have to touch them again)

Handling?? Well I'll not be as kind as some here. In stock trim... it's a fun bike to ride on the street, not great. But fun. The front suspension has a hard time dealing with transitions, braking bumps. Or any road imperfection while cranked over. This is a critical opinion for sure. There are better bikes, and a load of worse ones. At street speeds. The SH works fine, add in some suspension work, and you'll have a very nicely suspended street bike.

was just wondering, cuz mines a 98...

KBB says $4390. MCN said $4450, but that was summer '06. Trade-in is way lower though, like 3k. so....

I got mine for 3500, last year. seems like thats 'market' for a clean bike with mods... buy it

GP
 

Don't blame me. As I said before, there is GW (Grand Wizard, aka of KKK)

thanks guys. the r1 has been a great bike. put 25,000 miles on her. i did alot of mods to the bike early on, and it is a very strong runner. the only thing is that i made it run great but didn't do anything to the suspension! dumb i know. now i don't really need the speed, i've been hittin the twisties and love it. plus been getting back into the track. i'm still trying to find a rc51 first, but they are few and far between. can't really justify going and buying a new one as a toy. the shawk seems to be a good alternative!

Check the classified section. Someone has a sweet 03 RC51 for sale.