Hawk into dirt bike only

[dacs57]

Hello!
I am going to turn Hawk 250 into dirt bike only.
I would like to remove all unnecessary Items like the Electrial and Lights.
I know I will need the CDI but how about the Battery?

Thank's

[Adjuster]

If you want to keep the electric start you will of course need the battery. If you are thinking kick start only a simple test is while the bike is running disconnect the battery. If it continues to run then no battery needed. If it immediately dies then the battery is part of the electrical circuit. If the bike does shut down it still may be possible to wire up the circuit to get rid of the battery but that will require a bunch more research.


/

[dacs57]

Thank's for your input.I'm thinking the stator will suppy power to the CDI and spark.
I will do the battery disconnect.
Thank's

[culcune]

Why do you want to do this? Not to criticize but just curious. The Apollo 250 dirtbike or the Xmoto 250 are distributed by the same company who distribute the Hawk and would probably be better dirt bikes than a Hawk.

www.therps.net

[dacs57]

Hello!
I want to ride on dirt tracks and I have to mutch money invested in the mods and backup electrcal
parts.
So Im just going to ride the hell out of it tell it drops.
I cant get that money back out of it the bike has 300 miles on it,I would lose my investment.
I just bought a new Suzki DR650S for a enduro.

Thank's

[dacs57]

Hello!
I did'nt know about those bike's. I got the Hawk on June 2016.
Just look at the Apollo 250 dirtbike , Xmoto 250 they are not mutch different and the spects are not mutch better,but thank's for asking.

Thank's

[Ariel Red Hunter]

Hello!
I want to ride on dirt tracks and I have to mutch money invested in the mods and backup electrcal
parts.
So Im just going to ride the hell out of it tell it drops.
I cant get that money back out of it the bike has 300 miles on it,I would lose my investment.
I just bought a new Suzki DR650S for a enduro.

Thank'sIt's always interesting to meet people with so much money that they can afford to throw away the at least $1000.00 dollars that that bike with all of three hundred miles on it will bring, for a whim. Hat's off to you, guy....ARH

[culcune]

It's always interesting to meet people with so much money that they can afford to throw away the at least $1000.00 dollars that that bike with all of three hundred miles on it will bring, for a whim. Hat's off to you, guy....ARH

I was under the impression he was buying a new Hawk to convert. Once he answered he already owns the bike, your post makes a lot of sense. I understand the idea of having the DR and a dirt bike because one planned it that way, but selling it 'at a loss' makes more sense than keeping a bike just because...

[pistolclass]

still cheaper than buying a new honda rally 250 ecu'ing it and and the other farkels and then trying to sell it.

Money is relative. If you have done decent on the financial side it may not be a big deal.

ARH- You probably meet a bunch of wealthy folks all the time and not even know it. Most with wealth look like you or I.

[Ariel Red Hunter]

still cheaper than buying a new honda rally 250 ecu'ing it and and the other farkels and then trying to sell it.

Money is relative. If you have done decent on the financial side it may not be a big deal.

ARH- You probably meet a bunch of wealthy folks all the time and not even know it. Most with wealth look like you or I.Not the arrogant ones, or the Fast Eddie types...ARH

[pistolclass]

I've met poor Arrogant and Fast Eddie types, too. Funny thing is here in CT there are plenty of wealthy folks driving a 15 year old Camry with 200,000 miles. Many folks running around in fancy German cars are living paycheck to paycheck. It's not what you make, it is what you save. Put 15% of your income away in quality growth stock mutual funds from your 20's until 65 and you will be wealthy.

Follow this dude:
Dave Ramsey
He follows Christian principles and still can show you a path to wealth.
www.daveramsey.com

[dacs57]

Hello!
I not sure how and why everybody is talking about wealthy folks.
I'm not wealthy but,IF I Was that would be a sign of intelligence and I would not have a cheaply dirt bike" now would I?

Thank's

[pete]

Don't know how this thread got so far off track...


the only issue i can see with the hawk as a dirt only bike
apart from bad suspension & grossly under powered is how
long it would last...i think your fun could be short lived..
at the moment the bike has a value you may be better off taking
the loss and finding a good used japper thats built with your
intended use in mined... Not one of the highly strung out MX or enduro bikes
but some thing like a XR250 / TTR250 / DRZ250 are all good low maintainace bikes that
can take abuse for years if looked after...
My dirt only TTR250 has lived it's life on or near the red line for 4 years & still
runs like the day it came off the show room floor...." in fact better but thats another story"
A hawk wouldn't have made the first 6 months under me as this type of
use is useing the hawk so for out side of what it was intended for...

But in saying all ths...your idea of dirt only use and mine may well be completely diffrent...





..

[Ariel Red Hunter]

Hello!
I not sure how and why everybody is talking about wealthy folks.
I'm not wealthy but,IF I Was that would be a sign of intelligence and I would not have a cheaply dirt bike" now would I?

Thank'sSure you would. That's exactly what an intelligent man would do. You invest as little money as possible in order to see if you like dual-sport motor cycling as much as you think you would. Obviously, you are a quick learner, as you learned everything that Hawk could teach you in 300 miles, spread over two riding season...ARH

[pistolclass]

100% Pete.

Most think they want a top of the line ktm mx yet a ttr250 will do everything they are capable of doing. Here in CT ttr250 are super cheap cuz you can't(difficult) tag them and they aren't as sexy as a top of the line Mx bike.

[dacs57]

Hello!
I am a 62 1/2 yr's old when I started racing MX track's with my racing friend's from high school to late 20's.Me and my AMA CLASS friend's all got married and lost one another.
I got the cheap hawk to find out if I even want to ride again at little cost.
I had fun doing all the mod's and I wanted to ride again!! so,I want more power and speed.
That's when I got ths DR650S and I love it.I will lose $1000 on mod's and the backup electrical part's I have just to gain $1000 back call me silly but,I'm having a problem with that.
Now why am I telling all of this? I have no clue because I just ask a question about the removing the electrical to ride on dirt.
This is why I don't have post because I'm not in you guy's click and you don't know me.
The concussion is my hawk and I can do what I want with it Thank You for all of you setting around in your little man cave drinking your beer.If this is you that's ok it's your life.

Thank's to some of your post where nice for the rest I pray you find more in life than setting on the http://www.chinariders.net every day and night.

The 62 1/2 old man.
Good by for ever.

[culcune]

I am sorry if you took what I said to be as a sort of attack. Please don't quit here; I would be curious to see how the bike holds up as a dirt-only bike. Like I mentioned earlier in the thread, I thought you were thinking of buying one to strip off all the street parts. Personally, and not meant as an attack, I do think getting some money back over riding a bike into the proverbial ground is what I would do, but what you do is up to you.

[BlackBike]

:hmm:

[Megadan]

I read through this entire post for the first time, and I am not confused by his last response. Being ridiculed because he invested a bunch of money into his hawk was way off topic and unnecessary. I have spent at least half the value of mine on it, and more is to come. Where is my ridicule?

Some people tried to help find a solution, and others derailed this with off-topic, pointless, and irrelevant opinions that were mildly insulting.

[tonyscott123]

Don't know how this thread got so far off track...


the only issue i can see with the hawk as a dirt only bike
apart from bad suspension & grossly under powered is how
long it would last...i think your fun could be short lived..
at the moment the bike has a value you may be better off taking
the loss and finding a good used japper thats built with your
intended use in mined... Not one of the highly strung out MX or enduro bikes
but some thing like a XR250 / TTR250 / DRZ250 are all good low maintainace bikes that
can take abuse for years if looked after...
My dirt only TTR250 has lived it's life on or near the red line for 4 years & still
runs like the day it came off the show room floor...." in fact better but thats another story"
A hawk wouldn't have made the first 6 months under me as this type of
use is useing the hawk so for out side of what it was intended for...

But in saying all ths...your idea of dirt only use and mine may well be completely diffrent...


..


I have to agree with this post. Taking off lights and the rest means non-road use as the bike will no longer be legal.

Based on my experience with a Bashan 250 XPlod (very similar to a CSC TT250, but with slightly cheaper suspension), i don't think the Hawk will last under serious offroad use.

The other issue is weight. These aren't exactly light bikes by offroad standards.

They will probably manage to do quite well on reasonable dirt roads, but not a lot of real offroad use.

I had the Bashan on a badly corrugated road, and it just didn't have the suspension travel, spring rates or damping to cope. I lasted about 300 meters before doing a backtrack, as it wasn't really controllable let alone confidence inspiring.

Within 6K miles, the chain had snapped, the clutch had given up the ghost, the suspension needed fettling, the rear frame and rear fender mounts had both broken, and plenty of other issues.
That's nearly all riding on pavement, admittedly with quite a few 'traffic calming devices' and potholes and so on.

I originally bought the bike with the idea of riding the South African east coast escarpment mountain passes from north to south, including all the Drakensburg, Lesotho, Amatolas and so on.
The bike would have broken halfway through Lesotho (on dirt roads, not true offroad), based on previous experience riding there. Neither the suspension, frame, chain nor clutch would have survived the journey. And the tires were rubbish as well.
Plus it is not really designed to be dropped, the control levers, gear lever and brake pedal are all vulnerable compared to a real dirt bike.

I would also look at selling it or trading it for an older off-road specific model like the XR200, XR250 or whatever.

[tonyscott123]

I read through this entire post for the first time, and I am not confused by his last response. Being ridiculed because he invested a bunch of money into his hawk was way off topic and unnecessary. I have spent at least half the value of mine on it, and more is to come. Where is my ridicule?

Some people tried to help find a solution, and others derailed this with off-topic, pointless, and irrelevant opinions that were mildly insulting.

I don't think the intent is to insult the guy. I think some people were coming from the viewpoint that it would be easier and cheaper over the long haul to sell it off and get a dirt-specific bike.

I have done exactly the same thing in the past, spending thousands on a cheap bike to get it up to spec. My old Kawasaki Concours (GTR1000/ZG1000) ended up with more $$$ in accessories and upgrades than it cost me when I bought it at a year old.
I even used it a lot on some pretty bad dirt roads (where it probably did better than my Bashan...).

I even understand the challenge of taking something really basic and modding the heck out of it to get it to do something beyond it's original design parameters, which is again what I did with my Concours. But it's not the quickest or most cost effective way of going about things.

I think the point is, unless a lot of his upgrades are on suspension, handlebars, controls, reinforcements and so on, most of his money on mods is likely to be wasted by damage or loss.

If he is willing to accept that, then it's his bike and his money. I would start by stripping off everything possible to save weight and lessen the load on suspension and frame, and also look seriously at strengthening the frame and suspension.
That includes rear fenders, as much bodywork as possible, passenger footpegs and so on. AND any non-dirt accessories and upgrades added to the bike.

The post about disconnecting the battery to see if it would run is a good starting point.

After 10K miles on my Zongshen Fly 200 (Motostar in the Philippines), which came with a beam frame, branded suspension, and a CBB style motor, as well as off-road ready controls and footpegs, I seriously contemplated what it would take to convert it into a rough road enduro / touring bike.

The first thing I would have scrapped was ALL the bodywork, to ease access to the mechanicals as well as reducing weight and making space for extra fuel and so on.

But that bike was a very different animal by design, in manufacture and price-point to most CG-based Chinese enduros. And I had already tested it out on a lot of dirt miles and even several falls, so I knew the basic strength and reliability of the bike before I started to commit any further money to it.

[Megadan]

Except he clearly stated he already had the bike, already had money invested in the bike, could not afford to sell it off to buy another bike and that stripping it down would be the best way to go forward.

If somebody had simply stated. "It's not the best suited for the job, but if you are wanting to do so, X Y and Z."

It is one thing to state a good point, and another thing entirely to make a person feel like they are under attack after they decide to not take your advice anyway. If they want to proceed forward with what you deem to be a bad idea or a waste of money, then that is their prerogative.

"The Hawk won't make the best dirt bike and will likely leave you disappointed, but here is what you can do..." sounds much better than many of the things I read. Just food for thought.