Very New Rider needs some help
 

I have been looking at getting the RPS Hawk 250 because its perfectly within my budget and street legal (which is where i intend to be doing A LOT of my riding). I have been on bikes and 4 wheelers before but never anything with a clutch. so this bike seems great to start out on and practice with. my issue is, i heard the bike comes mostly assembled but still needs some bolts put on, the tires, & the handle bars and i have, also, heard it doesnt come with instructions... Being a new rider, I dont know a damn thing about bikes and its keeping me from purchasing it as i dont think i can properly/safely put it together. Can anybody shed some light on this for me?

Also if anybody knows anything about getting the bike registered in OHIO that would be great too. Or if anybody knows what the best website to order it from is or how i can go about finding a dealer locally, would all be great info to share.

For a relatively small fee some online retailers will assemble the bike and then ship it to you. Try to find and purchase pre assembled. It will cost you a little more but sounds like it may be the way to go for you.


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Yea i saw someone talking about that but i couldnt find anything on having it assembled by the websites i was looking on e.g. 360powerports, killermotorsports, q9powersports. i wouldnt mind paying the extra but i have no idea how to get it sent assembled

One of our members works for the USA distributor Ricky Power Sports. He may have an answer for you when he sees this thread.


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If shipping it assembled doesn't pan out you could probably have it shipped to a local shop and have it assembled. Registration shouldn't be an issue. If the seller can't do it for some reason just take a trip to your motor vehicle department and it'll be handled, or maybe AAA if you're a member.

Good answer

Or just buy a tt250, problem solved.

ya one of my main issues is i dont know of any bike shops around here. which is why im ordering one online. id rather go to a shop and look at what im buying first but i dont really have any other option. and if i did send it to a shop i also dont really have a way to get it home.

but looking into it more, the assembly could possibly be something i could handle. ive worked on cars and stuff but i just dont know shit about bikes. like, i was reading about the chain tension and free play of the clutch (these things i had never heard of before looking into buying a bike) and im not sure i can accurately gauge what those should be at or even know if something is wrong with the bike

You worked on cars sooo... what more do you need to know. Righty tighty, lefty loosey. I wouldn't worry about it. If you get stuck, there are probably a least 6 people on this site, it seems, 24 hours a day, that can confidently answer your question. Just post it! The site really is an amazing crowd sourced super computer.

Jeez, spud has walked kids through complete electrical wiring systems from this forum alone.

Welcome! Mail ordering any bike will have you going to your local motor vehicles' office to register it in person. Some states make you take it in for an inspection, although others have you calling the local sheriff or police department to do the inspection. It will take some leg work, and more than likely, you will have to pay tax on the bike since out of state sellers don't collect tax for your state.

The TGB scooter distributors for the US, Excalibur Motorsports, recently went to Ricky Power Sports' west coast warehouse and obtained a Hawk to send to one of their dealers. Excalibur will sell these retail, and when they used to carry a similar enduro a couple years back, they assembled, PDI'd and tested the bikes if they sold one direct and not through one of their dealers, and shipped it that way, ready to ride. I am friends with the owner and the manager, and I would suggest to call them and see if they would be willing to assemble the Hawk for you, which will cost extra, but will be done and ready to ride. I don't know if they will do this or not, since they now concentrate on TGB, but call them and tell them 'Simon' sent you.

909-591-8800

www.atv4usa.com

Be aware, their site is not very retail friendly and, quite frankly, is out of date, but I put them in touch with RPS, and since they are a motorsports distributor, are able to obtain them. You will always get a live voice when you call them, so call them and start there. Check to see if they will assemble the bike for you, and if not, get their price and compare prices to other retailers.

If you do some digging on here there's a link to a fairly good video on set-up ....

Found it ..... https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T4FNyRv_ALU

Found it almost at the same time I see (edited to remove a second video :lol:)

Azhule... I watched it again about a week ago simply because I enjoyed it!

Superior Powersports sells Storms assembled:

http://http://www.superiorpowersports.com/Motorcycle_s/136.htm

They call it their "Ready to ride" service for $129. And, no I don't work for them. I am considering getting a Storm from them myself.

Good option.

Maybe, but the OP said the Hawk was perfectly within their budget, so costing more than the Hawk, the TT250 may not be. :shrug:

Good point, money changes everthing.

I would consider:

My mechanical ability

My expectations of cust. Support from the dealer.

And of course, the spending budget.

Tt 250 ends up at 25- 2600 I believe. Vs budget bike, plus ttl plus assembly cost etc, plus future cost of lesser customers support.

I would put the pencil to it real quick and then decide if the extra expenses are worth it.

Good luck, glad you joined us Nick

Thanks! i could not find a video like this for some reason, the only one i saw was like a slide show and had me lost

Thanks to everyone who has and has tried to help. i have always wanted to ride when i was younger, & Being new at this as an adult i get to feel all the stress that comes with making a big purchase, haha.

My TT was a few cents shy of $2200 OTD and Ca. has some of the highest tax and registration fees in the nation. I got in on the pre-purchase price of $1800 and they were supposed to go to $2400 or so, but I've heard they're selling them for $1895. I don't know what the Hawk sells for.

Hawk runs $1350 + depending on who you order from and where you live.

So if they're still offering a good price on the TT it's about $600 more for an assembled bike with many upgrades over the Hawk, might be worth looking into for someone that doesn't want to assemble. BUT, someone not comfortable assembling is also unlikely comfortable doing maintenance and repairs so that should be considered before buying any of these if they're in an area without support for warrantee and stuff. I don't know if CSC pays shops under warrantee or just supplies the parts, I didn't bother checking since I'm close to them and will do my own repairs anyway.

It would suck for a non-wrencher to have a warrantee covered breakdown and not get full service. No idea what the Hawk's warrantee is, CSC is one year unlimited miles.

EDIT: forgot they also have a crating fee for shipping assembled bikes, I think it's $125.

Im a handy guy, ive worked on my car (replacing alternator, water pump, starter. i even replaced my entire exhaust system from the catalytic converter all the way to the muffler by myself) but its much easier to take something, that is already properly put together, apart then put everything back rather than putting something together that i have no idea where the part goes in the first place (as i have never owned or worked on bikes before)

X2 Nick. I agree completely. I'm relatively handy, willing to learn and good at following instructions, but it's another level to throw a bunch of parts at a guy and say, "put this together," when you've never done it before. :grr:

The TT250 price breaks down to this:

$1895 TT250
150 Crate fee
230 Doc and Assembly
$2,275 out the door price

The Hawk is about 1,350 out the door. (you have to assemble and there are some reg issues depending on your state)

When I was on my quest for a dual sport the TT250 was just a little to close to a couple year old Honda CFR250L. If the TT250 were $1,800 out the door I'd have one. The Hawk is nearly $1000 less then the TT250. If you go in with a buddy you can get a hawk from APSCUSA for $1,200 terminal shipped.

Fortunately for all of us we have all these great choices. For me the hawk was the right choice. For others who don't want to wrench the TT250 is a great choice. If I was going to use the bike to take trips through Death Valley or as a daily highway driver, the Honda would the best choice.

Choices are great.:tup:

Well said :tup:

How much more for a out the door price of a Honda cfr250l above a tt250. About $3000 more right?

The Honda was $5,700 out the door in CT.

They are awesome, fuel injected, Honda reliable. But $5,700 for a toy. Oh I forgot to add if you are planning on sticking 30 foot jumps and skipping whoops on the rear tire, get a honda or KTM or something with race cred.

Wow, it you don't need the capabilities of the honda, this illustrates just what a great value even the tt250 is.

There are no bad choices.

ditto !

I will give you my opinion.

I bought the Hawk because it is priced as a throw away bike. I am not afraid to break something on it because parts are available all over Ebay and this forum is so helpful. The most I had done on my car was change my oil and change my rotors/pads. with this bike I have adjusted the valves and swapped spark plugs. Swapped the front sprocket and chain as well as other random items.

I put the hawk together over the course of two evenings. I spent ~$400 in mods and my total price is still under $1900. While I did look at the TT250 I couldn't justify spending the extra money.

I do believe CSC has said they will arrange to pay a local shop to do any warranty work you don't feel comfortable doing during the warranty period on the TT250. Also CSC has a good reputation for customer service.

With the Hawk I got a blinker module sent to me when it failed but that was a cheap part. If I needed something expensive I am not 100% sure I would have been as successful.

I am like 90% on the edge of just buying the HAWK, the weather has final gotten nice where i live (OHIO) and all i can think about is how great it would feel to cruise my neighborhood learning all i can about riding. The only 10% that is stopping me is worrying about registering the thing. Hearing people say they have had issues and also walking into my local BMV and getting the response "we have no idea what information to give you" and even the guy at KillerMotorSports said it seems to be hit or miss with this bike. Has always got me second guessing the time and money being worth it... I need someone to push me that 10% lol

yea im definitely sticking with the HAWK (if i man up and buy it, ha.) i can not afford to really go any higher than that. I live in OHIO and the weather is never the greatest and i would only get about 2-3 months worth of good riding a year. so anything over my price range just isnt worth it to me. Im young still and cant afford to have another monthly payment, paying off a 3k bike. im just worried about the registration now more than building the thing. the street is really my only option and im not too worried about driving through my neighborhood on an unregistered bike while im learning. but eventually i want to ride it though the country parts and up to the beach & stuff, doing that on an unreg. bike is too risky for me

Absolutely!! :tup:

Nick, mabey you could talk to the d m v and see if they will plate the hawk?

I went there the other day to ask if they could give me any info on what it takes to get a bike registered and all they said was "we dont have anything like that, i could give you the number of the Columbus office and you can see with them" so i dont even really know what to ask them. But what i might do is just go up there and tell them "i have a bike i need to register, what steps do i need to take to get it done?" and if they tell me all i need is a title and cash then ill assume that ill be able to register it without a problem. the guy at KillerMotorSports said the title come listed as MC (motorcycle) so i dont think they will hassle me on it

Ohio
 

I live in Ohio as well and have been looking into the hawk for my first bike for some time now. I would be willing to go in on two of these with someone local to get a price break.

In Ohio you need to be able to get a title then any bmv will sell you plates. Getting a title is not clear to me yet. It seems like the seller will need to provide a manufacturer certificate of origin, take that to title office and they will provide title.

dandanthetractorman
Doylestown, Ohio

Welcome; we are glad you joined us. :hi:

You will also probably need a bill of sale. ;)

Yes, the bill of sale will be used to determine sales tax:tdown: when getting the title.

The title place (in OHIO) said you would only need the MCO form and some sort of Bill of Sale and that would be it. So i think getting a title in Ohio wont be much of an issue :tup: