New hawk owner

[512customs]

Just got my hawk yesterday, and assembled it. Once I found out you can get these for just over $1300 shipped to your door, I had to see what it’s all about. I was about to buy a used drz400, as I’ve had one before, but for the price I couldn’t pass this up! Got her all together, greased, loc tighted, valves adjusted and changed the oil (rotella) right away. Due to the weather I couldn’t ride it, and only ran it for about 10 mins in the garage. Motor seems nice and silent. Sprockets, pipe, and amazon Mikuni knock off carb should be here this weekend so that’s all going on right away. Also will be changing fork oil and putting a couple nickels in there, as the front suspension is way to soft! If I sit on the bike the front suspension takes all the weight! Anyway for the price, it seems like a nice bike!

[512customs]

Also forgot to mention how poorly the intake tube was assembled and siliconed... “back side” of the tube on the air box isn’t even sealed, and would suck in all kinds of dirt and debris. Another thing to pull apart and fix this weekend.

[JerryHawk250]

Nice! Welcome aboard. Bonus points for posting pictures.
The stock air box doesn't do a good job as I found mine was letting in dust. Put a pod filter.

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by 512customs

...and putting a couple nickels in there, as the front suspension is way to soft! If I sit on the bike the front suspension takes all the weight! Anyway for the price, it seems like a nice bike!

Welcome to the forum, and nice intro. Off to a good start, and I can tell you have done a bunch of reading lol.

Just a suggestion on the front fork sag. Depending on what you weigh, I would be looking at more than a couple of nickles for front preload. If you can get your hands on some 7/8" (22-23mm) tubing/pipe, then experiment with different lengths. Stock the Hawk comes with 15mm spacers. I personally have 45mm of preload on my bike (i am a big guy, hence my name). For a buddy of mine I experimented with different lengths, and he is around 190-200lbs and we found 30-35mm to work really well for him. At around 50-55mm of preload all of the soft primary rate coils are compressed leaving you with mainly the heavier rate to ride on, which is good if you are a heavy guy. Don't worry about coil bind on the front springs either, they are waaaaay longer than they really need to be given their roughly 7 inches of travel.

Also, if you haven't, pull that rear swing arm and grease the pivot bushings and axle bolt along with the shock bolts. That should help free up the rear end and prevent damaging the swing arm bushings and wearing down the shock bolts, which can eventually weaken them until bad things happen.

The intake tube warping is a common thing. The best luck I had with keeping it in shape was to actually use some zip ties around it to hold the shape.

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by JerryHawk250

Nice! Welcome aboard. Bonus points for posting pictures.
The stock air box doesn't do a good job as I found mine was letting in dust. Put a pod filter.

This. I have since relocated the breather, and I did shorten up the silicon tube a bit more, but this is my intake solution lol. The cut up airbox also makes a handy place to mount electrical upgrades. I have a 4 place fuse box, the siren for my alarm, and a couple of relays for lighting in there.

[Bruces]

Nice Jeep .

[512customs]

Originally Posted by JerryHawk250

Nice! Welcome aboard. Bonus points for posting pictures.
The stock air box doesn't do a good job as I found mine was letting in dust. Put a pod filter.

Future plans, going to try to mod the airbox first to work around the aftermarket exhaust... if I can’t come up with a good looking solution then I will be going to the pod filter.

Originally Posted by Megadan

Welcome to the forum, and nice intro. Off to a good start, and I can tell you have done a bunch of reading lol.

Just a suggestion on the front fork sag. Depending on what you weigh, I would be looking at more than a couple of nickles for front preload. If you can get your hands on some 7/8" (22-23mm) tubing/pipe, then experiment with different lengths. Stock the Hawk comes with 15mm spacers. I personally have 45mm of preload on my bike (i am a big guy, hence my name). For a buddy of mine I experimented with different lengths, and he is around 190-200lbs and we found 30-35mm to work really well for him. At around 50-55mm of preload all of the soft primary rate coils are compressed leaving you with mainly the heavier rate to ride on, which is good if you are a heavy guy. Don't worry about coil bind on the front springs either, they are waaaaay longer than they really need to be given their roughly 7 inches of travel.

Also, if you haven't, pull that rear swing arm and grease the pivot bushings and axle bolt along with the shock bolts. That should help free up the rear end and prevent damaging the swing arm bushings and wearing down the shock bolts, which can eventually weaken them until bad things happen.

The intake tube warping is a common thing. The best luck I had with keeping it in shape was to actually use some zip ties around it to hold the shape.

I’m at 190-200 pounds too, so are you using a 30-35mm spacer in conjunction with the stock spacer? Or leaving the stock spacer out when adding new?

Originally Posted by Bruces

Nice Jeep .

Thanks bought it last spring with a rotted frame, cut and welded in some safety caps, added Rusty’s advanced 3.5” lift kit, and 33”s. Tons of fun and was cheap to build (because of the cost of the Jeep).

[512customs]

Also about greasing the swing arm bushings, is it sufficient enough to take the bolt out, grease it, and put it back in? Or does the swing arm need to be removed and packed with grease?

[JerryHawk250]

Originally Posted by 512customs

Also about greasing the swing arm bushings, is it sufficient enough to take the bolt out, grease it, and put it back in? Or does the swing arm need to be removed and packed with grease?

Just pull it out and grease it up with a good marine grade grease. I ended up installing a grease zerk in the swing arm for easy maintenance.

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by 512customs

I’m at 190-200 pounds too, so are you using a 30-35mm spacer in conjunction with the stock spacer? Or leaving the stock spacer out when adding new?

Removed stock spacer with a new spacer of whatever length in its place. If you wanted to, you could experiment by adding washers/nickles in with the stock spacer until you found the right amount of rider sag (roughly 2.5 inches, give or take) then measure your stack and make a single spacer of that size.

Originally Posted by 512customs

Also about greasing the swing arm bushings, is it sufficient enough to take the bolt out, grease it, and put it back in? Or does the swing arm need to be removed and packed with grease?

It would be ideal to remove the swing arm so you can access the bushings and put some grease on them plus greasing the bolt. Another option is what some members here have done, which is to drill and tap the pivot area of the swing arm, install a grease zerk, and basically pump it full of grease. It makes future servicing a breeze.

[Weldangrind]

Welcome! Looks like several fun toys in your shop.
I've used this angled pod on several Mikuni carbs with good results: https://www.ebay.com/itm/41mm-42mm-B...5c8:rk:15:pf:0

[512customs]

Okay so yesterday I got everything greased up front and rear, as well as changing fork oil and adding 4 nickels each side for now to test. Today I will be working on air box, exhaust and carb. Yesterday I attempted to remove the air box and just couldn’t figure out how it has to come out??? I removed the 2 bolts, and it seems like it has to come out of the subframe towards the rear wheel, is that correct?

[512customs]

Megadan could you also supply me with a link for that intake tube? Noticed there wasn’t a link in the video where you go over your parts. Much appreciated.

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by 512customs

Megadan could you also supply me with a link for that intake tube? Noticed there wasn’t a link in the video where you go over your parts. Much appreciated.

I didn't link it because it was bought off of ebay. It's just a 45 degree 45mm silicone coupler like this one. https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-75-1-3-4-...-/263148564068

To connect the filter to it I used a short length of 1 3/4" exhaust tubing from the parts store. Trim to fit as desired on either end.

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by 512customs

Okay so yesterday I got everything greased up front and rear, as well as changing fork oil and adding 4 nickels each side for now to test. Today I will be working on air box, exhaust and carb. Yesterday I attempted to remove the air box and just couldn’t figure out how it has to come out??? I removed the 2 bolts, and it seems like it has to come out of the subframe towards the rear wheel, is that correct?

You will want remove the rear wheel to make it easier, and I found it easiest to remove the lid and upper half as well. It's a bit of a fight to get it out