Just joined this forum

[Goshawk]

although I have been a visitor to this site many times I have finally joined. I have a 2015 RPS Hawk, which I purchased in 2017 for US$700. It had approx. 900 miles on it. I rode it a little bit before winter set in, mostly off road and got it thoroughly mud encrusted a couple of times. I had just sold a 2013 KLR650 which had become too heavy for me, not to mention too tall when off road. I found the Hawk a little crude in comparison ie the mostly the controls, but appreciated its light weight and the fact that I could easily touch my feet to the ground. I rode it through streams and had it deep enough to wet my feet. It even re-started once when I stalled it in a partiicularly deep section of a stream, which both surprised me and gave me a new appreciation for the bike.
Winter came, as it inevitably does in New England, and I filled the tank with non ethanol gas, added Stabil and put it way in my workshop. After reading some threads on this forum, Megadans mostly, I decided to go through the bike checking the things he and others recommended. The rear axle was bone dry and rusty, as was the swinging arm and the shock mounts. The lower shock mount had the wrong size bolt in it, and I assume the original had fallen out and was replaced by whatever was at hand. I am in the process of trying to sort out the control cables to get a smoother action. It is hard to ride a bike in a rock garden with unresponsive controls.
I have the requisite iridium spark plug in the bike, which has never failed to start easily. It had "real" oil in it when I got it, the previous owner having changed the oil and saved the remaining oil, which he kindly passed on to me. I changed the air filter replacing the very dirty original with an easily available Briggs and Stratton that was the right size although a little thin, which I rectified by padding it out with some foam cut to size and sealed to the filter edge with marine grade grease.
I am looking at a CR230F exhaust from E-bay as the original is obviously very restrictive, but also very quiet, which is a good thing as far as I am concerned; So its replacement mustn't be too loud.
The appeal of the bike is that it is so cheap I don't have to worry about dropping it or scrapping it on some trail and there is a perverse pleasure in making what I have heard others refer to as "junk" into a reliable little trail bike, to ride alongside my buddies XT250.
PS I installed new chain and 17/45 sprockets as the original chain was truly junk, both rusty and kinked. I tried to get an o-ring as recommended elsewhere but it was out of stock everywhere I tried and possibly no longer made.

[Huck369]

Welcome aboard!

[Goshawk]

Originally Posted by Huck369

Welcome aboard!

thanks, it seems like a very friendly forum from what I have read so far.

[Weldangrind]

Welcome! Thanks for joining us.
Have you tried a cable luber to sort out the cables?

[Goshawk]

Originally Posted by Weldangrind

Welcome! Thanks for joining us.
Have you tried a cable luber to sort out the cables?

thanks for the welcome. I am waiting for the local Kawasaki dealer to get some PJ-1 cable lube for me, which someone recommended as opposed to using ordinary spray lubes. I have used engine oil in the past, made a cup out of plasticine (playdough in US parlance) attached to the upper end of the cable, filled with light engine oil and allowed to work its way down the cable. The advent of teflon lined cables made this a no no, so I have been using teflon spray can lubricant with reasonable success ie no problems.
It is probably unreasonable to expect Japanese standards of control cable actuation but I would like to get as close as possible. With the benefit of hindsight I might have been better off buying a new Hawk and going over it thoroughly before putting it on the road. The $700 for a 2015 bike proved to be too strong a pull on my frugal nature ( posh word for tightwad).

[wheelbender6]

Welcome to the forum. Have you flown a T45 Goshawk?

[Emerikol]

Welcome to the forum, Goshawk! Sounds like you got a great deal on your Hawk, even with the work you're putting into it. The muffler that you're looking at is significantly louder than the stock bit of kit. I would say either leave well enough alone and hang onto the stocker or keep looking for something much quieter. There are a couple of options with the stock muffler that will keep your sound down, and prevent you from having to tear into the carby to rejet due to increased airflow. First, you can grind the weld on the inside of the header pipe, then gut the cat. After that, I would say see how it fares, then decide if you want to start punching baffles out of the stock unit. Overall, the Hawk is a great machine (I was out on mine today for about two hours), and I think you'll be quite happy with the purchase in the long run. Again, Welcome to the Forum!

[BlackBike]

Another dual sport purest

[Megadan]

I usually recommend the pj1 cable lube to people. I prefer it for many reasons, but lets just say that it works great, and it doesnt attract dirt like most grease or oil based lubes. It also doesnt cause the cable action to get stiff when its cold outside and it makes them smooooooooooooth

[Goshawk]

Originally Posted by wheelbender6

Welcome to the forum. Have you flown a T45 Goshawk?

Thanks for the welcome. I haven't flown in anything other than commercial airliners but was once sat in the cockpit of a Spitfire at an airshow in the early 1950's. I was too small to even see out of the screen. The Goshawk name was chosen because I needed something that was easy to remember and that was the first thing that came to mind.

[Goshawk]

Originally Posted by BlackBike

Another dual sport purest

thanks for the friendly wave but I am not quite the D.S. purist you think, albeit my first bike was a Honda 55 trail bike bought new in 1963. This was the forerunner to the very popular CT90/110.
As I am now getting on a bit I have started reducing the number of bikes I have. The D.S. bikes I have recently sold included the aforementioned KLR650, a 1989 Honda NX250, a 1972 XL250 Motorsport and a 1970 BSA 250. I have also sold my Royal Enfield Continental GT, 2013 KTM690, 2014 FJ-09, 1972 CB175, 1973 CB350 and a 200cc Honda trials bike. I have kept a 1975 400cc Honda CB400F, a 1989 VTR250, a 1979 Honda CX500, a 1974 CL360, a 1982 Suzuki GS850G and, of course, my Hawk 250. Over my motorcycling life I have owned well over 60 bikes of varying sizes and types. I am now turning towards small and lightweight bikes which suit the back road and trail type riding I do these days.

[Goshawk]

Originally Posted by Megadan

I usually recommend the pj1 cable lube to people. I prefer it for many reasons, but lets just say that it works great, and it doesnt attract dirt like most grease or oil based lubes. It also doesnt cause the cable action to get stiff when its cold outside and it makes them smooooooooooooth

It was probably on your very informative thread that I read the info re PJ-1,
thanks for the tip and all the other info you have passed on, it was much appreciated.

[Goshawk]

Originally Posted by Emerikol

Welcome to the forum, Goshawk! Sounds like you got a great deal on your Hawk, even with the work you're putting into it. The muffler that you're looking at is significantly louder than the stock bit of kit. I would say either leave well enough alone and hang onto the stocker or keep looking for something much quieter. There are a couple of options with the stock muffler that will keep your sound down, and prevent you from having to tear into the carby to rejet due to increased airflow. First, you can grind the weld on the inside of the header pipe, then gut the cat. After that, I would say see how it fares, then decide if you want to start punching baffles out of the stock unit. Overall, the Hawk is a great machine (I was out on mine today for about two hours), and I think you'll be quite happy with the purchase in the long run. Again, Welcome to the Forum!

thanks for the welcome and advice re the stock exhaust system. I like to be respectful to other trail users and I think too loud pipes do more to harm our image to the non riding public than any other single thing. In so far as I have ridden my Hawk I have not been too unhappy with its performance. I have yet to see what the new gearing (17/45) will feel like so reserve judgement until the weather gets better here in the N. East and I can get out on the Hawk. In the meantime I will just keep fettling it and trying to knock off its rough edges.
My main concern is the altitude thing effecting the carburation. Locally I would not get any higher than 5000ft (Mt. Washington) and this altitude had no discernible effect on either my NX250 or my KLR650. I will take a ride up this summer and see if the Hawk is effected. If not, I will stick with the stock carb and exhaust until they fail or I get bored enough to want to swop components. In the meantime I need to clear the two feet of yesterdays snow blocking the door of my workshop, so no hope of riding anytime soon.

[Azhule]

I haven't done it yet to my China Bike, but another option for your exhaust upgrade might be to order a CSC TT250 Header Pipe ("Muffler is the front")... the Catalytic Converter is sold separately so it should flow a lot better... I say "might" because I don't know if it will fit your bike/engine

http://www.cscmotorcycles.com/TT250-...p/zt17-103.htm

[Goshawk]

Originally Posted by Azhule

I haven't done it yet to my China Bike, but another option for your exhaust upgrade might be to order a CSC TT250 Header Pipe ("Muffler is the front")... the Catalytic Converter is sold separately so it should flow a lot better... I say "might" because I don't know if it will fit your bike/engine

http://www.cscmotorcycles.com/TT250-...p/zt17-103.htm

thanks, an interesting thought. Does the whole TT250 exhaust system fit the Hawk? Would the header section need a connecting piece between it and the muffler? I should probably stop asking questions here and go to a relevant thread to ask them. Thank you for the thumbs up folks, nice to get an enthusiastic greeting.