Did the older Hawks have green "Chineseium" sprocket studs ?
 

I ordered new genuine Honda sprocket studs for my 2016 Hawk, and was surprised that the ones on the bike were not green like they were on my 2021 TBR7. The bike had extremely low miles when I got it and still had 15/50 sprockets, but did have a Mikuni clone carb, and a folding shifter, so I am wondering if they may have replaced the studs. Should the studs have been green on a Hawk that old?

I would have replaced them. I simply don't trust them even if they were to be ok just because of how loose they fit and how many people broke them.

As for the color, I believe the "Green" is just a coating. Both of my Hawks were silver like an OEM Honda stud.

I did replace them, but I was just wondering if they may have been replaced by the previous owner. I just got back from about a 35 mile ride, and the bike does really good, but I don't care for the knobby tires. I realize that I don't need, and probably won't really ever need them unless I actually go out looking for mud, which I don't do. I accidentally got in really bad mud on my old Brozz once, but I would have avoided it if I knew how bad the road actually had gotten.

My 2016 and still have the stock sprocket studs. They where silver.

Recently had to do that for the Brozz as the stock ones sheared off at 4500 miles and 2.5yrs old.

I don't know if the silver ones are actually better, but I would guess the probably are. The guy I got my TBR7 from had already put on a 42 tooth rear sprocket, and about all the nuts had rounded corners. I took a picture of the stock 2016 Hawk silver studs next to the stock 2021 TBR7 green studs http://https://i.ibb.co/6sYF3v2/ASTRO-55-R-...3-102234-2.jpg

Also Jerry,. Let me ask you a question.. I know you ran the stock exhaust with the catalytic converter removed with the stock muffler, and then later went to an aftermarket muffler. Did the aftermarket muffler make any difference in performance? I will definitely be removing the cat, but won't be changing muffler if I don't need to. Thanks