Honda Hawk

The Honda Hawk, or, as it's properly known, the Hawk NT 650, was a motorcycle manufactured by Honda from 1988-91. Its short lifetime was due to the fact that the Hawk doesn't fit neatly into a particular type of bike, because it exhibits traits of both standard and sport motorcycles.

It has a 60 degree offset-crankpin V-twin engine that displaces 647 ccs in a fairly mild state of tune, but since the engine is so over-engineered, it is a relatively easy task to modify the thing to get better than 70 horsepower and beyond, depending on one's ambition and desire for mechanical longevity/streetability. 70 horsepower may not sound like much, but the Hawk, as Datagirl points out, is a fairly light bike - just over 400 pounds, wet, and it's not too difficult to shave off quite a few of those pounds. Hawks make excellent club racers.

The twin-spar aluminum chassis is one of the sportier things about the bike, as is the trick single-sided rear swingarm. The suspension is quite soft, though, and not up the rigors of racing, so suspension mods are often high on many hobbyists' lists.

All in all, the Honda Hawk is a good all-around motorcycle, with the potential for serious streetfighter performance and unique good looks, with a few bits of fancy tech thrown in just for fun.

An interesting motorcycle. I would cover the specs on it, but Starrynight has done a wonderful job.

I own a Honda Hawk. Mine is red :) It is a very light bike, often raced.

The Honda Hawk has some great low end torque, which is good on twisty roads. I can even beat my brother on his CBR 600 F2 in the twisties, but he whoops my bootie on the straight away every time.

Not all Hawks, however, are created equally. While the most beautiful IMHO (it's just downright sexy) Honda Hawk is the NT650, my current bike is also a Hawk. I recently picked up a ratty 1982 CB450T Hawk - with the intent of restoring it this coming winter. It's a twin cylinder, standard-type (with some sporty lines). The only real interesting thing about it is that they were only produced in 1982. So, while your example might be the best Hawk, it's not the only one.

---------- Update: April 16, 2001

Alright, now I can join the club. I picked up an '89 Hawk with only 2800 miles on the odometer. First impressions: this thing handles like crazy. Also, even stock it's the most powerful bike i've ever ridden - it nearly pulled me off the first time i took off down the street on it.

I got interested in this bike due to its cult status on the net. sites such as HawkGT.com pass on tips and information on modifications. There's even a yearly meeting of Hawk riders from all over the east coast.