Honda Hawk GT, A Motorcycle That Was Made 30 Years Too Early

Описание: In the commuter category,
The Hawk’s riding position could not be more comfortable, it is upright, and the seat is very cushiony. Your feet are in a relatively comfortable position and the handlebar is in line with your chest further contributing to a great commute riding position. Lack of an OEM winscreen takes one score off since if it wasn’t for the aftermarket screen, you would be blasted in the face by the wind. This earns the Hawk a 9 out of 10 in riding comfort.
The fuel tank capacity is similar to that of a modern 650cc naked motorcycle holding roughly 3.5 gallons of gas. Despite being a 35-year-old motorcycle, the fuel economy is also similar to its modern rivals. What have engineers been doing this whole time? Anyways. A combination of the two gives you an average of 150 miles of range per tank, which is typical of a motorcycle in this displacement class earning it a 5 out of 10 in the fuel/range features.
As far as the commute-specific tech goes, it is literally a 35-year-old bike. It has nothing to offer as far as tech goes. Maybe I could squeeze in the helmet holder as a commute tech, but really there is nothing on this bike that is of extra ordinary feature helping you commute more easily earning it a 1 out of 10 in the commute-specific tech and features.
Storage is essentially non-existent, which is expected of a naked bike earning it a 1 out of 10.
A good commuter bike should be cost-effective, reliable, and have a strong dealership network. The Hawk GT is priced a bit higher than what it offers because it simply is the first of its kind. Any other Honda from this era would be priced even lower than the Hawk. As far as reliability goes, it is a Honda and outlasts you and your children, but being a carburetor bike, it might have some difficulty cold starting and the maintenance is going to be an ongoing issue with them. As for dealer support, there are more Honda dealerships than McDonald’s drive-thrus with a working ice-cream machine. Altogether giving this bike a score of 6 out of 10 in affordability, reliability and dealer support category.
For a total score of 22 out of 50 points for the commuter category.

Now onto the Performance/Dope Factor Category. Classic bikes like the Hawk tend to not get a very good score here especially if they are more of a street oriented bike than a SuperSport one.
The Hawk GT’s riding position, although is comfortable for street riding it isn’t race-track oriented like the CBR600F was. It is upright with higher handlebars. Your feet are position straight down instead of pushed back all creating a not-so-tucked in position. However, the extremely narrow bodyworks allows you to take on corners very easily which is the design highlight of the Hawk. This earns the Hawk GT a 3 out of 10 in the race riding position.
The horsepower- slash-torque figures do not need any elaboration. It was lacking back in 88 and it is lacking now. 39 Rear-Wheel Horsepower and 40 pounds-feet of torque was low numbers for a 650cc bike and was one of the major downsides of the Hawk earning it a 2 out of 10. Some of you were wondering how I calculate the Horsepower/torque category score. I simply add up the horsepower and torque numbers and divide it by 2 which gets me the Horsepower/Torque average. If the average is 0 to 25, it gets a 1, 26-50 gets a 2, and so on and so forth. For this bike, Horsepower is 39, Torque is 40 pounds-feet, and the average is 39.5.
At 412 pounds, the Hawk GT is a pretty light 650cc bike. Since my score considers a 375 lb or lighter bike a 10 out of 10, and every increment of 25 lbs deducts a score, the hawk at 412 pounds gets a 9 out of 10 in the weight category.
Regarding the race-track oriented rider aid’s features, there are no gadgets or gizmos on this bike that could aid you on the race track earning it a 1 out of 10.
As for the Hawk’s design choices and marketplace, being designed as the official first naked bike rivaling its street bike brother the CBR600F, makes the hawk a special motorcycle. But it is not a full-on collectible bike because it wasn’t too hard to get back when it was new. The recipe for an ultra-collectible item is that it should be hard to find and special when it was new AND to age finely over time. The Hawk has aged finely over time but wasn’t too special when it was new. It in fact was not even a popular bike when it was new in 1988 and had to be discontinued only 3 years after it first appeared. Japanese bikes of today are not what you would consider pretty but back then, they knew what they are doing earning the hawk GT a 6 out of 10 for the overall design and marketplace.