the honda hawk was it the monster inspiration?????

[the ron]

its funny how when you get older, you forget things. i have forgotten about the honda hawk. why do i bring this up you might ask? well i saw a monster coming toward me on the enne king parkway , (dedham mass, for you no local types) and i realized when it passed me it was in fact a 1980,s something honda hawk. round headlight sort of trellis frame and if i remember correctly a single sided swingarm. could this moto bike that has been long since retired been  some kind of inspiration of the monster? its funny it has somewhat of a cult following from what i hear and have read. and i was actually looking at one about 4 years ago. but when i would type in "hawk" on e-bay, i would get a few hawks of different years and lots of super hawks. so i went with the super and forgot about the somewhat original machine.
Was the hawk a v-twin? i don't remember that. and what size was it? i don't remember much. thats for sure. i wish i knew how to post pics i would find some and do a comparo. but maybe i could sub someone here on the site to do that for me.

the ron

[Bill in OKC]

The 1988 Honda NT650 was a V-twin - single sided swingarm too.  I don't know if it was an inspiration for anything but I really like them.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/1988HondaHawkGT-02.jpg

[DY]

You're right... that does look like a monster... with the trellis frame replaced by a bar of aluminum.  Nice looking bikes. 

[krolik]

I would say that Galluzzi was aware of the Honda Hawk.  In the wiki on the Hawk:

The Hawk GT was one of the first modern Naked bikes along with the Yamaha SRX, which were both released several years before the Ducati Monster and eventually the Suzuki SV650.

&

Part of the dismal sales for the Hawk was the lack of clarity in its design: was it a standard with a high-tech frame or a sportbike with a low-tech motor and no bodywork?

While it may have been an inspiration for naked bikes, it was more of a standard than a naked.  The Hawk was not descended from a sport bike, and it suffered in comparison to the middle weight Honda sportbike of that time, the CBR600F.

[the ron]

interesting. maybe it came at the wrong time. i wonder what was the first single sided swingarm production motorcycle? anyone know?

the ron

[SSSA]

The 1988 Honda NT650 was a V-twin - single sided swingarm too.  I don't know if it was an inspiration for anything but I really like them.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/1988HondaHawkGT-02.jpg

Mine:




Looking to trade up to a Ducati.....

[Howie]

There were a few naked sporty Japanese bikes available in the US at that time.  Insurance companies were doing their best not to insure faired sport bikes.  I think Galluzi was probably more influenced by the naked Euro street fighters of the time, though I am quite sure he was aware of the Hawk.

[the ron]

Mine:




Looking to trade up to a Ducati.....

wow, that is pretty cool. you have to hand it to honda. liquid cooling to boot.

the ron

[Travman]

Mine:




Looking to trade up to a Ducati.....

Looks better than a stock Suzuki SV650.  I like it especially from those camera angles.

[Scottish]

When I was in HS I always wanted one of those or a Suzuki Bandit 400.

another style similar to the Monster.

[CairnsDuc]

Scary part is, The Ducati Monster almost never was, It was meant to be a Cagiva Monster!

[IZ]

Hawk was almost my first bike back in '96.  There was one sitting in front of the Yamaha shop in Flagstaff.  It was the clostest looking thing I knew of next to a Monster (the bike I REALLY wanted).  Unfortunately, the bike was laid down a couple times.  The DR350 ended up being my ride instead since Ducati was about 150 miles away.

Those are nice pics though!! 

[denbike]

I just sold my beloved Hawk, I had it for ten years, put on 78,000 miles and sold it for what I paid for it. It was a great bike, it gave its all and asked for nothing. The maintenance  schedule was tough...you had to replace the spark plugs every 50,000 miles.

While criticized at the time as being a high-tech frame with an off-the-shelf moto, it didn't take much to get them to breathe better, then guys went out and won races on them, they became a cult-bike

Mine too was that dark gray, only mods were Corbin, Supertrapp,  stage 1 jetting and K&N filter.

I rode it fully loaded with camping gear up Hwy 1 to Nor Cal several times and once to Oregon. But mostly it was my everyday get-around, playing in traffic. It always looked like a modern bike.

Last week a watched it roll out the driveway. After three months with my Monster, I had de-bugged and gained enough confidence in the Monster to sell the Hawk. I didn't want to, the Hawk was so tractor-reliable, but I don't really have room for two bikes. It went to a good home, the guy bugged me for years that if I wanted to sell it to call him. He called me when he heard about my Monster.

[BomberHead]

i misread the thread topic as "The Honda Gawk"

[Popeye the Sailor]

its funny how when you get older, you forget things. i have forgotten about the honda hawk. why do i bring this up you might ask? well i saw a monster coming toward me on the enne king parkway , (dedham mass, for you no local types) and i realized when it passed me it was in fact a 1980,s something honda hawk. round headlight sort of trellis frame and if i remember correctly a single sided swingarm. could this moto bike that has been long since retired been  some kind of inspiration of the monster? its funny it has somewhat of a cult following from what i hear and have read. and i was actually looking at one about 4 years ago. but when i would type in "hawk" on e-bay, i would get a few hawks of different years and lots of super hawks. so i went with the super and forgot about the somewhat original machine.
Was the hawk a v-twin? i don't remember that. and what size was it? i don't remember much. thats for sure. i wish i knew how to post pics i would find some and do a comparo. but maybe i could sub someone here on the site to do that for me.

the ron

So.....when you say the 696 "looks Japanese"....don't you just mean it's returning to it's true monster roots?