Touring the Hawk GT 650

[Hermit]

I'd really love to get a nice sport-touring specific bike like an ST 1100 or a Concourse (anybody have one for sale cheap? Like, cheap? ). But financially it's not in the cards for a while. So I'm going to make one of my Hawks into a semi-sport tourer.

So far I've got the basic Hawk with an F2 front end, Corbin seat and a FastBag trunk bag. I plan to add heated grips (I've got some Kimpex grip heaters ready to go on) and handguards plus a windshield, throttle lock, a bigger gas tank and soft saddlebags. Maybe a small rack on the back of the bike to help support the FastBag. Can anyone suggest any more improvements I can make to the bike to help with touring duty?

I know it's a really small bike for this type of stuff, but I already have it so it's not going to cost too much more. Plus, it will always be fun when I hit the twisties!

Dave

[Joel Cool]

The only thing I'd recomend beyond what you've already listed is an electric vest. It will allow you to pack fewer clothes, as you won't have to layer quite so much. Nuttin' wrong with touring on a 650GT. Heck, I tour on my 929, and they're about the same size.
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'01 929RR
Ride well.

[Hermit]

That's a good idea, Joel. I'll get an electric vest too. That 929 must be fun. About the same size as my Hawk with close to 100 extra ponies!

[Joel Cool]

[dB]

Sounds like my cue.

The Hawk is a great bike. I'm sure I'd still be enjoying mine if I hadn't been ruined by riding a friend's 929. My favorite roads are the twisty mountain ones and one reason I always avoided I4s is lack of torque in lower rpms. What a surprise to find it had just as much or more low end grunt as the Hawk...and then an insane rush on top if ever "needed". Add updated suspension and phenomenal brakes, and I couldn't resist.

But back to the subject, it sounds like you've got the Hawk pretty well set up for touring. I never liked the stock seat, but you've got that covered. I'd be interested in your strategy for the tank, too. The only option I ever found, not being skilled enough to build my own, were the big carbon fiber ones at several hundred $. The Hawk's fuel range is the reason I never seriously considered the SuperHawk, too.

[Hermit]

Phones have been out for a couple of days, but it's back to normal now. Life in the mountains.

That 929 sounds just terrific. For the super tight roads I've got, I could never use all that power.

Fuel mileage on the Hawk is a pretty serious issue. At around 130 miles 'till DRY it's really pathetic. The brand new Kiyo carbon tanks go for $1,000. Not good. You might be able to find a used one on Ebay for around $600 buy that is still too much. Plus I worry about going down out here in the mountains somewhere and being stranded due to a broken tank. Steel just dents. Which brings me to my plan:

I'm getting a severely beaten Hawk tank from a Hawklister. I'm going to cut the top off of this and use the base. I have an old Triumph gas tank which I'm going to use for the upper part. I'm going to cut it's base off and quarter the rest then fill with custom made sheetmetal to make a larger and restyled tank. I'm hoping to get 4.5-5 gallons out of this. I don't know if it will work or not, but it's not going to cost me anything to try. I'll let you know how it goes, but I won't be starting this project for a few more months.

Dave

[Joel Cool]

Wow Hermit... that sounds like a really cool mod. I've been kicking around expanding the fuel capacity of my 929, but haven't been able to find anyone who's done it yet. It looks to me that if I remove the charcoal canister off the 929 (which sits right below the gas tank), I would have room to add some capacity.

What kind of sheet metal do you use? How do you weld the pieces together? Have you ever done this before?
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'01 929RR
Ride well.

[Hermit]

Those are some very good questions, Joel. Wish I had some very good answers to go with them. I've never done this kind of work before as I'm just a beginning welder. Dad's a professional welder, though, so he'll be of immense help to me here. In fact, he'll probably do the real welding after I do some practice stuff. We'll likely just use whatever scrap sheetmetal we have lying around that is of a similar gauge to the two donor tanks. Mig welding should work pretty well for this. Dad has a nice TiG at work that we can use too if the Mig proves difficult. The whole thing is an experiment, but I think it will be fun. And very usefull if it works!

Dave

[Nate in N.E.]

Have you checked with plastic/poly tank makers like IMS or Clarke? I know they have a lot of dualsport applications, but no idea whether they could do anything for you or not. Worth looking into...
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Nate
'99 VFR
'99 KLR250

[Hermit]

An aftermarket poly tank for the Hawk would be pretty cool, but they don't make one. Some of the Hawklisters have kicked around the idea of having one of those makers do a limited production run for a bunch of hawkers but nothing has ever come of it. That's ok. There's other bikes with bigger tanks.

Dave

[Joel Cool]

FWIW, I poked around a little bit looking for someone who might make a bigger tank for the 929. I know Erion made a larger tank for the 900RR endurance racers, so I had some hope that someone might do such a thing for my 929... but Dan Kyle and Erion both replied that they don't do that. It still might be possible to make something like that work, but I think I'd need two doner tanks and a tank fabricator to stick them together, paint and all that. Oh well, I really can't complain too much. I can get 160 miles pretty easily, and have gotten as much as 200 miles (scarry that time) without walking.
_________________
'01 929RR
Ride well.

[kytann]

A little late, but maybe this'll help someone out
Stock Hawk gas tank capacity is what, 2.5 gallons or something?
a stock CBR600F2 tank will fit on the Hawk, with a 4.2 gallon capacity. You can even find them used on ebay or at your local motorcycle scrapyard for fairly cheap. The only caveat is that the stock airbox cannot be used, so you'll have to upgrade to pod filters and probably re-jet the carb.
Info is here
http://www.wildnkrazed.com/BDTech/Tank.html
(and check out the exhaust on that bike!)
and you can also check the mailing list archives of http://www.hawkgt.com