What's a Hawk?

I first saw one in August 1995, at the Ducati clubraces in Assen. It was red and it was beautiful. Just like most Europeans who first lay eyes on this model I thought someone had done a real good job converting a Honda NTV650 into a special. It looked the same but somehow much more elegant, probably because of its short tail. Also it had a chain instead of the shaft drive the NTV has.

What is it?
In the official code language of the Honda factory it is a RC31, a name which clearly links it to the RC30, the illustrious racing V-four with the same single sided Pro Arm suspension the RC31 has. It was sold in Japan as the Honda Bros, while the U.S. got it from 1988-92 under the name of the Hawk GT.

Meanwhile, in Europe
Inhabitants of the Old World weren't so lucky. Instead of the RC31 Europe got the RC33. It was sold under the name Revere, which was later changed into NTV650. The NTV has a steel chassis, the engine is painted in some ugly greyish colour, the seat stretches all the way and beyond the rear wheel, and it has a shaft drive. In short, the NTV is the Hawk's ugly cousin. The majority of Hawks riding around in continental Europe were imported non-officially from North America. In 1991 official importers also started selling the Hawk, only to find little demand for it. As Brits and Japanese share the strange habit of driving on the left side of the road grey importers in the UK mainly brought the Japanese Bros over.

So why is it special?
Although introduced many years ago the Hawk's technology is still up and beyond today's standards. Most notably its aluminium single-sided swingarm, developed by Honda and Elf and more or less copied by Ducati in 1994 on its much revered 916 - the Hawk had one in 1988. Long before unfaired sportsbikes came into fashion again, the naked Hawk stood out by having an sporty aluminium chassis that used the engine as a stressed member. The engine is Honda's proven liquid-cooled V-twin with two spark plugs and three valves a cylinder, also used in half a dozen other Honda's to this very day. If the Hawk would be introduced today, nothing about it would make it look outdated.

Hear it from someone else
Not surprisingly, at the time of its introduction the Hawk got very positive reviews. The editors of Popular Science even selected this motorcycle as one of the one hundred best achievements and products of 1988. Listen to what they had to say:

,,In recent years a perennially endearing type of machine has gotten scarce - the all-around motorcycle that does many things well and nothing in excess. A new one has surfaced: Honda's 650-cc Hawk GT, which fuses a "traditional" narrow lightweight V-twin configuration with some of the latest in chassis technology, including an exotic single-sided rear suspension. It's all somewhat dashingly styled in a way that celebrates the allure of aluminum in its myriad textures. This is one delightful way to go through a series of S-turns in control and rock stable, or to run an errand, or visit an adjacent state of the union. With its willing and tractable engine, the Hawk does all of these things well. A surprising number of people who obviously don't know much about motorcycles voice admiration for the Hawk at stoplights. They seem to sense that it's a balanced and reasonable bike, handsome, and a good citizen. They're right.''

So much for the reviews
In practice the Hawk GT performs at least as well. It is extremely well built. I even heard of someone who went 180,000 miles on his Hawk. Apart from the chain drive there's nothing to make a Hawk require more maintenance than the NTV, which is used by commuters and despatch bikers all year round. Add the sporty appeal and you would say Honda had a winner in its hands. Well, the market decided otherwise. Although lots of people seem to love the Hawk, nobody bought one. Large numbers spend years in their crates before being sold. I myself ride a Hawk which was produced in 1988, but was only sold in 1991. In that year even official Honda importers in Europe tried to sell the surpluses from North America. So in 1992 Honda finally killed the RC31. If most people want to pretend they are rough bikers on Harley-lookalikes or Grand Prix racers on fluorescent coloured bathtubs, then that's what they get.

A true racer, nonetheless
People who do want to race could find that they are better off with a relatively light and rigid Hawk than with one of those 120bhp bathtubs. It can easily be thrown into corners, while the stiff frame makes a Hawk very stable in high-speed turns. And the V-twin gives a lot of torque right from low revs. With 58hp at the crank a Hawk is not exactly powerful, but being mildly tuned, Hawk racers have some options to increase the power. Just replacing the airbox with separate K&N's and adjusting jets and needles made my Hawk produce 15 percent more power. For bigger improvements you will need to get to the internals of the engine, starting with the small valves that obstruct the flow of air. To make the Hawk breath really better peakier cams have to be installed. Some owners install bigger pistons too, increasing displacement to 700cc. It's also possible to bolt the 750cc engine of an Africa Twin into a Hawk chassis. Actually there are a lot of parts from other Honda's which fit the Hawk, especially in the suspension area. The front forks are easily swapped for those of a CBR600, the rear shock can be replaced with one of a FireBlade, and the rear wheel can be changed for that of a VFR. And finally there are dedicated tuners who can offer anything for a Hawk up to carbon fibre tanks and full fairings that make the Hawk look like an RC30. Well, as an RC31, isn't it supposed to?

A good ending
In the end the Hawk got the appreciation it deserves, at least from a selective group of motorcycle enthusiasts. If the attention this bike gets on the net is any proof, the Hawk is more popular than many bikes selling in much bigger numbers. Part of this runs parallel with the rising popularity of two-cylinder sportsbikes in general. Although this can hardly be attributed to the success of the Hawk (more to that of Ducati, to be honest), it is a fact that Honda's new attempt to corner this market with the VTR1000 began with a prototype based on the Hawk. So the Hawk lives on, not only on roads and circuits, but also in showrooms.