I really thought I would be able to outsmart those foolish engineers that work at Honda with some good 'ol fashion hard work. Initially I thought I had a CBR900RR rear shock on my Hawk, which is a popular upgrade. But after riding the bike, I found the suspension way under damped and under sprung. I found out it was actually a rear shock from a Honda CB-1. The bike sagged underneath me like a tired old nag and the resulting ride left sparks from the center-stand every time I would corner hard to the left. Part of this problem was due to a bent center-stand stop, but the bike would also droop and wallow as I rode along. It was still rideable, but it wasn't as good as it could be.
So I decided that if a CBR900 shock would work, why not a much more affordable and much more available CBR600 F4i rear shock. The issue that was brought up was one of linkage. Most modern motorcycles have linkage between the shock and the swingarm and/or the shock and the frame of the motorcycle. Near as my simple mind could tell, affects of linkage could be reduced or accounted for by adjustments in damping or preload. I was confident of success!
My first shock from an F4i cost me about $15. "Ha!" I thought, this is going to be too easy! Unfortunately, the CBR shock was a bit short, but worse than that, the hose for the remote reservoir was positioned so that the shock would not fit into the frame. Drat! Oh well, on to the next idea.
The CBR 600F4i shock, although pretty, would not fit because the hose for the remote reservoir was positioned on the shock so that it would not clear the frame on the upper shock mount of the Hawk GT.
I sold the F4i shock and got a VTR1000 Superhawk shock. It had rebound damping adjustments and was a bit longer than the 600 shock. Again, I was confident of success! The shock fit, but it was so long that the idea of actually riding the bike this way was unimaginable. I thought of a few ways to relocate one of the mounting points to compensate, but the shocks reputation for being way over sprung and under damped made me reluctant to invest too much time into this shock. Besides, I had another idea that was much better!
So, away went the Superhawk shock and along came the Ducati 996 Showa shock. This was going to work for sure! It fit into the frame, unlike the F4i shock, it was a bit short, but if it was good enough for a Ducati then surely it would work on my Honda Hawk! The day it showed up I spent about 20 minutes in the garage bolting it in. It fit right in! This was going to be too easy! But as soon as I dropped the bike off the center-stand I realized it was going to take a bit of work to make it right. I learned, the hard way, that differences in shock length are exponentially exaggerated by the time it reaches the axle. A difference of one inch at the shock would mean the difference of four inches at the axle. This makes for a ride height/shock length ratio of about 1:4. Oops, whodathunkit? So I proceeded to build some brackets to relocate the top mounting point down 3/4ths of an inch to set the rear ride height where I wanted it.
So I got to work. I had a great idea on how to make it all work. I would build a bracket that would link four mounting points together to ensure it would be strong and it would not be able to move under the stresses enforced upon it. It took about a week and a half of ignoring my wife and spending all my free time in the garage with a grinder, a drill press and a lot of math to finish them. Lo and behold, it worked. The brackets fit in beautifully and positioned the rear axle exactly where I wanted it. I had achieved success! The only thing left to do was to test the spring rate. Unfortunately, as soon as I dropped the bike down off the center-stand, the rear spring compressed almost completely. So, I increased the preload on the spring, almost to its maximum. No help, the only thing keeping the shock from compressing completely was the tension on the chain. It would not be rideable like this.
I was really proud of these brackets. Their were two of them that were mostly identical. It's almost a shame they never got used. But at least I can show you what they looked like.
I looked into some options. I could install a stiffer spring, but then the damping rates would be too light and the shock would have to be revalved. By that time I would have spent close to $300 to make the Ducati shock work. So I thought the CBR900RR rear shock would be the route to go. But then I realized that in order to make that work most people install the stock Hawk GT spring. What was the difference with that and changing the spring on the Ducati shock? The damping rates would still be skiwompus and it would not function properly. It almost seemed like it would be best to leave the stock shock on the bike. Instead of doing research before hand, I decided to look into things more closely after all this effort. Apparently linkage makes a huge difference! For example, the spring rate for a Ducati 996R (with linkage) is about 450 lbs per inch. The recommended spring rate for a Honda Hawk GT (without linkage) is about 1200 lbs per inch. Substantially different! I realized that the only way to properly and effectively improve upon the stock Hawk rear shock would be to purchase an aftermarket replacement designed specifically for the Hawk. But that meant coming up with extra cash that I really didn't have.
NOTE: Special thanks to Will from the Hawk list for his technical expertise. Visit his website.
I cannot stress this point enough. Many people install retro-fit CBR900RR shocks to their Hawks. Fitting the stock Hawk stock spring to the CBR900 shock only solves half the problem. The spring rate will be closer to being right, but the damping rates will still be way off. Anything short of installing a Hawk specific shock will actually be a step backwards! If you want to improve the handling of your Hawk, do not make the same mistakes I made, start saving and purchase a Hawk specific shock right off the bat.
Several companies make shocks for the Hawk. Penske, Fox Shox and Ohlins seemed to be the big three. But which one to choose? Traxion Dynamics makes a Penske "Sport" shock that does not have compression damping or a remote reservoir and would cost about $575. They would also sell a specially valved Fox Shox twin clicker with full adjustability for about $700 and I could get an Ohlins for $650 or a non-specially valved Fox Shox for about $525. If I was going to have to spend that much on a rear shock, by golly, I wanted the best value for my money.
I sent off a few emails to both Traxion Dynamics and Meccanica Corse to get their take on things, assuming that both of them would tell me their shock was the best. Meccanica Corse, selling the Fox Shox for $525 won my money. The Owner of Meccanina Corse is a former racer and Four-Time Battle of the Twins National Champion as well as being very accessible through the HawkGT listserv. He took the time to explain to me and assure me that the Fox Shox Twin Clicker did not necessarily need $150's worth of revalving to work for my needs on the bike. His explanation and humility (vs. arrogance) won my vote.
The shock finally arrived and with eager anticipation I started to install it. Unfortunately, during my escapades to retro-fit another shock, I pretty much disassembled half of the bike. But here's a few photos to give you an idea of what the shock will look like in the bike.
This is where I started from. You can see that the sub-fender was removed and a lot of the fuel and electrical cables/lines are just lying about.
Installing the shock went pretty darn smooth with only a few things to slow me down along the way. I was concerned about mounting the remote reservoir. I thought hose clamps was somewhat simple and would result in the reservoir getting hammered. It also took me a long time to get the preload set. Apparently the preload was set at pretty close to its softest setting and I had to really torque it down to set my sag properly. I also relented and installed the remote reservoir with the hose clamps. Then, later that day, on a trip to the local motorcycle shops to purchase some new footpegs for the bike, I noticed that all of the current motorcycles use hose clamps to hold the reservoir in place. Even Honda spiffy RCV race bike uses zip ties.
When I finally got the entire bike reassembled, I had to take the bike out for a quick photo shoot. Here is where I mounted the remote reservoir. I preferred the more subtle mount and I also tucked the remote reservoir line behind the sub-frame. I had to relocate some wiring, but I felt this was a much cleaner look.
When I finally got the shock installed, we were blessed with some unseasonably warm Utah weather for January and I was able to take the bike out and see the value of the improvements. The shock made a huge difference to the handling of the bike. The recommended spring rate worked in perfect conjunction with the upgraded springs in the forks and the ability to increase and change damping rates were wonderful. The shock improved the handling on a bike already known for its superb handling characteristics
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