The
First Annual Northern Utah Hawk Rally, came together and came off without a
hitch. Organized in less time that it took to write this report, the two only
known Northern Utah Hawklisters
and Hawk Riders decided to get together on an early Saturday morning to find
a unknown, but rumored tight, canyon road in the west desert of Utah. A road
that would be clear of the sand and snow that were still plaguing the local
mountain roads. Grant who rides a restored Hawk GT that was found in a basket
a year or so ago brought along his brother Paul (who has a striking resemblance
with Kurtis Roberts) who rides a 92 CBR600 that has been retrofitted with a
Hawk GT rear swing-arm. We met for the first time as we sat down for a quality
McDonalds breakfast.
The weather the few days before hand, had been cold and wet and while the morning air was very chilly the sky was mostly blue with large cotton-ball clouds floating across the sky. Around the McDonalds dining room booth, we got acquainted asking questions about bikes, riding experience and the like. A long discussion ensued regarding the values and benefits of riding at sea level and the added performance benefits. Grant and Paul are from Minnesota, and started riding at 500 feet of elevation and were disappointed how the 4500 feet of Utah elevation discouraged Hawk horsepower output.
Halfway through our breakfast, a dressed all in black with blond hair, fellow approached our table and asked excitedly, “Are those your Hawks out there?” Thinking that we found another Hawk rider we quickly reassured him that we were. “Those are super cool bullet bikes! How much do you pay in insurance? I really want a bullet bike but I have a terrible driving record and can’t afford much insurance.” We told him the bikes were both 1988 models and that insurance was quite reasonable. “But they are still super fast right? They’ll pull 130-140 on a straightaway easy, right?” Again, we tried to inform him that, no Honda Hawks are not fast, in fact, you’d be lucky to go much faster than 100 miles per hour. Obviously disappointed but still excited by the looks of the bike he gives the bikes and us another “compliment”. “Those bikes are as cool as the Harley Bullet Bikes! You’d never guess they were so old.”
He then told us about his recent purchase of another motorcycle, how much he paid and how he got a four-wheeler carburetor to fit right on the bike before he apologized and left us to finish our breakfast. After we had finished our meal, we headed back out to the bikes to get ready to head out. I brought a map and pulled it out to show the route to the elusive “Johnson’s Pass”. When unexpectedly, the guy, dressed all in black, came over to admire the bikes from closer up. He told us about how his wife was going to let him put a down payment on a Harley when his hair got long enough to touch his shoulders, but just before his hair gets long enough, she has changed her mind and now wants to get bullet bikes. Grant patiently answered his questions, while Paul and I backed away from the conversation to talk about other things. He was very excited about the motorcycles and asked a few more times the exact type of bike so he could start looking for one of his own. We told him of the Hawklist, so hopefully he can increase his understanding of motorcycles before he finds and starts riding a Hawk.
We put our helmets on and ride over to the Chevron station next door to fill up with gas before heading west. The Hawks dismal fuel range and the void of Utahs western desert could result in a lot of pushing if we didn’t think ahead about our gas. We rolled out and started heading straight west on Highway 73 out of Lehi, past the old flour mill where the classic film Footloose, starring Kevin Bacon, was filmed. Highway 73 was as straight and boring as we expected as we rode to a huge valley known as “Eagle Mountain” where many polygamist communes are known to exist and recently, the mayor of Eagle Mountain faked his own kidnapping to California, but then returned a few weeks later to continue his mayoral duties. It’s a very strange community and it felt good to pass out of it on the far side.
Highway 73 drops south and west to get around a smaller range of mountains before it enters into Tooele county and home of the Tooele Army Depot where the nations largest chemical weapons incendiary plant resides. Highway 73 then heads straight north to get around the chemical depot as it meanders its way west. With the road as straight as the eye could see, we did some top-secret, high speed testing. With the throttle on the Hawk pinned and tucked behind the gauges as best I could, I got the Hawk caressed to a top speed of 122 miles per hour, “indicated”. 73 intersects with highway 35 where we turned south, then west again a few miles later onto highway 199 through the desolate town of Rush Valley, just south of a small morsel of the Wasatch-Cache National Forest. Just west of town the road began to wind its way over the mountain range directly in front of us. The asphalt was perfect, but the cold temperatures and the recent rain was still evident with the small patches of water on the road. Many of the tight corners had gravel spilled into them from bad car drivers cutting the apex, dragging their tires through the gravel on the side of the road.
Confidence was as low as familiarity with the new road was and we wandered along relatively slowly, entering corners with caution and only accelerating hard when we could see the next several corners ahead of us. The Michelin pilots on my Hawk were sliding through every tight corner, unable to warm up and grip the road affectively. Still it was the first canyon of the year for me, and despite the slower speeds, it was great fun. We stopped on the far side, overlooking a road, as straight as an engineer’s ruler, into Dugway Utah. Here we stopped and chatted, told stupid stories and talked motorcycles as the day warmed up. We also decided this would be a great time to snap some photos. Virtually nobody was out there, so pushing the motorcycles into the middle of the road di not pose a problem with traffic.
After the photos, the day had warmed up so we decided to ride up over Johnson’s Pass a ways and get some photos where the road is wiggly. The road had warmed up and the tires were gripping better so confidence rose as well as our speeds. We found a cool section and parked the bikes.
Grant and I tried our hand at “Phooning”, a strange pose for the camera that was part of current discussion of the Hawklist, then some obligatory bike shots before heading on. We rode back down to the start of the pass then up and over again to get in a few more corners. With the road being more familiar and the tires gripping better, we rode a bit faster and had a bit more fun. It was a shame the range on the hawks is so small otherwise we would have gone up and over again, but with the nearest gas 20 miles away and the odometer reading 85, we played it safe and rode north to Tooele for gas.
Once in Tooele, our stomachs were demanding attention so we stopped at Pizza hut for lunch before heading around into the Salt Lake Valley and back towards home.
Both
Grant and Paul have been blessed with engineering aptitude and access to full
metal working facilities. Their bikes were dressed up with billet aluminum that
had been milled and shaped to fit their needs. They talked about the process
as casually as most of us talk about using the internet. For these fellows,
machining work is a common as Internet explorer. It was also a real pleasure
to meet two new friends, and have a great day of riding thanks to the Hawklist.