Bird Watching – New Honda Hawk11

Hawk11 set to go – somewhere.

The Hawk name goes back a long way in Honda lore. For some of us it would be the CB450T Hawk that might be the touchstone. For others it could be the 400 or the 350 or perhaps even the curiously collectable 650 v-twin Hawk of the late 1980s.

Honda has announced a new Hawk is about to soar and it is again a parallel twin like the early models – but larger, much larger. The big parallel twin from the Africa Twin will find its fourth home in a Honda model after the big ADV, the Rebel 1100 and the also recently announced NT1100 sport touring machine. As with the latter bike, much is borrowed from the Africa Twin in the creation of the new bike with a retro cafe flair so in the big scheme of things there is little surprising about its technical abilities although, as the bike has yet to be totally revealed, some of the details are unknown – but as we said, don’t expect any earth shattering surprises.

honda hawk11 side profile whiteWhat does cause one to ponder is other bikes in the Honda line and in particular the CB1000R as, minus the fairing, the two bikes have a very similar retro flare. The CB1000R is powered by the 998cc, inline four producing 143hp at 10,500rpm and 77 ft-lbs torque at 8250rpm.  We don’t have specs for the Hawk11 but let’s look at the Africa Twin as Honda doesn’t appear to be making big changes as it is shuffled across genres. That engine at 1084cc produces 101hp at 7500 rpm and 77ft-lbs torque at 6250 rpm. Both bikes will likely come with pretty similar levels of rider aids as expected in a modern motorcycle. The CB1000R weighs in at 472 lbs  wet . The Hawk11 is going to come in somewhere close to the same as it might be a little lighter than the Rebel 1100 but substantially less than the bulkier NT1100 at 525 lbs wet.

honda hawk11 front profile There are going to be different riding characteristics from the engine but other than that….. hmmm. The CB1000R in Canada costs $15,899 and it would be a tough argument as to whether the Hawk11 would warrant a higher price so it would probably fall around the same again – more than the $13,199 Rebel 1100 but less than the $16,999 Africa Twin 1100.

Yes, but the styling. The Hawk11 has the cool fairing – kind of reminiscent of the new Triumph Speed Triple RR from the front LED lighting and all. True it does look good but there is a company in Europe, S2 Concepts that makes a kit for the CB1000R to give it a retro fairing and other pieces for a price of 1200 euros.

Bird Sighting

But should you even be pondering such things? Like the NT1100, ST125, ADV350 and various other bikes, there is no indication as of yet that Honda is bringing it to Canada as the bike is no rumoured to be a Japan market machine – although we doubt the Europeans could resist a new big sporty Hawk.