17 42 for road 15 42 for the woods. But imo 17 42 is all around the best Still can perform in the woods and road it will cruise nice at 60mph and top out 70ish
I found myself in the same situation with my HAWK. I was always riding along and would see a trail or creek and swerve off to go mess with it. The stock gearing was way to light. As soon as I got the clutch out in 1st I was shifting into second. As far as everyone chasing top speed. If you bought this bike to go fast you bought the wrong bike. These are great cheap fun bikes. Maybe even an around town or slow on county roads bike. The street legality of them is great for not having to load it in the back of a truck every time you wanna go out on it, you're just not gonna get there as fast as a street bike.
I would shake your hand if I could lol, you hit the nail on the head! I think it’s kind of silly all these people chasing speed on the hawk😂Thanks for watching!
I haven't been able to ride (dirt) my bike for like 2 years just around town short trips. Still have 16f and 47r sprockets on and stock chain. Great setup for me. I did fabricate a rear breaklight switch sheid out of a plastic oil pan and found a good cheap battery for it.
Awesome! Hey man I always say whatever works for you, everyone is different and has different needs out of their bikes. The important thing is that your out there enjoying these awesome bikes! Thanks for watching!
just fyi...the rear wheel bearings can cause that "skipping" you speak of. They are most likely dry or maybe even damaged races. The rear wheel should not have much more drag on it when spinning by hand then the front....(with chain well lubed and no brake binding). If you spin by hand and she immediately stops = BEARING problems. Just my experience EASY FIX!!
Great suggestion! Unfortunately it’s the chain that’s skipping. This is a common problem on the hawk 250. You have had bearings skip? I have been at this hobby many years and never experienced bearings cause any kind of skipping 🤔 thanks for watching!
Ive noticed on other chinese bikes, the chain tension changes with height/weight of the suspension. Not sure if this applies to the hawk 250 but sit on it, try to get as much of your weight on it as possible legs off the ground totally if possible, reach down and check the chain. its a bit difficult, I found leaning against a wall helps. My friend has an apollo 125cc and when theres no weight on it and the bike sits high the chain is stupid tight, sitting on it, chain gets stupid loose. We adjusted it with the weight on it and its been perfect, no more skipping.
The hawk is a different animal! The chain skips no matter what you do to it. Of corse tightening the chain way too tight makes it not skip but you have to be ignorant to do that 😂 anyway thanks for watching!
Another great video! Personally I run 17 front sprocket and 45 rear on my 2019 Hawk. I always enjoy your content. Have you done a video on the chain guard? Mine still has that issue and I’m not sure how to tackle it.
Haha thanks so much! Great gearing choice btw! Yes I actually did a video about the chain guide/guard, the vid was mostly about the swing arm. Anyway I made a really good chain guard and it was pretty much free. I bet most people could make the same guard I made for free as well! Here is the video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-TY8lJJKG95Q.html The chain guard part of the video is at the middle ish. Thanks for watching!
Great video man. Where did you find tbese parts. Im trying to get 17t 42t rear just like you but i cant find the right parts. Can you please share the part numbers for the sprokerts
I had to take 3 links out of it lol.. I think if it was any shorter it wouldn’t fit. I’m going to blame it on Chinese engineering😂 they probably put a longer swing arm on my hawk😂 thank for watching!
What up Jason J? I like the 17/45 combo. I went ahead and purchased a 42 tooth, but have yet to install it. I’m cruising very comfortably at 55 mph, just purring right along. The bike will do 72 mph, but it’s screaming. 65 mph is manageable. These pushrod motors just aren’t designed for running high RPMs for that long. A backroads country roads motorcycle is what these babies are, and they run very well in that environment.
Goodol'boys Lol! The gear ratio of the 17/45 that I’m running = 2.64 and the 16/42 you’re running is 2.63. The 2.6 ratio seems to be the sweet spot for these bikes.
Dustin Segers what mods do you have done to your bike? Mine has a 110 main jet and no other performance mods. My bike is topping out at 55 on flat ground with 16-42 gearing. I can go 65 too speed with the 17-40 sprocket combo on flat ground. I don’t think Iv ever came close to hitting 70 on the hawk (at least on flat ground) I’d expect most stock bikes are right around the 50-55mph top speed on flat ground. I know you can go faster down hill, but what the fastest you have gone flat ground (with your setup)?
I just got the Hawk. I want to put 40 rear sprocket, and keep swapping front sprocket between 15/16/17 on the go, depending on the situation and mood. Because, swapping front sprocket is so much easier that rear. What do you think? Will chain length accommodate 15 vs. 17 swap?
I did sprocket changes on mine and also carb work and even res bored the cylinder out and huge piston custom work and it is now 286 cc . Still I barely reach 80 mph in a wind . After spending so much time try to customize the thing , I had to sell it and buy a real bike. For a few bucks more than I paid for my hawk I got myself a Honda xl600. Sweet bike and now I hit 110 mph . These Hawks are cheap bikes made for basic transportation . Do not take it off road because the suspension are so weak as well. Hawks are a trend because of the low cost. Great for get around a small town or city commute. I just want a dependable bike that does at least 100 mph. The hawk was too gutless for me so I sold mine. Good luck if you own a hawk. Great cheap transportation is all it is good for. They also have to be ridden lightly and off road they break very easily. Road use only really because they are so GUTLESS I would not dare try climb what I do on my Honda. The hawk would never make it off road for me I tried once and laughed at how gutless it was.
many folks enjoy the fact that you can tinker and tweek it. it's like a fun hobby. and seriously thanks for wishing me luck because for 1600.00 basic transportation is exactly what I wanted.
Haha good point! That 17 tooth front really makes a huge difference! I like being able to run 17/42 gearing tho, makes the bike that much more road friendly. In all honesty if I was only riding it on the road I’d be running 17/40. Thanks for watching!
When you have a larger sprocket on your engine. You are lowéring your torke, regardless of the rear sprocket... why put your engine through more stress...
@@old_skool9877 believe it or not some people dont want the extra torque n i suppose the argument could be made that more torque wears the chain out faster and a small sprocket always wears out faster than a bigger one, n I'm not even sure if you are correct about ur statement cuz the rear sprocket definitely plays a role in mechanical advantage, it'd be an interesting thing to test
So I know I just left a comment about chasing top speed being silly. BUT... Have you seen the video where the dude cams his HAWK? Depending on the end price that is something that might actually add some respectable power gains.
I have seen it! It’s oddballperformance if I’m not mistaken. I think if your going for a top speed record on the hawk cams would definitely be necessary😂 but at that point why not build the rest of the engine, put a turbo or supercharger on it and full send it 😂 I’d like to see some one do that with a hawk lol.
@@goodolboys713 actually that's my next project plan. Ordered a carbed hawk from txpowersports today. Found a small engine turbo on Amazon for 150 which is intended for use with smaller motors. If I dont blow up and kill myself I'll post a vid
HUGE DIFFERENCE in gearing there, I love the 17-42 for on road riding, I am ideally running 16-42 for a little bit of everything. 17-50 is a combo I have not tried, my guess is it’s too slow for on road riding, sounds like it may be good for off-road riding though. Thanks for watching!
