1962 Superhawk Restoration: Here I go

jensen · Post by **jensen** » Tue Sep 28, 2010 12:33 am

Hi,

I love that scenery, beautiful empty roads, nice environment to be part of.

You have a low bar (European / Asian style), how about your wrists after a few hundred miles ?
I do also long rides on my hawk, but I never get used to those bars, and have to rest (stretch) after a coupe of 100 km's. I did upholster the (wide) 1967 double seat when I restored the bike.

No back or bump issue's, but maybe that has something to do with the shocks too,

Jensen

G-Man · Post by **G-Man** » Tue Sep 28, 2010 1:21 am

Scott

What a beautiful prize at the end of your restoration and injury. You must be very proud to do that wonderful trip on a bike that you resurrected. Next? A round the world trip perhaps?

After a glorious summer here in the UK the fall is truly upon us - I envy you.

G

rustywrench · Post by **rustywrench** » Tue Sep 28, 2010 9:30 am

Scott,
I truely envy you on doing this Hiway 101 trip. I personally would not try it without a support vehicle along. If you do need help anywhere in the NW, don't be afraid to ask. There are a few of us around here and would love to meet you. While In Washington, why not some of us get together for a short ride?
BTW,,,,, that last pic. Maybe 80mph aint such a good idea. You just have to tell us the story. RW

Oh good grief, I just looked at the date of when you said you were here. Maybe next time. RW

Spargett · Post by **Spargett** » Fri Oct 01, 2010 5:10 pm

Thanks for all the support guys.

Jensen, my wrists were fine. The real pain was my upper back and neck after about 500 miles. On the especially long days everything pretty much just hurt equally. I think that's mostly because I need a better backpack. Had a 25 pound, poorly distributed monkey on my back ever mile of that trip. But that's part of the glory, part of the adventure.

Rustywrench, yeah too bad. Next time I'm around. The last shot is in Oregon. Everyone tends to take the speed limits there very seriously, especially the police. I wasn't even really "speeding", just going faster than the 55mph highway speed limit. As an attempt at some sort of consolidation the officer told me he rides as well and was a big fan of the bike. Also impressed with it's speed for a 305 ; )

And those photos were only a very small glimpse of the entire trip. The real beauty, fear, and randomness was absorbed with both hands on the handlebars.

Next trip is highway 1 / 101 down to Los Angeles.

Spargett · Post by **Spargett** » Fri Oct 01, 2010 6:35 pm

I fitted a pair of new Amal 626's carbs on the bike after after making some modifications to the throttle cable to free an extra 16.7mm of slack. A pair of K&N filters were also added to even out the intake. I have to say, it's the most satisfying money I've spent on the bike in a very long time. The old carbs were such a rats nest of moody problems and performance issues that were slowly driving me mad.

The bike is strong as a bull now. And most importantly, CONSISTENT. It's like a completely different machine. Twice as fast, and the exhaust sounds wonderful with proper air/fuel. I'm still getting the jetting sorted out. It's a little rich, but hopefully a few parts on order will sort it out perfectly. In the mean time, I'm gonna go test them out on the California coasts.

I want to thank Vince Lupo for helping me with what info he had on his usage of the same carburetors. If anyone has any questions for me, feel free to ask.

With the covers off.

Spargett · Post by **Spargett** » Fri Oct 01, 2010 7:04 pm

I upgraded my tail light bulb to an LED that works. Noticeable improvement in brightness and unbeatable reliability. I lost a tail light on my road trip 100 miles from anything at night. Won't happen with this. Can be purchased here for $13.

And here's a link to a video of it in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJjm2swPcyU

G-Man · Post by **G-Man** » Sat Oct 02, 2010 1:34 am

Scott

Excellent and very practical mods. I'm going to try the tail light but I have mixed feelings about the reliability. I have some LED lights around my home and some have died (LEDs failing) in less than a year. Let us know how they work on that vibey Superhawk.

Amal Concentrics are a good choice, easy to understand and tune. The jets always seem less fiddly than Kehins and I think that they make a more robust slide for them now so they should last better. I think that Vince has already done 20,000 miles on his, so that shouldn't be a problem.

G