Styled like a Japanese Ducati Monster, Honda’s Hawk GT actually beat that bike to market by several years. It may have lacked a bit of sex appeal, but offered incredible versatility, reliability, and even some steering lock… The Hawk could scratch, commute, do some light-duty touring and, with a bit of work, made a great basis for a race bike. They’ve been extremely affordable for a while now, since they never really found an audience here in the US and are a bit too practical to be considered sexy, but fans love them, and low mileage examples like this one are pretty hard to find.
It was built around a simple, reliable 647cc 52° v-twin engine with liquid-cooling and three valves per cylinder. It was so reliable, in fact, it would go on to power thousands and thousands of Honda’s shaft-drive Revere and Deauville touring bikes. Hardly the most inspiring legacy, but it could push the little Hawk GT, also known as the NT650 in some markets and the Bros 650 in Japan, to a top speed of 107mph.
But the Hawk GT, aka NT650 aka Bros 650 had another designation: the RC31 and Honda’s competition legacy is visible if you look. Out back is the bike’s party piece, a Elf-Racing Pro-Arm single-sided swingarm. The front end had just one disc brake, but the bike’s relatively light 393lb dry weight meant stopping was adequate outside a race track, and a CBR600 front end with adjustable forks and an extra front disc and caliper is a popular swap.
From the original eBay listing: 1988 Honda Hawk GT for Sale
1988 Honda Hawk 650 Low miles in mint condition. The Honda Hawk is the perfect choice for a low cost, fun good looking and reliable motorcycle. Single sided swing arm like its more expensive brother (RC30) and an excellent reliable power plant that is sure to give you more than ample power for every day use. You will be hard pressed to find a cleaner example of a bike that is 30 plus years old. Please feel free to call with any questions or for more information on this great machine. Call 215 630 5952
It’s unfortunate the seller doesn’t include more pictures, but they are at least of high quality. There’s plenty of time left on the auction, with no bids yet at the $3,500 starting bid. These can typically be had for that number or less, although condition and the mere 4,000 miles mean this might still get snapped up by Honda collectors, since that’s still peanuts to pay for such a fun, reliable bike.
-tad
I rather liked this bike when it came out, though my friends all laughed at me. I still appreciate how clean the styling is (it really hasn’t aged much), even though it really has almost zero sex appeal, which is amazing considering the single-sided swingarm.
Hawk GTs are lighweight, accessible, rideable, bombproof and more bang for the buck than many many other bikes. They are also excellent track tools if you want to ride a bike to its limits without risking your bank (remove stands for clearance!) hard to part with, I still enjoy my tracker and roadster alike.
Two things honda could have done better here for a touch more sex appeal.
1. Put the muffler on the left side. I dn’t think the real RC bike engineers didn’t miss that item. Why did the streetbike crew miss it?!
2. One of the ugliest mufflers ever. I still hate shorty pipes but this was an original sin. Go see Kerker.
Intellectually i am in love with these. Aesthetically, Honda left the aftermarket to finish the execution.
The first year only blue is definitely the best color and it’s really rare to see one come up with low miles and in this condition for sure. If one of these have been on your radar, jump on this one at this price. I’m not the seller and if I didn’t already have a mint one just like this in my collection, I’d be going after it.
Great bike! I paid the opening bid for a brand new one in 1988. Two brothers pipes, panel filters, CBR600 bars, Polished frame. What a great ride. One of the few bikes I really should not have sold.. Still have the two brothers racing catalog and a few others.
Sounded like a beast with that TBR pipe.
Been enjoying this site for almost a year but never commented as I’m not as knowledgeable as those who do & I only own one bike at a time, but for 9 years/50K+ miles that one bike was a ’90 red Hawk 650GT, with Targa fairing & Supertrapp. Loved it, great fun for daily commuting & touring, gorgeous from the waist down, and small, thin as a bicycle. Love reading about the bikes & the comments from people who know about them, and seeing here 2 other of bikes I’ve managed to own, the CB1 & the SuperHawk.