Church of MO: 1998 Honda VTR1000F Super Hawk!

John Burns
by John Burns

And in those days, Honda didn’t want to build a big V-Twin sportbike because it never had before, and let those among you who like change cast the first piston. But the great Roman King Taglioni had been making serious inroads with his big V-Twins lately, not to mention smiting Honda mighty blows in Superbike racing around the world for many years. And so the Super Hawk came to pass, Honda’s first big V-Twin and one of its most charismatic motorcycles of all time, if you ask me – sort of a Japanese Ducati Monster but better in every way. That “pivotless” frame foretold (failed) Ducati experiments to come, and those 36mm intake valves and 48mm carburetors were the biggest ones ever attached to a Honda… and it was good.

Honda VTR1000F Super Hawk

Big Red Introduces Their Sporting V-Twin to America

Photos by Tom Fortune and American Honda

American Honda recently threw a coming out party for the all-new VTR1000F Super Hawk, inviting the U.S. moto-press to the bash. The event’s backdrop was the picturesque wine country of Temecula, California, and its maze of gnarly, tight and twisting back roads proved the perfect venue to show off, as one Honda engineer put it, the Super Hawk’s “lively personality.” And lively it is, too. With the VTR, Honda feels they’ve “grabbed the essence of what Americans want in a big, sporting V-twin. The distinctive sound and feel that makes a V-twin seem alive.” A spokesman for Honda’s R&D department said their target for the Super Hawk was light weight, light steering, and strong low- to mid-range power and torque. Sound like a certain lusty Italian bike we know?

The Super Hawk’s project leader, Naoyuki Saito, stated Honda wanted to create a new type of twin-cylinder sports package that could rival the Ducati’s level of performance while maintaining Japanese quality and practicality.

Our first impression was that the VTR seemed easier to ride fast than a 916, but soon realized this was not a race replica. Indeed, Honda claims the Super Hawk was never intended as a racing platform. Rather, they deemed it more of a real-world, all-around sporting motorcycle like Honda’s own VFR750, but with the robust power delivery only a large displacement V-twin can provide.

Honda admitted to being caught off guard by Suzuki’s introduction of their TL1000 90-degree V-twin, and were even more surprised by their rapid release of the bike to dealers. Honda quickly moved the Super Hawk’s press launch up by several weeks, and production is set to hit dealers by April.

Expected retail price of the bike should be around $8900, and Honda plans to keep production numbers low, with each dealer expected to receive only two VTR’s over the next 12 months.

Honda brought along two members of the VTR’s family tree – the Hawk 650 and VR980 prototype.

The prototype used the smaller Hawk’s beam-frame chassis and bored and stroked version of the 650’s narrow-angle V-twin.The VR980 prototype was designed and built by American Honda as a concept bike for the factory – a response to the public’s call for a larger Hawk V-twin.

Many of the design features seen in the VR prototype were carried over to the production VTR, most notably the half fairing, fuel tank and seat section. But many aspects of Super Hawk were not on the prototype. Side-mounted radiators, truss-type frame, engine-mounted swingarm, and even the small chin fairing are all unique to the production bike.

“We found throttle response to be sharp and linear, with no flat spots.”

According to Honda engineers the Super Hawk’s frame went through six major redesigns.The Super Hawk’s unusual frame design contributes greatly to helping meet Honda’s original design goals of light weight and responsive steering.

Honda engineers described the VTR’s chassis as being “lively” and fine tuned, with six strategically-placed mounting points for an engine that also acts as a stressed member for increased rigidity and lighter weight. Centralized engine placement combines with a slightly tall caster angle to help keep front-end handling light.

The “pivotless” twin-spar frame was designed around the VTR’s OEM radial tires, which use a softer construction than that found on other sporting machines. Mounting different treads, according to Honda, will upset the “tuned” balance of the Super Hawk’s chassis.

The Super Hawk engine displaces 996cc and features almost identical, 180 degree reversed cylinders and heads. 98 x 66mm bore/stroke is identical to that of Suzuki’s new TL1000S. Six-speed gearbox is located directly below rear cylinder.

DOHC, four-valve heads feature 38mm intake valves – the largest ever used on a Honda production motor. To help achieve its high-rev capability, a single-pin crankshaft and lightweight, skirtless “slipper” pistons are used.Nutless connecting rods have bolts threaded directly into tapped holes in the rods that contributes to a lower reciprocating weight.

“Rods are carburized to allow them to be slimmer and lighter while maintaining strength.”

This combination results in a rod that is nearly 40 grams lighter than a conventional set-up. 48mm slanted flat-slide CV carbs are the largest ever used on a production motorcycle.

We found throttle response to be sharp and linear, with no flat spots. Huge carbs exact a fuel consumption penalty, though, and the small 4-gallon tank hits reserve after just 100 or so miles of spirited riding. We netted a best of 32.4 mpg.

Unique side-mounted radiators allow the VTR to strike a very compact and slim profile. Note the small oil cooler mounted between the radiators above the front cylinder head.

The side-mounted dual radiators of the Super Hawk produce the same cooling area as a single front-mounted radiator, but according to Honda engineers the VTR does not have the “dead spots” you find in a radiator mounted in the traditional location behind the front forks, which can result in as much as a 20 percent loss of cooling efficiency.

The VTR’s design utilizes the low pressure created by wind passing over the outer surface of the fairing to draw air through from the high pressure zone inside. At low speeds, a large right-side fan blows air over that radiator for cooling.

Instrumentation is clean and simple. The white-faced tach and temp gauge are very legible and easy to read even at night. Note low fuel warning lamp in tach face – you’ll see this light up often. Cockpit is also simple and purposeful. Honda wanted to keep the Super Hawk light – very light – so you won’t find any heavy inner fairing panels or dress-up items here.

Even the clutch master cylinder reservoir receives the lighter-is-better treatment, being made from plastic rather than a heavier aluminum casting. Note spring preload and ten-position rebound damping adjusters on top of fork. Dual floating 296mm front discs are clamped by four-piston Nissin calipers similar to those used on the RC45 road bike. Coupled with engine braking from the hearty V-twin motor, stopping power is most impressive.

“VTR really shines in the broad spread of power available from its torquey motor.”

We didn’t get to spend much time with the VTR1000, but an afternoon of circling Willow Springs Raceway’s 2.5-mile road course lead us to the conclusion that Honda is correct — this is not a track-oriented design. “Honda personnel may have described this bike as having a lively personality,” said Associate Editor Gord Mounce after a short track session on the VTR. “But like a blind date with a ‘great personality’ you don’t want to take her dancing.” Suspension rates that performed so well on the backroads were too soft for racetrack duty.

In the VTR’s defense we didn’t have time to change springs or oil, which would have helped. A bigger hurdle for those thinking of racing VTRs is the lack of ground clearance. Rearset pegs and a tighter exhaust pipe will be necessary purchases.

Where the VTR really shines is in the broad spread of power available from its torquey motor. Speed is deceiving on Honda’s V-twin because power builds steadily with no major peaks or valleys. Such a wide powerband allows strong corner exits, with less sliding of the rear tire than on an inline four with its peaky power. Although the VTR felt slow on the straights due to this flat power curve, we found ourselves smoking by 600s on Willow’s front straight.

We certainly plan on getting the Super Hawk back for a longer, more involved test soon. Only next time we hope to also have Suzuki’s TL1000S, and maybe even a Ducati 916 thrown in for good measure (and what a yardstick to measure by…). Watch for the ultimate sporting twin-cylinder performance battle next month in Motorcycle Online. Stand back and let the competition begin!

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  • Joe Romaella Joe Romaella on Mar 13, 2018

    Bought mine (new) in '98..still own it. Mine has beautiful Staintune hi mount slip-ons that sound great, even with the baffles in. I do take the baffles out , every now & then.
    Braided SS lines, a Sargent seat..bought a belly pan for it, but pipes kept burning off the paint, despite wrapping the pipes. Dropping 1 tooth off the countershaft sprocket really wakes up it's performance. Never thought it was very fast, until I took it to Tail of the Dragon..entered corners @ about 4K rpm, roll on the gas & the front tire would start to come up..midcorner.Fun times. Still need to raise the bars up an inch or 2..

    • TimRowledge TimRowledge on Mar 16, 2018

      I had one of the very first ones in California back then. Lovely, lovely bike. Staintune high-mounts (in fact my vtr was the one they used in their adverts), Heli-bars, tailocker, Fox shock, tiny LED indicators, lots of fun add-ones.
      Terrible in rain. Front cylinder would cut out and leave me riding a single cylinder 500 spending most of its power on driving a 500cc compressor. And eventually it would dry out and kick up from 10hp net to 100. Usually when trapped in the slow lane and crowded by Yank-Tanks. Eek!
      So when I moved up to Vancouver Island where it rains quite a lot I sold it. Dumb mistake. Didn’t keep the RC-51 either.

  • RyYYZ RyYYZ on Mar 15, 2018

    I think the reason both this bike and the Suzuki TL appeared at the time they did is that the Japanese had noticed the advantage that Ducati seemed to have in Superbike racing (both in Europe and the US), due to the displacement advantage, so they both jumped on the bandwagon. Having designed all new motors, they wanted to capitalize on them in more than one model. So Suzuki gave us the TL-R, the TL-S, and the DL1000 (V-Strom), while Honda gave us the RC51, VTR1000, and Varadero (the last not much loved by many, mostly due to its weight). The TL engine is still around in the latest Suzuki V-Strom 1000, but the Honda engine seems to have gone the way of the dodo.

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