thinking of buying a hawk

moparmadman40 · Oct 11, 2009

hi, i have been sledding for a couple of years and i am thinking of picking up a hawk. most of the ones i see around alberta are the '03 503f's. i ride in the mountains, are the 500's up to the challenge? or would i be better off waiting for a 600. also seen a bunch of stuff about needing an upgraded ski and some reference to a chaindrive rather than the belt. are these things a must have? how easy is it to pump the 500 up to around 100 horse? thanks

cjgodden · Oct 11, 2009

The 500f's are very capable machine's. under a good rider I have seen them go everywhere I went on my 600. It will leave you wanting more power. Getting 100hp out of that engine is unrealistic. Lots of guys have started out with the 500 chassis and upgraded to a liquid cooled engine. If you have the mechanical skills that is a very good option.

The 600 is a great machine, has lots of power, will take you places you have never dreamed possible. After a while you will find yourself riding pinned most of the time and within a couple of years you will be wanting more power. Even easier upgrade to an 800 because all the cooling is there.

An 800 is a hawk is a animal. Hang on to your shorts. You will have the ride of you life.

Just remember your not going to jump on a Hawk and cruise down the trail. You have to ride with conviction ALL the time. There is no relaxing. There is a HUGE learning curve. Its like no machine you have ever ridden. But If you commit yourself and hang in there, when you do "figure it out" you'll never look back.

buffaloHAWK · Oct 11, 2009

just dont think too long...people are snatching them up left and right. id like to think some of the poeple on this forum are hoarders! check out the pics...some guys have 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,or more in the "nest"!!! as said above,there is a learning curve to the hawk. its alot like a stand up jet ski....best advise when learning is to relax,dont fight it!

heritagerover · Oct 11, 2009

I bought my first Snow Hawk 2 days ago! Positive that I made a good investment and although I have not ridden it yet I don't think theres much out there that "looks" this fun. Don't think about it at all just go get one! Say, for some reason, you are unsure or don't care for it, sell it. Its will be easy to sell because of the high demand. What are you waiting for?
My 2cents?

Beeline · Oct 12, 2009

+ 1 . If you believe, it will deliver. I bought mine in Oct 04 without riding one as well. Like Nike says, " Just Do it ".

Bullheadmoto · Oct 12, 2009

I know I gotta have one. I just know it would be a rip! I loved and miss my stand-up jetski, and was one of the lucky few that got to test-ride that Honda stand-up sled with a CR25o motor in it (winter of 1996-97 i believe). And buffaloHawk, I think I still owe you pics of that thing...I'll look for em.

Anyone want to trade a Hawk for a SuperMod SnoScoot?

BHM

moparmadman40 · Oct 12, 2009

so you are saying that the hawks are somewhat hard, challenging on the trail in? do they dump on ice easy or what? i imagine the ski makes a big difference on the trail but do you compromise offtrail ability for on trail?

cjgodden · Oct 12, 2009

If set up properly with the right ski and adapters you can make them stick to the trail. Problem is then they have too much ski pressure and offtrail mountain riding is not near as good. When set up for the mountains they are very sketchy on ice and hard packed trail. 90% of the riding I do is off trail mountain riding. Every time I try to get better trail performance I loose on the hill, so I just deal with sketchyness and ride.

cjgodden · Oct 12, 2009

Bullheadmoto said:
I know I gotta have one. I just know it would be a rip! I loved and miss my stand-up jetski, and was one of the lucky few that got to test-ride that Honda stand-up sled with a CR25o motor in it (winter of 1996-97 i believe). And buffaloHawk, I think I still owe you pics of that thing...I'll look for em.

Anyone want to trade a Hawk for a SuperMod SnoScoot?

BHM

I wanna see those pics to, if you find them post em up.

buffaloHAWK · Oct 12, 2009

icy trails are a pain no matter what ski you have... just stick to the edges or berms in the corners...

yeah BH post some pics so we can compare the honda to todays single ski machines.... i keep drooling over your superscoots!!! any sold yet?

Bullheadmoto · Oct 12, 2009

buffaloHawk, yep we've gotten orders for a bunch already. Crazy!

And the Honda sled looked EXACTLY like a stand-up ski (foot tray and all) with a ski under the front, and a track under the back. And the headlight was tiny, but built into the handlepole I think. I'll look for those badboys tonight. Think they're in the shop, but they're old school pics so they'll have to be scanned.

BHM

off road rider · Oct 12, 2009

Bullheadmoto said:
buffaloHawk, yep we've gotten orders for a bunch already. Crazy!

And the Honda sled looked EXACTLY like a stand-up ski (foot tray and all) with a ski under the front, and a track under the back. And the headlight was tiny, but built into the handlepole I think. I'll look for those badboys tonight. Think they're in the shop, but they're old school pics so they'll have to be scanned.

BHM

looking forward to seeing them, I always get a kick out of seeing the strange stuff.. like the Swedish build pull me sled at haydays.. now that was a pig!!
Hopefull one of the big four picks up the hawk style machine..

Bullheadmoto · Oct 12, 2009

yeah it had a ton of torque and kinda hairy to ride. Most of the guys there couldn't ride it, and the only reason I could kinda sorta halfway ride it was because back then, I spent every free minute on my stand-up jetski. You could lay that Honda sled all the way over in a turn, literally drag your shoulder, and mash the throttle and it would stand right up. It was a total workout to ride and I was drenched in sweat in all of about 10 minutes, but the guy from Honda Japan could ride the %$#@ out of it and was awesome to watch. Funny part was they paid us $100 when I would've paid them! Heck, they even bought us each a beer while they interviewed us after riding it.

Yep, definitely want me a Hawk!

BHM

IbBroken · Oct 12, 2009

I got to test ride a 503 when they first came out and was not impressed at all. Looking back it was my lack of knowledge and the snow conditions. Few years later The same dealer was given demo rides on the 600 HO. and with in the first two minutes i was sold when I got back from my ride I set up a purchase date on there last 600 HO 136 they had in a crate. I can honestly say it was the best purchase i have ever made and even if I was one of the few to drop 10 gran on a 600. Could of bought any sled out there and glad I went HAWK.

:beer;

moparmadman40 · Oct 12, 2009

ok, so i've found some used 600's for sale and am now seriously thinking of picking one up. however, would i be better dropping 3500-4 grand on a 503 or spending 1500-2000 extra and going straight to the 600? i hear of drive belt problems, is the chain conversion a must? i dont want to be blowing expensive belts all the time as there are nowhere to get them around me. any info on the conversion? thanks

diirtbag · Oct 12, 2009

hey one just came up on prince george craigslist a 600 for 4500 it says its in quesnel ,with little use..pg is 8 hours from edmonton quesnel is 1hr from pg...

diirtbag · Oct 12, 2009

and last I heard there is a 600 at howies marine (arctic cat dealer in pg) and they have lowered price from 6 to 45

moparmadman40 · Oct 12, 2009

i just e-mailed howies. if thats true i would be stoked. if you guys know of any others for sale in bc or alberta i would love to hear about them. i'd pick up a 600 for 4500 bucks on the spot pretty much.

snowhawkaddict · Oct 13, 2009

Just makes me sick.

I was working near Bellingham for a trucking company in the summer of 2008 when Brad Brown called me all giddy to come see the 2004 600HO he got from the Anacortes fellow who was running short of bar money.

TWENTY THREE HUNDO!!!

Been sitting in his barn for two years since he and his brother decided to ship off to Hawaii and build that beach bungalow.

He'll ride it again, just leaning on it's stand lookin good.

Here are some beginner starting points, someone else bump it please! http://www.snowest.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46947&highlight=snowhawkaddict

buffaloHAWK · Oct 13, 2009

Bhm

now that the Scoot project is up and runnin....have you started a new ONE yet? maybe after this riding season ill let you take my Hawk back to your shop so you can start building a new company for us! i should be done with it by mid march

thinking of buying a hawk

Well-known member

Member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Member

SnoWest Paid Sponsor

Member

Banned

Similar threads