Test Riding the $1400 Chinese Hawk 250 Street Legal Dirt bike

I bought this bike one year ago because of this video. I installed Shinko tires, carburetor with a 110 jet, jt sprockets, and a exhaust. I now have 4000 miles on it. It's been a very reliable bike and I have no regrets buying it.

it's awesome to see that you aren't just shitting on the bike because it's cheap. That kind of attitude is really refreshing, and you actually care about people with more financial struggle.

Im not very religious, but I fully respect his praying before riding on the street, he obviously realizes the danger.....notice how he doesn't pray before dirt riding, the safer way to ride!

I just bought one. The one thing I highly recommend 1st is change the oil to Rotella 15w40 JASO MA approved. The oil in it is super thin. Next adjust the valves. Intake .003 Exhaust .005. The sell them to tight. Hard time starting when cold. Top dead center compression stroke the rockers had zero play on the valve spring and actually was still pushing down on the valve loosing compression. Then the carb they run a little lean. Recommend 2 full turns. Go all the way in and then back off 2 turns. Also the factory spark plug Torch are trash. There was a shop/sales owner said 70% of the plugs would melt off the electrode. He now swapped them out with NGK out of the crate. After doing that it starts instantly and purrs when cold. Hot idles perfect instead of erratic idle. Awesome video! Update 3/12/22: Since then I have done a lot of mods on this bike and can say it’s a different bike now. Zanella digital dash, Nibbi PE30 carburetor, Pod foam filter, Nibbi intake, Nibbi performance coil, deleted catalytic converter and spark arrestor, all lights converted to LED, drive chain upgrade, 17 tooth front sprocket, upgraded horn to HWY low pitch blaster, and where the reflectors are on the fork I mounted running lights. Top speed now 68-70 mph with a 250 lbs person flat ground . Stock was 60 mph. After break in, carb upgrade and freeing up the exhaust woke it up completely. I have 2000 miles on it and it’s running strong. With gas prices the bike has become part of my commute. Use my truck 2 days a week and the Hawk 3 days. 40 mile round trip to work and 10 of it is HWY. $600 in mods is completely worth it and drivability and dependability has improved 100%.

To be honest, for 1400 bucks that thing looks pretty decent

My car was stolen and I have enough to buy this.Thank you for the review Sean.

It’s an old school engine, low cost. DIY saves money as well. There’s a YouTuber, MotoCheez, who has made a series about the Hawk and the improvements he’s made along the way.

Here in Philippines, we actually created a huge community of riders owning the same Chinese sportbike (the one on my profile pic.) I tell you, it was a blast of fun when we ride together and even just hang out on 7/11. Fun is not always on horsepower.

Remember those "toy looking things" you mentioned on the video you posted in the second channel? Those were meant to go on the forks to hold the speedometer cable and brake lines, the speedo cable got smashed without it, not a fault of the bike itself.

My daughter bought one un 2018 just to run around at college with, saving her car for trips home. She's got 6300 miles on it now and she rides the crap outta it. She had made some modes, carb, cables, shift lever, kick starter(she used an 1983 Kawasaki 250 for that) and changed the rear sprocket. It's still running good and it's on and off road alot. Also remember those 2 toys in the box, yeah those are for your cables in the front.

I get my $1,400 Stimmy and this shows up in my recommended. hmm.

The Speedos quit working. Mine stopped at 1800 miles on my hawk. Replaced mine with a digital amazon special. Ive got an Nx125 and a nx 650. But around town and on back roads I find myself choosing the hawk. I have modified mine. New carb, jetting, ported head. Removed a baffle in the muffler and of course a uni filter. After all that work it might have 20hp. Now a year later i have almost 8000 miles on my hawk. Its been a blast.

Your presentation is unique; humble, funny and complimentary. In a world of satire and constant criticizing your approach demonstrating alternative views on what would be a issue or a negative is refreshing. 👍

I ride a hawk 250 in the Virgin Islands everywhere, other than the clutch cable breaking and it getting stolen three times it’s been great.

We have a Husqvarna 501, 300 and that same Hawk. The kids like the hawk because the Husky's are savage. That 300 2 stroke is a monster. The hawk is very manageable and goes every where we can with the husky's. You have to be a good rider because you don't have the power to onion out so the kids don't get into as much trouble. We ride in the mountain areas of Idaho and Montana, and the sand dunes.

Thanks for sharing your experience and advice. I can’t wait to get mine on the road. Great video. 👍🏼👍🏼

Today's Chinese bikes use an updated Honda CG125 engine, with larger displacement and an updated counterbalance. This engine was developed in the 70's for developing countries that rarely do maintenance and only service their hard working motorcycles for repair. It was an engine designed for long maintenance intervals, reliability, low cost, and minimal servicing. Today, it's most common to be found in the 230cc variant with electric start and backup kick start. The engines are super reliable, parts are easy to come by, and maintenance is easy and well documented. The build quality and plastics might be sketchy but it'll likely be a bike you can pass down through the generations as a cheap learner.

Beard: “Could this thing be a reliable mode of transportation?” Speedometer: “I don’t know dawg.”

Boy I am so thankful I ran into this bike today. This is the first review video I had to watch and with all the positive comments I’m definitely getting this bike and tuning it up! Thank you all 👍

My speedo went out when I had put roughly the same amount of mils after I did my break in heat cycles and such. Ordered digital tac for it and it works great!