Honda HawkGT

It had to happen ... Jules had been talking about learning to ride for quite some time. She'd been the perfect passenger for many years and vows to continue to grace the RT's rear on more epic rides, but yea, the time had come for her to make the leap.

Most motorcyclists are aware of the benefits of taking the Motorcycle Safety Foundation's course, so that was the first plan of action. Riding a fire breathing Suzuki GN125, Jules aced the three day course and it was onto the next step. Our buddy Randy Porter then graciously loaned us an XR100 from his stable for dirt practice sessions. Many days were spent bouncing around on it and before long, the search for her first bike was on.

Short folks reading this will appreciate the difficulty in finding an appropriate sporting motorcycle. Sure there are little cruisers with low seat heights, but not everyone wants a cruiser. The Hawk made our short list early on after trying a friend's on for size, but finding a nice one was proving tough. Seems they've become cult classics of sorts and just don't change hands all that often.

Enter our friend J.R. Garza of Honda of Houston. He learned of an available '91 Hawk and hooked us up with its owner. With only 13k miles showing, the little scoot was as nice as described and had obviously been very well taken care of. Long story short, it was soon in its new home. Thanks J.R.!

These two pics were taken early on during one of our many practice days at an empty local parking lot.

Notice that the bike still has the stock chromed mirrors and giant saggy blinkers.

Here's the little scoot after just a few cosmetic mods.

Jules picked out some nice little brushed aluminum blinkers and on they went. They're amazingly bright and three wire so I also made 'em running lights. The rears mount right into the stock location and I put the fronts on either side of the headlight, mounted right into its brackets. I also cleaned up the rear by removing the stock tag mounting bracket/contraption and trimming the fender accordingly. Finally, the stock chromed mirrors were swapped for some more subtle matte black ones. Small changes, big difference!

Here's Julie's first extended street ride!

Including her first fill-up and over 100 miles of country roads! Looking forward to many safe and happy miles. :-)