A callback to the 1977 Honda HawkII
Honda announced it will introduce a new roadster called the Hawk 11 on March 19, at the 2022 Osaka Motorcycle Show. Teaser images show a café racer-styled fairing with a round LED headlight and underslung mirrors.
According to Honda (translated from Japanese), “the HAWK 11 was developed with the concept of a large motorcycle that provides new values and a fulfilling bike life to customers, mainly experienced riders. The body package that brings light driving is combined with elegant styling to express the depth of taste as a motorcycle that is not bound by specifications alone. We will meet the diverse needs of our customers as a model that proposes the enjoyment of manipulating in winding while fully feeling the heartbeat and exhaust sound of the engine.”
From the name alone, it’s a good bet the Hawk 11 will be powered by a version of the 1084cc parallel-Twin engine introduced on the Africa Twin that also powers the Rebel 1100 and NT1100. We’ve brightened up the teaser image to get a better look at the engine, and from this small glimpse, it does appear similar to the CRF1100L‘s Unicam cylinder head.
If the Hawk11 uses that engine, we can expect it will be available with Honda’s Dual Clutch Transmission.
One interesting footnote about the “Hawk 11” (or “Hawk Eleven”) name is that it doesn’t use the same “1100” nomenclature as the other models that use the engine. The “11” is likely a callback to the 1977 Honda CB400T, which was also known as the Hawk II (the Roman numeral for “two”) pictured below. While the HawkII didn’t have a fairing, it may give us an idea on where Honda designers drew inspiration for some styling elements.
A retro Honda Hawk 11 would also fill the space vacated by the CB1100 which is getting discontinued, with a Final Edition model currently marketed in Japan.
At the moment, there’s no indication about whether Honda will offer the Hawk 11 in the U.S. We’ll have to wait until after the March 19 reveal to find out.
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