Coming soon: Honda Hawk 11

Remember the Honda Hawk? Well, it’s coming back. Sort of.

Over the years, Honda has actually made multiple models in various markets bearing the Hawk name, with different engines. One thing they’ve all had in common: Generally speaking, they come with a nimble naked bike layout, and an engine that’s not super-powerful, but offering plenty of grins for a backroad romp.

Now, ahead of the Osaka Motorcycle Show (running March 19-21 in Japan), Honda has dropped a teaser image, showing a new bike that’s debuting that weekend. It’s called the Hawk 11.

Taking a closer look at the image above, it seems the machine will be more of a retro roadster than a contemporary naked bike—more cafe racer than crashed-and-rebuilt streetfighter. Hrm. Honda’s certainly played this game before, building the brilliant GB500 back in the late ’80s, but is there still a market for this sort of thing? Kawasaki’s success with its Z900 retros seems to think so. Over the last few years, Honda’s tried the retro thing with the UJM-styled CB1100, and also tried the neo-retro thing with the CB1000 (which came with a Blade Runner look, not Mods vs. Rocker).

Now, we see the Hawk 11, with a headlight fairing and presumably another recycled version of the same engine that Honda already uses in the Africa Twin, Rebel 1100 and NT1100. The Rebel is tuned more for cruiser-like torque, and the Africa Twin is tuned for offroad grunt. The NT1100 is a sport-tourer, with a powerband programmed for fun on the street, so we’d expect the Hawk 11 to come with a similar profile, making 101 hp and 76 lb-ft of torque. More details to come after the bike debuts at Osaka!