As Honda promised its new Hawk 11 cafe racer debuted at the Honda Motorcycle Show in Osaka over the weekend. And, uh, that’s still pretty much all we know … for now.
Honda’s global newsroom doesn’t say anything about the new bike, and although there’s been a lot of chatter about it on moto-news sites around the world, we haven’t seen much information on the new machine issued publicly by Honda. All we know is still what we can observe in photos and video—and there are several videos of the new bike, now that it’s on display at a moto show!
Along with what appears to be official Honda marketing above (uploaded to YouTube by a third-party, not Honda’s official Japanese YouTube channel), you can take another good look at the bike below.
Big Red’s ultimate fanboy, Honda Pro Kevin, has dropped the video below, with more video and photos:
And, he pretty much lays it out. It’s a cafe racer built from the parts bin (although he doesn’t exactly put it that way). The Hawk 11 gets the same 17-inch rims as the Honda ST1100, and the same basic frame layout as the NT1100 and the Africa Twin. Other bits came off the Honda Rebel 1100, and overall, the bike is obviously the stylistic descendant of the CB4 Interceptor concept, which Honda was showing off back in 2017.
Of course, the engine itself is a well-known entity, the second generation of the big-bore parallel twin that first debuted in the 2016 Africa Twin. It’s now grown to 1084cc and powers the NT1100, the Rebel 1100, and the new CRF11100L Africa Twin. If the Hawk 11 makes it to mass production for the global market, we’ll see it arrive in Canada as the cool cafe take on the engine.
That engine should make around 100 hp at 7,500 rpm and 77.4 lb-ft of torque at 6,250 rpm, and although early reports say the machine will have a six-speed gearbox, we’d also expect a DCT-equipped version at some point, since Honda’s already included that option for the Africa Twin and Rebel 1100, and is generally keen on automatic (or clutchless) shifting these days.
Other likely electro-trickery includes leaning-sensitive ABS and traction control, as well as cruise control.
Honda’s been playing this one pretty carefully, with no promises to bring the machine to North America. However, if Honda’s been working on updating the old CB4 Interceptor concept bike, we’d expect to eventually see this cafe make it to our market, as Big Red isn’t keen on throwing away a project that’s come this far.
I like it! Smart bike.
Hope it looks better in person. The video is not doing the bike any favours. Wish Honda would build a real 750.
Honda, don’t bother bringing this to Canada, bring the CB350 and ADV150 instead
I like it, but no single side swingarm and aluminum frame, no V-twin 🙁 I was kind of hoping a re-vamp of the 1988 Hawk….
It looks like a parts bin special.