The Honda Hawk 11 neo-retro cafe racer, based on Honda’s 1084 cc Africa Twin platform, was finally unveiled in full officially, courtesy of the 2022 Osaka Motorcycle Show.
The images reveal a traditional round headlight neatly nestled in a racing cowl. To further this cafe racer aesthetic, it also gets clip-on handlebars and bar-end mirrors. The bike's silhouette is accentuated by a muscular tank and long exhaust with a single end can, as well as chrome bits across the motorcycle. It gets a long single-piece seat and what seems to be adequate room for a pillion as well.
The Hawk 11 borrows the Africa Twin’s 1084cc parallel-twin engine as well as its steel cradle chassis design. This platform has proven reliability and as such the Hawk should benefit from this as well.. In the Hawk avatar, the engine should display performance figures similar to the Africa Twin – 101hp and 104Nm. Similarly, it will also get a 6-speed gearbox with both the manual and the DCT options, just like the Africa Twin.
Stopping the bike are twin discs at the front with NISSIN calipers and a single disc at the rear. We also see a USD fork similar to the NT1100 at the front and a monoshock at the rear.
With a pukka cafe racer look, the Honda Hawk 11 joins the company of bikes like the Triumph Speed Triple 1200 RR and the MV Agusta Superveloce, and promises to offer that flavour of motorcycling to enthusiasts at what should be a more accessible price point.
Honda already offers the Africa Twin to Indian customers and has patented the NT1100 in India as well. Whether the Hawk 11 makes it here remains to be seen as a cafe racer with clip-on handlebar format may not have as much mass appeal as the other motorcycles based on this platform.
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Azaman Chothia
Vishal Venugopal
