First Look- 2023 Honda Hawk 11 Cafe Racer Motorcycle Announcement Review! - USA Release Date Soon

Today we're going to take a quick look at the new 2023 Honda Hawk 11, a motorcycle we've been talking about coming down the pipeline for a while now, but it's finally official as Japan just unveiled it today at the Osaka Motorcycle Show. Now what do we know about it so far? First off, keep in mind information is very limited at the time of making this video due to the release happening just a few hours ago, and Honda hasn't let everything out of the bag just yet. So with that being said, we know it's based off the Africa Twin and NT1100 platform, sharing a lot of the same parts when it comes to the chassis as well as the engine, which the Rebel 1100 uses too. The 1084cc 270 degree unicam parallel twin engine being used for this bike has a couple of different tunes depending on the model it's used in, so it'll be interesting to see which route they take for the Hawk, and who knows, maybe they were able to squeeze a few more horsepower out of it. But here's a quick taste of what the Hawk's engine and exhaust note sounds like. Unlike the handlebar setup on the Africa Twin and NT1100, the Hawk has clip-ons, so you're definitely going to be in a more aggressive riding position, but that's a given when comparing an adventure motorcycle, sport touring bike, and then this crossbreed of a sport bike with cafe styling. It's pretty wild how they're able to build such different models on one chassis like this, but it's got to make you wonder how limited were they when designing this bike due to having constraints already in place and not starting with a blank slate. The gauge setup was stolen from the Rebel 1100, and when it comes to overall suspension specs, measurements around the bike, seat height, and all of that fun stuff, it's still an unknown at the time of making this video, but going off of what the NT and CRF are at, I'm guessing it's going to be right around the 32 inch mark for its seat height. You've got 17 inch wheels front and rear that were stolen off the NT, so you can throw on the stickiest sport bike rubber out there if you're wanting to ride it like a real sport bike. One thing I found interesting in Honda's press release is that they say the power unit uses a six-speed manual transmission. Does that mean Honda won't make a DCT automatic version of the Hawk? Another thing I'm curious about is whether or not the Hawk 11 will be released in other corners of the world as Honda contradicts themselves, but keep in mind we are translating from Japanese to English, so who knows what may be lost in between. On one hand, they make the statement that this car is planned for the world, but then on the other hand, they state that this is a large motorcycle for the Japanese market. I've still got some more digging to do before I give a prediction as to where the Hawk is headed next, and whether or not I think it'll actually be released here in the USA, Europe, and so on. Now, what are my thoughts on it all? Of course, I haven't ridden it yet, so we're just going off of looks alone, and I'm on the fence, but keep in mind everyone's opinions on styling are going to be different, so take what I say with a grain of salt. From some angles, I like it, but from others, it looks like they took an existing platform and tried to make a cool cafe racer-styled sport bike out of it. I like the design on the mirrors. I haven't seen Honda do that yet, and it's a smart way to keep the profile low instead of having these lollipop mirrors sticking up like a sore thumb. With the headlight design, you gotta love what's possible with LEDs and what they can do with them to make an otherwise boring circular headlight from many moons ago look cool. I'm having a hard time with the tail section, though. Why the black plastic here and not throwing some color on it? To me, it just doesn't look right with that little bit of color here, but then black. I wonder what it would look like with something similar to the NT1100 tail. I'm not good at Photoshop, otherwise I'd give it a crack, but long story short before I ramble on even more, I'm not a huge fan of the rear's styling. I've learned to be careful, though, when it comes to passing judgments on a bike's styling when you haven't seen it in person as pictures and videos don't do them justice, so I may change my mind completely when I can actually put my hands on it. That's enough of what I think, though. What do you guys think about the new Hawk 11? Is there anything you wish Honda would have done differently? And are you wanting to see the Hawk 11 released here in the USA, Europe, Canada, or whatever country you're watching this from? Also, what do you guys think about the whole two-tone color thing they're doing with it? Let me know that in the comments section, and I'll be joining in on the conversation, too. As soon as Honda lets more info out or I learn some new details, I'll be posting them over at hondaprokevin.com and across my social media, too, so give them a follow if you want to stay in the loop with everything Honda. Thanks again for watching and supporting all this. I really appreciate it, and we'll see you in the next one.