Honda dropped teasers left and right about its upcoming Hawk 11 in February, 2022. The neo-retro-styled café racer, which would be based around the same 1,100cc engine found in the CRF1100 Africa Twin, was scheduled for an official unveiling at the 2022 Osaka Motorcycle Show in March.
It arrived on schedule, exactly as planned—and was seemingly well-received by both people who got to see it in person, and also enthusiasts who could only look at photos and videos on our computer screens. While the Honda Hawk 11 went on to a Japan-only release later in 2022, fans around the world wondered when—or if—it would ever make its way elsewhere.
Fast-forward to February, 2023, and we have some promising news on that front. As the folks at Indian publication BikeAdvice first spotted, it seems that Honda wasted very little time in filing a design patent application with Intellectual Property India for the Hawk 11.
According to official IP India records, Honda filed its design application on August 2, 2022. The design went on for official publication in IP India Patent and Design Journal 49/2022, which was published on December 9, 2022. It’s now public information—and available for public speculation.
To be absolutely clear, as of February 2, 2023, Honda has made no official statements regarding the release of the Hawk 11 in any market outside of Japan. Also, just because an OEM files designs, patents, or trademarks with a given country’s intellectual property authority does not always mean that thing will get released in that country. Even if it does, that release could happen years after the fact—and consequently, long after it’s stopped being at the forefront of our minds.
What’s also true is that this is the first indication we’ve seen from Honda that it could release the Hawk 11 elsewhere. Since India remains the largest motorcycle market in the world by volume in 2023, it’s no surprise why any OEM might want to have its bikes launched successfully there.
Although everyday bikes in India tend to be smaller-displacement machines—which is an incredibly highly competitive segment—larger-displacement machines are also finding their audience among an admittedly smaller group of riders. To that end, Honda introduced its BigWing dealerships to specifically cater to the needs of these riders, and it’s expanded that dealer network since its introduction.
Could the Honda Hawk 11 eventually make its way to BigWing Topline dealerships in India? It certainly seems more possible than it was before this design patent became public knowledge, but as ever, we’ll just have to wait and see what actually happens.
