New Project: 1986 Honda Nighthawk 700 S

[Spectre]

Decided to get something quick and good on fuel - so I've gotten back into motorcycling after a 5 year hiatus.

This is a what it's supposed to look like:





700cc, six speed transmission, shaft drive, made by Honda - what's not to like? I've wanted one since, well, the 80s, and when I saw one in good mechanical shape I jumped on it.

However, since I'm getting mine for $500 as a project, it needs quite a bit of work, starting with the hideously planned, ugly looking but surprisingly well executed paint job:









Fortunately, I've located all the parts I need to fix it, including the seat, for cheap.

[Yaco]

I was going to say awful looking bike, but then I relized the bike I am looking forward to isn't much better.... and a heck of alot more money!


You getting the parts from Ebay, or nearby shop?

[Spectre]

Both.

This was the original paint scheme for the this particular 86 Nighthawk 700S:

[Yaco]

Damn, I don't know what I will do with 650cc but 700cc? I wish I got a bike sooner so the last one I drove wasn't just a itsy-bitsy 250cc....

[Spectre]

0-60 in 3.6 seconds, average fuel consumption a little under 50mpg.

And due to idiot tariff laws in place at the time, the US got the 700cc engine while everyone else in the world got the 750. Oh well.

[avanti]

congratulations, great looking bike! The 80s was a good decade when it comes to motorcycles!

[tigger]

Are you going to keep that paint job? At least it's funny in its hideousness.

[starfox07]

Damn you! I was looking at that very bike on craigslist!

[Night_Hawk]

Sweet, I should get one of those

[Spectre]

No, I don't think I'll keep it. I mean, whoever did it did a quality paint job - but man, the design really sucks.

I'm thinking of either putting it back to the stock red/white/blue scheme (with the stripes, shown above), or painting it like a 2002 Honda 919's "Asphalt Black" paint:

Originally Posted by starfox07

Damn you! I was looking at that very bike on craigslist!

Youth and enthusiasm are once again overcome by old age, experience, and sneaky!

That said, this thing really needs a lot. PM me and I'll send you the link to all the pics - if you're new to bikes, this isn't the one to start learning to work on. Since they only made it three years, parts are not cheap.

He also wanted more than it was really worth to start, AND he was a PITA to negotiate with. I still think I paid too much for it, but not by a lot.

Did you see this one? If the Nighthawk had fallen through, I would have gone after this: http://dallas.craigslist.org/mcy/685024664.html

If you decide to get that one, drop me a line. I used to have one that I built from parts... twice.

[KaJuN]

$500 80's Japanese project bike...sounds oddly familiar! Best of luck with it and I can't wait to see it in it's completed form. I'm finally ready to call my project done and I'm so happy about it! I'll have to get some more photos and update my thread.

[Redliner]

The original paint scheme is GORGEOUS. Paint it back in if possible. Other than that, great purchase!
Is there a motorcycle craze in Final Gear or is it just me?

[Yaco]

Originally Posted by Spectre

No, I don't think I'll keep it. I mean, whoever did it did a quality paint job - but man, the design really sucks.

I'm thinking of either putting it back to the stock red/white/blue scheme (with the stripes, shown above), or painting it like a 2002 Honda 919's "Asphalt Black" paint:

^^ Make it like that! ^^

[Spectre]

Originally Posted by Redliner

The original paint scheme is GORGEOUS. Paint it back in if possible. Other than that, great purchase!
Is there a motorcycle craze in Final Gear or is it just me?

The sudden rise in US fuel prices tends to make people think about bikes again, which is fine with me. I generally prefer bikes to cars anyway.

I've had many bikes before; I'll post some of the surviving pics of some of them below. I'm getting back into bikes after a 5 year hiatus when my GL1000's transmission died and I sold it. I swore I'd get amother bike - and 5 years later, I have the opportunity.

Former bikes: 75 Honda 750K (pic from 99):



Built it, crashed it, restored it, drove the wheels off it, had it stolen in 2000.

76 Honda GL1000 (pic from 2001, IIRC):



I later finished a partial restoration of the bike complete with the original "ray gun" exhausts.

[KaJuN]

Originally Posted by Redliner

The original paint scheme is GORGEOUS. Paint it back in if possible. Other than that, great purchase!
Is there a motorcycle craze in Final Gear or is it just me?

I really do think motorcycles are starting to take over Finalgear. When I first joined there were only about four members who I knew had bikes. That number has shot up a lot recently. The more the better!

[Redliner]

I am a sucker for R1's and the like, but nowadays I've been lusting for this:


A cb750F would also make me happy:

(Am I getting old? ) I love the noise they make

[Crazyjeeper]

Originally Posted by KaJuN

I really do think motorcycles are starting to take over Finalgear. When I first joined there were only about four members who I knew had bikes. That number has shot up a lot recently. The more the better!

The thing that has me thinking about a motorbike is that my truck get 12-14mpg and a bike I can get 4 times that easy.

Nice bike Spectre

[KaJuN]

When I first got mine I intended to use it only for fun. But now that it's running well enough and with saddle bags I'm using it for errands and small shopping trips. 32mpg in the city isn't bad for a 28 year old bike that probably isn't tuned quite right.

[Yaco]

Nothing wrong with them, but what with the old bikes? No one have, getting, or want to get a newer bike? I know its probably not the smartest thing though, you can get a bike used that runs like new for hlaf the price.

[Spectre]

Well, for starters, Japanese bikes usually age astoundingly well, even better than their Japanese automotive counterparts - especially when you take into account they live their entire lives outside and there is no such thing as a component shielded by the dry interior on a motorcycle. Even the electrics usually do well over 20-40 years, except for Yamaha, and that's because they always do weird stuff with their electrical systems (really, who the heck else does a relay that trips a relay that trips a relay to turn the headlight on?).

Older motorcycles also had better (or at least different) styling. They were really experimenting a lot back in the 80s; now most bikes look more or less the same within a class. So you can get some really wild looking stuff from back then:

The original Katana:


The Honda CBX:




And in a slightly smaller relative, the scooter world, Honda made this, the Gyro - the scooter you couldn't flip over in normal use:



It has three wheels, which is unusual, but other scooters have three wheels. What the other three wheelers don't do is lean into corners like the Gyro. The front portion from the seat forward leans like a normal scooter but the rear "pod" which includes the engine and/or cargo bed stays flat.

+ YouTube Video

Honda even made a motorcycle that combined the practicality of a scooter with the power and versatility of a motorcycle: the Honda PC800 Pacific Coast, which turned out to be the ultimate commuter bike. It's very low maintenance, gets good fuel economy, and it has a trunk that you can put your shopping in... that's bigger than the one on some European minicars!



Still in some demand today, which I expect to get larger as more people go back to riding.

And, of course, as you mentioned - if you don't *need* the latest bleeding edge tech, you can get an older bike for as little as 1/10th the price of its new counterpart. In fact, some of the older bikes are better as reduced demand and increased competition has lead to makers decontenting or repositioning bikes; a good example is my Nighthawk - mine has 6 speeds and is shaft driven, the later 93-up Nighthawk 750 is a 5-speed chain drive bike with a lot less frills and is a more basic model.