New Project: 1986 Honda Nighthawk 700 S

[tigger]

Do the bags move around without the stock turn signal stalks?

[Spectre]

Nope, I've got them fastened to each other through the license plate bracket.

[Spectre]

Update: Installed "new" custom saddle, with more/better padding - raised the seat an inch or two.

[Spectre]

I bought a parts bike to supply spare parts - basically I paid $200 for a spare gas tank and got an entire 1985 700S (with a blown second gear) thrown in for free!


(Former owner in background.)

[freeferrarisdonotexist]

Originally Posted by Spectre

I bought a parts bike to supply spare parts - basically I paid $200 for a spare gas tank and got an entire 1985 700S (with a blown second gear) thrown in for free!


(Former owner in background.)

Where do you find such cheap parts bikes? The cheapest I've seen on craigslist, ebay etc for both Texas and the UK is about $500+ for something in that condition (most all of the parts but one major failure). I'd love to restore a bike in about that condition.

[Spectre]

I got this one off Craigslist, actually. I'm really good at searching, especially a technique I call "off-axis searching".

Same thing with my Series III - I got it for $800 off eBay.

I got the PacCoast off Craigslist, too - here's the ad: http://dallas.craigslist.org/ndf/mcy/1246430559.html

[freeferrarisdonotexist]

Originally Posted by Spectre

I got this one off Craigslist, actually. I'm really good at searching, especially a technique I call "off-axis searching".

Same thing with my Series III - I got it for $800 off eBay.

I got the PacCoast off Craigslist, too - here's the ad: http://dallas.craigslist.org/ndf/mcy/1246430559.html

Those are very very good deals... makes it tempting to get one while here in Texas ( I do have to return the old BMW when I leave after all...)

Since you've had experience doing serious restoration on bikes, what would be a good candidate? An old Honda Nighthawk or CB comes to mind (cheap, simple and easy to find parts for). Suggestions?

(Not trying to hijack the thread, by the way. If I get serious about this I'll have a separate one).

[Spectre]

Originally Posted by freeferrarisdonotexist

Those are very very good deals... makes it tempting to get one while here in Texas ( I do have to return the old BMW when I leave after all...)

Since you've had experience doing serious restoration on bikes, what would be a good candidate? An old Honda Nighthawk or CB comes to mind (cheap, simple and easy to find parts for). Suggestions?

(Not trying to hijack the thread, by the way. If I get serious about this I'll have a separate one).

Well, what do you intend to do with the bike when it's done? There's plenty of small and middleweight Hondas that are fun and easy to restore, but you wouldn't want to ride it on the freeway.

Probably the easiest to find and restore is going to be the 750/4 SOHC Hondas. Definitely big enough to get on the freeway, parts are commonly available, they made millions of them and Honda still stocks most of them in their warehouses. Then you get into the 80s Nighthawks, Sabres, Magnas, Interceptors and Hurricanes, all are good choices. The V4s are more difficult to work on, but they are fun to ride.


Thing about Hondas is that unless you have a very low production model or one that was built more than 40 years ago, it's not usually a huge challenge to restore them. There's tons of support and pretty much every popular Honda model after the original 750 is going to have parts available on the market.

While other brands do have somewhat spotty support for their vintage bikes, Honda has excellent support. With other brands, you'll get to learn three little letters as the bane of your existence - N.L.A., as in No Longer Available.

[Spectre]

I love Honda motorcycle engineering. You can go from this:



To this:



In less than 30 minutes. There are no electronic modules or control boxes left on that thing at this point. It's ready to go to the shop for the messy job of removing the engine, since I've mostly stripped it.