First Ride/Review - 1985 Honda Nighthawk 650

"themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles" (themanwithsauce) 05/26/2015 at 21:40 • Filed to: None

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Well Oppo, I’ve posted about my battery woes but all in all this 800$ bike has proven itself to be a surprisingly solid buy. I mean, it’s kinda hard to go wrong with an 800$ ready to ride bike but still.......I finally went out on the strets tonight for a brief half hour shakedown run. Here are my thoughts/review.

First things first - why this bike? Cost aside, the bike is a “UJM” or “Universal Japanese Motorcycle” style. The precursor to the “standard”, you sit upright, your arms go out a little bit but are kinda parallel to the ground. Sit upright in a chair, reach forward and assume a nice resting position with your hands on a keyboard. That’s similar to how I sit on it. It’s effortlessly comfortable and makes operating the bike easy. I have zero issues panning my head around to check my corners and I can even notice road imperfections in my peripheral vision since there isn’t a lot of bike to obscure it. Plus the 650 is powered by an excellent honda inline 4. Power delivery is VERY easy to modulate. ANd it is very happy to keep it low and steady........But I opened her up to work the second cam (It is a DOHC design) and WOW she roars. Not anywhere near as fast as my neighbor’s muscle cruiser who was riding with me for safety, but I had no problems climbing from 20 to 50 when I gave it a solid twist. Oh and I can’t forget to mention it is shaft drive with hydraulic valve lashes so maintenance is heavily reduced compared to similar bikes. Twin discs up front, 6 gears (yes, 6, not 5), and a solid center stand are all nice to have. Oh same with the digital gear indicator. VERY nice feature for a newbie like me.

Okay that being said, how is she like to ride? Well let’s do a pros and cons list

Pros
-Very accessible riding position
-Low Maintenance
-Good low-speed manners
-Some passing/merging power is on hand
-Linear power delivery
-Stable over imperfections

Cons
-HEAVY! It might help the stability but this is not a light bike by any means
-Rear drum brake is meh
-Turn signals are flimsy
-Alternator only works above 2500-3000 rpm to charge the battery

In all honesty, this style of bike is the sort of “beginner bike” that used to be all the rage. Maybe this one was more of an intermediate bike or a commuter bike because it is VERY easy to ride. But these old UJMs make riding accessible yet fun. My neighbor got his start on one and apparently many of his friends did too.everything from 250/300cc scrambler looking things to 650/700/750s. They are wonderful bikes to begin riding on.......provided you make a nod to safety and put on proper brakes and tires.

jkm7680 > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 05/26/2015 at 21:51

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Question: Does it get the ladies though?

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > jkm7680 05/26/2015 at 21:53

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You have NO idea. I had guys tell me it was a “chick bike” so I had to point out it was actually the manliest bike of all because women loved it so damn much. It is a freaking cassanova of bikes. So I came up with the joke name of #ManlyManBike. So far, something like half a dozen women want to ride me on it......I mean they want me to ride them.......I mean they want to ride on IT with ME..........Yeah, that’s it.

jkm7680 > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 05/26/2015 at 21:54

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Hahaha, awesome.

McMike > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 05/26/2015 at 22:05

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Never underestimate the power of a smaller displacement bike.

desertdog5051 > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 05/26/2015 at 22:10

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“But I opened her up to work the second cam (It is a DOHC design) and WOW she roars” .

Sorry my friend, the ‘second cam” does the same as the first cam. You have one cam that opens and closes the intake valves and the other does the exhaust. Hence the term.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > desertdog5051 05/26/2015 at 22:16

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Just copying what other people describe the power surge as. Apparently 80s motorcycle magazines are not the most tech proficient

desertdog5051 > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 05/26/2015 at 22:19

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Understandable.

TheOnelectronic > jkm7680 05/26/2015 at 22:20

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Fun anecdote; I am acquainted with two guys.

One drives a previous-gen 5.0 Mustang GT with custom exhaust (headers back) and essentially open pipes. It is about as loud as a stock car.

The other drives a VW Eos convertible.

The dude with the Eos gets so, so many more girls interested in his car. GT bro only gets dudes.

BJ > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 05/26/2015 at 22:57

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Good to hear that you enjoyed it. I miss mine. Have fun and keep the shiny side up!

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 05/26/2015 at 23:02

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800 is a solid buy.

Nighthawk’s CB750K predecessor is one of the baselines of the custom cafe racer scene, and nice original donors, or well done custom CB750s are appreciating in value.

Nighthawk adopted a different style, with higher bars, and a more cruiser-esque tank, but the frame and engine are descended from the CB750K.

Nighthawks were in production for a LONG time, even into the 21st century, and are well proven, and a somewhat friendly and simple layout. The later model ones are even fuel injected.

But now as CB750s are getting rarer in any sort of complete condition, Nighthawks are starting to become Cafe Racer donors. Front suspension swaps, different handle bars, and a CB tank, and it gets right back down to a cafe bike look.

This is a 2002 Nighthawk 750, that looks like a rests-mod of a 70’s era CB750K, build by Macco Motors from Spain.

This is a 92 Nighthawk 750, customized by ClassifiedMoto with a retro-fitted superbike-style upside-down fork, and a VFR single sided swing arm.

These bikes have some serious customizable potential.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. 05/26/2015 at 23:07

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My dad has a 1979? Maybe a 1976? Something like a late 70s CB750K with full fairings for highway commuting. I liked that bike. It’s like the V6 accord of motorcycles. Surprisingly exciting, but good on gas and excellent on the daily grind.

sdwarf36 > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 05/26/2015 at 23:07

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Worked on many of these-even had a 81? 82? Nitehawk briefly. The not charging at low rpm was a normal 80’s jap bike thing.

A favorite bike magazine term -”powerband.” You wouldn’t believe how many people would buy a bike -and before its even ridden- ask what they have to do to fix the powerband-because Cycle World said it wasn’t good. You’d even get calls to the parts dept. asking for a new powerband.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > BJ 05/26/2015 at 23:08

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Thanks! She needs some work before I do long trips but for tonight, it’s all smiles.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > sdwarf36 05/26/2015 at 23:09

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30 years on and they STILL get people to this day..... *Shakes fist angrily at the air*

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 05/26/2015 at 23:18

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“on the cam” usually is a colloquialism to describe the effect of a high performance engine coming into it’s high power range.

A motor like that, with carburetion, and especially without cam timing adjustments like some modern vehicles, have a compromised cam design, usually favoring high-RPM efficiency, and just enough compromise in their advance, lift, and duration of valve open time to make them run at lower RPMs. The carburetor tune, and the cam timing profile usually get more effective at higher RPM, usually above a certain RPM, up to the redline.

Some bikes like early 600cc inline sport bikes were well known for that, and were somewhat described as a light-switch. Unresponsive, with very little torque due to lack of engine displacement below a certain RPM, but a real screamer above that RPM, almost to the point of being challenging to ride slowly in traffic.

As was mentioned, in almost all cases, having dual overhead cams doesn’t mean one is secondary to the other, it means that one controls intake valve timing, and the other controls exhaust valve timing, and usually means there are enough lobes on each cam to control two pairs of valves per piston, two intake, and two exhaust.

Modern engineering in the last couple of decades has introduced variable valve timing, and variable valve lift with cam timing adjusters, and oil pressure variable lifters to allow multiple cam profiles to come into play, to actually broaden that effective range, and make engines power efficient at a wider RPM range and overall, which makes the engines LESS prone to the “on the cam” burst phenomenon as a stark contrast, but more powerful in general.

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 05/26/2015 at 23:27

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Honda Dream 150 and other bikes were among the first japanese motorcycles imported into the US...

But bikes like CB750K and Kawazaki Z1 were the bikes that catapulted japanese bikes into the export-markets mainstream, like North America and Europe, in the late 70s, as economic hardship made less expensive bikes more popular, and the economics hit the british bikes and the then-AMC-owned Harley Davidson pretty hard in the build-quality department.

The Honda CB was built much better, and turned out to last much longer, for an affordable price in comparison to Nortons, Triumphs, and Harleys.

It was a similar trend with japanese import cars at that time, although with a greater disparity in size, compared to BIG american cars.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. 05/26/2015 at 23:29

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I did notice that. I wasn’t exactly needing for low down power since it is a nice little 650 lump, but when I had the empty road and opened it up in third gear.........Wow..........that was different. Not exactly light-switch like, but it was one of those things where the bike seemed to say “The more throttle you give, the more power you get. Got it?” If I gave it the big twist, it responded in kind. Half twist was brisk but not a kick in the gut or anything, and a gentle pull was more than enough to meander around a neighborhood. Never surprising, but definitely there are some steps to the throttle on the bike.

I wish I can describe it better but I honestly love it like that. I can;t think of a better way to learn. I hated the glorified trail bike I took my MSF course on because it had so little top end I was always cranking that throttle hard to get the speeds they wanted for the evaluation. I know I don’t need 8 bajillion horsepower available at 2000 rpm........But I don’t want a bike I have to rev the nuts off of to get into traffic on a 45 mph road. It is the less deadly of the bad skills to learn but I can’t imagien that “full throttle all the time” is a good habit to learn. I think this is a good system for who I am and what my own driving/riding habits are. When I call for it, it’s there, but it’s not going to surprise me if I am not millimeter perfect with throttle and clutch inputs.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. 05/26/2015 at 23:40

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My dad was a teenager in the mid to late 70s and his first bike was one of the late 70s kawasakis he fixed after it got hit. Apparently he rode it for three years as his daily ride to save gas. He spent something like 50$ in parts AND gas per year on it so for a young mechanic saving money it was perfect. He had a harley for one summer, sold it, and told me if I ever buy a 70s or 80s harley he was never paying for my medical bills........Newer ones are okay in his book, he just lacks the cash or need for a new bike. THe 750K just keeps trucking along. I might see if I can snag some of his old saddle bags for my own bike.

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 05/26/2015 at 23:54

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Most of the UJMs, and even today, the “sport touring” and “adventure” bike versions use “detuned” versions of super-bike derived inline4s, perhaps from the previous generation, and pretty much always re-tuned for more torque, and a bit less top-end rush, but there is still some, no doubt.

Being an air-cooled motor, and a UJM bike, the engine is likely a bit more tractable than say a CBR600F Hurricane, which came out in 1987, with a water-cooled 598cc DOHC Inline-4, and an 11,000 RPM.

In comparison, my previous bike, an 89 Honda Hawk GT 650 V-twin was a tractor. Much less peak horsepower, and barely 8000RPMs to the redline, but a meatier torque curve, and could pull from 2-3000RPMs with no problem... and it had an aluminum spar frame and single sided swing arm way before they became popular traits, and before Ducati Monster or SV650 were even concepts.

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. 05/26/2015 at 23:57

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There was a hawk GT for sale at the same time I got my nighthawk but the guy billed it as a “collector’s bike” despite having similar mileage to mine (28k) and said he wouldn’t budge on 3000$.........Don’t care if that’s fair or not, for that price I could probably get a 2013 ninja 250 or whatever at a dealership.

But for what it’s worth, my 650 has a 10,000RPM redline and I honestly believe that the rpm/100 is your rough % of power being used. I think I only got it up to 8500/9000 or so but it showed no signs of stopping. I used to have a supercharged buick riviera that was ALL low end torque. My monte carlo was “no power, all the time”, but my Fiesta is another low to mid ranger. My Audi was VERY peaky with its turbo. I hink my nighthawk has the msot linear power delivery of any vehicle I have owned. Though a big part of that must be the lack of weight. We shall see how my opinion changes with the miles. But for now, I look forward to learning on it. Possibly even keeping it for many years.

BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 05/27/2015 at 00:23

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There are probably people who would drop 3K without blinking an eye, if the bike is in great shape... and less than 30K miles is probably still LOW mileage. If it has an M4 exhaust conversion, and CBR600F2 or F3 cartridge fork conversion, it might actually be a bit of a bargain.

The engine is torquey, but not all that powerful, but the frame and suspension is MAGIC, and the bike handles better than almost anything near it... which makes sense being derived from the RC30 V-four race bike of the time.

It is definitely a cult-following bike. I searched for a year to find mine, and was very sad to see it go only due to financial necessity, otherwise I would still have it, despite it actually being slightly too small for my 6’2” size.

Hawk GTs are hidden-gem prizes, and were rare at the time, let alone now. Only built from 1988-91, they were completely overshadowed by the less expensive, more powerful Hurricane, but the Hawk GT is the more sublime bike, and are kept long-term by their owners, where most 250cc starter-bikes are quickly outgrown. They were cancelled, and abandoned, and left Ducati and Suzuki to take the whole market afterward, although neither Monster nor SV650 were quite as sophisticated and before-their-time as the Hawk GT was. Honda didn’t extend the VTR1000 to it’s potential, and cancelled it, also.

Greg Scavezze > BoxerFanatic, troublesome iconoclast. 06/30/2016 at 10:16

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I may be wrong, but I believe Daryl Dixon’s bike on TWD is a rebuilt Nighthawk....

Greg Scavezze > Greg Scavezze 06/30/2016 at 10:18

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A little googling and I was right. A 1992 CB750 Nighthawk...

https://thesupernaturalfoxsisters.com/2015/03/22/the…

Jordan > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 10/05/2016 at 21:28

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Hey I have a 85 Honda nighthawk. The issue I’m having is the battery is not staying charged. I replaced the rectifyer but it seems like I’m running back to square one with the charging issue. Do you think it’s loose wiring or the alternator?

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > Jordan 10/06/2016 at 09:16

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Get a new battery. I went through 3 or 4 before getting a good one. Motorcycle batteries are notoriously finnicky. Get a new one, let it sit for a few days on a trickle charger, then go for it. Also, make sure you rev the bike a lot when you ride. Don’t let it trundle along or you’ll never keep the battery charged. I keep mine on a tender when it isn’t in use to be safe but I can usually let it sit for a week or two no problem so long as I rode it had before putting it away.