Post Listing Update: This Nighthawk did not get any interest at the BIN of $2,700.
The 80’s were a fascinating decade for motorcycles, and I appreciate the products of that era nowadays as they are basically classic bikes with newer designs. Or recent bikes with older design, depending on how you see it! In the US, lots of these 80’s bikes were considered “muscle bikes” like the Yamaha Radian, the Honda Shadow, the Kawasaki GPZ, or the bike featured here, the Honda Nighthawk 700SC.
When released in 1984, the Nighthawk was considered by some as a hot rod bike with an aggressive look and a design centered on the engine. Honda had established themselves as a specialist in inline four engines in the 70s, and once again they proved successful. Despite keeping the same structure and look as the previous CB650, the Nighthawk engine was actually brand new. At first, the engine was a 750 (the Nighthawk 750 was sold in Canada and Europe) that had been slightly de-stroked to become a 696cc engine in order to avoid an American tariff on imported bikes of more than 700cc. But the slight modification didn’t alter the power of the bike with a claimed 80 hp. Its quarter-mile time of 12.04 seconds made it faster than the GPZ750 and just slower than the Suzuki GS750E and even Honda’s sportbike, the VF750F which had a time of 11.96 seconds. The Nighthawk was simple with no real technological or mechanical innovation, just a decent motor paired with a driveshaft to make it even more practical. Thanks to this engine, the 516 lbs of the bike could reach a top speed of 120 mph.
The bike had few critics, and having owned one myself, I can tell it is one of the best bikes I have ever ridden. It is easy, flexible, fast, lightweight, and mechanically accessible…unfortunately the 80’s were not good years for bike sales and the production of the 700SC only lasted three years.
The bike presented here features its original black/blue paint with wheels that have been painted in a matching blue. The bike has close to 21K miles and it is claimed to be running perfectly. The seller has just put new tires on it, rebuilt the clutch master cylinder, and flushed the brakes. The two issues the bike has are the fuel gauge that is not working (but having a petcock, this is not too big of a deal) and that the bike drops some oil after riding, but seeing that the bike is running great, this shouldn’t be too hard to fix.
Find this Honda Nighthawk in Santa Rosa, California with a BIN of $2,700