Nighthawk 700 "S"

[RenoJohn]

I haven't ridden one, but a good friend has had two and he just won't shut up about them. It seems it really was all that and a bag of chips.
1. Never meet your heroes, you'll never see them the same again.

2. Buy the freaking bike, you deserve it. And reading about it will never cure your lust.

Funny comments

I was reading that much of the ZRX1100 motivation came from this bike -not sure if rumor or fact, but you can see that it might have.

Hate to be the wet blanket here, but Kawasaki patterned the ZRX1100 (and 1200) after its own KZ1000R Eddie Lawson Replica (ELR) of 1982, beating Honda to the "Superbike" look of the CB700SC by two years.

AHH, THANK YOU for setting the record straight!!!

 

[MotorToad]

Butting in here because I sat in front of my friends computer and saw some of the most beautiful letter/number combinations of my life. CB700S

I did my homework back in 1985. I knew I had to have one and nothing else. The technology was leading edge and it was a "gas & ride" bike. I bought a used 84 blue model late in the year. I was never ever again as happy as I was the years I rode the bike.

Road tripped it every where. Smokey Mountains, Connecticut. A trip through Canada. I brought it with me in the Navy to Pensacola, and spent 2 years with it on Oahu. It died there on the bumper of a '66 Ford Galaxy. That crash nearly killed me too. It took 2 years to be back to riding form and what did I buy? A blue 1984 Honda Nighthawk S. Another 2 years of glorious love. I've been away from riding for a long time, but I still have very nice dreams about that bike.

When I rode it I weighed less than 150 pounds and I never had a lick of problems with 2 up riding or low/mid range power. That might have been because I was so light and dated small chicks too.

FAST? Hellls YES. I burried a long list of so called hotter bikes through the twisties in Oahu. Give'em 300cc extra and they would still bow to the "S". And I'm no Kenny Roberts. I just loved riding that bike.

Tires, Oil, and carnuba wax is all I ever spent on either of the bikes. The first one logged 80,000 miles before it combined space with the Galaxy. Only complaint I had is the dual shocks were troublesome to adjust. Today's suspensions are much nicer, but there's not much in the world of engines that impresses me more than the NIGHTHAWK S.

You are lusting after my lifelong love. I don't blame you. ~This is not written by Motortoad.~

 

[SERider]

I had a Blue/Black one, it was a nice bike for its time. I recall 1st gear was like a granny gear-way too low.

 

[RenoJohn]

Butting in here .........
~This is not written by Motortoad.~

~NOT~ Motortoad ....wonderful contribution. Thanks much.

BTW, much better than Motortoad would have done <joke>

....john

 

[FJRed]

I had a Blue/Black 84 Nighthawk and loved it. In fact, it was my first "real" street bike. Before that I had a long string of on/off road bikes that I used to ride to work and then go play in the dirt. I had the NH for about 8-9 years and put a lot of miles on it. The only negative thing I remember about it was that the engine put out quite a bit of heat when stopped in traffic. Ended up trading it on a 92 FJ1200 (lots of power but an uncontrollable nasty vibration in the bars that ended up causing me to get rid of it a few years later).

Ed.

 

[RadioHowie]

92 FJ1200 (lots of power but an uncontrollable nasty vibration in the bars that ended up causing me to get rid of it a few years later).

That would be the grandfather of the FJR1300 handlebar buzz.

 

[Warpdrv]

OK I'll chime in here seeing as I'm in the minority - I still have mine.... 1986 Red White & Blue model....

I will tell you - I love this bike, and lusted at it for many many years back then but never bought one... I wasn't allowed

My first real bike was an '78 RD 400 Silver n Blue, nice fairing, Bored 3 over, RZ350 reed valves, DG Radial heads, bigger carbs and Kerker exhaust... That bike was insane and super fun to ride, just too dam fast for its own frame... went into a high speed wobble at 100 and went down.... I was pretty young and stupid, but my father said I couldn't have another bike - or I would be out of the will.... hehehe I respected his wishes.. for a while...

I wanted to get back into bikes again and I had my eye on the FJR, but I knew I needed a nice stepping stone bike to get me back in the swing of things, I scoured the internet for ideas and different bikes and came across an article in the vintage bike mag - about the Night Hawk... They sang nothing but praises about that machine. A buddy of mine back in the day had one and I remembered how much I really was drawn to the sound, handling, looks and performance... So this was the bike I was going after. Searched Motorcycle trader - low and behold one for sale with low mileage not too far from me and after going over it and test driving - Bought it right then - it was mint...

The bike has a solid ride and feel, power comes on a bit higher but drop the gears a couple and your right in the band, it comes on strong - the shaft drive just lifts the back up a touch and she goes - with lots of giddeyup, its a very fast and nimble bike... The balance of the bike was just fantastic. When starting from cold - you have to give it full choke, for a good 30 secs to a minute, and then taper it back, it will still have the idle high until it comes up to temp, then it idles nice and smooth, and what a great exhaust sound - low growling rumble, just sounded ready to go, just let it loose. I like to put on some miles, but with no fairing you get beat up and tossed about on the freeway, but runnin around on nice winding roads - its a pleasure to drive and has got it where it counts.. I still to this day can appreciate what this bike did for the biking world in terms of performance. I will agree the bike could be somewhat hot at a stop, but no more so then my FJR. Its a very friendly riding bike, which I still love to take out from time to time.

So after a couple of years of getting back in the saddle again with the NightHawk, the need/want for something more came about and I got an 05 FJR that I had been wanting for so long, and the NightHawk got pushed to the side, only to get a few rides a year out of it... I was thinking about selling it. This year a GF of mine met a great guy and we have been pushing him to try riding, she has a Harley and we go riding all the time, and kinda left him behind on our rides, he wasn't about to ride pillon, so I busted out the NightHawk and tuned it back up and offered it to him so he could learn how to ride... Well he passed his test and has his license now, and is thankful to have a bike to ride until he can figure out what he wants for himself... I was glad to be able to share my unused bike, which he really loves - it was nice to see it getting some use, with low miles only 17k I think, and still in nearly perfect condition, the magazine rated it as quite the collectors item with such a limited run of the bike...

Its funny, I also have a customer to my Gas/service station that has the exact bike - he is 67 years old and still rides it weekly...

Nice to see him fill up his tank by me...

Just my take on a what I feel is a fantastic bike

Warpdrv...

 

[RenoJohn]

OK I'll chime in here seeing as I'm in the minority - I still have mine.... 1986 Red White & Blue model....
I will tell you - I love this bike, and lusted at it for many many years back then but never bought one... I wasn't allowed

My first real bike was an '78 RD 400 Silver n Blue, nice fairing, Bored 3 over, RZ350 reed valves, DG Radial heads, bigger carbs and Kerker exhaust... That bike was insane and super fun to ride, just too dam fast for its own frame... went into a high speed wobble at 100 and went down.... I was pretty young and stupid, but my father said I couldn't have another bike - or I would be out of the will.... hehehe I respected his wishes.. for a while...

I wanted to get back into bikes again and I had my eye on the FJR, but I knew I needed a nice stepping stone bike to get me back in the swing of things, I scoured the internet for ideas and different bikes and came across an article in the vintage bike mag - about the Night Hawk... They sang nothing but praises about that machine. A buddy of mine back in the day had one and I remembered how much I really was drawn to the sound, handling, looks and performance... So this was the bike I was going after. Searched Motorcycle trader - low and behold one for sale with low mileage not too far from me and after going over it and test driving - Bought it right then - it was mint...

The bike has a solid ride and feel, power comes on a bit higher but drop the gears a couple and your right in the band, it comes on strong - the shaft drive just lifts the back up a touch and she goes - with lots of giddeyup, its a very fast and nimble bike... The balance of the bike was just fantastic. When starting from cold - you have to give it full choke, for a good 30 secs to a minute, and then taper it back, it will still have the idle high until it comes up to temp, then it idles nice and smooth, and what a great exhaust sound - low growling rumble, just sounded ready to go, just let it loose. I like to put on some miles, but with no fairing you get beat up and tossed about on the freeway, but runnin around on nice winding roads - its a pleasure to drive and has got it where it counts.. I still to this day can appreciate what this bike did for the biking world in terms of performance. I will agree the bike could be somewhat hot at a stop, but no more so then my FJR. Its a very friendly riding bike, which I still love to take out from time to time.

So after a couple of years of getting back in the saddle again with the NightHawk, the need/want for something more came about and I got an 05 FJR that I had been wanting for so long, and the NightHawk got pushed to the side, only to get a few rides a year out of it... I was thinking about selling it. This year a GF of mine met a great guy and we have been pushing him to try riding, she has a Harley and we go riding all the time, and kinda left him behind on our rides, he wasn't about to ride pillon, so I busted out the NightHawk and tuned it back up and offered it to him so he could learn how to ride... Well he passed his test and has his license now, and is thankful to have a bike to ride until he can figure out what he wants for himself... I was glad to be able to share my unused bike, which he really loves - it was nice to see it getting some use, with low miles only 17k I think, and still in nearly perfect condition, the magazine rated it as quite the collectors item with such a limited run of the bike...

Its funny, I also have a customer to my Gas/service station that has the exact bike - he is 67 years old and still rides it weekly...

Nice to see him fill up his tank by me...

Just my take on a what I feel is a fantastic bike

Warpdrv...

Wow, that is one awesome post. Great to see you still have it, great to see it's getting very cool use, and amazing your customer with the long and steady tenure with the bike. GREAT story all around, thanksf or sharing.
RJ