I first want to make sure I state that this post is based on my personal opinions that I have made from owning an 1984 Honda Nighthawk 650. I also do have experience riding the 250 and 750 models of this motorcycle. With that house work out of the way, lets get into this post!
I feel the Honda Nighthawk makes a great starter bike for almost everyone. The Nighthawk has a comfortable upright riding position, enough power to keep you happy for years, and is relatively cheap to obtain and maintain. It is a bike that will allow you get get through the first few years of your riding career without feeling the need to replace it. Below I will go into more detail about the different aspects of the Honda Nighthawk and what I think is good and bad about this Motorcycle.
The Good
I would recommend this motorcycle to anyone who asked me what is a good beginner’s motorcycle. The reasons are the overall size of the motorcycle, engine, riding position, and price. Later in this post I will go over some of the Bad things that have come up over the years from me owning this motorcycle.
Overall Size and Engine
For the most part I will be referring to the 650 and 750 version of this motorcycle. I am 6’4″ and over 200 lbs. The smaller 250 models are still ride-able, but it struggles to do highway speed. But if you are a taller dude (or gal), most 250 motorcycles will be a bit small and will struggle to do higher speeds. That is why I got the 650 size. It was big enough to get me up to highway speed without maxing out the engine.
The weight of the motorcycle is between 450-475 lbs. It is heavier than the average sports bike, but lighter than most touring bikes. This allows the bike to handle somewhere in-between those two styles of motorcycles. It also makes it easier to move the motorcycle around while it is in the garage.
Another benefit to this style of motorcycle is the input response. When you are a new rider you are still learning how to use the controls smoothly. The inputs on this motorcycle are pretty forgiving. So if you grab to much brake or throttle, the bike will smooth out your inputs preventing the bike from being jumpy. That gives you time to correct the mistake before you try riding a newer motorcycle with more sensitive controls.
Riding Position
The riding position I would consider to be more upright. The foot controls are directly beneath you, which puts your lower body into a more sporty position. While your upper body is upright, this keeps your weight off your wrists. This helps cut down on fatigue and allows you to ride for longer times.
This position makes the motorcycle feel easy to maneuver in traffic. I have no fear lane splitting on this motorcycle here in California. I would say this motorcycle is for people that want a sporty-er feeling motorcycle that is more comfortable than a sports bike.
Price
This one will change depending on what deals you can find in your area. I was able to get my 1984 Nighthawk 650 for $800. I was able to find a 98 Nighthawk 750 near me for $2,200. When it comes to the price of parts, they are usually pretty easy to come buy and are priced fairly. The only issue I have been having, is trying to find uncommon parts for my 80’s motorcycle. Getting cables, filters, oil, brakes, lights, etc are still easy to find.
Its when you are trying to find body panels and certain mechanical components (Like shift linkages or gear position sensor) is when you will start having trouble and you will need to get creative with your repairs. Basically, E-Bay becomes your best friend for those parts. But this issue only seems to deal with the older generations of the Nighthawk. The ones from the 90’s are still easy to find.
I also want to touch on the insurance cost for owning this motorcycle. This will also change depending on where you live and how clean your driving record is. But I’m able to insure this motorcycle for ~$100 a year. Now my driving record is pretty clean and I bundled with my car insurance, so that could of helped lower the cost for me. But I just wanted to touch on this subject and let you know that this bike is pretty cheap to insure.
The Bad
For all the good things that this type of motorcycle has to offer, there is inevitably not some good things. There have only been two major downsides to this motorcycle that I have run into. That would be finding uncommon parts and Finding someone other than yourself to fix it when it breaks down. Below I will get into more details about these two pain points.
Finding Uncommon Parts
This is probably the biggest negative I have had with this motorcycle. (This is not as big of a deal with the last generation of the Nighthawk.) If you need to replace a uncommon part for your motorcycle, you are kinda left with two options, E-Bay or local motorcycle parts store that carry old parts. Places like Cycle Gear will only have the basics like oil and tires.
To give an example: I needed to replace the whole headlight housing and after three months, I still could not find a replacement headlight that would work on my motorcycle. I could of retrofitted a universal headlight onto it, but I wanted a OEM style. I actually had to buy a headlight from a similar model from Honda and use the glass from it on my old housing. You can read an more detailed post on what I did HERE. This post explains, in detail, how I was able to use the headlight glass from the Nighthawk 700 and reuse it on my Nighthawk 650.
The overall take away from this is you need to be creative on some repairs, because you might not be able to get a proper replacement part. You might be only able to get universal parts and find a way to make them work.
Performing Repairs
If you are not comfortable with doing repairs yourself or have a friend that will help, you will be mostly out of luck. Most shops that I called told me that they would not work on my motorcycle. They told me most shops do not work on motorcycles that are older than ten years. That being said. If you bring them just your rims off the bike, they will mount the tires. So I feel like if this is a issue for you, I would stay away from motorcycles that are just old in general.
Here is a list of all the things I have repaired on my 84 Nighthawk 650. Note: I bought this motorcycle for $800 and it was not running. It was sitting in a shed for years. So I might of had to replace more things than if it was taken care of by a more loving owner. DEEP BREATH….
- Tires
- Brakes
- Gas Lines
- Vacuum Lines
- Head Bearings
- Wheel Bearings
- Speedo Gear and Cable
- Turn Signals (Guide to that HERE)
- Handle Bars / Grips
- Shift Linkages
- Completely Rebuilt Carbs
- Petcock (Fuel Valve / Guide to that can be found HERE)
- Blinker Relay
- Fuse Panel Block
- Oil and Filter (Duh)
- Misc Engine Seals
- Oil Pressure Sensor
- Dented Gas Tank
Now, I know that looks like a lot, but after having to do all of this, I can say I know this motorcycle inside and out. If anything starts to go wrong with it again, I’m very good at pin pointing what the possible issues could be. I am also a person who loves knowing how things work and I don’t mind having to fix things and solving problems. I know that is not everyone’s cup of tea, but if you are this kinda person, you will enjoy how easy it is to understand the inner workings of this motorcycle.
And before we move on, I also want to make a note: Once I have made a repair, I have not had to re-repair it a second time. Most of those parts have lasted 30+ years before it had to be fixed. So there is no reason why (once it is repaired) that it will need to be replaced again for a very long time. That being said, even though I have had to fix a lot on this motorcycle, I feel like this still is a reliable motorcycle.
Conclusion
To wrap everything up, I think this is a great motorcycle for beginners. It is a nice medium sized and powered bike that will take sometime before you grow out of it. I have no plans to ever get rid of this motorcycle and I will tell anyone who will listen to me how great I think this bike is. As long as you know that you will need to perform almost all repairs and some parts will be hard to find, this motorcycle would be great for you. With what I have learned owning this bike, If I had to re-buy my first ever motorcycle, it would be a newer Nighthawk 750. The form factor is great, but having a bit more power and a bit more newer would be great. But if you are able to find an 80’s Nighthawk for a really good price, I would not turn it down.
If you are curious what type of gear I use with this motorcycle, you can check it out on my Bikes & Gear page.