1983 550 Night Hawk

[Ol School]

I didn`t think I was the first to do the kick stand up bike drop ...
Back in the 60`s alot of my friends rode the ol 305 and 350 Hondas ..
Bikes were cheap and gas was 19 cents a gal . ( I know that sound incredible to you younger folks , but we were working for around a dollar an hour too ) 
I never bought a Jap bike back then , rode on many but waited untill I returned from my military service , then started buying toys .
My first love with 2 wheels was a 1971 Harley Sportster , black and white , ol school look .
I still like the looks and sounds of the Harleys ...but this NH with its shaft drive and 550 cc motor has plenty of power , and sounds like a herd of killer bees ...no vibrations no oil leaks ..always ready to put the wind in my face at the push of a button .
Had I been thinking with my head back when I was younger ...my first bike would have been a Honda .
I bet I end up buying another one too , us old guys like to collect good things ...
Hey the sun is out today ......I`m going for a ride !   

[bajakirch]

Always nice to see a fellow 550 owner join the forum. Only problem I see with that bike is the color -- once you try black you never go back.

The 550's been a great bike for me. I got mine with 10K miles on it 1 year ago. It now has over 15k. It's got plenty of get up and go but still gets 50 mpg. And it's been very reliable for a 27YO piece of machinery. It's been decent to work on, even though I'm far from being a gear-head. I planned to ride it for a couple of years to get some experience, then trade up to something a little newer. Now I'm reassessing.

Never forgotten to put the kickstand down, but the bike did almost get away from me once when I was parking it in the garage. Just lost my balance and she went to about 45-degrees before I was able to catch it and put it back upright. She's no GoldWing, but I was glad I'd been doing some squats at the gym at the time.

Ride on!