New to the forum, Not so new to motorcycling.

[instructorpilot]

My first post on the Nighthawk forum. My wife says that I spend to much time socializing with like minded individuals on these forums. Well in my opinion it beats Facebook by a mile.
On to the meat. I just bought my first Nighthawk, a sweet '92 that was owned by an elderly man in Rhode Island. It was a real tear jerker. The poor old guy had bought this bike new as a retirement present for himself back in '92. He rode it about 20k miles over the last few years taking very good care of it. It was so well taken care of it still has the orig. chain. He never rode in the rain and every winter he removed the tank and sidecovers and soaked the whole engine/transmission with WD40 so it wouldn't oxidize. It really looked like it came off the show room. I could see it was breaking his heart to sell it but his family was worried about him riding and insisted that he get rid of it. I hope that never happens to me. I got it for 1500 bucks, I didn't even dicker over the price. It also has a Corbin seat and a windshield, which looks a little goofy,like it doesn't belong on this bike, these really tall handle bar risers, like 8 inches, engine guards and some tourmaster soft saddlebags. It needed a front tire, the rear was new. I have been riding it now for a few days and really enjoying it. I'm looking forward to riding it out to the west coast when I have vacation in the fall. I don't anticipate getting rid of this one anytime soon.

About me: well, I'm a pilot when the painful need arises, I live in Florida for the time being. I have a bunch of motorcycles including two CB350F's, an all orig. CB550 from 1974, unrestored. A 1979 CB750F, all orig. A 1981 CX500 Deluxe with the complete Vetter kit, and I mean complete, as well as numerous other farkles, a 2007 Suzuki V-Strom and a 2008 Harley Electra Glide Ultra Classic.....that the wife made me buy when she got sick of riding on the back of the Suzi. I am also a fan of older GTIs and I do a bit of cooking as well. I like the eating part much better though. Most of the motorcycle touring is centered on food. I had vacation for the first three weeks of this month and spent the time with the wife trying to hit all all the restaurants that are mentioned in Diners, Drive-ins and dives along our route along the east coast. Also hit a few quilt shops as well. My wife is a quilter. Those of you whose wives are quilters will understand. That's about it I guess.

Al
AKA instructorpilot

[luckylindy]

  Al.  We need pics of that big stable of bikes.

[instructorpilot]

I know, I know. I have a 32 hour layover in MIA tomorrow. I'll do it then.
a

[OhCrap]

Hmmm, perhaps I should have my grandpa sell my vehicles for me in the future...

Sorry, wondered of there for a bit. 

You really like the Honda's it seems, nice collection you got there.
Never got the wife  interested in riding her own bike?

I second those pics though, no need to be shy 

[skramer360]

  Al. I'd like to hear some comparisons of the different bikes, strengths, weaknesses, etc.

[ariwhiteboy]

  to the forum from Savannah Ga.!

Ariwhiteboy

[FAITHBIKER]

We'd love to see pics of this legend!

[hppants]

Welcome Al.  I too am interested in seeing pictures of your stable - especially the CB350 four - those are real rare.

Hope you enjoy your NH as much as I am mine.

[highwayjamin]

  And what about   

We love  around here. 

[JB1290]

 , Al. Looking forward to seeing the pics of your stable.

[geemann]

Hmmm, perhaps I should have my grandpa sell my vehicles for me in the future...

SNIP

hahaha!

Yes! 

I cannot wait to see your stable and hearing the pro/cons!

[coffee_brake]

Quilt Pics Now!!!            

[Tryvelcro]

  to the addiction!

+1 on the  - we are junkies around here, need to get our fix of pics of Other People's Bikes.  (In my case, it's just so I can lust after them).

[HawkFuzz]

  to another addict.

I too love the  .  I want to see the bags and sheild.  I'm wanting to add bags so I'm desperate to see more pics of bags so I can make my decision.

[instructorpilot]

Lets see now, adding pictures, hmmmmm.

Ha, it worked. I took the wind shield off right away because it was a modified poly shield with plexi lowers riveted to it. there were numerous cracks in the shield around the rivet attach points. I am going to ad a shield to it but it will be just a wind blocker for my chest so I don't have to hold on so hard. Check out the handle bar risers. Their so tall that the bike has a front brake line off something else and the clutch cable is routed under the tank instead of over the upper clamp. The saddle bags were just soft bags from Chase Harper. To small for touring. I have since installed covercraft soft bags that are larger.

This is IL' Bessie. An older picture of when I rode her cross country. This is in front of my sisters house in Monterey, CA. The handling qualities were not really affected by the loading arraignment. Bessie is now sporting a KG rack painted flat black to match the Vetter mounting stuff, and has a Vetter topcase on top. I have also installed GL1100 airshocks in the back, cauz I'm a lard a**, A volt meter, an oil temp gauge, and the complete front end off a GL500 interstate so I can have the additional braking of the dual disc with twin pot setup. Right now poor Bessie has her engine on the stand for a triple bypass. You CX guys and gals will know what I'm talking about.



The next bike is the mighty CB750F. My fave. Its  a big, sexy motorcycle. The engine sticks out on both sides of the tank. The only mod on this bike is the addition of some vintage Konies that I found on the bay.



Here is a sucky cell phone picture of the CB350F. Couldn't believe I didn't have any pics of this. It doesn't show from the  pics ut the exhausts were rotted out. Got a complete NOS set from England from cmsnl.


the mighty V-Strom


And the Hog. This is really my wife's bike. I just operate for her.


And the CB550. It's a '74, all orig and unrestored. I cleaned the carbs, replaced the battery, changed the oil,  and I'm riding it now.

[hppants]

I'd love to ride a cb400 super sport one day.  But in the meantime, a short run on that CB350 would take the edge off.

You have an awesome stable.  Thanks for sharing.

[geemann]

 

When I grow up, I want a stable like yours!  (I should say "When my wallet grows up"...)

This is the first time I have seen a 350, it looks like a fun bike.  Is it really a four cylinder?  What does it handle like?

[82CB750SC]

How does one procure so many fine toys?
  to the greatest forum around.

[instructorpilot]

The 350 is from a different age. My newer bikes have small sumps and oil coolers. The 350 holds 4 qts. It's smooth. Probibly the smoothest bike ever. It's not fast. it's not big either. It is a design exercise from honda. See what we can do. it has four 1 3/4 inch pistons. When I rebuilt it I had to special order a cylinder hone because the bore size was so small. It was more popular in Europe than here so parts are getting easier to find as repro stuff is comming on line. The exhaust was the killer. The bike sat for three years because of the lack of a reasonable exhaust. Cmsnl then commisioned the manufacturer of Honda exhausts to build a few sets and I got one of them. Their new but also orig. 850 bucks, plus shipping from england plus import duty etc. I also got the first over piston sets from them. A very easy company to work with. they have access to parts and will tell you the availibilty right on the site. They also give options. They have not let me down yet.

[instructorpilot]

How does one procure so many fine toys?
  to the greatest forum around.

Ummm, time I guess. I've had most of these bike for a while. The vintage stuff with the exception of the 550 I bought when they were considered scrap. I've had one of the 350s for 15 years.
Also, you must never give in to the temptation to sell. My mantra is, Why sell them, the answer is "for the money", But then I spend the money and I won't have the bike or the money. So I keep the bike.
A

[coffee_brake]

It is a fine collection of real-world machines.





I also like quilt pics....quilts are also as intesting and beautiful as bikes, as useful as they are collectible and cherished for generations, just like the best old bikes. No I don't quilt, but I respect your wife's hobby. I'm not patient enough for that.

thanks for posting your pics!

[OhCrap]

Nice collection you have there, thanks for sharing those.

That CB750F looks absolutely wonderful. I've owned a red and white CB900F Bold D'or (which I later turned in to an 1100R) years ago.

[JB1290]

Wow. Do you want to adopt a 37 year old son??? 

Nice stable of bike you have there. Love the CB 750F. 

[Firebird]

Welcome to the forum!!

Enjoy your NH.

I got my PPL in 2000 and my IFR cert. in 2001. Haven't flown as much as I would like to in the past few years, but there is nothing like it. Almost compares to riding my NH!!

Dave

[luckylindy]

 +1 on the CB 750F as a fave.  One problem I see-Which bike to ride?-a problem we all would like to have.