Option13's 650

[Option13]

Hello Nighthawk Forumers!  

I've been lurking around here for a while, picking up all the information and ideas I could while waiting to get the bike. Well, we just got her home yesterday, and I can't wait to ride it! There's a long story (and a long trip) behind how it ended up here, which I won't bore you with. Anyway, it's no longer in south Jersey, it's got a new home in Virginia!

The bike has some cosmetic problems and some rust, but it looks great in pictures and is perfectly rideable. It's got 18,070 miles on it, and I paid $1,200 for it. Needless to say, I can't wait to get to riding this thing! It's my first bike, so some lessons from dad and a MSF course are in my near future. Hope to see you out there!  


Lookin' good!


Jersey plate on mine and Dad's SV650 in the backround


Hey there Milo! Watcha think?


The bike still needs a name though. I'm debating between Naomi and Naia (Greek for 'flowing' according to a name website).

[biometrics]

Nice Bike! welcome to the Virginia NH owner's Association. 

[JB1290]

She's a beaut!  to the NHF. Where is the rust??? I don't see any.   

[fishball]

Hiya Option.  I'm with JB, where is the rust and other cosmetic issues?  It looks stellar.

[ariwhiteboy]

  to the forum! VERY nice looking bike you have there (cool dog too!) Take care of them and ride safe!

[popo303]

Thats a beautiful bike. I dont see any cosmetic issues. Tell us the long story, we love a good MC story.

[Option13]

As for the rust, you're looking right at it! Theres a bit of rust on the frame on the right hand side, near the little chrome button. Just needs to be addressed so that it doesn't get worse. Theres a few paint chips and the paint on the tail is a bit faded. Here you go...






As for the bike, I got my Learner's permit in May and started looking at bikes. One day my dad came home and said that one of his costumers was moving down here and was looking to sell some of his motorcycles, specifically a CB700 Nighthawk S. So I started doing research and found no one had any complaints about the bike, and kind of fell in love with it.  Didn't hear much about the bike for some time, till my dad came home with some pictures of the two bikes that were for sale. And then I was heartbroken. The pictured bike was not a 700S, but rather a 650 Nighthawk. Obviously somewhere between the seller, my dad, and I, someone made a mistake in which bike it was.

I began combing craigslist and eBay, but to no avail. First was a stellar RWB in Pennsylvania, but dad didn't want me to buy a bike on eBay. Then there was a nice red '84 for sale nearby with Hondaline hard luggage, but that was WAY out of my price range. The last was another stellar RWB, this time in NC, and though I was able to convince him that there was little to fear from eBay and I won the bidding, I was unable to meet reserve and negotiations after that did not result in a sale.

I began to look at the 650 again, disappointed that I wasn't going to get a 700. I figured I would give it one more try on eBay about a month later. So I show dad this one bike in Maryland, with 9000 miles on it and in great shape. I believe that was an '85 blue, which was just what I wanted. Then he told me he had asked the seller of the 650 that we would buy it and to stop advertising it. All that remained was for the money and bike to change hands, and since it was a customer of his he couldn't back out of the sale. I also learned that he wouldn't be be bringing it down from Jersey anytime soon, so we would have to go get it. Crap.

Another reason as to why I wasn't warming up to the 650 was the photo made it look like it had rust everywhere. Double crap. But he said there was very little rust on it, so we went and drove the first half of an almost 520 miles round trip. We got there, and it was far better than the picture had made it look. We loaded it up and came home. 

[SirSeanSean]

  From a fellow 84 650 cherry red owner from Virginia. I actually picked my bike up from Richmond.That's an awesome looking bike there. The rust should clean up fairly well with some sanding. I'm still on my permit too that I got back in april. The MSF course is well worth it. They teach you a lot. It looks like you got some decent tires on there too. Not those crappy Dunlop Qualifiers.(tuff as nails) And you got the Blue Ridge Parkway right below you. And your dog is quite Awesome I must say. What type is it? Not to get off topic.

[noahnsteph]

I was originally looking for a 700S myself but there are much fewer of them available and I came across a 650 that I couldn't pass up.  Trust me, you'll love riding the 650. After owning mine for a while I still want a 700S but it will be parked next to the 650 because I'm not getting rid of it.   It's light, comfortable and plenty fast especially for a new rider.  The 650 will be my mini-touring bike and I'll eventually get a 700 for my "sport bike".  Of course I also have a 1977 KZ400 cafe racer that's fun as hell to ride as well but that will be my show bike since it's not very comfortable to ride for more than an hour or so.

[Option13]

The dog is a little Bichon Frise, 12 years old and still seems like a puppy

noahnsteph, one of the first things I noticed when I sat on it was how light it felt and easy it was to hold upright compared to the SV650, and that's a good thing to me.

When I began comparing the 650 and 700, I wasn't at all concerned about quarter mile times, which appear to be dead even. What I was really interested in was how the bikes handled and changed directions. Everything seemed to point to the 700 being the better of the two, with the longer swingarm, 16 inch front wheel, better oiling for the lash adjusters, etc. Maybe a smaller wheel could fit? But I am so far quite pleased with the 650!  

The tires are Dunlop GT501's, and I haven't seen a bad review of them yet. They also look a heck of a lot better than the qualifiers a lot of people seem to have.

Today we got it insured and registered, VA plates on it and legal to ride!

Also, today was my first time ever riding a motorcycle! I started learning to release the clutch and take off, all in my driveway and front yard, which are a bit cramped. Lot's of practice in there. Went out in the street after that, and I was soon touring my neighborhood.

We drove it out on the highway to check power, I being the passenger. Decide to turn around and at stoplight I ask him what he thinks. "No power.."

I told him for about the 5th time, "take it above 7,000!"    Back down the highway, drop it into third, and we take off. At home he says it has a split personality, and plenty of power up top. Wishes for more torque though. Meh.


This brings me to the first of my questions. Is there any way to adjust the take-up point of the clutch? about 80% of the travel is dead space, all clutch modulation takes place very near to being fully released. I'd like for the release to be a bit sooner. I'll bleed the clutch tomorrow, any other suggestions?

[geemann]

to the NHF!

i dig the bike and the story!  be sure to use the resources around here and post plenty-o-pics!

[popo303]

ok so there are some minor cosmetics but still that is a nice ride. Enjoy, ride safe!

[biometrics]

Try bleeding all the old fluid out of your clutch and replacing it with new fluid.  It is a cheap exercise which will probably renew the clutch feel in your hand.  If replacing the fluid doesn't give you back some of that "dead" lever, then you will likely have to rebuild the clutch master cylinder... but even that isn't that great an expense.

[detdrbuzzard]

hello option13 and  to NHF. gerat bike and look at you now working the clutch and shifting gears. when are you taking the mfs course ( not soon enough , i know )

[hppants]

Welcome to the group.  Ride Safe.  Bleeding the clutch should make a world of difference.  If manual bleeding doesn't give much results, I (and others) have had good luck using a hand vacuum pump on the slave cylinder to pull the air out.

Also, Honda still makes the frame paint in a touch up tube for your bike - $6.00.  I had similar spots on my 700, I very lightly hit the spots with my dremel tool (very tiny sanding tip), and touched it with the paint.  Unless I would point them out, you would not be able to tell where I did the work.

Sounds like a Virginia NH Rally could be in the works.   

[Option13]

The MSF course is how I'll be dodging the 2mph DMV test. I'll probably take it somtime in November or December, because I'm basically packed 'till then with my Eagle project. It's not ideal, but it's what I can do.

[skramer360]

If the clutch actually only activates at the very outside (almost fully released), I would say that is fairly normal. If it releases right near the grip (almost fully retracted), then I would say you have a problem. I usually don't pull the lever all the way in, except at lights and such. I like it out at the end.

[flynavyj]

Welcome to the boards,and nice looking bike. I recently purchased a nighthawk 650 also (and like your father i have an SV as well). The nighthawk is a great little bike, it does lack the V-twin torque sv guys are probably used to, but up high in the RPM band, the nighthawk should sing! I'm having some clutch issues, that i'm working out. And from all the digging i've done, it does appear that normal clutch operation is at the very beginning of the pull, after i bled my system, that's where it was engaging also. Now hopefully i'll be able to get the rest of my clutch issue figured out, gah how i wish i had a cable driven clutch. lol.

[OhCrap]

That is one nice looking 650. To bad dad got in the way of your 700S, but you still got a great first bike there 

[Option13]

I can't really blame anything on him, as he is the one who got me interested in the Nighthawk line in the first place. I suppose with Progressive shocks in back it could be just as good as a 700S. I have searched for a while both here and on Google and have yet to find a direct comparison of them both, especially in terms of handling. But as I said earlier, so far I'm loving the 650, and parts availability is a big plus!

As for the clutch, I know the manual says it requires no ROUTINE adjustment, but I sure would like to be able to adjust the take up point. Maybe I could mess with the clutch lever to find if I could bring it further back, which would at least make using the clutch less of a stretch.

[Option13]

Well, I've been doing some work on the bike, cleaning it up and the like. Figured that I would show you guys.

1. Cleaned up the front forks. first I sanded most of the oxidation off, then I hit it with "Brasso" metal polish. Here's the ugly starting point.



Happy with the end result. Chrome and shine isn't usually my thing, but it's better than oxidation.



2. I went to work on the left hand instrument controls. Somehow, they were extremely oxidized, more white than grey or black. Scratching it with my fingernail easily removed a powder from the top layer. The 'somehow' of it all was that the other side was really quite fine for a 26 year old piece of plastic. Every other piece of plastic was relatively fine in comparison to the left hand controls. With some apprehension,  I first sanded off the top layer with fine grit sandpaper till I hit good plastic, then hit it with paint polish to really help it shine. Next, I applied Pledge (yes, the wood cleaning stuff) to the whole device, let it soak, then wiped and rinsed it off and really scrubbed it dry again. For some reason after that I was compelled to wax it with Turtle Wax "ICE" . It's one of those new "nano waxes" Surprisingly, it actually stuck! I'm really surprised and pleased with the results

Heres the starting point. Sorry for the grainy picture, but it shows the color - White.



And here's where I ended up. Other than the fact that much of the orange paint is gone, it looks almost new in comparison (the paint was missing to begin with, you could just see an outline of where the paint had protected the plastic from the sun)



3. Polished the paint on the gas tank to remove some of the lighter scratches and really make it shine. Also polished the rear fender to try and get it a little less ugly.





The white crap from the previous owner over waxing it to impress me at the time of sale is sloooooowly going away. Look at the earlier picture in the thread to see what I mean. I'm thinking when I can get it all out, I could spray another coat of clear to improve the finish. Is this a bad idea?

I also tried polishing the engine paint. Just used standard paint polish and a rag. The darker paint has been polished. I'll be reaching to the inside of the engine and polishing it too when I get the chance.

[gammer]

Wow, excellent job on those front forks and left hand controls.
I think I will need to polish both my left and right hand controls soon.

I wet sanded and used polish on my aluminum engine covers. Came out like mirrors. Also, I find Armor-All gives me best results for the black powder coated engine parts.

[Option13]

I know there are products that really make the engine shine, but from what I have read they are all somewhat temporary. Polishing the paint instead of covering it up should hopefully last longer, and then I can put some of that engine brightener stuff on to really make it pop. 

gammer, the engine "clear coat" you pointed out the has got to be fixed. It looks absolutely atrocious.

[hppants]

The difference your work has made is incredible, especially the forks.  Great job.

[SirSeanSean]

Those forks look AMAZING! I now know what I'm doing this weekend.