About 3 years ago I was on the lookout for a street bike. I had a lot of dirt bikes when I was in high school, but never a street bike. I really love the sound of a high-revving inline 4, and I'm also a sucker for classics that may be down on their luck in need of some TLC. I also didn't have a lot of money to spend, and wasn't sure if I'd like to ride on the street that much, so anything I got had to be cheap. I ran across this bike on Craigslist, listed with no pictures. I usually don't go to look at something if I haven't seen pictures of it first, but I felt adventurous that day, so I went for it. I'm very glad I did!
The bike is an '83 Nighthawk 650 with 25K on the clock. It isn't pretty at all, but it fired right up when he hit the key, and purred without any bad noises or smoke. It was kept outdoors, but on concrete with a cover, so there isn't much rust, just a really poor excuse for a paint job. I paid $600 for it and he threw in a helmet and bike cover with the deal.
These pics were taken the day I brought it home, but it looks almost the same to this day, except I removed the Hondaline luggage rack and highway pegs to clean up the appearance. I've only put 5K miles on it in the last 3 years, but it has paid for itself many times over by now just in the gas savings alone (my daily driver is a V10-powered F250). It has been a fun little bike and I've had to do very little to it. I did replace the spring on the cam tensioner and I put a used front wheel on the front because the original one was bent.
Currently the bike is still bone stock, but I am planning to so a few modifications to it in the near future. I have avoided making this a "project", as I have many other projects and I didn't want this to consume all my time and funds, but after 3 years it is time for a few updates. I've always hated the square headlight on it, and have been scheming a round headlight conversion for some time, which is what let me to this site (awesome info, btw). I also would like to add some type of windscreen to it so I have something to tuck behind on the highway, but I hate the look of them. I'm hoping that I can pick up one of those round "cafe racer" style fairings that wraps around a round headlight. They would only offer minimal protection, but I think they look pretty good.
I'd also like to open up the sound of the motor a little more so I can hear the 650 scream. I don't want to spend money on an aftermarket exhaust system, and I don't want straight pipes, so I'm considering putting pod filters on the carbs and maybe drilling some holes in the muffler endcap. From doing a little research on here it looks like I would have to rejet with these mods, but that's not a big deal to me.
Eventually I would like to repaint the whole bike to get rid of the horrible spray-can flat red paint job. But, like I said, I don't want this to be a project, so it may have to wait a few years until it gets done. In the meanwhile I'll keep riding, tinkering and enjoying it!
