1984 Honda Nighthawk

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Honda 1984 CB700SC Nighthawk S This is probably one of the nicest CB700SC Nighthawk’s on the market today. My Nighthawk has just 6300 miles and looks near new. The paint is bright the handle bar switches are nice and black with no sun fade. This bike has been well cared for its entire life. The tires were replaced this summer. The carbs and bike were just serviced and I will provide the receipt. The bike runs great. It comes with the shop manual and tool kit. This bike has been recently serviced so it’s ready to ride. I have a clear Colorado title. I have replaced the goofy grips with stock Honda grips. Here’s a little history on the CB700SC Nighthawk When the Honda CB700SC Nighthawk S was introduced in 1984, the words of praise from the motoring press were immediate and, in a surprise twist to the norm, unified. "Surprise: Custom now means California hot rod," announced Cycle. "The California hot rod: Honda’s fiddle-free speed shop special," said Rider. "An American-style, shaft-drive sport-custom that honors another American custom — hot rodding," quipped Cycle Guide. If the motoring press was any judge, Honda had struck a rich vein with its new Nighthawk S. Like any good hot rod, the Nighthawk S had a purposeful, aggressive look. Paint was either two-tone black and blue or black and red, and just about everything else on the bike — save for the fake chromed velocity stacks on the outside carbs and the polished edges of the cylinder head fins — was matched in elegant, menacing black. Stylistically, the tank, seat and side panels mimicked the angle of the engine’s polished fins, and combined with the bike’s little bikini fairing, the 700 added up to a package that screamed "go fast" to riders looking for two-lane entertainment. Since it retained its designed 750cc bore it could still breathe like a 750 through its 4-valve head, giving the new bike 67hp at the rear wheel and performance on par with and even exceeding other 750s. Cycle Guide recorded quarter-mile times of 12.048 seconds, putting the Nighthawk S ahead of Kawasaki’s GPz750 (12.167 seconds) and only slightly behind Suzuki’s GS750E (11.893 seconds). It was only a fraction slower than Honda’s liquid-cooled V4 sportbike, the VF750F Interceptor (11.963 seconds The motorcycle press loved the bike for more than just its styling and specs. Cycle’s March 1984 review praised the engine for smoothness and lauded the chassis, saying "the 700 steers lightly and precisely. Hustling down mountain roads, the Honda responds immediately to steering inputs." Rider concurred, calling the Nighthawk "a joy to jam up a winding ribbon of asphalt. It steers quicker than a GPz, goes faster than an ES and feels a lot less cumbersome than an Interceptor on a tight road." Cycle Guide noted a tendency for front-end chatter in bumpy turns, yet said, "In fast, smooth corners, it’s virtually impossible to make the S misbehave." The bike’s 16-inch wheels helped some, especially up front where a small wheel means quicker steering, but most of the bike’s cornering prowess was down to Honda’s clever positioning of the drive train. Compared to the CB650 Nighthawk (against which it was often compared but shared no parts), the CB700 carried its engine farther forward and lower, giving a lower center of gravity and allowing a longer swing arm, the latter effectively canceling any driveshaft-induced frame jacking as the rider twisted the throttle on and off. Overall, complaints were almost non-existent. Mirrors were noted for getting fuzzy at high RPMs and for not sticking out far enough, and some testers were less than thrilled with the TRAC system, but otherwise the 700 seemed the perfect middleweight. The weight is 469.7 lbs. (213.1 kg).