Motorcycle advice.......

[Mark J. Besso]

Steve,

I also owned an '85 CB700SC Nighthawk and experienced none of the problems
you mentioned.  It was an extremely reliable bike with little to no
maintenance required. (Hydraulic lifters, shaft-drive, etc.)  It never used
any oil between changes.  The only part failure in ~60K miles was the sender
for the gear-indicator.  The most difficult part of owning that bike was
finding decent tires in the 16" & 18" sizes it required.

Honda V4 engines are the picture of reliability.  The Magna/Sabre in either
the 750cc or 1100cc (V45 or V65) versions were excellent machines.  They
were sold in great enough numbers that finding parts is still quite easy and
not too expensive.....by motorcycle standards, anyway.  The $1200 price
sounds like a fair one if the bike is in good condition.

The only potential drawback to a CB700SC as a "first bike" is the 470lb
weight.  It's something to always keep in mind.....especially with regards
to braking distances.  Since David hasn't owned any other bikes he'll have
no preconceived notion of how the brakes should perform on a bike of that
weight. (For the record, they should perform better than they do to be
considered "good")

~Mark

Bikes own(ed):
- 1968 Yamaha R5
- 1971 Yamaha GT80
- 1972 Honda CB350
- 1972 Honda Mini-Trail 50
- 1974 Suzuki GT380
- 1974 Indian ME125
- 1985 Honda CB700SC Nighthawk
- 1987 Honda VFR700F2 Interceptor
- 1990 Honda NS-50F
- 1990 Kawasaki KZ1000P "Police" (still own)
- 1991 Kawasaki KZ1000P "Police" (still own)
- 1997 Honda CBR1100XX Blackbird (still own)


-----Original Message-----
From: urq
Subject: Re: Motorcycle advice.......

... not an awful choice IMO ... this bike is a shaft drive though, right?
My last bike was an '85 Honda Nighthawk S ... purchased brand new ... first
shaft drive bike I'd owned.  On the Nighthawk the shaft seems to be made of
rubber (of course it is not, it is just not very rigid) ... it is nearly
impossible to putt around in parking lots without feathering the clutch.
There's also the torque effect you get under hard decel ... nasty especially

in turns.  That said, one of my buddies at work got one of them, or maybe it

was a Shadow ... for commuting.  He was pretty satisfied ... although I
remember that he had some really odd and expensive issues with his
alternator.  The more I think about my old Nighthawk the more I remember ...

issues with starters ... oil leaks ... I was very disapponted when the thing

was basically falling apart at 7 years and 40K miles.

For a first bike I'd recommend getting either a chain or belt drive bike ...

and I might get familiar with Suzuki models ... not that I've ever owned
one!  My current steed is a BMW ... a 1992 k1, which I bought as a demo back

in '92 and which now has 123000 miles.  This bike also has shaft drive, but
it is a rigid shaft which doesn't wind up and down like a spring, and has a
much muted torque effect.  I find this bike to be perfect for my needs ...
but probably a bit much for a learner bike.  I'm struggling with whether I
want to take my bike down for a full rebuild or just go out and buy a used
K1200RS or GT.

HTH!
Steve Buchholz
San Jose, CA (USA)
>
> Oh, BTW, I think I've found my learners bike, a 1983 Honda V45 Magna. The
> pics the owner sent with me show it to be in darn near perfect condition
> and
> he says it runs like a new bike. For $1,200 (asking price), seems pretty
> good to me. Anyone care to agree or disagree?