Cycle Magazine October 1986 - Nighthawk 700Sc Vs Vfr700

This was posted at my other favorite forum, the Nighthawk-Forum. Two of my favorite bikes in one magazine!

http://imgur.com/a/v6Vzs#1

I would take either, but to my taste, the Nighthawk is the better looking bike.

Thanks for that :) It's always interesting reading articles about these bikes when they were new

I like how the pages are all out of order.

Great memories! My first bike was an '85 Nighthawk S. Owned 3 of them before moving on.

Thanks for the great article. My '85 Nighthawk S was the funnest bike I have owned. To complement my '02 VFR I was fortunate to get an amazingly like new 19 year old Nighthawk S and rode it hard for 8 years. Although the 6G VFR is a better bike in every way the Nighthawk S certainly provided more visceral excitement and a sense of speed and power than my more refined VFR. It was quite satisfying embarrassing more modern sport bikes in the curves on that S. It performed and handled very well for an old bike. When we stopped the S got more attention than bikes that cost 8x what I paid for it.

[image: Posing]

I remember trying to decide between the blue '84 NightHawk S and the almost scary looking (to me) Interceptor way back then.

Bought the NightHawk (Salesman threw me the keys and said go ride it and bring it back tomorrow! who does that these days?)

That bike is what absolutely hooked me on motorcycling though. Always missed it, funny to find out later on that it developed an almost cult following, but

I guess I wasn't the only one who found it a special bike.

The Nighthawk S was a great bike, especially for commuting with the shaft drive and hydraulic valves. My best friend in Japan had one and a Japanese guy I rode with had the Japanese version, kind of.

It was chain driven, a full 750cc, and had double headlights. I think it was a CB750X or somesuch...maybe B'ol dor model? Anyone from a country that gets the good bikes remember such a CB750 in 84 or so?

My Japanese friend's bike is spoken about on the last page of that article. It was a CBX750.

Also, very cool ad for T.W.O. Resort on the bottom of the last page!

Thanks for posting!

Let's not forget the commercial with Fast Freddie...

Love the locked up rear wheel to show how well it stopped.

The CBX750 was definitely cool. American Honda figured we didn't need a sporty standard to compete( I say compliment) the VF. They would have had to knock it down to a 700 thanks to Harley.

[image: Honda-CBX-750-F3.jpg]

CornerCarver

The Nighthawk S was a great bike, especially for commuting with the shaft drive and hydraulic valves. My best friend in Japan had one and a Japanese guy I rode with had the Japanese version, kind of.

It was chain driven, a full 750cc, and had double headlights. I think it was a CB750X or somesuch...maybe B'ol dor model? Anyone from a country that gets the good bikes remember such a CB750 in 84 or so?

cbx750 it is. I have testdriven one, a long time ago. 90 horsepower strong, so it was a powerful bike in its day's. But not as strong and refined as the Yamaha FZ750 i bougt then. The Yamaha was tuned and very fast. I bought it at the Shop from Ten Cate, now famous for tuning CBR600 & 1000s for the supersport 600 and superbike championships. The cbx steered nice and accellerated well compared to my cb750kz, but was no match for the Yamaha. When opening the trothle from the Yamaha, i got a comicbook effect, the world changed into lines. From 80 to 180 km/u in a few seconds. I crashed it after owning for only one year, thanks to some ass vandriver, overtaking an other car in a curve. A bad way to loose a bike, but on the sunny side, it brought me the VFR. After my first testdrive, i knew it would be VFR and nothing else.

Kel

Let's not forget the commercial with Fast Freddie...

[video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/CAc9I0lGaoM?feature=oembed]

Love the locked up rear wheel to show how well it stopped............

Fook ABS! That looked kewhl!.....

Here's another :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7zujbKhJS8

Hey Kel, your link to the CBX750 pic is broken...anyone else have one?

Works fine for me CC ....

Great post, Thx!

I had a 83 VF750, then the 84 700S(red) loved them both. My brother and I both had S's at the same time and ran the piss out of them (in a straight line). Wish it was a 750 as the 700 seemed gutless below 7k in Denver, but who road below 7k!!! :goofy:

[image: post-301-0-83777200-1389141617.jpg]

Can't find a pic of my S.

BR

CornerCarver

Hey Kel, your link to the CBX750 pic is broken...anyone else have one?

Weird, shows up on my PC.

Try this one...

[image: CBX750F_1987.jpg]

Here is mine in 2001 just before I sold it, (with the ST1100 that replaced it.)

[image: med_gallery_12973_3540_20648.jpg]

Not the S but I actually rode this thing from New Mex to New York, and back.

Just needed to get there so lots of highway. Most memorable moment was after a torrential downpour I was in a truck stop vestibule pouring water out of my boots and a trucker looked at me smiled and said, " Mighty wet for a sicle!"

Great bikes!

[image: post-25867-0-78739400-1389146365.jpg]

Kel

CornerCarver

Hey Kel, your link to the CBX750 pic is broken...anyone else have one?

Weird, shows up on my PC.

Try this one...

[image: CBX750F_1987.jpg]

That's it!

Thanks Kel. I will look at your original post from the road tomorrow with another browser...maybe it will show up for me then.

Kel

CornerCarver

Hey Kel, your link to the CBX750 pic is broken...anyone else have one?

Weird, shows up on my PC.

Try this one...

[image: CBX750F_1987.jpg]

please tell me the name and sizes of your tires and where can i get them??

funny or not so funny thing is the 86 vfr700 almost has the same trap speed as the 6th gen vfr800---speed wise very close i had a 6th and have 86 700---------and the 700 is smoother must be the carb thing no hesitation poping etc stumble jerk --------slip the clutch under 15 mph-- okay sorry ranting -----

I don't know why honda doesn't just bring back the original 750 vfr with modern wheels shocks and brakes-- and sell it for about 5k less then the 1200 -or the new left over parts 800 if that hits the floor--------------------------------- id buy one-

"The CBX750 was definitely cool. American Honda figured we didn't need a sporty standard to compete( I say compliment) the VF. They would have had to knock it down to a 700 thanks to Harley."

Ah yes, I remember the tariffs caused the 750-700 downsizing, I do think that was a result of HD's lobbying.

apexandy

Thanks for that :) It's always interesting reading articles about these bikes when they were new

For anyone that hasn't seen them, there are a number of old articles in the Article Scans category of the Downloads section. :)

theelf

Kel

CornerCarver

Hey Kel, your link to the CBX750 pic is broken...anyone else have one?

Weird, shows up on my PC.

Try this one...

[image: CBX750F_1987.jpg]

please tell me the name and sizes of your tires and where can i get them??

funny or not so funny thing is the 86 vfr700 almost has the same trap speed as the 6th gen vfr800---speed wise very close i had a 6th and have 86 700---------and the 700 is smoother must be the carb thing no hesitation poping etc stumble jerk --------slip the clutch under 15 mph-- okay sorry ranting -----

I don't know why honda doesn't just bring back the original 750 vfr with modern wheels shocks and brakes-- and sell it for about 5k less then the 1200 -or the new left over parts 800 if that hits the floor--------------------------------- id buy one-

It's a government agency called EPA that's why will never the see the VFR750 with carbs. I like them too ....

I had a 1986 Nighthawk in RWB as my first bike. I got it for around 1800 in 2010. It was a really great bike, but a bit on the heavy side.

[image: post-28808-0-46122300-1391834956.jpg]

It was totaled after being hit by an 18 wheeler, and I used money from the settlement to buy an 07 VFR800 also RWB