I will try to give an impartial review of the Nighthawk 750, although it is difficult to remain objective when it's your first bike. Sort of like your first girlfriend (OK, OK, boyfriend too. I hate all this PC crap).
Mine is a 1995 model, purchased new in February 1997. There is fundamentaly no difference between any of the 1991 through 1997 models. I have the following options:
This makes routine maintenance easier. (Attention Newbies: This can be troublesome to operate for some people. It was for me, but now I know the secret!)
It was extremely simple to put this on. It offers great wind protection for anyone under 6' 1". I think if you're taller you can just install it a little higher! The only downside is that it increases the level of buffeting. I have ridden a Nighthawk with a much smaller fairing, and the buffeting is gone, but then you get wind in the chest, so everything's a tradeoff in the wind game.
They look much bigger in the Honda Product Line manual than they do on my bike. Must be the photo perspective. In any case, they do work. I have tested them a couple of times!
This was a tough installation for me. I am not a mechanical genius by any means. The instructions were just average. I discovered that I had the rear lock cable routed incorrectly. They warn you about this after it's too late. Those of you with experience probably have the sense to read the entire instruction sheet before you start! Pay particular heed to the part that says to use a piece of plywood when you drill. I used a piece of cardboard, figuring I could control my drill. Well, its a good thing I have a tap set, because I marred a few threads on the shock absorber mounting nuts. Honda recommends that you do not exceed 6 pounds of weight on the luggage rack. I think that the Product Liability lawyers are running amok at Honda, because it's sure built better than that!! I had at least 20 pounds on it during the trip, and it's still as solid as a rock.
I had no mechanical problems at all on the trip. Of course, when I started it barely had 3,000 miles on it, so I really didn't expect to have any problems. The Nighthawk is a chain driven bike, but the chain maintenance is no big deal. I used a spray on chain wax and just sprayed on another coat every 2nd or 3rd day, depending on the mileage. I never did adjust the chain slack on the trip (I didn't want to mess with the 24mm Axle bolt using the dinky kit tools. It had about an inch and a half of slack when I got home. There were no apparent ill effects from letting it go that long. I have 10,000 miles on the bike as I am writing this, and the chain wear indicator is right on the line between the red and green zones. The sprocket still looks good, and there is no obvious chain damage, nor any evidence of "chain slap" anywhere else on the bike. Never having owned a bike before, I don't know if my not adjusting the slack for a couple of thousand miles has adversely affected the chain life. I'm not sure what the normal chain life would be. The bike used about 1/2 quart of Mobil 1 15W50 during the entire trip. That's not bad for around 4,900 miles of mostly high speed riding. Gas mileage varied from 25 to 55 MPG, depending on the speed and wind conditions. In the future, I will only bring a small container of oil. A full quart takes up too much valuable space.
I found it to be a comfortable bike to ride on long trips. It would be even better if the handlebars were about an inch higher and an inch farther back. I've just been told that this type of handlebar is available for around $25.00, so that will be my next modification. The handlebar size and shape necessary for individual comfort of course varies from person to person, so the stock version may be perfect for you. It wasn't bad for me, I just think I can improve my long distance comfort with the new one.
The bike had no trouble with the extra weight, and handled all of the twisties perfectly (in my opinion). The seat seems fine for me. Of course my butt got sore now and then, but I just moved around a bit, and that seemed to do the trick. My right ankle was more of a problem, but I would just rest it on the peg with the toes pointing down for long stretches to alleviate the stiffness.
Vibration was not a problem. My hands never experienced a buzz. The Nighthawk is smoooooth. At 75 MPH the bike is turning just under 5,000 RPM, but since it is so smooth, it doesn't seem that high. This is a bike that will run all day long at 80-90 MPH comfortably. I am planning on changing to a 16 tooth countersprocket in the near future, and that should lower the Highway RPM's a bit, at the expense of some low speed quickness, but that's what I prefer anyway.
The gas mileage was lower than I thought it would be, but that's probably because I had unreasonable expectations. My experience was that the Nighthawk 750 will give you the following cruising ranges with one rider and a full load of gear( around 300 lbs total):
This is a sufficient range for most touring. If you're traveling to the Arctic Circle, then strap on a couple of collapsible gas tanks!
Noise is a factor on most bikes, and the Nighthawk is no exception. I wear a 3/4 helmet with a visor, and with the bike constantly running around 5,000 RPM's, and the wind rushing by at 75-90 MPH, you can quickly ruin your hearing. Plus, all that noise tires you out faster. This is easily cured by wearing earplugs. I used the little disposable foam cylinders that you roll between your fingers to reduce the diameter, then stick them in your ears. The foam expands and blocks out noise. They do not block out all noise, so you can still hear traffic, horns, etc., but they reduce it to comfortable levels. Being thrify (cheap), I don't dispose of mine until they look pretty bad, so I get about a weeks use out of one pair.
I have read a couple of negative posts on the rec.motorcycles Newsgroup about the springs and shocks on the Nighthawk 750. Here is my experience. As I said before, I weighed about 190 at the start of the trip. I had around 90-100 lbs of stuff loaded on the bike. My leathers, boot's, and helmet are probably 15 pounds together, so we're talking "hefty load" here. I moved my shock pre-load from the normal #2 position to the #3 position at the start of the trip. I increased my tire pressures to 35 front and 41 rear to compensate for the extra weight. I only bottomed out the rear shocks ONE time the entire trip (at least that I felt). That was when I didn't see a pothole the size of a moon crater on a tree canopied (scattered shade) road that was in real bad shape. That was the only time, and I was on every imaginable road condition. Perhaps over time they will weaken a bit and I may need to improve them, but for now I think they're acceptable.
For those of you who are wondering about riding 2 up, I think it is feasible on the Nighthawk, but you would have to limit your luggage quite a bit, unless you are small. If you stay in motels and eat at restaraunts, then you'll be fine. If you want to camp out with your wife/husband, and bring all the goodies, and pull a trailer-tent, then by a Goldwing Luxo-barge.
Heat was not a problem on the trip. The weather was fairly mild everywhere. I don't think the temperature exceeded 85 anywhere, so my experience may not be typical, but I never felt cooked even sitting in traffic on warm days. The motor on the Nighthawk 750 doesn't seem to run all that hot. I guess the oil cooler is effective.
Is the Nighthawk 750 the world's greatest motorcycle? Probably not. Will I buy another one after this one is all used up? Yes. Why? Because, dollar for dollar, it is the best motorcycle value out there, period! Sure the BMW's get a bit better gas mileage, and you have hard bags, and no chain maintenance, but they cost two or three times as much. Triumph's & Motoguzzi's aren't as reliable, and cost too much also. URAL's won't go around the block without falling apart, so don't even think about a long trip unless you have a support van with parts. Harley's are way, way, overpriced. Plus, with the exception of the huge touring monster that has a rubber mounted engine, I've been told those Harley V-Twins will shake your teeth out when going over 75 MPH. The only small Harley is the Sportster, and frankly, it's not even in the same league with a Nighthawk. Harley owner's will counter with, "We have the best resale value! I can sell my bike for more than I paid for it!!"
Oh yeah, right! Try riding it for 80 to 100,000 miles, then see if you have any thing left to sell. I suspect if you added the cost of the parts and maintenance required to run a Harley that many miles, your actual resale value would be negative. If you want to buy a bike just to putt around on and show off and then park it in the garage 95% of the time, go ahead. I bought mine to ride! In 6 or 7 years, when it has over 100,000 miles on it, if it's worn out, I'll just save it for parts and get another. Hell, for the price of 1 overpriced Harley, I can get 3 Nighthawks.
The other Japanese manufacturer's don't make a standard 750 that I know of. Suzuki makes a Bandit 600, but that's too small for comfortable long range touring. Everything else is either a cruiser or a sport bike. The cruisers can be made into touring machines, but they limit your seating options, don't handle as well, and are now at a price premium. The sport bikes would be harder on my wrists, upper back, and neck area on a long trip, and I'm average sized, so it probably affects most people that way, especially those of use who are over 40. Standards are the best overall bike, and the 750 is the perfect size for solo touring, or freeway commuting, all things considered.
The final area I considered is weight. The weight of a bike is always a compromise. A heavy bike is a bit more stable in the wind, but hard to manuever off road and in town. Did you ever watch someone in a 650 to 800 pound cruiser trying to make a u-turn at an intersection? It's painful to watch. Ever watch someone on a full dress tourer or a big Harley try to back out of a parking space that tilts the wrong way? It's not a pretty sight. Maybe Arnold can pull it off, but most of us can't. A smaller bike is easier to handle and manuever, but if it's too small the wind affects you more, the engine RPM's wear you out, and you don't have the capability to carry much. At 463 pounds, the Nighthawk 750 is the ideal weight. I had no trouble on any road surface. I rode in some vicious winds, and lived to tell about it. The bike was heavy enough to be stable, yet it is still very nimble and quick.
Well, I guess you can't finish rating a bike
unless you talk about style. I'll be honest, the Nighthawk 750 is not
about styling down the road, it's about substance. When I went bike
shopping, I looked at everything in its price range (and that ain't
much folks). It came down to the Yamaha Virago 750, the Kawasaki
Vulcan, the Suzuki Marauder, or the Nighthawk 750. I thought the
Marauder and the Virago looked the best, but I didn't really want the
handling of a cruiser, the seating position, nor the added
maintenance requirements of the Virago. I didn't like the way the
Nighthawk looked in any photographs I had seen, and wasn't even going
to consider it, but when I sat on one, and looked at it in person, it
looked better. The more I look at it, the better it looks. Kind of
like a modern version of the old CB750. That's probably because it is
a modern version of that old wonder bike, the CB750. If it was a car,
I suppose it would be a Honda Civic or a Toyota Corolla. Not the
fastest (but faster than anything else in its class), not the
sleekest, not the most luxurious, but an honest, reliable, well made
machine.
I purchased a set of RKA soft saddle bags expressly for this trip. I ordered the standard black 47 liter saddle bags. The only problem I experienced on the entire trip was a stretched metal D-ring. RKA saddlebags have a pair of internal straps in each bag, which cinch up the load inside the bags. This helps the bags maintain their position when fully loaded. These internal straps pass through a metal D-ring. I was energetically cinching one up when the D-ring stretched. It was still useable. I squeezed it back together with my Leatherman multi-tool pliers (folks, don't leave home without one of those in your tool kit). It stretched out again later, so it had apparently lost its temper (strength, not anger, for you non-metallurgists out there). Even stretched out it was still functional.
The bags have a great mounting system. The straps are custom sized to fit your bike. They are on your bike very securely, yet are easy to remove. The bags experienced no leakage at all during my trip. Whether this is due to the Scotchguard I applied or whether the bags themselves are inherently waterproof, I'm not sure. I do know I gave them one hell of a checkout during a 45 minute downpour at 80 MPH in Wyoming. I also had it parked outside the laundromat the same night, and it rained heavily for at least an hour and a half, yet the insides were still dry.
I used a Wolfman magnetic tank bag. In it I carried my camera equipment, a tiny little Sony AM/FM/SW radio, extra gloves, a small towel, a thick leather 6" x 8" leather planner, some small snacks, and whichever pair of glasses that I wasn't wearing at the time. It did experience a little leakage, even the map compartment, but nothing too serious. I didn't treat this with Scotchguard, but it might not have made any difference. I think the leakage was through the zippers. It did have a tendency to lift up in the front just a little at freeway speeds when placed on top of the gas tank, although not enough to make me think it was going to come off the bike. When I moved it down just little closer to me, then the magnets held it down flush on the tank.
I installed a small "bicycle type" handlebar bag on the front, fastened to the Hondaline Windshield mounting rack. I used this bag to hold a 2 cell maglite flashlight, a tube of sunscreen/insect repellent, and a small handheld 40 Channel CB. This little bag worked great, and filled up some wasted space. The only problem with this setup was that it was interfering with my view of the speedometer. There was about a 1/2" gap between the bottom of the windshield and the top of the headlight, which allowed quite a bit of air to rush in, pushing the bag up a little bit. The top cover of the bag was riding up and over the instruments. I kept pushing it back, but that got old after a while, so I sealed the gap with a strip of duct tape, then used another piece to strap the bag top down a bit. That did the trick. It looked a little tacky, but I don't care about that anyway. Improvisation is the key to low-bucks touring.
I used a cheap, soft suitcase to hold the majority of my clothing. It was about 10" x 18" x 24" in size. It rode on the passenger seat, fastened with a couple of bungee cords around the backrest. I fastened its strap handles to the handles of my cylindrical sleeping bag cover/bag with a couple of bungees, which added stability to the load. I found out that this bag wasn't waterproof either. Luckily, by the time I found that out, almost all of the clothes were dirty anyway! After doing the laundry, I put the clean clothes inside a small trash bag, and from then on I just stuffed the dirty ones in the bottom of the softbag. I have since acquired a Wolfman rear seat bag. It's great, with lots of room and extra pockets galore. I will use this next time.
I had a small G.I. canvas tool bag on the luggage rack. As it turned out, I didn't need 90 % of what I brought in that bag, so I will delete much of the contents the next time. I put my tent on top of the tool bag, then put the cylindrical bag which held my sleeping bag, mat, mini camping pillow, and first aid kit on top of that, then bungee'd it all down.
In the RKA bags, I carried my cooking stove (which
was inside a 2 pound coffee can for protection), a pot & pan set,
a few dishes, all my food, a 2 quart soft canteen filled with water,
a small red fuel cylinder filled with unleaded gas for the stove (or
the bike if I ran out somewhere), the bike cover, a quart of oil
wrapped in a few rags, a folded plastic tarp (for the tent), and a
candle lantern. I had a few other miscellaneous items in there also,
but I can't remember them all.
My little Wenzel biker tent is one incredibly
small package. It is about the size of your average thermos when
packed up. It is the perfect size for one person. I was able to put
my clothes bag, boots, tank bag, and leathers inside with me at
night, and still had enough space to move a bit in my sleep. It is a
little awkward getting in and out of due to the low height, but not
too bad. The only problem I experienced with this tent was one that
can't be cured. Condensation! After just a couple of hours, the
insides of the tent walls are WET! If you touch them or shake them,
the water gets on you and your sleeping bag. There is a small vent at
the foot of the tent, and you can leave the front doors open and vent
through the front screens also, but even with it fully vented like
that, condensation is still a big problem. Keep in mind that the
temperature was in the 45-55 range at night. Perhaps it's better on
warm nights, I don't know, but as much as I liked the size, next time
I will take my little pop up 3 person dome tent. It is a bit bigger,
but it will still fit on my bike. The roof is fully vented on that
tent, and I don't ever remember having a condensation problem before.
I am just as thrifty with my apparel as I am with everything else. My jacket was given to me by my youngest brother (I guess that makes it a "hand me up"). He is now a lot bigger than me, so it didn't fit him any more. It was custom made years ago by Leather Odyssey, located in Hayward, CA. It is tough as nails, comfortable, and fits me fairly well. It has genuine Indian head nickels pressed on as snap covers! It also had about 3 to 4 inches of metal studs hanging down from the zipper pulls. That was too "Harley" for me, so I cut those way back. This is a $500.00 jacket, but since I got it for free, it's in my price range.
My chaps were purchased at Leather Odyssey for $100.00. I can't imagine touring without them. I had some bugs smack into me that I know would have hurt like hell had I been wearing only jeans! They also offered some protection for my legs against the rain, since I left my rain suit bottoms at home. The leather is excellent quality, but in my opinion the stitching was just so-so. The belt portion came off in Wyoming. Leather Odyssey said they stand by their merchandise, and will repair it any time something goes wrong. They did. I suspect that some of the stitching performed while altering the length will not last. We'll see.
My boots are "engineer" style, purchased from Sportsman's Supply (a mail order outfit). They cost me around $50.00. They have oil resistant soles and steel toe protection. They are cheap because they are made by slave labor in China! Sorry about that all you Union folks. I didn't know it at the time. I will buy American next time (except for the bike). The only negative on these boots other than the source is the fit! The ankle and leg sections are too loose to offer any real support. The straps & buckles don't cinch them up tight enough. I suppose it's tough to get a good fit by mail order. As soon as I get some extra cash, I will start trying on some decent boots. Until then, they do offer more protection than tennis shoes!
I bought both pairs of gloves at my local Honda Dealer. The thin gloves are comfortable, but anytime the temperature is below 60 degrees F my hands get cold at freeway speeds if I ride more than 20 minutes. Since they are short, they don't ride over my jacket sleeve, and the wind travels up the sleeve chilling my arms. My cold weather gloves (also made by Chinese slave labor I suspect) are about 1 size too small (my hands are big, it's all I could find), but they offer great protection. They kept my hands functional while riding in the cold in Washington and Oregon (except for the blizzard). They keep my hands toasty warm on my night time commutes. They also extend past my sleeves on the jacket, so the wind is not a problem. Except for the size, they are perfect. I have had them soaking wet 4 times. I dried them 3 times in a dryer, and once just hanging. They still fit the same, and are still supple. They are actually a bit of "overkill" for my evening commute, so I am in the market for a third pair, something a little less bulky.
That's all there is folks. I enjoyed the writing almost as much as the trip. Hope you enjoyed it too. Now---go make that trip of your own before it's too late!!
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