Hey fellas,

I have been wondering about bikes recently, as you can all tell from my "good beginner bike" post. I may have found something that interests me, and I might be buying sooner than I thought.

My original plan was to take a course and then go looking for the bike. But my uncle is planning on selling his bike and I was thinking it would be a good bike to learn on before I get a speedy bike. It's a red 1988 Honda Nighthawk 650. I know it's not sporty like a CBR or even a VFR, but what do you guys think? I know much less about bikes than I do about cars, so any help would be much appreciated. Should I do it? Thanks guys.

 

Nighthawk 650, hrm... never ridden one, nor do i have any clue as to a reasonable cost of such a bike.

What's the cost involved? Tires new? brakes new? Pretty much all bikes are fun to ride... cept those huge mo fo HD's... ugh.. i dun like dem.

more info dude.

D

 

My uncle is not in the US so I havent had a chance to talk price, mileage, options, etc. Just wanted to know if anyone's got any experience with this bike.

 

never rode them either. but how about you just learn to ride your uncle's bike, but don't buy it? saves some cash for the new bike. plus, better to learn first instead of buying a new bike and messing it up.

i learned from dirt bike riding, close to street riding, but not too close. had a bad habit of putting my foot down too much on my F4i. ended up ruining shoes! haha

 

A nighthawk is a cruiser. It should be fine to learn how to ride on. It has a more relaxed riding position and there isn't enough power there for you to go nuts on like on a sportsbike. Not to mention, since it's old, you wouldn't mind as much when you drop it. Make sure you take a riding course, too.

 

I believe that is a shaft drive. They are good bikes in general, just that the shaft drive makes em act a little funny when you twist the throttle. It should be a good bike to learn on. They are powerful enough to keep for a while, and they make nice commuter bikes.

good luck

 

Here's my opinion on this matter:

I don't think you should buy it just because your uncle is selling it. Perhaps it does make a good beginner bike, but the bike is 13 years old now. Learning to ride on a sportbike is not hard. The biggest difference as I see it, is that you can rev the snot out of the current 600s. But if you keep it around 5k, a sportbike is easy to learn on. I would think that you'd end up growing tired of the Nighthawk REALLY fast.

If you can afford to get a sportbike right away, then go for it.

Since you are planning on taking a course (MSF, I assume?), I believe there's no need to have previous knowledge of riding a motorcycle. I think the class is more beneficial if you have a clean slate (errr, as in no experience).

However, Nighthawks are reliable. But IMO, they're ugly. And a lot of motorcycling has to do with looks.

 

how about huffy or schwin? haha jp. yeah, marmalade boy is right. a sportbike is not that difficult to ride. and it would be funny to see a youngsta on the nighthawk.

 

So your impression of the Nighthawk is like an older, cruiser-type bike? Yeah that seems about right. If he were not selling it, I would be inclined to look for a CBR 600F3, because eventually I do want to move up to Sportbikes. I just don't want to be tempted to go crazy when I'm still learning.

 

pretty nice bike had one it rides smooth
I had a honda silver wing 82 model
They ride about the same the 650 a little faster
it is a heavier bike and makes it easier to transfer to a low weight bike and will teach you not to try to push the limits