I still have my 1st bike and I'm wondering what I should do with it.
I guess it's a good retro classic now, so artwork might work if I can't get much for it.
The bike is the 84 Honda Nighthawk S. I parked it after the carbs gave me fits and she sprung an oil leak in the head.
The good: the frame was stripped, acid etched and painted with PPG automotive paint. I have all the body work in good condition plus a matching Corbin and crash bars and all the plastics in good condition.
The bad: she has a salvage title but I have a spare frame that has a clear title but back due CA DMV unless it's out of the system (over 15 years out). coin size tear in the Corbin, probably requires full carb rebuild and pretty fair amount of work. Tires are really old.
This is the actual bike, the Corbin has the red stripe and I have the crash bars.
It's been neglected since I got the 919, if I can't get $1,500 or so for it, it's not going to be worth it, except to maybe some artwork kinda thing. It's some 35 years old, so it's clearly retro and I really do like the styling.
Q. what cold I get for it if I decide to invest the time to rework the carbs, fix the oil leak, but NOT replace the tires. Is $1,500 or more going to happen?
It is your first bike, and you really like the styling.
Aside from the oil leak (head gasket?) that should be an easy fix, all the mechanicals are good, as well as the electrics.
The CV carb diaphragms will surely need replacing, past that, assume good carb cleaning and replacing the low speed circuit parts will net a nicely tuneable carb set.
Aside from the seat, it's stock, including the mufflers that appear not to have rusted out.
My guess is that what you can get for it as is, will not be a reflection of its underlying condition in terms of what it is, i.e. a 35 year old bike.
I'd suggest trying to find a way to get it sorted out and back to roadworthy, and keep it.
I've still got my first road bike, an 85 gpz750. Currently not on the road. Still runs just needs forks rebuilt. I plan on turning it in to a Cafe racer/tracker, army green? Something wild anyway. Fuck stock. Been stock for 35yrs, time for something else.
One of the problems is storage. I had this thing freshly painted and just did the jet kit, new clutch and a number of other things... then it sat. Once they sit for a while, they go down hill and you're spending more time just to keep it up.
I do have to say that I didn't store it well and water got in the cables and stuff.
Old motorcycles are a money pit,My last try was a honda V 65 magna. She looked good and only had 22,000 CA miles on her.I just got tired of working on it. And parts are mostly beat up used parts. Same thing with a 1984 GS 1150 Suzuki.
I moved on and did not look back.
The same can be said about anything old, bikes, cars, houses, anything... I rebuild my own stuff, I've torn down this engine probably 4 times so far and it hasn't really cost me anything. The only downside now is that I've let it sit and I'd have to fix a leak and clean up the carbs once again.
In good running condition, they seem to fetch a pretty fair price, maybe along the lines of the 919.
I still have my 86 Nighthawk S. I need to pull the carbs and get them rebuilt, but it’s in pretty good shape for all that. One in excellent shape can sometimes fetch $4000+ at this time.
See what they are going for then decide if you have the time and money to put into it. Remember that chasing memories is a costly venture that doesn't pay off so well.
I know, I did this before and it doesn't always pan out. You add up the time and money for parts...
In this case, the bike was running great in the video and there's not really many parts that I'd need. I'd hate to see it just sit there and rot away, but I've got so many projects right now.
The 700S was too close to the house at the time when I was using an old hand-me-down paint sprayer and now she needs to be buffed out, but here's an old video. This was just after a full strip down and frame/engine paint.
I also painted all the red on the bike, those aren't stickers. The frame was acid etched to get rid of any rust spots and painted with automotive PPG paint.
The 919 videos are in my closeup of the chain when I was having issues with a new chain, I don't have any good videos of the 919 right now, but she's pretty much just a stock red 919:
I was pretty stoked when I got it, didn't have a clue about the bike at the time. Kinda have to get back to fixing refreshing it because I can't stand letting it just sit there.
It was funny years ago when I was looking at a new bike. Thought about the Ducati, ZRX and Buell as well as looking for the 919. Someone said that the 700S was 25 years old and modern bikes would be so much better... someone pointed out all the features of the 700S and showed a video of it and how cool it sounded... The forum was stunned by the bike.
It really is sad to see it just sit there waiting to be renewed.
I had the 700s for about five years before finally admitting that a bigger, more modern machine was going to have to take over touring duty. If you break a bike that old out on the road, you might find yourself in a bind.
Nostalgia kept it around for a year after I got the 919 until a local guy with deeper pockets and a really nice collection of similar bikes offered to give her a better home. The 919 was getting all the love and money anyway, so away she went.
He's done a great restoration, and it's fun to go by now and then and see it.
IDK if I could go back 100% stock and some things are very hard to get in nice condition. Like the "black chrome" headers and various other bits.
I'd settle for get getting her back to regular running condition. She had an oil leak and a carb flooding problem last I rode her, so it is within reason to bring her back to life, just have to invest a few days of work.
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