Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126630
-Impressions: 1983 Honda CB650SC Nighthawk Fastest.Hawk on the block By Da le Brown O ur first ride on Honda's new 650 Nighthawk raised an in teresting ques tion. Could Honda h ave committed an error norm all y reserved for those of us in the prin t media bu siness, releasing a motorcycl e to th ese shores with a typographical error across both sides? Each side panel bears a "Nighthawk 20 primary gearin g from th e end o f the cra n k inboard. The overall en gi ne co m pac tnes s i m p ro ves co rne r in g ,clearance a nd allows Honda to use a longer swinga rm with the shaft d rive 650" emblem , but our sea t-of-the - / to m in imize torque react ion without . pa nt s performance meter reads 750cc gr eatl y ex tend ing the wh eelbase. power o u tp u t. H owever , a ll H onda 's .' The 650SC is one of th e new H onp romotion al an d statist ical materi al ' das with h ydraul ic va lve adj ust me nt indica tes a d isplacement of 655cc, so to eli m inate val ve lash adj us tme nts . we'll ha ve to tak e th eir word for it. H ydraul ic va lve lifter s have been in The Nighthawk is, performance use in a u tomobiles for some time, bu t aside, an interesting blend of custom th e technol ogy ca n' t be a p p lied to a nd sport styling. The gas tankdefihigh-revving mot orcycle eng ines benitely has a "custo m" sweep to it, th e ca use the oi l froth es. H onda's system 16-inch rear rim sp orts a massive ha s no moving parts, o ther than a Dunlop tire, and th e front wheel is a sma ll metal ball sepa ra ting two o il19-in ch er. Even th e 4-in to- 2 ex ha ust filled cha mbers. At ma xi m u m cam is o f th e short, fat megaphone variety. lift , th e ball closes bet ween the two All fea tures we've been seeing o n the cha m bers, a nd the hi gh press ure cus to m -styled mach in es for th e past behind it (a ided by a sp ring ) push es severa l years. Yet the rid in g posi tion aga inst the rock er a rm to ma intain is more sports-orien ted . All in a ll, it's val ve clearance . H ond a cla ims that a performance vehicle. it's maintenance-free, and o il cha nges are normal, every 4000 miles. Go department ' 'The bottom line o n the pow erThe four-cylinder engi ne is a 16pl ant is that it 's very health y for a valver with doubl e overhea d cam650. You can lu g it a lo ng at under sha fts. For a 650cc engine, it's both 3000 rp m, but it's happi er fro m 4000 narrow a nd short . The lack o f wid th rp m un til it a pproaches its 10,500 comes fro m mounting the a lterna tor rpm red lin e. Th e eng ine doesn 't beh ind th e cylinder and transmi tting " co me o n th e pipe" like some 550s power directly from a gea r o n th e we're famil iar with , but just keeps cra n ksha ft to th e c1utch /mainshaft bu ilding power in a steady su rge . p ai r in g , m o vin g th e" trad itiona l I Starting is easy with th e a id of th e handlebar-mounted ch oke lever. The bike a lways fired tip right aw ay , but the rider had to wait a whi le before the motor was wa rm en o ug h to opera te sa fe ly. Four 29mm con sta n tveloci ty Keihins handle the fu el/ai r mixing , a nd th ey seemed to do a good job. Power is transmitted via straightcu t gears and a sha ft drive. Honda claims its transmission is a five-spe ed with overdrive, but riders with experience on other six-speed street bikes wo n 't notice that big of a differen ce between a sixth g ear a nd a n "overdrive." In th e h ift ing department, th e N ighthawk rates as hi gh a mark as we 've g iven to th e marque. It wa s quick , short o f th row a nd positivel y easy. The h ydrauli call y-a ctuated cl u tch a lso go t good marks for ease of use. H onda seems to have set low maintena nce a s a h igh design priority. Shaft dr ive is low in th e upkeep effort, as is th e valve ad j us tme nt setup. The ca m chai n is adj us ted a u tomat icall y, an d even th e a lte rna to r (which has its own fan ) finds th e in ne r co re spi nni ng, leavi ng th e wi n di ng sta t ic a n d e li m ina ti ng brushes. The road department Wrapping th e eng in e is a double down tube tubula r steel fram e. In front, beefy 39m m fork sta u nc hions wrapped by long, leading-axle sliders dominate th e view. In o u r experien ce th e front suspens io n wa s n ice a nd plush for straight- lin e ri ding, but needed to be stiffened up con sid era bly for ser io us twi sties . - hev're T a ir-adj us ta ble, so a llyou ha ve to do is ge t a n air ga uge a nd go to your neighborhood gas sta tio n . La ck of time and a " m in or" meteo ro log ica l ma tter p reven ted us from doing too much experi me nti ng. --' Double discs a t the forward end feature th e double-piston ca li per that H onda 's had for a co up le of years and we've loved for abou t the same a mo unt of time. H onda ha s' their own brand pf anti-di ve system , ca lled Torque Re- ยท ac tive Ant i-dive Control, or TRAC. Under the force of braking, the cal iper tri es to mo ve with th e ro to r. As it does so fra ctionall y, it tr ips a lever and th e co m p ressio n damping is stiffened. H onda says their system gives more precise feel from braking th en do other hydraulically-actuated systems. In our impression, we didn 't notice that much differen ce. TheTRAC system is four-way adjustable by using a screwdriver to adj ust a slot in the slider leg . The rear shocks feature both spring preload and rebound damping adjust ment. As delivered, th e pre-load was a bit stiff to allow th e sh ock s to abso rb quick, sharp jolts, but th e bike was pleasant to rid e over most other en co u nters. We played with a variety of damping sett ings. There was a noticable d ifferen ce in rear wh eel contro l between th e one a nd four setting s. We used di fferent settin gs for canyons and freeway. Th e rea r brak e is a drum, a nd we co u ld eas ily lock it up a nd mak e the rear wheel skip a beat or three during panic stops. During normal usage it seeme d OK , b ut th en we were using the front brake as o ur primary stopper. Front a nd rea r tires are tu beless Dunl ops m ounted o n cas t a lloy wh eels. No big impression s o ne way or the o the r o n the tires. Odds ' n' ends One of our biggest com p la ints su rfacing a bo u t th e 650 was th e wa y th e contro ls were laid ou t. T aller riders found their kn ees in th e a ir, a nd even shorter pilots mentioned so me th ing to th at a ffect, a lt ho ugh th e shorte r ones had . no troubl e reach ing the gro u nd. Compared to other customstyled bikes, th ough, th e ergono mics are not too bad. Handlebars also drew a mixed reaction, with some saying they should be pulled back furth er. H and con-