I've had some of the same sort of problems on my 700SC. I went with my wife up a gravel mountain road and with the gravel and the weight and all I was mostly in 1st and 2nd. Well, after awhile the engine got hot and not long after that the clutch stopped working. I pulled the clutch lever and nothing happened. The first time this happened, we were quite a way back in the national forest and I was thinking, "Oh bummer a dead bike at the end of the world." I began to think of all the stuff between where I was and home and wondering if I could make it all the way back without a clutch. We turned around and began to coast downhill and after ten minutes or so of rolling downhill with little load on the engine, I had a clutch again. This is something that seems to be true of all 700SC's because two years later on another one, I had basically the same thing happen but this time I knew what it was. I think the master clutch cylinder is close in to the engine and when the engine gets hot, the cylinder also gets hot and loses its seal and then you have no pressure when you squeeze the clutch leveruntil it cools off again.
Dennis Gallagher Seattle - 85 & 86 CB700SC -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of wakeboard TX Sent: 23 May, 2009 19:16 To: [email protected] Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Re: 85 650 Air Cooled? Yes. Ride fast and don't stop. The air and oil cooler only work when the bike is moving or there is a strong head wind. When I ride it I can almost always avoid long stops/traffic jams on a hot day by turning right on red, white lining, etc. I once loaned my Nighthawk to a friend for a ride to Galveston for a Summer motorcycle rally and we sat in heavy traffic that was also jammed up due to a wreck at an intersection on hot asphalt, of course. After about the 3rd light cycle that allowed 2 cars through, I went ahead and got through the intersection on my Valkyre which had kicked in the radiator fan through several cycles by then. Once my friend got through the intersection I stopped him to explain the importance of maintaining motion on an air cooled engine and to switch bikes so that I could get the Nighthawk down the road and cooled off. Once he had pulled over he shut the engine off and it was cooking from the heat. I tried to start it and get rolling but the heat had also baked the battery and it faded on the first try. Then, I tried to push-start it but the clutch was so hot it slipped, so we parked the bike facing into the wind (we had been headed down wind) and went for a cool drink across the street and after about 25 minutes I got it running and was able to make it to the destination without stopping once and had no further issues. Since that day, my Nighthawk is not loaned out to anyone but my brother who is a veteran biker and understands the importance of air cooled motion on a hot summer day. Dale in HOusTon _____ Date: Fri, 22 May 2009 13:14:43 -0500 Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Re: 85 650 Air Cooled? From: [email protected] To: [email protected] The answer to overheating: drive really fast!! Lots of air blowing past the bike will cool it off. Red lights are for cages... -Kyle KK P.S. Glad my new ride is liqui-cool.... ;-) On Fri, May 22, 2009 at 1:12 PM, stanley/ Randolph <[email protected]> wrote: My personal opinion? I shut it off if I am doing a lot of in-town driving with lotsa stops at lights and stop signs, and I coast a lot also. Keeps it a little cooler and that has to help longevity of the engine. Stanley <http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/tsmileys2/04.gif> _____ From: Javier Garcia <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Friday, May 22, 2009 12:57:32 PM Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Re: 85 650 Air Cooled? Now that summer is getting here, I start to feel how my 96 NH 750 get much hotter, specially when I stop in a traffic light after driving for a while. Since it is air cooled I always worry when if I get stuck on traffic, for example. I'm wondering if it is convenient (or correct) to shut down the engine while, lets say, I wait for the traffic to move. Or it would be better just to leave it running? Javier. On Fri, May 22, 2009 at 1:34 PM, stanley/ Randolph <[email protected]> wrote: Although you have an oil cooler, it's basically air cooled; the cooling of the oil is in addition to the cooling of the metal via the fins to dissipate the heat. the older Beetles and Porsche 911s were air cooled, but also had oil coolers. The Beetle had no oil filter and only had a total of three qts. of oil in the sump; 911s had a dry sump and a nine quart oil tank, so changing the oil on a 911 is expensive nowadays, compared to back then. Nighthawks are probably the most reliable air cooled engines in a bike... _____ From: prophetic_joe <[email protected]> To: Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers! <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2009 2:25:53 AM Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] 85 650 Air Cooled? Here's the deal guys I always thought my 650 was an air cooled motorcycle but recently searching around for parts I came across a "cooling system" now this system is the same thing that I have on the front of my 85 but the seller made it seem like it was more than just air cooled. Talked about oil for it and such? Did I miss something because I love my bike and really don't want to screw it up. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
