Rusty, Because someone always has a differnet angle. I have a 1996 750 Nighthawk and 1982 650 Nighthawk. I ride the 750 every day - I don't own a car - and it is by far the most reliable vehicle I have ever owned. I purchase a 1892 650 in extremely good condition last April for $1,500, it's in Portland / Bend Oregon depending on my travels. I think I paid too much for itat the time, however, I have taken 3 road trips on it this summer, the shortest being 750 miles and the longest being 1,500. The last trip is scheduled for the end of this month and will be around 1,800 miles. The guys that I'm riding with have 1 - 2008 KTM 650 2 - 2000 Harley softtail springer 3 2008 V-Strom 600. The KTM and Harley have broken down. The V-Strom is by far the most reliable. However, my old 650 just chugs right along. I bought the bike from the original owner with 19,000 miles on it. It runs great and I have had zero problems. It did cost me arount $400 to get it tuned up, oil change, fork seals, etc when I bought it just because I'm paranoid and am putting around 5,000 mile on is in 4 months.
I also purchased my 750 from the original owner hand have put 15,000 miles on it. I had to replace the value cover gasket and am changing the oil every 3,000 miles. Other than that now with 30,000 miles on it it's running great. The point of this email is that when you're dealing with older bikes its as much about the bike as it is how it was taken care of in the past. Also, take your time, if you lick the right one you will be riding this bike for a long time and don't want to feel like you're on the wrong bike and in todays market you will have lots of choices. A few weeks ago someone posted an article about the top 10 bikes according to Motorcycle Magazine - I think - take a look at that. It will give you a good list of bikes to take a look at. Keep it rubber side down. On Aug 2, 8:13 am, Rusty <[email protected]> wrote: > I'm looking for a used bike and found a 1982 Honda Nighthawk 650 with > 12K on it. It looks well maintained--it felt great when I took it for > a ride. The owner (who has had it for about three years) is asking > $1,700. To figure out a reasonable offering price, I have looked on > the web, checked out NADA (which says the value for an '82 650 in good > condition is around $600 and one in very good condition is around > $1,100), Kelley Blue Book (somewhere between $800 and $1,200 for trade- > in and retail value). I also spoke to a highly recommended mechanic > who said I should stay away from Nighthawks of that vintage (the early > to mid-80s) because of frequent and costly carburetor and charging > system problems. I do not know a lot about maintenance and repair. I > did like this bike a lot and would love something like it to use as a > commuter bike to and from campus. Anybody have any advice about > whether this mechanic's warnings are sound or whether this bike is too > good a deal to pass up, and at what price? --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
