Here's a short motorcycle tale-maybe something to help break the winter boredom
some of us are experiencing-if it gets too boring feel free to quickly hit the
delete button.....Back in the early 80's my 16 yr old nephew called me and said
he needed someone to take him home because he was starting a new job. His dad
couldn't get off work until the week-end. It was the first week of June, a
Monday if I remember correctly. We live in west central Indiana and he needed
to get back to his hometown of Sullivan, Missouri that was approx 250 miles
away [or thereabouts]. I was driving an old Ford Maverick at the time and knew
there was no way it would make it to MO! I told my nephew [Brett] this and he
instantly said "what about taking the Honda?". He was referring to my Honda V45
750 Sabre. I reminded him that the Magna was pretty much a "Cruiser" and that
the small seat might be a little uncomfortable on his rear end but he said he
could handle it. I said okay-to his credit he never once complained [but he
did do a little squirming after 100 miles or so]. We got an early [slow moving]
start at around 6AM, the fog was so thick you could barely see 10 yards in
front of you! The fog quickly disappeared and our speed increased. Cruising at
75mph on Interstate 70! The ride to St Louis was pretty uneventful but I must
admit that seeing the Gateway Arch for the first time was pretty impressive! We
stopped at a local bike shop in St Louis called Donelson's [they're still in
business], I was needing a new helmet and picked out a "Nava" full-face model.
Does anyone remember the Nava? Nice helmet. The guy at Donelson's even shipped
my old helmet home for me at no charge! We arrived at Brett's house later that
afternoon and after visiting with the relatives for a couple of days I headed
back to IN. I chose to stay off the Interstates on the return trip, I remember
going through a little town called "Mexico, Missouri". Always thought that
sounded strange. On my way home I had to stop at one of the local firework
"superstores". With the 4th of July just around the corner I figured some black
cats, cherry bombs, and M-60's might be needed to spice up the occassion.
Crossing the Mississippi River twice was pretty cool, on the way back I
remembered the advice "don't look down". I was glad I remembered! Made it home
with no problems, mechanical or otherwise [Hey, it's a Honda!] Less than 5
months later on a cold Nov morning our phone rang at 5Am-I knew something
wasn't right. Brett's mom was calling to let us know that he had been killed by
a drunk driver while walking along the side of a rural road on his way home
from work-he died instantly. When I often think back on all of the bike rides
I've taken through the years you'll probably understand why my trip to MO with
Brett that summer remains very special to me. Ride Safe
DON SIMPSON
93' 750 NIGHTHAWK
West Central IN
Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:05:39 -0700
From: markh...@sbcglobal.net
Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Re: Riding origins
To: nighthawk_lovers@googlegroups.com
No it wasn't boring just to damn short! More!
Don Simpson <dk...@hotmail.com> wrote: Here's my motorcycle story: I
bought my first bike in 1966, it was a Honda S50. Cost was under $300. Since
then I've owned 15 bikes-12 Hondas, 2 Yamahas, and 1 Suzuki. I've had several
2/3 day excursions through the midwest and someday hope to take an extended
tour for a couple of weeks or so to some other part of the country. I have a
large motorcycle magazine collection and at one time owned every issue of
"Rider" Magazine. I even had an article published in that magazine, in Feb of
1998 [I think]. It was a story about Dreyer's Honda Shop in Indianapolis called
"Honda's Oldest Dealer". I was paid $300 for it!! My
favorite bikes that I've owned through the years would be the CX500, V45
Sabre, 84 Nighthawk S 700, and my current 93 750 Nighthawk. The harleys and
the metric cruisers dominate my area's bike scene and most of my riding is done
alone. I've ridden in the rain, the cold, the stifling heat,etc. and wouldn't
change any of it. I still consider every ride an "Adventure". Hope this
wasn't too boring. Ride Safe.....
DON SIMPSON
93' 750 NIGHTHAWK
West Central IN
Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2008 17:23:27 -0600
From: p...@hondanighthawks.net
To: nighthawk_lovers@googlegroups.com
Subject: [Nighthawk Lovers] Re: Riding origins
You guys can keep this up forever! I am definitely being entertained and have
LOVED hearing the stories so far. Let's have more!
Paul
Paul LeBoutillier
Nighthawk Lovers Email Group Admin
On Fri, Aug 8, 2008 at 5:08 PM, Kyle Munz <kyle...@gmail.com> wrote:
My story's not anywhere near as exciting as Jeff's, but here goes.
My dad had bikes in his youth and did Trials Riding in Japan during the late
60s early 70s. This is before I was born ofcourse, by the time I came along he
had moved onto Goldwings. Infact there was always a Goldwing of one sort or
another around the house, my sister and I grew up on the back of them,
sometimes both of us at the same time. We were small kids. I had a couple dirt
bikes
as a kid, a suzuki JT75 and a Honda ElSenor 125 if I remember correctly, but
once I turned 16 I went the 4-wheeled route and ended up repairing an '87
Mitsubishi Starion turbo as my first vehicle. I did the autocross thing in that
car as well as other general tom foolery (including jumping it and running from
cops I'll admit). That car didn't last long. I've owned 5 4cyl turbocharged
Mitsubishis since then, the last were 2 all-wheel-drive. Mitz's are very quick
and a blast to drive when they're running, but no where near reliable enough to
be an everyday car, thus the current Tacoma. But back to bikes, I got a new job
a year ago, one that was only 15miles each way from home, and working off
hours, so from out of nowhere I decide I wanted a bike. Even though I would
never consider buying a civic or accord when it came to bikes I found myself
searching for "Honda" on craigslist and eBay, probably because that's what was
around the house growing up. I hadn't narrowed it down
much more than I wanted something mid sized. Big enough to use the freeways
since it's almost impossible to avoid them in Houston, but not too big. I also
was fairly certain that I didn't wanna sport bike, or "ZoomSplat" as my dad
calls them. He suggested I get a Goldwing, but I think that's a bike for older
guys ;) Besides I'm not sure one would fit in my garage, those things are HUGE!
Well, as I was browsing Hondas in the classifieds I came across a nighthawk and
that was it, my mind was made up. From that moment on all my searches were for
nighthawks. Surprisingly there's not many nighthawks on the market in and
around Houston, and the market here seems to be very inflated. Hopefully that
will help if I decide to sell the one I've got for a 700S some day. But I
finally found one for $500 in Phoenix (where my dad and sister live now) and
had my dad go look at it. The kid selling it got it to fire right up without
using the choke (come to find out that was because the
choke cable was siezed) so my dad bought it on the spot. On the outside the
bike didn't look too bad, but it has turned out to be far more project than I
had intended. Anyhow, long story short, 10 mos later I managed to get it on the
road. Yesterday I got it inspected, today I got it registered, and I've put a
whole 31 miles on it. I've taken my basic rider course and now that the bike is
running I'll go see about getting my motorcycle endorsement on my license.
-Kyle
-83CB650SC
On Fri, Aug 8, 2008 at 4:49 PM, Zach <zacm...@gmail.com> wrote:
I guess my origins are happening right now. My father had a small
Honda before i was born until he had to lay it down to avoid what
would have been a much more significant crash. I have always
been
into motorcycles, but after being unable to convince my parents that a
bike would be a great highschool vehicle (definitely influenced by my
father's crash) I put it on hold.
In 2000, my dad got a suzuki marauder 800 (surely a symptom of "nearly
empty nest" syndrome) and my brother and i learned on that. My
brother was able to get a Suzuki GSX 650 immediately after that, but I
never got the bike to go with my permit (bad relationship and then
divorce will do that sort of a thing :P ).
I've ridden my dad's marauder at each oppurtunity when i go visit, and
finally decided to take the plunge this year. I've been looking at
adds all summer and last weekend found a Honda Nighthawk 550 on
craig's list. I went and checked it out, and purchased it as soon as
it was demonstrated that it could start, stop, turn and shift :) I
just got it registered and insured, and i took it on my first ride
yesterday, to
a mechanic who is going to get it into inspectable form
(hopefully by the time i get back from my business trip next week).
After tasting riding, completely on my own, for the first time, i want
more, and i will admit, there's a certain amount of frustration that i
finally have a bike, but i have to wait to ride it! Here in Vermont,
the riding season isn't particularly wrong, and i waited untill it was
more than half over to get the bike, so I'm very aware of every rainy
and passing day.
This bike was originally intended to be a bike for me to learn on,
maybe for a season, so that if i went for a newer/bigger bike next
year, i'd be going into it with more skill and confidence, but i'm
finding i'm already starting to feel a bit of attachment to it, and
i'm loving this site and learning about the Nighthawk history :)
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