I get a lot of emails from people who have stopped by my website asking for advice on what to look for or check when buying a Nighthawk.
I've copied a note below that I recently sent to a guy but I'M SURE there are tons of things I've left out. I would love to hear from the gang here on NL about what YOU look for when checking out a used motorcycle. Paul My recent note to someone about what to check for while looking at a possible bike to buy: Obviously ANY dents bring the value down. Usually just inspecting the bike visually can tell you how well it was maintained. Typically when people take good external care of their motorcycles you can expect a corresponding care for the internals as well. Inspect the ends of the foot pegs, end of the hand brake lever and clutch lever and ends of the handlebar grips for ANY scuff marks. Those occur when the bike is laid down. Make sure the bike fires right up and idles smoothly. Racing the engine a few times will tell you if it's still smooth both coming up and down in RPMs. Obviously you shouldn't hear ANY backfiring or ticking sounds when accelerating the engine. Making sure it shifts easily between all gears is also essential. And look at the tires closely for any cracks. Tires can need replacing even when they have a lot of tread left simply because they are old. Cracks in the tires show that the rubber is getting old and brittle. Inspect the chain to see if it is properly lubed (i.e. not dry) and not too loose. If the chain is dry that is a sign that basic maintenance may have been neglected. You'll also want to inspect the SEAT and make sure there are no rips or tears in the fabric. Finally, swing your leg over the bike so you're standing with the bike between your legs, and push down HARD on the handlebars several times so as to compress the front forks/shocks. Then hop off and run your finger on the fork tubes just above where the upper and lower forks come together (see pic below and arrow). An oily residue on the fork means the fork seals are either needing to be reseated or replaced. (Also excessive dirt in that area shows the same thing...as dirt is attracted to the oil.) *Paul LeBoutillier * *www.hondanighthawks.net <http://www.hondanighthawks.net/>* Honda Nighthawk Lovers Email group <https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/nighthawk_lovers> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to nighthawk_lovers+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to nighthawk_lovers@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
