Honda CB 700SC Nighthawk S

The 700cc displacement of this bike was a product of Harley-Davidson's success... at lobbying for protectionist trade legislation. The American manufacturer convinced the U.S. government to place a heavy tariff on all imported motorcycles over 700cc displacement, squarely targeted at the booming 750cc segment. Most of the Japanese bikes made in response to the tariff were simply sleeved-down versions of 750cc bikes. Not so the CB700SC.

The bike was all-new and featured many touches that were later dropped from the Nighthawk line, including shaft drive, self-adjusting hydraulic valves, dual disk brakes in front, a six-speed transmission with digital gear indicator, and adjustable handlebars. The motor was high-revving and relatively powerful, though the 1984 models did sometimes leak a bit of oil at high revs, onto the exhaust and rear tire. If you own a 1984, keep an eye out for that.

The 16" front wheel and lazy rake (30 degrees) combined with the not-so-stiff forks made low-speed handling a little disconcerting. On the road at speed, it handled quite well.

The CB700SC had classic '80s street rod looks, especially the 1986 red/white/blue scheme. The wildly popular Kawasaki ZRX1100 (and descendants) of recent years draws on this same aesthetic heritage.

Review

When the Honda CB700SC Nighthawk S was introduced in 1984, the words of praise from the motoring press were immediate and, in a surprise twist to the norm, unified. "Surprise: Custom now means California hot rod," announced Cycle. "The California hot rod: Honda’s fiddle-free speed shop special," said Rider. "An American-style, shaft-drive sport-custom that honors another American custom — hot rodding," quipped Cycle Guide. If the motoring press was any judge, Honda had struck a rich vein with its new Nighthawk S.

Like any good hot rod, the Nighthawk S had a purposeful, aggressive look. Paint was either two-tone black and blue or black and red, and just about everything else on the bike — save for the fake chromed velocity stacks on the outside carbs and the polished edges of the cylinder head fins — was matched in elegant, menacing black. Stylistically, the tank, seat and side panels mimicked the angle of the engine’s polished fins, and combined with the bike’s fab little bikini fairing, the 700 added up to a package that screamed "go fast" to riders looking for two-lane entertainment.

Powering this visual feast was an air-cooled, inline four. While visually similar to the engine introduced the year before in the CB650, the 700 was all new. Designed as a 750 (both Canada and Europe got a 750 version), for the U.S. market the engine was de-stroked 3.6mm to give a displacement of 696cc, letting the Nighthawk S just squeak under a newly enacted tariff on imported bikes of 700cc and above.

Since it retained its designed 750cc bore it could still breathe like a 750 through its 4-valve head, giving the new bike 67hp at the rear wheel and performance on par with and even exceeding other 750s. Cycle Guide recorded quarter-mile times of 12.048 seconds, putting the Nighthawk S ahead of Kawasaki’s GPz750 (12.167 seconds) and only slightly behind Suzuki’s GS750E (11.893 seconds). It was only a fraction slower than Honda’s liquid-cooled V4 sportbike, the VF750F Interceptor (11.963 seconds).

Further making the Nighthawk S stand out was its unique mix of old- and new-school bits. By 1984 (George Orwell, anyone?), new-school was in. Liquid cooling, V4 engines, anti-dive brakes, turbos, electronic fuel injection and ignition — anything that gave a performance or marketing edge was on the table. Yet here was the 700 Nighthawk, with a decidedly old-school, air-cooled mill, yet incorporating the latest mechanical advances.

Thanks to hydraulic lifters, valve adjustment was a thing of the past. A driveshaft dispensed with any worries about adjusting or replacing chains, ignition was electronic, an automatic adjuster kept the cam chain taut, and a spin-on, automotive-style oil filter (a first for a Honda inline four) meant easy oil changes. It also featured 16-inch wheels front and rear, plus there was Honda’s second-generation TRAC (Torque Reactive Anti-dive Control) helping keep the front end under control.