I absolutely am loving this Nighthawk I picked up. I've had a fair share of powerful bikes, but this one has got to be one if not the most powerful bike I've ridden. It MOVES when that throttle is opened up.
That said, since it's been stabled for so long while I rebuilt the instrument cluster and the starter clutch - I haven't had a chance to really shake it out.
Took it out for it's paces just now actually.
Like I say, it moves. Pretty nimble too for a bike that age.
That said, looks like there are a few things that didn't get tightened down all the way.
The place where I got the exhaust must have thought they were racers (who knows maybe they were) because the cans were gutted - totally open except for a small nozzle at the exit. I tried to rebuild it as best I could, but since I don't know what the original looked like inside - I had to guess from YouTube vids. I didn't succeed - it needs baffling material added to it. Really badly...
Just about to pull into my neighborhood and I couldn't shift. Looked down and noticed the shifter linkage had snapped. So I limped home - and incidentally even in 3rd gear it starts out perfectly fine - it has that much power. Pulling into my driveway I bounced onto the grass side strip and heard another bolt fall off and the unmistakable sign that I didn't get the triple clamp torqued down enough.
Almost - but not quite
