1984-1986 Honda CB700SC Nighthawk S: Under The Radar

Enlarge Image Image Gallery 1984-1986 Honda CB700SC Nighthawk S.

When Honda introduced the CB700SC Nighthawk S 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).