09-13-2016, 10:41 AM
In a land drowning in supersized harleys someone stopped me today. He asked with a bewildered and excited look in his eye... Is that a nighthawk? I used to have one it was awesome. Indeed the nighthawk i remember was awesome. I was maybe 14 my uncles buddy had a black 750. That bike may as well of had a rocket engine in it for all i knew we were going mach 10 when he laid into the throttle. That moment for me defined what i wanted out of a motorcycle. I searched and rode everything i could muster myself to buy. Heck i even owned an 82 nighthawk 650 (in 2006 mind you). I gently explained to the man who so dearly missed his motorcycle, and by the way his wifes eyes deeply rolled into her head his fleeting masculinity..... , that it wasnt a nighthawk or a cb750 or a shadow rs it was in fact an amalgamation of all things cb. A bike honda dared to mash together in an age of water cooled speed mongers and slacked out choppers, over done retros , and bobber knock offs. In a moment of massive pride of ownership i simply stated it's a homage to the legacy of the honda CB and it's amazing. All he did was shake his head and said indeed it is.
I was riding through Clinton, Ma the other day and saw an autozone so I pulled in to see if they had the motorcycle oil I wanted. I bought the oil and the manager followed me out and asked what year my bike was so I told the modern retro story of the CB. He was a Marine Corps Veteran and he said one of his "kids" in the Corps bought a CBX back in the day so we talked about that beast of a bike.