[Yaatri]

Looking at 78 Honda Hawk. Appears to be in decent condition. It's in no way mint condition. It runs, and desn;t have any major issues except maybe, minor electrical, which does not appear to have any effect on running. What would be a reasonable price for it? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

 

[Bill H]

$600 $1200 depending on condition , good rubber and clear title. Anything over $1200 for even a nice one and I would walk. But thats just me. How nice is it and how bad do you want it. They are a decent bike ,easy to work on and maintain.

Bill H

 

[Yaatri]

$600 $1200 depending on condition , good rubber and clear title. Anything over $1200 for even a nice one and I would walk. But thats just me. How nice is it and how bad do you want it. They are a decent bike ,easy to work on and maintain.

Bill H

I appreciate your reply very much Bill. I have been away from bikes for sometime now, but my estimate was close to yours. I was thinking somewhere between $700-1200. He was asking for $2500 but i has come down to $2000. He had bought it from a dealer for $2200 and has put less than 2000 miles on it bringing it to about 22k. His main argument is what he paid the dealer and "low: miles in his opinion. What he paid to dealer is irrelevant in my opinion. I am not buying from a dealer. Nor is low miles necessarily a good thing.

Any other arguments I can use to reason with him without offending him?

I am not averse to walking away. I saw a 1980 CM200T a couple of years ago. The guy wanted $1200 and advertised it as flawless. It ran ok once it started but not flawless. It took a while to start it---with the start button or even the kick. I have a Tires showed their age. I offered $600. The seller declined. I have a 1980 CM200T, which I let sit for too long. The problem with small bikes, especially the Rebel 250 is that many people buy them to learn and then sell them. Maintenance on such bikes is very irregular if at all and might have been abused during learning. Some people get offended.

 

[Bill H]

Honda made thousands of CB and CM 400 bikes. They are a good bike but not special . He has to much in it and I doubt he will come down that far .I bought a CB 400 A non running for $300.00 and put $700.00 in it. I sold it for $1400.00. It was a very nice bike. If your interested in it pick a price your comfortable with , make an offer . Tell him its good for 30 days or so and keep looking. If he cant sell it he may meet your price . If not your not out anything.
Bill H

 

[Yaatri]

Honda made thousands of CB and CM 400 bikes. They are a good bike but not special . He has to much in it and I doubt he will come down that far .I bought a CB 400 A non running for $300.00 and put $700.00 in it. I sold it for $1400.00. It was a very nice bike. If your interested in it pick a price your comfortable with , make an offer . Tell him its good for 30 days or so and keep looking. If he cant sell it he may meet your price . If not your not out anything.
Bill H

Sounds like a good advice. I am not wedded to the idea of buying it from him. Did you enjoy riding an automatic? Shifting is most of the fun in riding a bike. Most of the cars I have bought have been stick shift.

 

[Bill H]

I was t-boned and lost the use of my left foot. The 400 As are great to learn on, ladies and folks like me. On the A model you can shift with with your left hand or put it in 2nd and leave it there.

Bill H

 

[Yaatri]

I was t-boned and lost the use of my left foot. The 400 As are great to learn on, ladies and folks like me. On the A model you can shift with with your left hand or put it in 2nd and leave it there.

Bill H

Ouch. I am sorry to hear that. Hondamatic shifts like a Vespa used to shift? I would pull in the clutch lever and twist it along with the grip. You are brave! I am impressed.

 

[Bill H]

No it had a foot shift but no clutch lever so you could reach down and shift with the left. hand. The 400 As had a torque converter and a 2 speed tranny. With the torque converter you could put the motor in 2 nd gear from a dead stop and ride all day and never shift gears. Top speed in 1st was about 55 MPH so you could ride in town in 1st. On the highway it would cruise all day at 70 MPH with 2 up . they are great small bikes. The HP to weight ratio was such it would give you about the same performance as a 1000 cc HD.

Bill H

 

[esh21167]

No it had a foot shift but no clutch lever so you could reach down and shift with the left. hand. The 400 As had a torque converter and a 2 speed tranny. With the torque converter you could put the motor in 2 nd gear from a dead stop and ride all day and never shift gears. Top speed in 1st was about 55 MPH so you could ride in town in 1st. On the highway it would cruise all day at 70 MPH with 2 up . they are great small bikes. The HP to weight ratio was such it would give you about the same performance as a 1000 cc HD.

Bill H

Never knew this. That is pretty neat. Does that system hold up over time and use, or require any special maintenance?

 

[Bill H]

Main thing on on the A model is keep the oil and filter clean and it will be trouble free. The torque converter and tranny are least of the problems on the A models. On the standard models the motor will hold the bike back when slowing down. Not so on the A model. the bike will free wheel below 15 MPH. so dont coast up behind anybody.

Bill H

 

[Alan F.]

On the standard models the motor will hold the bike back when slowing down. Not so on the A model. the bike will free wheel below 15 MPH. so dont coast up behind anybody.

Bill H

That's info I've never read anywhere before, thanks Bill.

 

[mike in idaho]

The NADA blue book shows it worth $640 in fair condition and $910 in good condition. Don't know what those figures mean in the real world but it's a place to start.

 

[Yaatri]

The NADA blue book shows it worth $640 in fair condition and $910 in good condition. Don't know what those figures mean in the real world but it's a place to start.

I too don't know what they mean in the real world, whether these numbers come from sales or insurance data. Kelly bluebook lists its trade in value at $905 and typical dealer list price at $1570. My thinking was I would go up tp maybe $1500 if I really liked the bike.

I went to see the bike today. The bike was very clean, cleaner than the pictures. The seller told me he had just finished cleaning it up. He had it for 10 years. I had a feeling the bike was a bit too tall for me. I am short, about 5'5". Forget about flat footing, I could not even touch the ground with both my toes at the same time. He offered to let me take the bike for a spin. Didn't even ask for "cash in hand". I must look respectable. I told him there was little point in taking it for a spin as at the moment, I was hesitant to drive it home 40 miles away. Driving it in the neighbourhood is fraught with unforeseen dangers. It's been a few years since I have been on a bike. He offered to drive it home for me. That was very nice of him. He really wanted to sell it. He had back surgery in April. I had open heart surgery in August. I think I need t get back into biking slowly. I have not built up my upper body strength fully as Covid19 has interrupted my physical therapy so much that I can't get more than one appointment every 5 weeks.

What follows now might be a bit OT: On my way home, I looked at a Yamaha VStar 650 classic. The seat height was a bit too low for me, felt even lower than my Blvd C50, although specs indicate otherwise. This owner too offered to let me take the bike for a ride before money exchanged hands. It was very hard to steer the front wheel. I didn't think my upper body was so weak. Then I noticed the air pressure was very low in the front wheel. Once we pumped air into the tires, it was easy to turn the wheel. I might not have been able to steer the bike had I not noticed the low pressure! I didn't get that bike either, as he was asking $3500 for 2001(800 miles). We couldn't agree on a price.

My first bike was 1980 Honda CM 200T that I bought new from a dealer in 1984 for $798. It's seat height is 28.5 inches according to specs. It was vandalised in 1990, battery ground cable cut, ignition switch destroyed. I have no idea why they did that. They could have simply stolen the bike. I was really busy then. Then kids came, out of state jobs, got busier, lots of travel and the bike just sat and sat. Now I plan to rejuvenate it. The Gas tank looked pretty good in 2017, just a spec of rust. stil had gas that looked and smelled like gas. The squirrels had made a nest in the airbox. The air filter foam is pulversied, and the engine is frozen. In the mean time, I need a bike.

Which Honda twins from the 70s and 80s and have low seat height? I really don't want to buy a new bike. Nor do I want to spend a lot of money.

 

[Alan F.]

From what I just looked up the CB400T seat height is 31.1 and CM400T seat height is 29.5 inches.

Perhaps try one out for size? 400 lbs and 43 hp...

CM400E, CM400T, CM400C, CM450E, CM450T, CM450C

 

[Yaatri]

From what I just looked up the CB400T seat height is 31.1 and CM400T seat height is 29.5 inches.

Perhaps try one out for size? 400 lbs and 43 hp...

CM400E, CM400T, CM400C, CM450E, CM450T, CM450C

Thank you Alan. I managed to find a 1978 Honda Hawk sales brochure. It states the seat height as 31.5 inches, which is close enough to 31.1 The CM 200T has a seat height of 28.7 inches. So CM 400 (29.5 inch) and maybe CM 450 series would be OK. The Boulevard C50 and V Star 650 are over 500 lbs and I could manage them fine but you are right, it might be better to stay with 400 lbs or under for now, especially sinceI felt I lacked the confidence I had before.

I saw an ad for 1978 CB110. I can't find any information on CB110. Was there a CB 110. The seat looks like that of CM 200T as does the gas tank. It's definitely a parallel twin. I can swear it's a CM200T. The seller insists it's CB110

 

[esh21167]

As far as pricing, I just bought this '79 CM400T for $1500 with 16k miles. Looks pretty much original except for that sissy bar. Only think it could use are the handlebar rubber bushings as the bars have about 1.5" of movement.

 

[Yaatri]

As far as pricing, I just bought this '79 CM400T for $1500 with 16k miles. Looks pretty much original except for that sissy bar. Only think it could use are the handlebar rubber bushings as the bars have about 1.5" of movement.

View attachment 314860

Very nice. I would love something like this. Haven't seen this bike for sale around here within 150 miles. Kickstart too.

 

[esh21167]

Not perfect, but pretty nice for 40+ years old. Seller was the second owner and had it since 1990. Keep looking. They're out there.

 

[paultreid]

Looking at 78 Honda Hawk. Appears to be in decent condition. It's in no way mint condition. It runs, and desn;t have any major issues except maybe, minor electrical, which does not appear to have any effect on running. What would be a reasonable price for it? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

I paid $200 for my 78 CB400Tii, which i pulled from a neighbor's garage when he moved house. Probably spent $400 on oil, tires, brakes, paint and other bits and bobs, so $600 all-in. Taught 2 of my kids to ride on it and i love throwing around corners occasionally, since it is a very agile bike! figured i would sell it after the kids were done, but i ended up keeping it. Great bike.

 

[KurtD]

I bought a 78 CB400 TII a couple years ago for $440. It ran and had a title, but missing headlight, working gauges, and needed tires. Bought another 78 exact same model and color for $250 without a title. It was a complete bike and worked great as a donor for parts. Need carb rebuild kits, replacer wheel bearing, and a few other maintenance items. All in, probably $1200 for a complete working bike with almost a complete bikes worth of spare parts. It is by no means pretty, but works great. This is my first bike with no experience working on bikes, but have pretty much taken this bike completely apart and rebuilt to make sure everything is working and safe. There are a lot of useful sticky’s in this forum for helping Pretty easy to work on.

I am also on the shorter side (5’6”) so I removed the aftermarket seat cover and shaved some of the foam off the seat so I can reach the ground a little better. At some point, I plan to remove all the old foam and put in some new thinner padding to reach the ground a little better.

Good luck!