I want to get a 97 Honda Nighthawk 750 with only 6500 original miles. It looks really clean and has been garage kept. However, the owner keeps telling me she is cold blooded. That he doesn‘t ride her often, but that when he does she takes 20 minutes to warm up. What could that signify is wrong with the bike?
Well U would have to take it for a spin, it also may need a tune up on the carburators, or take a bike mechanic with u to find out his opinion and see what he says
Twenty minutes to warm up sounds like a real pain. Maybe the carbs could be cleaned. I would suspect cleaning would be a good idea for a bike that old with so few miles on it. That means they probably didn't start it often and gas gummed up the tiny holes in the carb. My friend had a bike that took that long to warm up. We just had to take our time putting on jacket, gloves and helmet. If you like the bike and can afford a carb cleaning, it wouldn't be a deal breaker for me.
Just the nature of the beast. Nothing wrong. My Suzuki Intruder is the same way. When the temperature gets down into the 40's F the engine is difficult to start and keep running. It runs like crap for the first 5 to 10 miles. In the summer it starts and runs much better when the engine is cold. Once it reaches full operating temperature it runs just fine. The older motorcycles that used a carburetor were tuned from the factory to run their best in warm weather. This is because most people only ride them in the summer. This went away when the motorcycle manufacturers started using electronic fuel injection on the motorcycles around 2002. Most people are spoiled by electronic fuel injection. They never knew how much of a pain in the behind the old carbureted engines were. Many of the old cars were the same way. You could not simply start them up and drive away on a cold day. Especially on the old muscle cars. If you started them and drove them right away without letting them warm up for a few minutes you could expect them to stumble and stall at least once. You had to know how to work the throttle to keep them running until they were warmed up. I would take this bike out for a test ride. Ride it long enough for the engine to reach full operating temperature and judge for yourself. Remember to dress accordingly. Wind chill is definitely an issue in cold weather. When it is 30F and you are riding at 55 MPH the wind chill is 11F. Hypothermia and frostbite is a definite possibility. Also the rubber compound used in motorcycle tires is formulated for warm weather. They will have less grip in the cold. Do not ride it aggressively in the cold.
