Nighthawk 250 cafe build

chicagobob

New Member
Here's a build I recently finished and sold. I'd always thought the Honda Nighthawk 250 has a classic configuration and would make a good cafe racer, especially for a young rider. I also wanted to try the new Chinese tanks and seats that are so inexpensive on eBay. The Nighthawk 250 is a laughably simple bike - only one carb, no oil filter, drum brakes.

The result looks and handles great, but with only 16hp, it's no rocket.

I primarily worked to reduce the bike's weight as much as possible, although I saved the stock exhaust, since the pipes on my project bike were so pristine. In addition to the tiny Chinese tank (advertised as "CB125), I used a four-cell Ballistic battery and a pod filter.

Here's the bike stripped of its factory bodywork. I've already bobbed the front fender in this photo, but the frame is still whole. I sold the tank, seat and headlight on eBay.
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Working on the seat/tail-loop. This seat cost only about $35, is comfortable, and weights next to nothing. Shocks are also eBay specials, a little longer than stock for tighter handling (I also dropped the forks about an inch):
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I made custom aluminum plate mounts for the rearsets, which were designed for the XS650. I rejetted the carb to take advantage of the pod filter (still not much power, but at least the bike runs smoothly):
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Here's the cockpit. Chinese clip-ons with bar-end turn signals, stock speedo mounted on a custom aluminum plate, custom aluminum and brass headlight ears and a classic bullet headlight bucket. Much lighter than the factory stuff:
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The tank came painted and with a petcock and locking cap. No modern conveniences like vacuum shutoff or overflow protection. It's 1972 again. I modified the bike's tank mounts to hold it, and it works as advertised.
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Nice lines and profile. Tires are Bridgestone Battlax, giant on the rear for appearance, in spite of the extra weight. I made a small plastic electrics box for under the seat and mounted a tiny dirt bike taillight to the back of it. The license goes either on a shock mount or on an aluminum splash guard that zip-ties to the frame rails ahead of the rear tire.
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Thanks to my intrepid test rider. The bike is much faster when the rider weighs only 105 lbs:
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