Why did Nighthawks do so poorly in their time period? (83-85)

[Gene]

 Or did they do better than I thought?

My 85 650 seems to have it all.

[Pete in PA]

I did my best.  Bought an 83 new, rode it some 30k miles, loved it, just wanted 1100 power.  Traded for a V65 Sabre in 86  (85 leftover)

Lots of changes in the 80's.  Emissions got tighter so they had to go to liquid cooling, the UJM was falling out of favor, people wanted a cruiser, sportbike, or tourer.

Funny, now that I'm old I'm back on a Nighthawk but it's an antique like me.

[Bob H]

I'm not familiar with their sales figures - did a quick search and found an article that said
It had performance, handling, styling, a 12.5-second quarter-mile time and a price of $2,800. Honda was sure it had a winner.

It did...in Europe. But less so in the U.S. The European rider tended to be more practical, and his motorcycle was usually his only transportation. But Americans were more focused on style rather than function, and were looking for very sporty bikes, or touring models, or the ever-popular cruiser. And in '83 Honda was also offering the Interceptor, the Gold Wing and the Shadow. This "standard" did not cut the old Grey Poupon for the U.S. buyer.

https://ridermagazine.com/2017/05/26/retrospective-1983-1985-honda-cb650sc-nighthawk/

Friend of mine had one, I used to see them all the time and remember when they were on the showroom floor.

Keep in mind that the Harley got the government to impose a "1983 motorcycle tariff" which resulted in the Honda 750 becoming a 700 to avoid having to jack the price up.

The 1983 tariff was known to be coming, and the 1982 model years for Honda, Yamaha, etc were overproduced to get them in before the tariff. You could go to a dealer 2 or 3 years later and buy a "new" motorcycle that was a 1982. I was riding a 1982 Yamaha Seca 750  in the mid-late 80's that I bought 2nd hand very cheap.

So if there is a thing about the Honda 650 not being a blockbuster sales success, it may have something to do with the fact you could buy a 750 that was deeply discounted from the big 4 (Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, and Kawasaki).

The dealerships were overstocked with bikes that took years to move - right as the '83 650 was released into that environment.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_motorcycle_tariff