1988 Honda NT650 Hawk GT

Yup, the cult classic.

We don’t need to have me write the how’s or what’s and why’s of its cult status, just simply Google “Honda NT650” to get your primer. Rather, I just want to recount how exactly I came to ownership of what is effectively my very first Honda motorcycle, fourteen bikes owned later:

It was just a regular Wednesday, right in the middle of a work week. The day before, in wanting to try a very different kind of motorcycle that I’ve never had, I contacted a seller after coming across his ad in the local Craigslist. Ultimately, we agreed for me to see the bike that Friday, which would’ve been my next immediate day off from work. I typically don’t like waiting that long to see a bike in person that I have even just a bit of interest in (because I would be so fixated in the mean time!), but the seller assured me he hadn’t really had much interest in the bike since he posted it for sale fourteen days ago. I felt a little better about waiting then, but that really only lasted a day.

The next day while at work, I asked the seller if he had time that afternoon to show it. He did. I have a perfectly fine helmet I’ve retired sitting on my desk at work, so I thought, “hell, why not?” I made the arrangements to leave work early, taking my retired helmet with me, and headed to meet the seller and the bike. I even brought the cash for the seller’s asking price. The seller and I met, talked over and around the bike, then I handed him the envelope of cash to hold while I rode the bike.

All I knew before I got on the bike was this was a motorcycle first made 26 years ago in 1988 (I was only six years old!), with a production run of only four years after Honda pulled the plug from weak sales. I’m not going into the logistics of why they did, but suffice it to say that regardless, the NT650 was simply a bike that was made before it needed to be. The common consensus is – and I believe it be true before even riding one – it was simply ahead of its time. Way ahead. So then, what was it like to ride an old bike that was made too soon?

Well...

Neither old nor young, but stands the test of time.

When I was working for Monterey County in my late teens to early 20's, I remember working with a woman who was easily 30 years my senior, at least. Despite her age, she kept herself to a form that rivaled any young woman between her age and mine. And I'm not talking about the plastics, paint, or silver and gold women adorn themselves with – just naturally beautiful, and whether by diligent work or good genes, her body just defied its age. I always wondered what it would be like to spend time with a woman like her.

But now, I imagine it'd be just as much of a good time as I had riding a well-kept, 26-year old motorcycle that somebody built just right at their first try. And I would probably be right about this too – a first date just wouldn’t be enough. I would want to take her home.

So I did. The question now is this:

Will this be just an affair of infatuation, or can this be long-term?

Let’s find out.