I'm suprised you haven't found a bike like mine, a 1985 Honda 650cs Nighthawk. I purchased it recently for $1895 off of Craigslist. It's in fine shape for a 37 year-old bike, and only has 14K miles on it, 500 from me.

Keep looking!

 

I have to sell or fix something to sell first- I've got the 93 CB750 nighthawk currently on the road. Of course- Nothing wrong with the 650CS- just "why won't honda make it now?" is a big question.

 

Does your '93 have hydraulic lifters?

A MAJOR selliing point for me.

(I've done more than my share of adjusting valve lash in my day, mostly on my VW's, two '74 Karmann Ghia's, (One a convertible) and a Squareback.

 

of course- it's a cb750! the only actual downside from the 80s bikes is the rebirth (91-02?) nighthawk has a chain drive instead of a shaft drive.

 

Kawasaki Z900RS ABS | Motorcycle | Iconic Throwback​

 

Kawasaki Z900RS ABS | Motorcycle | Iconic Throwback​

yep. Though I was looking more at the 650 as a classic UJM thing.Be interesting to see what people do with the back of the Zs. luggage and sissy bars and such

 

The UJMs are still here, they just call them adventure bikes these days.
My wife's Suzuki Vstrom 650 is a great all around motorcycle, I stole appropriated borrowed rode it to work today, it's tough, simple, reasonably light, nimble, powerful enough to be perfectly happy going 90+ mph on the interstate, and well suited to riding on gravel or a decent dirt road.
It's a lot of motorcycle for $9k, if I could only have 1 bike it would be my choice out of everything in the garage.

 

The UJMs are still here, they just call them adventure bikes these days.
My wife's Suzuki Vstrom 650 is a great all around motorcycle, I stole appropriated borrowed rode it to work today, it's tough, simple, reasonably light, nimble, powerful enough to be perfectly happy going 90+ mph on the interstate, and well suited to riding on gravel or a decent dirt road.
It's a lot of motorcycle for $9k, if I could only have 1 bike it would be my choice out of everything in the garage.

I always want that to work, but the ADV bikes seem to lack the other meaning of the U in UJM - utility. They are great performers, relatively inexpensive. But... seats are way too high in general for the attraction to new riders that a classic UJM has. The luggage and seating options don't match up. I've helped a few ADV guys machine mounts for the hard cases before we sold the farm and ... wow, it's a LOT of work for very LITTLE carrying capacilty. Grocery getters they aren't. Really nice for riding fire trails, and decent commuters if you like that style of riding.

 

Don't overlook the Honda CB1100, introduced in 2011 and still in production. Honda even reverted the rear suspension to the good old twin shock setup, forgoing the mono-shock.

That's about as UJM as they come.

 

Isn't that gone from the lineup for the X or the weird tank sport style black edition?

 

I'm a huge fan of UJMs, and japanese power cruisers. I love the (sometimes underrated) 93 nighthawk I have- but I admit I'd trade it in a heartbeat for an 84-85 version. Honda dominated the market in part because of the UJM thing, for a while....

What options do we have now?

The CB300/500 don't look like universals- or even really "standards" now- they just look like monster-zero version of race bikes. I know we have more street and less dirt road these days, but ....there's still a place for universal, especially with people trying to escape so much.

Honda seems to think the rebels are "standards", but I'm not really buying that.


The KLR doesn't do it for me- aside from the seat height and thumper engine, it's probably CLOSE to a UJM.

There's a glimmer of hope with the Kawasaki Z650- but the w800 is a bit too "hipster" retro (and part of the U in UJM is adding the givi cases, backrest, and having some halfway decent options for cowls and fairings- the w800 is just too much "what it is")

Honda is my love - for the 80s and 90s bikes, but Kawasaki is stomping all over them in a few spaces right now- the elektrode is going to see a lot of "grow into" follow on models, I expect. And the Z series might just be a winner.

Yamaha is doing something similar with the XSR- though they've got the seat height just above the "Universal" threshold. I think once you get over than 30-31 inch range, you lose a lot of the comfort and confidence for some riders)

Are UJMs just nostalgia? I feel like the current world situation is sertting us up for the return of the classics - like the 75mpg KZ400 we used to have.

I've had 12 Hondas, and I am a dedicated Honda fan. However, I just bought a Kawi Z650RS, because Honda doesn't make a proper retro naked.

 

The CB1100 that Roger posted---above is about as pure of a Retro as you can get.

BUTTTTTTTT- every time a MFG responds to public pressure for another RETRO in their line up, they FAIL.

When the CB1100 came out lots of us just flocked to our Honda dealers, with money in our pockets but the bike was just too TAME and PLAIN, especially if one had read the TEST reports: The bike was SLOW as snot and was governed to if I remember correctly a 100 mph top speed that was just unacceptable to Folks that remembered cruising at 120 mph on their early CB750's--I had 2 of them or easily approaching 100 mph on their CB305 Superhawk's--I had 2 of them also.

I instead bought a new CX1300D sitting right next to it, heavily discounted because few people wanted them--just like very few people bought the CB1100, until Honda started making drastic changes to the appearance and performance.

I really like the Kawasaki W800 but----The MFG must think that their bike is GOLD PLATED and here again: Where's the BEEF!!! A Prius on battery power would out run it.

As mentioned, the Suzuki DL650 V-Strom is far superior in every way to 99% of other bikes out there---WORD!!

Sam

 

The CB1100 that Roger posted---above is about as pure of a Retro as you can get.

BUTTTTTTTT- every time a MFG responds to public pressure for another RETRO in their line up, they FAIL.

....

Sam

That's part of the conundrum- can you have a UJM without the "retro" hipster bug? Sure, I want a moderately large tank, a decent mono seat that will handle a passenger (not flat- I REALLY like my nighthawk)- a seat height that lets me work with smaller and newer riders- and a rear end that's amenable to soft bags, hard cases, rack and backrests.

But I don't really care about retro styling. Oh, I'm not into the current modern design aesthetic of adding angles to every surface just because it's a surface. But I don't care about acres of chrome, or round headlights or bullet indicators or anything.

 

Take a look at the Triumph T120. When I was first thinking of trading in my Goldwing (at 78 then, last year, I felt I was just getting too old to handle the 920 pound Goldwing, especially when coming to a stop on possibly slippery asphalt) I almost bought the Triumph. It reminded my of the mid 80's Nighthawks, but more powerful and sophisticated. But my wife objected to the minimalist passenger seat on the T120, saying that if that was the bike I bought I would be riding alone from then on. I ended up, with of all things, a Can Am Spyder RT and love it. But a good condition Nighthawk would be wonderful to have in my garage.

 

I always like the look of those older Nighthawks.
But somebody please take pity on a newbie and explain what the heck UJM means? Somebody finally let on that U was Utility, but I'm still lost on the rest of it. 🤷‍♀️

 

UJM: Universal Japanese Machine. Motorcycle.

 

From what I read, a Universal Japanese Motorcycle typically has an inline 4-cylinder air-cooled engine, transverse mounted, wet clutch, 5 or 6 speed transmission, steel tube cradle frame, standard upright seating position.

Did I miss anything?

 

rear frame/suspension design that's amenable to anything from a pillion to large baskets carrying 5 bushels of produce.
seat height that accomodates most adults with reasonable stopping comfort.
easy maintenance.
ability to "scramble" - not strictly a street bike.
Transverse isn't really required, though it became The Thing- there are single and boxer UJMs (I would argue that the older naked wings were, for sure)

what else?

 

I'm not sure it qualifies as a UJM, but I always liked my TU25x. It just needed ABS and maybe ten more HP. 25HP is plenty for humming along on the freeway at 75MPH. Being so light and flickable, the TUX was a lot of fun to ride. I wish someone made that bike.

 

I think the “Universal” part was that it was a do-everything bike. Use it to commute or run errands, or throw some soft bags and a clip on windscreen and take off for two weeks. It was just a “motorcycle”, not a type of motorcycle. And for us older riders, nostalgia and fuzzy memory plays a role. Maybe those old Nighthawks were not quite as “universally” great as we remember them, but years and youth make them seem so today. If Honda came out with a 900cc naked standard with a 29 inch seat height, v4 engine, a detachable windscreen, ABS, fuel injection and electric starter of course, with about a 3 gallon gas tank, a price about $7,000, it would sell a ton of them.

 

If Honda made a real modern UJM, that is, air cooled, inline four, round headlight and gauges, I'd set my back pocket on fire ripping my wallet out to buy one.

 

I'd be okay with the mid 80s rectangular light and Max Headroom gauges. but that's swappable parts.