The old school 80's V65 magnas are the ****.

 

Anybody else remember this commercial?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGfJ9IqXcoE

 

V65 My Older brother had one. He is nine years older than me. I think, I was about 11 or 12 when he got it. It was bad *** at the time but, if memory serves me correctly it got a bad reputation for poor oiling performance in the heads and bad camshaft wear. And the Vmax was brought outto kill off the V65 but Honda took it out of production. Right after the Vmax showed up. I have heard several times that is the reason the Vmax never got any upgrades, and the damn V 65 actually set a Guinness world record in its day great bike Honda should have worked out their poor quality steel problems and lubrication problems and kept it around, would like to see a new bike built with a updated 1100 V four or bigger

 

Woah nelly. I remember that commercial. In 1983 I rode a V-65 Magna in a commercial for Honda of Canada, that was shot outside Phoenix, but was nowhere near a radical as Honda's USA spot. Any of our Canadian friends remember my spot or have access to it? The mid 80's Honda V-4's did have some reported problems getting oil to the rear cams, although there are still enough of them around to suggest they weren't all so afflicted. As to the Guiness records, the Magna was listed as the worlds fastest production motorcycle for 3 or 4 years. It was kind of a big lie though. Guiness listed it's top speed at, if I remember, 173 mph. Problem was that while it was geared for that speed, it couldn't pull redline in 6th (overdrive) and probably maxed out around 145 or 150. I had an 85 V-65 Sabre, introduced in '84, which was geared for 177 (couldn't pull it) but it didn't knock the Magna out of Guiness.

 

Man, I have like a million questions , do you think that the shaft drive was a fact it is top speed capability. Do you think chain drive would've actually put the bike, where it should have been accorded to Guinness was the Sabre and the magna the only chassis that the 1100 V 65 was ever drop in by the factory. The main reason I'm wondering is one of the very first sports bikes I own was the VFR interceptor and quickly realized its kinship to V 45 series and always wish they had built V 65 version of the interceptor with big cams. Larger carburetors or fuel injection. Now that would have been a bike for the 90s and today

 

Hardcorp, no I don't think that the shaft had much to do with its top speed, although it added weight and probably robbed a few ponies. More to the point, a lack of hosepower and the aerodynamics of a barn door were the limiting factors. On my 1100 Saber, sixth wasn't called sixth- it was called OVERDRIVE. Theoretically, I suppose that if you found a mountain road long enough to come down and had a nice tailwind, you could reach its listed top speed while still in gear. But as I said, the Sabre had taller gearing than the Magna but it still didn't knock the Magna out of Guiness. As to the V-65 (1100cc) engine, yeah, it only appeared in the Magna ('83 to '86, I believe) and Sabre models ('84 to '85). Honda did make a 1000cc Interceptor for a couple of years, maybe using the smaller engine to keep it within AMA and World Superbike rules. Someone else may know better- did the 1000 Interceptor run superbike, or did the 750 Interceptor. I know the rules limited fours to 750 cc for a number of years, raised back to 1000cc a few years back, but did this apply in the mid 80's?

 

I like most bikes, but I have to ride a sport bike. i don't feel like i have control if my feet are way out in front of meand i'm sitting on the bike all low. I had the chance to get a 2000 Sportster 883 for the same price as my F4 with alot less miles on it and in better shape and turned it down for the fast that i did not feel right on it.

 

What about a V-Max? I don't like tuning forks but the V-Max is a beast!

 

The Vmax was brought out to kill off the Magna just about the time Honda decided to drop the Magna from the lineup and Yamaha did keep the Vmax in production and it is a monster in a straight line and has not had a production upgrade in 20 years. Just imagine what the bike could be like with computer management upgrade and after an upgrade how about it in something like a R1 frame with a slimmer profile

 

True, it hasn't had any up grades, only down grades. More restrictive exhausts and carbs. I think the most powerful ones were the 89's. They sound great though.