I have an original Honda sales brochure for one of these bikes. wow. it screams "late 70's". the gen 1 VF750 makes it look old. but it is the godfather of the honda V4.
Yes, hot machine as long as you don't go around corners, the 83 version was especial wicked as it had accelerator pumps in the carbs and pulled pretty darn good. believe it put down 113hp to the ground at that time, that was un heard of and Jay Gleason got a 10.9 1/4 out of em. I rode my brother inlaws around ever time we hooked up, always thought that be a fun bike to have in the back of the garage for those frisky moments, that and the wife liked riding on it as it had that little padded rear seat riser. still not user friendly in the twisties, not bad if you know what you're getting into just could be a handful awfully fast. Now that the V max is back Honda should bring the v65 back too in a more rowdier version.
my dads got one... and mad is that thing wicked. i havent seen a bike like it ever before. its in its own league along with the vmax. its even better cuz it has the shaft drive. with as much torque as it has you have to be careful because its way different than a chain drive. in my eyes its the ultimate sleeper
I've ridden the Magna V65. Great motor, but overpowers the frame and suspension, which is just about right for that time period. I raced a V65 Sabre on my mildly modified 1100F years ago, and he stayed right with me until 4th gear. Fast bikes, and pretty reliable. They also hold their price well.
my dad has one with 4,200 miles. Beautiful and fast bike. It really picks up the front tire while shift
ugh...my dad still tells me how fast his v65 magna was. He had one when i was born and got rid of shortly after because he drove like a tard and never had the front wheel on the ground, says my Grandpa lol. Seems like they were pretty mean machines in their time.
V65 Experience I owned an '83 V65 Magna, the first year they came out, and it was one fast bike. In fact, the fastest production bike on the street until the VMax debuted in '85. Pee Wee Gleason clocked some high 10 second times in the quarter mile. When I lived in the Mpls/St. Paul area, I took the bike on a trip to Wyoming. At one point, there was 77 miles between towns and all you saw were cattle roaming in the fields so I decided to see just how fast the bike would top out at. At 142 mph I decided to shut it down b/c the Tracy quarter fairing I had on the bike began to shake violently. If you are looking for a cruizer, it is very comfortable to ride and very smooth due to the shaft drive and the fact that is has the wheelbase of a Honda Aspencade (Gold Wing). This is my own personal opinion, but I still think it is a very nicely styled bike...even by todays standards. If you look on ebay or Craigslist, they are not selling for that much less than what I purchased mine for back in '83. I paid $4500 for mine and the last time I looked on ebay, excellent condition V65's were going for between $3500 and $4000. I never had any issues with my V65 Magna in the 4 years I owned it. I know several owners had issues with the bike overheating b/c the radiator fan would either not turn on soon enough or would time out too soon (I don't remember specifically what the problem was). There is an aftermarket fan switch kit these owners were buying and installing to remedy the problem...and it did work. Other than that, the bike was mechanically solid. I hope this helps you out. Best of luck on your quest for a bike...but stay with Honda. RocknVFR
I had an '84 V65 Sabre. It used to be listed on Honda's web site as one of its benchmark bikes. For 84 it had tons of power and torque. I recall the torque hitting pretty hard at around 4k rpms. Sold it to hel with getting a boat that I ended up using verry little. Joe
Sabre does handle better as it has less rake/shorter forks, and the engine is solidly mounted to the frame - whereas the Magna is rubber mounted. Plus the Sabre has raised clipons and the Magna uses a tubular handlebar. And the Sabre has a more aggressive seating position - putting more weight on the front of the bike, while the Magna has a laid back seating position ala HD. The Sabre has 2-3 more HP due to different cams and carbs. Rear tire HP is realistically in the mid to high 90's for both bikes.
Saw a Vf 1000 in the HOV lane several weeks ago. It had a red seat and the heavy on the red with white and near black blue stripe paint job. I was surprised to see a big Vf out on the 60, let alone in the pm traffic. The guy was making his way through heavy traffic. I don't remember him being dressed, he looked like he was just commuting. He got stuck in the HOV. I had to manuver through the "near to jamming" early PM flight home traffic, to pull up beside him in the #1 lane. He was doing about 70 to 75 up the hill on the 60 at Diamond Bar. I was in my car. I took a long stare and I think he thought I was being strange. But I was only trying to get as long a look as I could. The HOV ended and he pulled out around the guy he was tailgating and blasted up the hill with no effort at all. He was lost in traffic in 10 seconds. The bike was very clean, I didn't get to see it very long, but it seemed like it was too nice to chance loosing it to LA traffic on a hot September afternoon.
More about the V65s I currently own a 1983 V65 Magna. What everyone has said so far is pretty dead-on. They had some cam problems due to lack of oil to the uppers, and Honda did a recall to replace pitted cams, but never acknowledged there was a design flaw in the oiling system. Some bikes had issues, while others didn't. There's an aftermarket oiling mod that alot of us get on our bikes just to be sure. They are great bikes and will go like stink. See my website for more information. Tom Hayward, CA www.flyv65.com
I borrowed one from a friend and came back an hour later with TWO speeding tickets from two different cops. Wicked bike. Comfortable and freight-train fast.
