1985 Honda Magna

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When the V65 Magna hit the motorcycle scene in 1983, its impact was like a 600 pound chrome sledge hammer. The V65 made big muscle look cool and the power cruiser was born. According to cycle magazine, the big V 4 engine " has a mid-range punch that would do justice to Larry Holmes'! The liquid -cooled 90 degree V4 delivered a staggering amount of power from 1500 to its 10,000 rpm redline! Drag strip maestro,Pee Wee Gleason took a standard V65 to Orange County's International Raceway and turned a 10.92 , 124+ mph run. The V65 was the most powerful production machine in existence. For street riders the Honda engineers made sure the bike was easy to live with as well as fast.The V65 , with its 4 cam , 16 valve engine was surprisingly agile for for its size.A durable , diaphragm-type hydraulic clutch modulated the power to the shaft drive, and a one way sprag clutch kept down-shifts from chirping the rear wheel. Anti -dive valving in the 41 mm front forkhelped stabilize the chassis under hard braking.An overdrive 6th gear in the 6 speed transmission kept the powerful V4 serene at freeway speeds.The lack of any primary imbalance inherent in the design of a V4 provided vibration free riding. I remember test riding one in 1984, and was still in the city limits, and thought I was doing maybe 70 (no vibration, no rear mirror buzz) and glanced at the speedo to find I was doing 110!! Scared me out of buying the bike at that time!! The V65's appeal came from its totally radical fusion of badboy goodlooks and world class quickness. According to Cycle magazine "its horsepower translates directly into immediat gut-wrenching rush, unmatched by any other production street machine. To anyone who ever felt that rush, the experience boils down to one word, UNFORGETTABLE. This particular bike has been inspected and rebuilt by Mr. Dave Dodge, fomerly of the Honda Racing Team, who has become the GURU for these V65's, and it was just my good luck , soon after I bought this bike , to discover that he had moved to Huntersville NC, about 40 miles from me. I took it to Dave in 2007, and he replaced the fork oil and fork seals,rebuilt the front and rear brake calipers, and replaced the attendent hoses and seals. He also rebuilt the hydraulic clutch system, rebuilt the carburetors, replaced most of the hoses and wiring , installed his special oil modification kit ( the factory design resulted in some of these bikes not getting sufficient oil to the cams on the rear cylinders) put a new Dunlop D205 110/80 18 front tire , and a Dunlop 205 150/80 16 rear tire. In all , he did about $2700 worth of work to the bike, and it has had less than 1500 miles put on it since then. Since I have owned it, it has never been dropped , or wrecked, and I don't believe it was before I got it. It has always been garaged. I live in SC , and I would not be the least bit concerned if I had to leave for California on it tomorrow. The bike has a sissy bar, a luggage rack,engine guards with hiway pegs, throttle lock and winshield. The sissy bar and luggage rack was added since the pictures were taken 2 weeks ago-I had forgotten that I had them. This bike was listed on ebay 2 weeks ago, and an aquaintence of mine decided that he wanted to buy the bike , so , I took it off ebay, and wouldn't you know it, he had a change of heart, Guess I should have waited until I had the money in hand! This is a well kept classic, and will provide you with thousands of miles of absolutely great riding. I am thinning out my motorcyle herd. See my other listing for an 85 Honda Sabre. I have one Sabre that I am keeping-same wondeful V65 engine, but a little different styling. I'll be 69 years old this fall, so I feel it is time to cut back a bit on the number of motorcles that I own which is my only reason for selling. Call me if you have questions. 803 684 0800, Dennis