In the summer of 2010 I decided I needed a bigger bike, mostly for comfort. I had no intention of more than doubling the engine size and horsepower from my Ninja 500R, but that’s the way it turned out. I had been made aware that any vehicle in BC was eligible for (much cheaper) Collector Insurance if it was at least 25 years old and in “excellent stock condition”. Therefore, I set out to find a 1985 or older bike in good shape.
Originally I had wanted to stay with a sport touring bike in the form of Honda VF750 Interceptor, but they proved hard to find. Also, my wife had served her time on the postage stamp sized seat on my old Ninja and had decided that she required a sissy bar. Fair enough; that would mean if I wanted to ride a V4 Honda that I would have to turn my attentions towards finding a Magna V45 (750cc).
There were plenty for sale and quite affordable, but they were either in rough condition or snapped up quickly. During one of my daily Kijiji classifieds scans I came across a ’83 Magna V65 (1100cc) for sale for $2500: Original owner, new fuel system and seat, and with 28,00 kms. Since the ad had just come online I told him I’d give him $2000 and make the 6 hour drive to pick it up in 2 days. I wasn’t sure I could handle such a big bike, but the opportunity presented itself and I had to jump at it. It had also been recently painted and was just a shade off of the colour of my truck, how could I say no?
Once home, I quickly adjusted to the different bike, and loved it. They call them muscle bikes for a reason; they really reminds me of 60’s muscle cars. The engine makes beautiful music, especially the exhaust burble while decelerating. It had a scary amount of power (116 hp to be exact) so I went easy on the throttle for a while. I would later learn that it’s very easy to get the front wheel in the air, especially with a passenger. The above pictured Pee Wee Gleason ran a 10.92 1/4 mile on this bike, making it the fastest production bike at the time.
I also couldn’t be as aggressive in the corners, but that’s probably a good thing. The low seating position was comfortable but the seat not so much. There’s very little form to it, but it has highway pegs so it’s nice to be able to stretch out from time to time. The 6 speed transmission is smooth and gives a lot of room to play with and even returns decent gas mileage (50 mpg if you’re nice) with 0.75 overdrive top gear. The gauge cluster even has a digital readout telling you what gear you’re in and a digi-bar coolant gauge. Fancy stuff.
I took a couple of months to get my Collector Plate as I had to find some stock Honda decals and wait for the bureaucracy to approve my application. I now had insurance that cost maybe 1/4 of the regular amount, but was restricted to not driving to work. I could however travel as far as I wanted for pleasure, and would shortly do so as the bike was running great. My brother was getting married back home in Winnipeg in September so I figured I might as well take the long way there, riding down to South Dakota, than up to Winnipeg. My wife would join me in Winnipeg than ride back with me across the prairies in late September.
Here’s how the bike looked before I hopped on it for my trip. I still can’t believe I rode it that far without a windshield. I had one, but it just had an ugly Honda sticker across the bottom of it. I had a full face helmet but the wind was pretty brutal at times.
I left after work on a very overcast Friday afternoon. The goal was to make it stateside so I could get a lot of riding in the next day. I got to the first town over the border, had some dinner and with an hour of sunlight left decided to press on despite the continuing overcast conditions. Big mistake. As soon as I got into the mountains the temperature dropped and the rain started. The rain soon turned into hail and then sleet. Comfort from the cold and wet was no longer my concern, being able to see the road was a big problem. I had to alternate between opening my fogged-up visor and momentarily seeing whilst getting pelted in the face and closing it and watching the world fog up. I slowly made it to the next town, skipping a campground for a nice warm hotel room where I could dry myself and all my gear.
I rode through Montana, checking out Little Bighorn Battlefield on the way. I made it to the Black Hills of South Dakota just in time for the Labour Day weekend. I checked out Sturgis’ Motorcycle Museum as well as all the usual attractions which were somewhat hampered by the heavy traffic. The scenery was great, but it was difficult to enjoy the twistiness of the amazing roads with all the traffic.
Heading north, I stuck to the back roads as is my custom, and quickly made my way through the Dakotas and Minnesota. The bike was running great until I was about and hour from my destination of Winnipeg. The transmission got stuck in 4th gear. Probably the best gear to be stuck in as it allowed (high-revving) highway speeds and very slow and painful take-offs from a stop. Fortunately I only had to come to two full stops before making it to my parent’s place, and I did so without stalling.
This is when I learned that most motorcycle shops do their best to avoid working on old bikes. I had a week to get it fixed and called every shop in town, without success. The only shop that would work on it was 40 mins out-of-town and they only agreed to work on it after I went online and printed out a full explanation on how to fix the broken spring that was buried in my transmission.
With the bike fixed, my brave wife and I set out the morning following my brother’s wedding. I seriously overestimated my ability to recover from the preceding evening’s festivities. Before even leaving the city, I managed to miss the low fuel warning light and ran out of gas. I had to walk to the nearest gas station, buy a jerry can, fill it up, throw the gas in the bike and then leave the jerry can curbside. Despite the nice weather we didn’t make it very far that day, getting about 2 hours out of the city.
Time was tight and we had two days to cover the 1400 km distance to home. The weather took a real bad turn for the worse, not only was it raining hard, it got cold; down to about 5C. I became a human rain shield. At least my wife was relatively dry, but cold nonetheless.. We had to stop at a laundromat in small town Saskatchewan so I could strip down to my underwear and throw my clothes in the dryer, while we warmed up and tried to wait out the rain. The rain relented a bit, but the cold remained and we managed to make it halfway home without freezing to death.
Conditions improved a bit the next day and while it was cold, we made it home without incident. My hardy travel mate courageously made it through the ordeal, but vowed to never again travel long distance on a bike. Can’t say I blame her.
In the three following summers, I did many other trips, but all of them much shorter. I stayed closer to home, enjoying the beautiful scenery and roads here, while minimizing the potential for issues far from home. Since I’ve been unable to ride the last couple of summers, I intend on doing much more riding this summer but I’ll likely keep it to a bunch of smaller trips close to home.
As far as the bike goes, I’ve made a habit of doing some preventative work at least once a year, starting with a top end oil modification kit. These DOHC V4s were known for having oil starvation issues, and while my cams had little wear, I figured it was cheap insurance. I’ve also replaced the tires, rebuilt a brake caliper and replaced a wonky ignition switch. I had the local motorcycle mechanic replace the steering head bearings and do some carb work as well as these jobs are not for the faint of heart.
Almost 6 years and 9000 kms into my ownership of this bike, I have no illusions about the average lifespan of a bike this age. While this particular bike seems to enjoy decent aftermarket support, most factory parts have long since been discontinued. Since its value remains low (not that I would sell anyway), the plan is to ride out as many kms as possible. It’s so well-rounded and fun to ride, I can’t wait to get back on it.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all you CCers out there!
“This is when I learned that most motorcycle shops do their best to avoid working on old bikes.”
Having put in three years at Ducati Richmond and eleven years (and counting) at Richmond Honda House, allow me to explain why.
1. Parts availability. As in, none. Or bloody close to it from the Honda parts catalog, and while there was a lot of aftermarket for these bikes thirty years ago, they all went out of production roughly twenty years ago. Which means breaker yards, something I’ve learned long ago how to deal with; to the point that while I no longer work in parts, I’m invariably called out of my office once or twice a week to help some customer who’s in your position.
2. General condition. The majority of these bikes (or vintage Japanese bikes in general) are not owned by classic motorcycle enthusiasts. They are owned by someone who wants a motorcycle and: a. Is too poor to own a newer bike, or, b. Is too damned cheap to own a newer bike. The former are usually wonderful people to deal with, having a basic understanding of the situation. Unfortunately, the latter seem to predominate, as they’re always trying to drop off rolling basket cases with the instructions to, “get it running and call me for my OK if its going to cost more than $250.00.” Considering our shop has a $99.00/hr. labor rate, you can see where this is going rapidly. And when they invariably turn down our estimate and come to pick up the bike, they’re going to fight about being billed for the diagnostic work already done.
3. Post repair. Just because something has been properly repaired on a beater of this vintage, doesn’t mean something else is going to break down forty miles after the customer picks it up. And just because we stand behind our work doesn’t mean that the guarantee on the carburetor work you just had done will extend to the black box that just failed, shutting your ignition down cold. And no, that won’t change no matter how much you scream at the service writer (my first job for the company).
4. The seasonality of the motorcycle business. My employer has five full time mechanics on staff, plus the service writer and manager who can fill in on quick jobs. From 1 Jan thru 31 Mar, we would really like to have only two, as to that’s how we’re hungering for work. From 1 Apr thru 31 Dec, we need eight or nine. The problem is finding three or four trained mechanics willing to work 75% of the year, and go on unemployment the remainder of the time. Good luck, ain’t gonna happen. Plus, during that 75% busy season, we’re slammed (usual backlog is three weeks – as in drop it off today, we’ll give it a first look three weeks from today) with current customers owning reasonably recent units. The running joke is that if you show up on 1 Feb, we’ll work on anything for the next eight weeks, and get it done almost immediately. Show up 1 Apr and you join the line stretching out the parking lot that started forming at 0800 (we open at 0900).
You need to understand the attitude of the Japanese motorcycle manufacturers: They’re in business to sell NEW motorcycles. Anyone keeping an 80’s Honda, etc. on the road, in their eyes, is a customer lost for a 2016 model. This should explain the lack of spare parts support. Exacerbated by the fact that the Japanese have virtually no parts interchangeability between their various models of a given year. (Yes, both of these attitudes are very shortsighted in my eyes, given how BMW has managed to find the vintage parts market very profitable, and build successful models out of a minimum of platforms.)
This is why, despite being happily employed by a Honda/Yamaha/Can-Am/Sea Doo dealer, and having an excellent relationship with both management and my co-workers; my 1983 Yamaha Venture Royale that I’m attempting to put back on the road after sitting in a dry storage facility for twenty years is sitting at the independent shop of a very close friend of mine (I helped him get the place started). Therefore G6 Motorsports loves working on vintage motorcycles, Honda House does not.
To the readership in general: If you’ve ever had a desire to own a vintage motorcycle, and want to do it a painlessly as possible, limit your choices to vintage Harley-Davidson, Meriden Triumph twins (preferably 650’s and 750’s) and airhead and brick BMW’s. Parts are incredibly good in the aftermarket for the first two (hell, you can build a completely correct Panhead Harley from scratch with absolutely zero parts on it that ever passed thru the Milwaukee factory), and factory support on the latter are as good as their modern bikes. Just plan on selling your first born to finance it.
“The problem is finding three or four trained mechanics willing to work 75% of the year, and go on unemployment the remainder of the time. Good luck, ain’t gonna happen.”
Hmm, this surprises me a bit. Working 9 months a year at, say, 50 hours a week, and then 3 months relaxing at home watching the snow fall – or taking a vacation – while getting paid unemployment – sounds like a decent deal to me.
My work doesn’t work that way, but if it did, I’d definitely take advantage.
some others do to, I worked at a factory n did that cycle for 8 yrs
I’m willing to bet that both of you have the adult financial sense to be able to save part of that paycheck earned during the on-season to supplement your unemployment during the off-season. I’ve found that very rarely in all the bike mechanics I’ve worked with, and the majority of those that do have opened their own shops. Or will, eventually.
So…when did this happen to Honda?
One thing I always loved about old Hondas was the parts availability and the fact that their old bikes rarely needed more than tires, batteries, carb work, and spark plugs. Sometimes a cable or a drive chain or brake pads. Plus the battery was optional because the bike would run off the magneto. NOS parts were always kinda pricey though. Actually, now that I’m remembering, used parts weren’t much cheaper.
Over the years, slowly. Keep in mind that most of these reliable, inexpensive bikes that we love to put back on the road are pretty much all eligible for antique plates anymore. You can only expect a manufacturer to want to keep support the old stuff for so long.
Ferinstance: What are the odds of being able to drop by your local Chevrolet dealer and get genuine factory parts for the 1976 Impala you’re trying to get running again? Note, I’m saying factory original, not aftermarket picked up thru NAPA, etc.
And this is the frustration for any motorcycle brand other than the three I’ve mentioned earlier. Harley-Davidson and Meriden (mostly 60’s and 70’s) Triumph have an extensive aftermarket due to the popularity of restoring these bikes. BMW is the anomality that I wish other manufacturers would have the smarts to emulate. Their Mobile Traditions division will get you genuine BMW parts from anything from a pre-war 328 car, and a post-war /2 motorcycle. And its a very profitable division, partially because if you have to ask the price of the parts in advance, you can’t afford them.
The biggest thing hurting Honda (and the other three Japanese manufacturers) is that their lineups are based on way too many different platforms, with specs that changed every year. There are too many different motorcycles for them to want to consider carrying parts for all those bikes.
Meanwhile, the Europeans had the advantage of making multiple bikes on a few different platforms. BMW, for example, only made three different basic motorcycles from 1923 until about five or six years ago: Aircooled opposed twins in either OHV or flathead, oil/aircooled opposed twins, and in-line watercooled DOHC triples and four with either 2 or 4 valves per cylinder.
Triumph made the same unit engined bikes from 1962 until 1984 when Meriden went under, then from 1986-1989 under license in Devon. Harley-Davidsons were flatheads, knuckleheads, panheads, shovelheads, blockheads until 1999 or 2000.
That makes it a lot easier to cover the old bikes.
In the mid eighties I was still able to buy new parts for early 60s Hondas from the dealer. The CB350, CB450, CB750, and CB650 were all common as dirt into the 90s. The CMs and twinstars, and the Nighthawks were as well, for even longer.
I think the advent of the printed circuit board in Honda motorcycles probably played a role in their earlier obsolescence. Moving away from wire spoke wheels, cable operated clutch and brakes, magnetos, chain drive, and air cooling probably also hastened the obsolescence.
I bought a new air-cooled Ducati 900 in 1999. I still have it. OEM quality and style replacements for some parts are surprisingly difficult to find. I had a minor tip-over a few years back, needing a front fender, headlight, clutch lever and shift lever. I was surprised at how hard it was to find these parts. Ironically, one reason I bought the Ducati was because I expected a strong parts supply like Harley or Triumph, but as Ducatis have become more fashionable they seem to be changing design, and perhaps suppliers, more frequently. I also own two Suzukis (about 10 years old) and so far the few parts I’ve needed are readily available. Interior trim parts for my Toyota T100 are also getting scarce.
Thanks for adding this Syke, I figured you would. I can imagine the frustration you deal with on a regular basis.
Having just checked parts availability for the my bike, it’s noticeably worse than it was 2 years ago when I last did some work on it. Damn you Honda. I did find the fork seals I will need to do this winter though.
The one difference I find up here is that any bike dealer is also a snowmobile dealer and therefore is pretty much busy year round. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a rush for bike work in April though. It just means there’s also a rush for sled work in November. I’m lucky here in my small town that not only do we have a bike/sled mechanic, but he’s very good and charges a reasonable rate. He’s a one man show though, so he’s very busy.
Thanks for sharing which bikes have good parts availability. I’ve always had some interest in old Triumphs, perhaps I’ll head in that direction for my next bike. Hopefully that won’t be soon.
Actually, I love the place I work for. The way they have treated me, especially during the seven year period where I was caring for a terminally ill wife is the stuff one dreams of in an employer. Between 2010 and 2013, I was doing my job (bookkeeper in the front office) from home four days a week, and only showing up once or twice during the week to take care of the stuff that had to be done on site.
And I didn’t ask for the leeway. My boss suggested it to me, and saw to it that my home computers were set up to log into the company system.
The service desk years were rough, as I’m far from the nicest person when a customer tries to jump down my throat. The company valued me enough to move me to parts where I handled the shipping, receiving and organization side with not a lot of front desk interaction, and later moved me into administration.
I’ll never find another job like this one, and the only employment I’ve had that was better was when I had my own business (re-enactment costuming). I’m due to retire anytime from this coming July up to four years from then, and while I’m eagerly looking forward to it, I’ll miss the place.
Syke nailed it. As someone who spent 28 years as a marine mechanic, 17 of them self employed, I would cringe when somebody brought me a old outboard, and figure out a way to say no and send them packing without hurting their feelings. Because they could own a new boat next year. You never know.
And the boating season, like motorcycle season is really short here in Oregon. Even in the dead of winter, while contemplating what flavor of Top Ramen you are going have for dinner, some peoples money is simply not green enough.
My version of the “some peoples money is simply not green enough” is a four cylinder Gold Wing with lots of cheap chrome aftermarket bolt-ons, sitting for at least three or four years in conditions nowhere near as good as my Venture’s.
I especially got a bone-on for these back in my service desk days because they would invariably show up at my desk at 1458 on a Saturday (we close at 1500), preceded by a phone call a minute or two earlier screaming, “Don’t close up, we’re almost there!”, followed by the inevitable twenty minute discussion of what they wanted done, at a price way lower than reasonable, of course.
These Old Wing guys (general term for the four cylinder bikes) used to drive me nuts both in parts and service, until one day one of our serious restorer customers tossed me the keys of his newly finished 1200 and said, “Try it out.”
By the time I got back, I understood why these guys were going to the effort, and it wasn’t just to get a cheap bike running. While I was used to 1500’s (which I absolutely loathe) and 1800’s (I may own one yet), I had always serious underestimated the first three generations of these bikes. And when I was offered my Venture (free!), of course I jumped on it due to their reputations of being a dresser that handled way better than a Wing.
The 1000cc wings were most fun to ride. For short trips at least. I mean the plain-jane version. No bags, no cargo rack, no sissy bar, no crash bars…and wire spoke wheels.
Nice bike, if you want a good explanation of why professional mechanics are loathe to work on old bikes read “Shop Class as Soulcraft” by Matthew Crawford. He actually uses a V4 Honda as his example.
Fortunately you are mostly embracing the self repair option, in my experience bike mechanics are no smarter than we are and at worst “Why pay someone else to screw up your motorcycle when you can do it yourself for free?”. I did steering head bearings on my C10 Connie this year and it was a bit of an ordeal, I wound up using my MIG welder to shrink the old bearing races out. That was a bit scary, because I had to be fully committed to finishing the job.
Hopefully 2016 is a year of more, bigger and better motorcycle trips for us riding CC-ers..
DougD- I have that book- excellent read and I highly recommend it! And just last week I installed new steering bearings in my Connie!! 68,000 miles and counting- I bought it in ’06 with 30,000 miles on it. I ended up cutting the races out with a ‘dremel’ and lemme tell ya, that was a test of my skill and patience! I will ride it today, weather permitting.
You’ve confirmed for me that I was wise to get the local bike mechanic to replace my steering head bearings. It took him a couple hours longer than he said it would and even charged me the original (lower) quoted price, great guy. I hate pressing/removing bearing without the proper tools as it always devolves into hammering with sockets and bringing out the torches.
I’ll have to check out that book, thanks for sharing.
I have a problem with old bikes. I have, at the moment, an ’83 Honda GL650, a ’74 Honda CL360, a ’73 Honda CB450, and a 1987 Kawa Concours-my ‘daily’ driver. I’ve been able to find every part I need either from the internet or from my local dealer, and as time goes on, I need lots of parts! The Honda’s are not currently running but could be, and will, without too much work, when I find the time, $$, and desire to begin maintaining more than one bike at a time again. They need frequent maintenance (don’t all motorcycles?) but they’re too much fun to ride for me to give it all up. I did a cheap restoration on the 450 about 8 years ago and rode it for about 10,000 miles with very few major problems. I was only stranded once with it, and it turned out to be the most fun I’d ever had on two wheels! It still has what I think are the original points, cams and cam chain, and pistons (re-ringed at 8K.) Once I got the fuel system sorted it would rev to redline cleanly, and It always got me home. I could have it rolling again with only about a days work fixing a few minor oil leaks, mounting the spiffy new coils and a new pair of sneakers, and adding fuel.
As indicated, I do ALL the work on these old bikes, as I cannot afford to pay anyone to do it for me, but there are a few brave souls on Craigslist, locally, that offer that service. I wish them the best of luck.
At the risk of sounding dogmatic, which I may be when it comes to motorcycles, I would characterize the V65 Magna as more of a 2-wheeled big-block personal luxury car than muscle car. The V65 Sabre fit the muscle car analogy more closely. These V4 Hondas were brilliant engineering, but in hindsight the beginnings of Honda’s affair with complexity that delivered only minor returns in function. I owned a VF750F Inteceptor briefly from new, and I didn’t have much confidence in either my or my local Honda shop’s ability to do much more than oil changes. The current VVT Interceptor is a hugely appealing bike to me, let down by unnecessary complexity compared to a similar sport-touring Kawasaki or Suzuki 1000. The Gold Wing may be the same, but at least its longevity and popularity have created an ecosystem for repair and knowledge.
Marketing at the time had the Magna intending to appeal to the Harley-Davidson crowd. It was half of Honda’s efforts to “show Harley-Davidson how a motorcycle should be built”, and was noteworthy in how it got steamrollered by Harley Mania during the 80’s and 90’s. It also kinda, sorta was supposed to run against the Yamaha V-Max (not even close), and Kawasaki Eliminator (a very unfair failure on the market, due to coming out second and being slightly slower than the V-Max – we’re talking tenths of a second here).
The Sabre was a more difficult market. It was intended to appeal to the sportbike crowd that didn’t want to go whole hog into the Interceptor race-replica bikes. A very small market. Neither cruiser nor sport bike aficionados are particularly interested in something in-between. It was later marketed as a BMW-style sport tourer once the final generation CBX went out of production, hurt primarily by price and saddlebags that were way too small for serious long distance travel (I believe they were the same saddlebags as the CBX, which were glove boxes, not saddlebags).
The main reason Honda went to the V4 configuration is that, in the ten years after the original CB750, the in-line four had become the Universal Japanese Motorcycle, and Honda thought they could take the market in another direction, forcing the other three to also redesign and follow them once again. To the general consumer, four cylinders were four cylinders, and configuration wasn’t as important as price.
After I moved in ’97, I decided to get my ’85 Yamaha 700 Maxim repainted from the once red faded to salmon pink to black. In addition, the gas tank had a huge dent in it from a landlord who decided it would be a good idea to move his propane barbecue next to my bike that was on it’s center stand with a cover over it on the lawn. Well, before I noticed he had done this a rain and windstorm happened, and a gust of wind combined with the dirt turning to mud blew the bike onto the propane tank on the barbecue bashing in the side of the gas tank.
Well, the bike was unused for about 2 years, I took the painted parts off and had the gas tank repaired and everything repainted black. It looked great when I reassembled the bike, but in trying to get it started the 4 carbs were plugged up. I took them apart (twice) and did the best I could, got it running but it wouldn’t idle. So I rode it over to a local independent repair shop, they discovered rust in the tank so they rebuilt and synced the carbs, relined the gas tank and replaced the rear brake shoes (didn’t request this, but they did it anyway), for a total of $300.00 in 1999. All I could say, that was a really great deal!
Around 2002 the starter brushes needed to be replaced, and one of the front calipers began to leak. I was able to do these repairs. The parts were still available from Yamaha, but when I pulled apart the 2 halves of the caliper, there were 4 small seal rings that did not come in the caliper repair kit. Those turned out to be discontinued. I used Bosch grease on the old seals and replaced the piston seals, and it fixed the leak which has lasted since then. The only other part I have needed was a speedo drive hub when I first got the bike in ’94. Found one in a bucket full of assorted drive hubs in a motorcycle wrecking yard for about twenty dollars.
Did have the kickstand safety switch fail while on a ride a few years ago, I just bypassed that, never looked into seeing if it’s still available.
After reading Syke’s post, I think it might be a good idea to start looking around for a parts bike to be one the safe side. It does have about 75k miles on it now, but still runs runs fine and uses no oil and doesn’t leak. It’s due for tires and a battery, but those items will be no problem to still get. I would like to keep it going long term and make this my last motorcycle.
My longest trips are no more than about 300 miles. I like to spend all day riding around the local mountain roads, but never have attempted a multi day road trip on it.
Your V65 is a great looking bike, hope you are able to keep it going long term. 30 years is the age for classic plates in my state, the ’85 Maxim got it’s classic plates this year and the ’86 Jetta gets classic plates next June. They are a one time purchase and are good for life, no more yearly registration fees.
If anyone needs a kickstand safety switch, you should not be on a motorcycle. Go back to licking the windows on the short bus.
I did not even know they existed.
I’m from the old days when the brake light switch was on the rear brake only, there was no throttle return spring, brakes were cable operated, electric starters were either not dependable or not present, and you never parked your bike pointing downhill even if you left it in gear because there was enough slop in the drive chains (PLURAL) it would roll forward far enough to fold up the kickstand and fall over.
It took a little while to figure out. I was in the boonies, it would start and run fine, then as soon as I put it in (kickstand up) gear it would die. Kickstand up or down, it didn’t matter. Cut and spliced the wire to the switch with the bikes tool kit’s pliers. Started it up, put it into gear and it kept running. Was glad that was the problem, no cell phone and a car drove by about once every 15 minutes. Never considered actually replacing the stupid switch, I know how to use a kickstand. One thing I wish it had was a kick start lever, my ’70 Honda CB450 was electric start but also had a kick start, the Yamaha needs to roll downhill if the battery goes flat to get started.
Having lived in Japan for about 10 years in the 80’s and owned a series of used bikes during that time, I think I can shed a little light on the lack of parts availability for older bikes. IMHO there are a couple of factors at play. First, the bike market is a very competitive “fashion industry” there with lots of players and thus the styles change every year just like the American car industry used to do. New and ! improved ! sells just like, “longer, lower, wider” used to. Next, Japanese laws are designed to remove older vehicles from the roads, so there isn’t a lot of demand for “old” parts after about 4 years. Finally Japanese industry uses tons of small sub-suppliers who produce limited runs of any part a new bike design requires. Production runs are comparatively small especially for the big bikes (over 400 cc’s) that American customers prefer as in Japan which is the main marketplace it’s hard to get a license for a big bike. Because of this small batch mentality there is no benefit to design consistency or parts interchangeability from year to year.
Thank you. That information definitely fills in some blanks as to the whys and wherefores of my experience with the vintage stuff.
Kickstand safety switch or other interlocks to prevent starting in gear or riding off with the side stand down, are mandated by federal law in the US (on new bikes). I agree, they can be trouble-prone and bypassing them or at least knowing how to, is a good idea. But on my three bikes I’ve only bypassed one as they’ve been trouble free. Interestingly, starter/clutch interlocks are voluntary on cars. Japanese cars have them, Japanese trucks have defeat switches for off-road use, but our VW can be started in gear.
Great looking bike. Especially love it with the white lettered tire (should do that to the rear) and the blue is especially nice. You have a really cool machine.
I had the V45 Magna with dark metalic red paint back in 85. I loved that bike! I’m an average height guy but a little light on weight and mass and I was afraid that even the V45 was going to be too much bike for me. It actually wasn’t. Good smooth bike with an excellent center of gravity that even a then light weight like me could easily handle the bike from stand still to over 120mph on the Northern Cali freeways. Used to ride it from Fort Ord, CA to Tacoma, WA and back on a regular basis. And not too bad in turns either. Wish I still had that bike though. Loved it. Best road bike I’ve ever owned.
Reading over all the responses, I suppose I should mention that our shop will happily work on some of the older stuff – if its in very good condition, and being a regular customer doesn’t hurt. The dividing line is most likely that, if we take in the bike and have the same decent odds of having our work be successful as on a modern model, we’ll take it in. We don’t have the time, due to other customer demands, to take on bikes that are going to have to be laboriously prodded, poked and prayed for that a repair will work.
Old bikes are SOO easy to work on though. I could never bring myself to pay someone to wrench on one of my bikes. The closest I get is taking in my wheels to get new tires balanced and mounted.
Nice-looking bike, and it sounds like a fun ride!
Your collector plate requirements are tougher than ours, it sounds like. To qualify in my state, the vehicle must be 25 years or older, and you have to certify that it is “safe to drive on the public roads and does not create a dangerous condition” or somesuch. Pretty loose interpretation, and it doesn’t have to be in excellent or even good condition, just roadworthy. (If you attempt to drive something obviously unsafe, you can get pulled over though). The regulation is written here such that it can only be driven to and from “car club” events, meetings, shows etc. and for “occasional” pleasure use, but in reality, so long as you don’t drive it to work, no one will bother you.
For some reason the V Max was way more popular in Brazil…. Last year I had the opportunity to ride a 95 Max… I ride bikes since I was 12 and I don’t get scared easily but when I got of that thing my hands were shaking and my eyes were wide open….
It was more popular in the USA also.