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Message started by philthymike on 07/12/19 at 20:38:53

Title: Any love for Honda Super Magna?
Post by philthymike on 07/12/19 at 20:38:53

I had a coworker who rode one in the late 80s and he was always professing his love for it. I see by the prices they go for (less than I paid for Thumpy) that they haven't been hyped to hell yet and I'm guessing they aren't good for bobber conversions since I haven't seen ads for busted half finished "roller" projects with them.

I remember liking the exhaust sounds and the overkill big hair 80s styling too.
Anything worthwhile about these machines?

Title: Re: Any love for Honda Super Magna?
Post by Dave on 07/13/19 at 03:50:27

I worked on a neighbors Magna that had been sitting for years and needed the fuel system and carbs cleaned - he gave me the bike for free just to get it out of his garage.

The first time I took the carbs off for cleaning took 4 hours as I discovered how to take things apart. It is a real puzzle, and the metal coolant lines needed to come off in the process, and one screw that holds the pipe to the cylinder was a real bugger to access. I finally discovered that I needed to use a 1/4" drive socket, a flex drive, and a 2' long extension and snake the whole affair down past the top tube and wiring harness - as you could not get any kind of wrench on it. The CV slide diaphragms needed to be replaced and the factory no longer makes them, thankfully there was an aftermarket source. I got the bike back together with a couple full days work to clean the 4 carbs and install the diaphragms, and it ran fine - but one of the O-rings on the steel coolant lines was leaking.

The second time I took it apart went much faster as I just had to repeat the parts removal without as much thinking....I believe it took 2 hours to get it apart and 3 to get it back together. I replaced the O-rings on both ends of the 2 steel coolant lines. It ran fine and there were no coolant leaks - but one of the plastic tubes that runs fuel between the carbs had developed a leak.

The 3rd time I took it apart was painful......I was just getting tired of working on this dang bike. The 4 carbs all bolt together - the back two are in a normal horizontal orientation and the front two are steeply sloped forward) - and there are plastic pipes with O-rings that pass the fuel between them. The O-rings or pipes are no longer available from Honda.....thankfully somebody makes new ones from metal and I was able to take the carbs apart again and install them.

Once back together the bike ran fine, and was smooth and pretty darn quick (750cc version). I had worked on it for hours and hours and hours over a period of a month while I waited for parts to arrive - and since the bike was 30 years old I wondered what would break next? I put it on Craigslist and sold it.......and I kept half the money and gave half to my neighbor.

So.......I just want to make you aware that this bike is a real pain to work on, and most of the parts are no longer available from Honda.

Title: Re: Any love for Honda Super Magna?
Post by philthymike on 07/13/19 at 06:39:08

It sounds real painful to work on. I'm not looking to buy one I was just curious about them and how they hold up after all these years.
I was wondering if the low prices they sell for was due to reliability or just general unpopularity.

When I am in a position to buy another bike it's going to be a dual sport bike. The lightest one I can afford that can still hit highway speeds. Got my eyes on a Husky TE310 but I'm sure it will be gone by the time I'm ready.

Gonna offload my Duck at the end of the year. Plan is to make Thumpy my daily rider, use the dual sport for trail riding upstate and at some point getting a touring bike for long distance rides.
Maybe this time next year if I don't wind up unemployed again.

I think I might like to take a Super Magna for a ride sometime though. Something perverse about a sportbike engine in a cruiser that appeals to me. The high revving nature of that motor would eventually get on my nerves though.

Title: Re: Any love for Honda Super Magna?
Post by DesertCat on 07/13/19 at 08:27:03

I've been seriously looking at this low-mileage (14k miles) 1988 Super Magna . . .

Title: Re: Any love for Honda Super Magna?
Post by Serowbot on 07/13/19 at 09:04:54

Your driveway has a speed limit?...
That's awesome!... ;D

Title: Re: Any love for Honda Super Magna?
Post by DesertCat on 07/13/19 at 09:07:11

2A3C2B362E3B362D590 wrote:

Your driveway has a speed limit?...
That's awesome!... ;D

============

I didn't notice that. ;D

Not my house. Not my bike.

Title: Re: Any love for Honda Super Magna?
Post by DesertCat on 07/13/19 at 09:54:23

I'm always fighting the desire to buy older, classic bikes. I don't mind doing minor maintenance on bikes but I really don't have the experience (or the time) to do major maintenance. And the parts availability of older bikes is not so good sometimes.

Title: Re: Any love for Honda Super Magna?
Post by sjaskow - FSO on 07/15/19 at 10:21:31

A guy I used to work with bought on a couple of year ago. One thing he found out was that if you wanted to keep the stock tire sizes, the only one for the front was a Dunlop D401 (which is a Harley tire 8-))

Title: Re: Any love for Honda Super Magna?
Post by WunGun on 07/15/19 at 13:20:20

A bike I'm determined to own is the Honda Sabre which is the ugly duck version of the Magna that people have cafe'd and bobbed with that lovely mono shock for a cool floating seat look. They are both cheap and they are powerful bikes that are underrated.

Title: Re: Any love for Honda Super Magna?
Post by MMRanch on 07/16/19 at 21:14:00

One of my brothers had a V-65 , is that the same motor ? Well , he just loved his , but he got tired of those 4-carbs needing so much attention and now rides a old 1200 Sportster with a single carb. .

Title: Re: Any love for Honda Super Magna?
Post by WunGun on 07/17/19 at 11:53:11

Same engine I believe also , the v45 is a 750 the v65 is an 1100. Yeah That's what I love about my sporty and savage. One carb = one headache only. However that shaft drive is beautiful thing as long as it doesn't leak. I hear that's a headache all it's own though rare.

Title: Re: Any love for Honda Super Magna?
Post by DesertCat on 07/17/19 at 12:38:03

The V45 (750 cc) and V65 (1100 cc) were two different engines but of almost the exact same design: 90 degree V-4s, transverse mounted in the frame.

The V45 was also the basis of Honda's road racing bikes of that era.

Title: Re: Any love for Honda Super Magna?
Post by MMRanch on 07/17/19 at 21:05:51

WunGun

I like the belt better and believe it's a better system. On the BMW the MotoGuzzi and the Gold Wing the crank shaft spins on the same plane as the drive-shaft - the shaft works nicely.

But when the crankshaft and the drive shaft spin at 90 deg angles to each other then the BELT makes a lot more sense ! Every time you have to change directions you lose energy.

Maybe YouzGuyz will tell us how long a belt can last ? :-?

Title: Re: Any love for Honda Super Magna?
Post by Armen on 07/18/19 at 06:03:44

Worked on a few of the V-4 Honda cruisers back then. Akin to tattooing your own hemmeroids. Someone begged me to work on one a while ago. Told him there wasn't enough money in the world.

Title: Re: Any love for Honda Super Magna?
Post by DesertCat on 07/19/19 at 13:13:25

I had a 2002 Magna cruiser. It was a nice bike, lots of power, nice sound, but I never had to work on it or even pay someone to work on it. Like most of the bikes I've had, I bought it used and sold it when I got tired of it. It was almost completely stock and hadn't been buggered up yet by some idiot.