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Just wanted to share a new blog I stumbled across the other day off of a Facebook ad of all things.
Pipeburn is a blog dedicated to featuring primarily cafe racers, which as we all know is the grand-daddy of the streetfighter genre. Almost every day they have a new cafe racer to show from all corners of the world and from all matters of makes and models. Harley Davidson's? You bet. Old British and Japanese bikes? Of course. But a Goldwing cafe racer? They've got one of those as well.
If you browse back enough, I'm sure theres a bike on there for atleast everybody out there. Theres an aweful lot of diversity featured in one blog about one type of motorcycle.
"Super Magna"
I purchased this bike exactly a week ago today. Happened across it on craigslist the night before, put some book time into researching it, then rode it, haggled for it and had it signed over that night.
To be honest, I've never really wanted a cruiser style bike. I've looked at a Yamaha V-Max or two, but the hype surrounding these 'Power Cruisers' is astounding, enough so to inflate the prices to a comfortable level for those looking to sell, and uncomfortably so to those looking to buy. I still love the V-Max, but after a test ride I didn't get very comfortable with it or the ergonomics, mainly footpegs and their tendency to catch my pant legs. The power delivery wasn't as breathtaking as reputation exclaims and I never liked its pitiful fuel economy or range of around 115 miles. Still wouldn't mind having one...
Being a Honda fan, I looked to see what they had in store. I had heard some great things about the old Magna's and Sabre motorcycles. Magna was the name for their cruiser style and Sabre was the standard. The motor from these bikes were pulled almost directly from the Honda VF and VFR sportbikes which was, at the time, near the top of the heap.
As the story goes, Honda was the originator of the Power Cruiser genre with its original '82-'84 Magna (V45 and the 10 second 1/4 mile V65 Magna). Nothing could keep up with it until Yamaha answered with their V-Max in 1985. Then there were no others even close. But Honda remade the Magna anyway in '87 and '88. 1987 saw the Magna with a 700cc motor, due to import bans, and in '88 it was back to 750cc. There were over 10,000 '87 Magna's but '88 saw even less at just over 3,000 accounted for. This is unsure because Honda never released their production numbers. There were so few Magnas in '88 because the market didn't have a desire for it.
After production stopped in '88, popularity soared for this bike and it was then that the name "Super Magna" was given to the '87 and '88. Honda brought back the Magna from '94 to '03 but it was tame in comparison to its predecessors. in 2004, Honda dropped the V4 Magna once again due to the demand for a V Twin cruiser.
The '88:
The Magna weighs in at around 530 pounds
748cc V4 motor puts out around 79 hp, redline is about 11,000 rpm. Thats sport bike territory
Has a 6-speed transmission and shaft drive, with a single disk up front and drum in the rear (not up to par, IMHO)
Fuel capacity is at around 3.5 gallons, good for 150 mile range.
Out on my test ride, I fell in love with the bike. It was so easy to ride at freeway speeds and comfortable. Plenty of passing grunt, and pretty darn agile in the corners for a cruiser. I'm very happy with it.
So far, I've gone over the bike giving it a tune-up. KDR Powersports handled the brakes and clutch fluid. I replaced some nasty corroded spark plugs, dumped the oil and filter, put an air filter on order and thats it, save for a little shine up on the wheels and painted parts.
The bike came with a wind screen and rear seat plus a sissy-bar. Rear seat needs some reupholstering but the rest looks alright. The windscreen I toyed with taking off to give it more of a knarley look, but I think it looks more aggressive with the screen on and slightly raked back.
So far, I'm sold on this bike. Looking forward to a few rides on this while the VFR is still under the knife and many more after its done.
My current project on the VFR is to set it up with a stout pair of Motovation Frame Sliders (link). This was also the last project I had in mind BEFORE my accident...
I had a pair of cheapo sliders on my SV650 and they did a remarkable job. Motovation is a better brand and I can already tell the quality in their material. They are constructed out of a proprietary high molecular density form of nylon, the same stuff your grandma wears. Although this formula is 75% more resilient then delrin, another popular choice for frame sliders. This means, according to some, after a 45 mph lowside your back on your bike riding home and thinking that the 90 bucks you sent to Motovation was a hell of a bargain.
They are not only made well, but look pretty darn good too. They look a little long on the VFR, but thats because they are supposed to poke throught the fairings. One modification I had to make was to cut a hole through the coolant bottle. I got a little consultation right off their websight, found here. Pretty straight forward, although daunting.
It's out curing with a layer of silicone over a harder epoxy as I type this. I'm hopeing to give it a coat of paint tomorrow and mount it up soon.
In the works:
I've found a place where I can powdercoat my two subframes and a shop that can take my rear fairings in to repair the tabs and paint to match the OEM Honda red. I want to do something to the front aluminum cowl, but not sure yet. But that is pretty much it. Three small things and the project will be at a close. Maybe, anyway...we'll see.
Oh yea, and my clutch and brake fluid problem was solved by KDR Powersports in town here. Nuff said about that.
Well, folks (all 199 of you that have at one point or another been on this blog) it's time I tell you the news about the project...its dead.
At least in name. If you haven't read my first post, I got the name from 1: remedial, my amateur attempt to fix my crashed up VFR and 2: murder, as in murdered-out meaning my goal to finish the bike with a killer matte black paint job.
The remedial rebuild (rebuild being an overkill of the word in this case) is still underway and making progress. I would have had some more updates but my phone is no longer taking pictures at the moment...or able to do anything at all.
But the murder will not be. I decided not to finish the bike in murdered-out fashion for several reasons to be told in another post. But I do have a few updates coming up. If you are reading, please stay tuned!
