V65 Magna-deal or not??

[Rusty McNeil]

While driving around in Bakersfield today looking for an electrical supply house I spotted this at a shop sitting out front.

It's absolutely pristine and looks bonestock and perfect cosmetic condition, I think it has 12,000 miles on it. All the plastic and fake chrome looks like new, but it's not.

$3500

What do y'all think....

I know Texas Tornado has a lot of experience with these, maybe you'll see this.

My wife would shit if I came back from California with this, but damn it's pretty..

Would look awesome with some different bars and a sport tail on it.....

 

[Fire-medic]

Too much coin especially in this market. At $2500 I think it's overpriced with the exception that any other specimen you find would probably cost you up to that much to get it into similar functional if not cosmetic shape. So in a way $2.5K might be the price of getting to the same place but easier. If you really are tempted walk in w/$$$ flash cash & see if they let it go. Unless it has some really emotional attachment for you I would walk if they don't accept your offer. Then stash it at a friend's home until you 'make room' at home.

 

[BorgBiker]

Too much coin especially in this market. At $2500 I think it's overpriced with the exception that any other specimen you find would probably cost you up to that much to get it into similar functional if not cosmetic shape. So in a way $2.5K might be the price of getting to the same place but easier. If you really are tempted walk in w/$$$ flash cash & see if they let it go. Unless it has some really emotional attachment for you I would walk if they don't accept your offer. Then stash it at a friend's home until you 'make room' at home.

I agree. When I was active on the SabMag website (from 1999 to 2004), $3500 was considered too much for anything other than a fully rebuilt and restored example, and even then members were reluctant to encourage such a price. I bought mine needing work for $900, and a pristine example with about 12,00 miles sold for $2500. If you DO decide to get one (I loved mine) keep in mind that since the last V65's made were 1986 models, they are now 25 years old, and parts availability will be drying up - not that there were ever many parts available for them to begin with.

On the SabMag site, there was a guy named Dave Dodge, who was the Sean Morley of V65's. He did a few stroker/big bore bikes that were 1440cc's and cranked out 140rwhp. But the cost was astronomical.

My hopes are that in a year or so - after I recover from V-max purchase, I can find a nice V65 Magna in decent shape, and maybe eventually an Eliminator 900 and even a Madura. It'd be nice to have all 4 of the first crop of Musclebikes.

But we all know who's the once and future king!

 

[The Beekeeper]

That is certainly a very nice example, my 83 has the back rest and six pack rack too, I would think $2500 would be top dollar also even with the low miles, if you're intrested make sure the engine is quiet as some of these had camshaft wear problems, I have 25K on mine now but still runs great, good luck with the wife!.................................Tom.

 

[88vmx12]

There was a local guy here that had one that was very clean and had about 18,000 miles. He had it for sale for ever at $2,500. He ended up selling it for $1,800

 

[Fire-medic]

FYI, I saw a C.L. Sabre lately, cannot recall which state, in similar shape & mi. for < $. Might have been a MI listing...

 

[texas-ss-tornado]

Other than the seat cover, it looks pretty good. Ride it and make sure 2nd gear is good, and offer $2500. I've sold dozens of these bikes in the past few years, and I usually get between 3-4K for the ones I restore, but I do quality work and alot of people come to me specifically when looking for one. I sold an 85 with 6K original miles for $5500 last year, but it was absolutely mint, like off the showroom floor mint, and the guy just had to have it. I pick them up in the 500-1000 dollar range all day long, I run an ad on the Dallas Craigslist about once a month looking for project bikes. I wish I had more room, I'd have more bikes! It's also off season, and the market is down a bit, so you've got that working in your favor too!!!

http://dallas.craigslist.org/ndf/mcy/2699568419.html

 

[Rusty McNeil]

Thanks for all the comments guys, I wasn't sure where the market was on these bikes. Have had 3 of them in the past, so was awre of the 2nd gear issue, which I had to fix on one of them (first time splitting the cases on any bike) As well as the camshaft wear issue-My last one died of a failed cam and I sold it for $1400 back in '95

My wife would shit anyway, and I have no way to haul it home with a bed cover and a full bed of tools and test equipment.

Thanbks again.

 

[a113ycat]

FYI, I saw a C.L. Sabre lately, cannot recall which state, in similar shape & mi. for < $. Might have been a MI listing...

I think this is the one you are referring to Medic, but correct me if Im wrong

http://www.vmaxforum.net/showthread.php?t=19244

But the listing was deleted by the author so it was most likely sold.

 

[texas-ss-tornado]

I think this is the one you are referring to Medic, but correct me if Im wrong

http://www.vmaxforum.net/showthread.php?t=19244

But the listing was deleted by the author so it was most likely sold.

V65 Sabres are literally worth half (or less) than a comparable big Magna. People just don't like the looks of them, although performance wise, they are almost identical. A V65 Sabre gauge cluster will bring 500 bucks on eBay, so if you do get one, that should be your biggest concern. I quit restoring the Sabres because quite frankly, I couldn't give them away! Just an FYI............. unk:

 

[a113ycat]

Im going to hi-jack the thread for a moment...
Texas-ss-tornado, I think we have had email conversations in the past. I looked at your CL add more than once and think that I contacted you wanting to sell you my Turbo. Im not sure if you are into them but my brother has a few V45's that he has no plans for. They are good core project or donor bikes. One of them was a runner when he got it but that was a while back so you know the story.....It was running when it was parked. PM me if you are interested Ill get you his contact info.

 

[texas-ss-tornado]

Im going to hi-jack the thread for a moment...
Texas-ss-tornado, I think we have had email conversations in the past. I looked at your CL add more than once and think that I contacted you wanting to sell you my Turbo. Im not sure if you are into them but my brother has a few V45's that he has no plans for. They are good core project or donor bikes. One of them was a runner when he got it but that was a while back so you know the story.....It was running when it was parked. PM me if you are interested Ill get you his contact info.

Sorry, but I don't do V45's........you could probably get rid of them on the Honda V4 forum though, post them up over there!

www.v4hondabbs.com

 

[RaWarrior]

The Honda forum has lots of great info, but their "Sean" equivalent I found to be extremely flaky, hard to contact, and generally hard to deal with. When I "called him out" on the public forum about this (had paid for an order, and then heard nothing for like 2 months as he ignored my PMs and even phone calls), one of the mods flipped out and essentially told me I wasn't welcome anymore for "slandering" a "highly respected" member. Which happened to be about the same time I got my Max and came here, so it all worked out.

Anyway, it's not even close to a deal. I paid $1500 for a pristine '85 V30. V65's are worth a little more, but not much. $2000 would be fair for one in really good shape. I think it's pretty safe to say he won't sell it any too fast. If anything, the V30's seemed to be more in demand as "putter around town" or "wife bikes". For a 500cc, they were pretty fast. They put down like 65hp or something. Mine would do about 110.

V65's all had problems with the upper head cams wearing out...the oil system was poorly designed(how does that sound familiar), and when hot the upper head would get no oil at all below 2000rpm or so, and above that it was still inadequate.

 

[The Beekeeper]

Did you ever get what you paid for?..................Also, does the external oiling kit upgrade for the V-65 really work?..............was wondering if it was worth installing on my 83..................................Tom.

 

[texas-ss-tornado]

The Honda forum has lots of great info, but their "Sean" equivalent I found to be extremely flaky, hard to contact, and generally hard to deal with. When I "called him out" on the public forum about this (had paid for an order, and then heard nothing for like 2 months as he ignored my PMs and even phone calls), one of the mods flipped out and essentially told me I wasn't welcome anymore for "slandering" a "highly respected" member. Which happened to be about the same time I got my Max and came here, so it all worked out.

Are you talking about Dave Dodge?

 

[RaWarrior]

No, I want to say his name was Billy something. His big deal was rebuilding the Magna carbs. Don't really remember. Wonder if my login still works or they actually booted me.... nope, I can still login.


Was your name on the honda site tex-ass-tornado or something similar? Just made that connection now.

 

[texas-ss-tornado]

No, I want to say his name was Billy something. His big deal was rebuilding the Magna carbs. Don't really remember. Wonder if my login still works or they actually booted me.... nope, I can still login.


Was your name on the honda site tex-ass-tornado or something similar? Just made that connection now.

Yep, that's me, I spend alot more time on that forum than I do here, probably because I've restored about 2 dozen V65's, and about 4 VMAX's. Simply because of the numbers, I can buy a V65 project for a couple hundred bucks, cheap VMAX's are few and far between! Billy is the V4 carb guru. He used to do ALL of my V4 carbs, then we had a falling out last year after I asked him to do a set of CBX carbs, and he basically flaked out on me. Held onto the carbs for 3 months, didn't touch them, wouldn't answer any of my calls or emails, then blew up at ME when I publicly called him out on the forum and asked him WTF was going on? Since then, my main carb guy is Rick West out of South Carolina, not only did he get my CBX carbs finished, he has done V4 carbs for me, and a ton of ZL900 and ZL1000 carbs, he's the best in the business! The "Sean Morley" of the V65 world is actually a guy named Dave Dodge. He "used to be" the go to guy, but he's lost his friggin' mind in the last couple of years too, and no longer participates on the forum. Basically, he has alienated a ton of people who paid him BIG BUCKS for engine and tranny rebuilds, only to be ignored, lied to and basically, screwed out of their money! I wouldn't pi$$ on him if he were on fire! He might know alot about V65's, but his customer service skills are nil..........anyway, I hope to have my 85 VMAX carbs back from Rick in the next few weeks! Can't wait to get them on and see if my latest project is going to be viable!!!

 

[Fire-medic]

Well that's interesting to hear what people have to say about other forums. I have been disappointed before in how I was treated "somewhere else," not a VMax forum, & decided that it wasn't worth it. I dug up some older stuff which wasn't a topic of discussion in awhile & got some internet commando criticizing me for adding to the thread...another time I posted-up about a cheap way to save a couple hundred $$ to modify a commonly avail. part to make it work for this particualr brand vehicle, in-place of a factory (overpriced accessory) piece. I tiook the time to do a search to find any threads about this overpriced factory accessory, and not an hour later had another internet commando criticizing me for "calling us stupid," because I had linked the threads, and for posting my money-saver. The last straw was when I posted-up some spare parts priced far-below retail or what most used stuff would go for, these were N.O.S. take-offs seen on a lot of the vehicles on the forum, and one guy contacted me and asked me to essentially give away items which were new & which cost >$1K at the dealer's! They were willing to pay shipping... . I just got fed-up with their behavior and hardly ever bother even going there much-less posting.

I did have some dealings with more-adult participants and both bought & sold there so they weren't all flakes, but when you do encounter one, it can be very trying. Thankfully, the people here are not like the few idiots who caused me to greatly curtail any involvement on the other site.

 

[texas-ss-tornado]

Well, you're going to have that on every site. I made the mistake of disagreeing on the "commonly known issue" of the V65's having upper end oiling issues and alot of bad cams. Basically, I have been inside DOZENS of these motors, and have only seen a couple bad cams, and they were on HIGH mileage bikes. Now, 2nd gear? Very bad, just like the VMAX's. But speaking from my EXPERIENCE, I simply stated I thought the oil mod kits, the ones they sell on eBay for like 250 bucks, weren't really worth it, IN MY OPINION! Boy, I got raked over the coals for that one! I didn't tell anybody NOT to put one on their bikes, I simply stated I never have, and never would, I think there's better ways to spend your money. All I was going on was MY personal experience! You would have thought I was telling a kid there was no such thing as Santa Claus! Boy that caused a stir! Basically, I was accused of not wanting to add them on to bikes, because I only restore them and resell them FOR THE MONEY, which couldn't be any further from the truth! Oh well, you have to have a thick skin to spend alot of time on these forums, there's always a know it all out there that's going to disagree with whatever you say, I just let it go and don't lose any sleep over it!

 

[RaWarrior]

Billy is the V4 carb guru. He used to do ALL of my V4 carbs, then we had a falling out last year after I asked him to do a set of CBX carbs, and he basically flaked out on me. Held onto the carbs for 3 months, didn't touch them, wouldn't answer any of my calls or emails, then blew up at ME when I publicly called him out on the forum and asked him WTF was going on?

Wow, that's pretty much a mirror image of my experience with him, except my carbs were fine(that V30 ran like a swiss watch). I needed a new set of plug wires, which were NLA from Honda, and someone mentioned that Billy stocked and sold good quality ones for a reasonable price, it was like $40 or something. Whatever. I emailed him, he got right back to me with a price and paypal address, I sent the payment. Nothing for like 3 weeks. I emailed him saying I hadn't received the wires and what the status was. No reply. I sent him a PM on the forum(I'd seen him posting in the meantime, so I know he was logging on), which also went unanswered. If I'm not mistaken you gave me his phone #, which I called, left a message, and was of course unanswered.
After another couple days of being ignored, I called him out on the public forum. People started getting pissed at me since I guess they assumed I was just trying to discredit him for no apparent reason. I saw him post after I'd put that thread up, he wouldn't reply to it. Finally, like 3 days later paypal tells me I got a refund. The only note was, in essence, "here, take your money back, tired of dealing with you, now go away". No apology, no explanation. A few days later he replied to the thread trying to smooth things over with the public by saying my order must have "slipped through the cracks" when he went on vacation.

One of the mods (Mongo iirc) was all on my ass the instant I posted the thread, saying he didn't appreciate me "slandering" Billy publicly. I explained I'd paid for an item, and he'd flaked out on me, not answering emails or PMs, and I either wanted the parts or a refund. We went back and forth a few times, I got the refund so I let it go. A few weeks later a new member said something about ordering wires from Billy, to which I (politely and casually) mentioned I didn't have a great experience with him and to get them from Magnecor(where I eventually got wires from) instead, which custom made them and arrived at my door in like 3 days for only a few $$ more than what Billy was charging. Mongo flipped shit on me again, saying he'd "had enough" of me "publicly flogging" this guy and to shut the hell up or....*gasp*....he'd BAN me. I told him he was a fascist douche who put way too much value on his virtual authority, and suggested he go have relations with a duck.

You don't realize what a great place VMF is until you go someplace else. I was briefly on a forum for mini-motorcycles, mostly to try and find a Comet torq-a-verter for my minibike project(which I did from some random person). Place was filled with douchbaggy power-obsessed mods. One of them made a post about how 5hp was "plenty" of power for a minibike, and would get his 320lb "frame" around just fine, saying my 14.5 belt drive was a "waste of a good motor". All I could think about from then on was that World of Warcraft guy from South park...the fat nerdy douchebag perched on a 3" wide seat on 5" wheels with a tiny 5hp struggling to even move with his fat ass on board. I made a very satisfying insult tornado to his inbox, asked my account to be deleted, and never even checked to see if my login was deleted.