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My rides
I currently ride a 1983 V45 Honda Magna as my daily transportation. This motorcycle features a 750 cc liquid cooled V4 engine. They made this bike in an 1100 cc version too. In addition, there is also a sportier version of the bike called the Sabre. These bikes were considered technological breakthroughs when they first came out. Even today, the older models can surprise you with their performance. For more information on these magnificent machines, check out the SabMag home page.
My other bike is a 1975 Honda SuperSport CB400F. This fine specimen of 70's wizardry is a reminder of what many of the 60's generation may call "the good ole days". This bike was one of the smallest inline fours made, and among the first of the smallest. It is marked by many unique features. A couple of the more notable are the fact that they were only made for 3 years, spanning from 75-77. This particular item is the first production, the remaining 2 years saw a couple of changes. Another unique feature is it's stock 4-into-1 exhaust system, the first of it's kind, and just a shadow of things to come. The riding of these 2 bikes is very different. The Magna is known more for it's brute strength. While not quite comparable to today's modern motorcycles, it's enough to surprise most of the general population. A cursory glance reveals what looks like a Harley Wannabe, a custom cruiser. But make no mistake, once you grab a handful of throttle, the V4 mill begs to be run like the beast it is. The underpinnings handle like they came from the trick bag proving to make the bike rather graceful, almost fluid in it's handling, very surprising for an 83 cruiser. These monsters are not without their limitations though, 2 major drawbacks are the seat comfort, and fuel capacity.
The SuperSport rides with a little more of a sport in it's riding posture. The handlebars are flat and low, and the fork angle, almost perpendicular to the road. This makes for a rather agile bike, in spite of the shortcomings of being an older machine with a smaller mill. The overall styling directly emulates the European café racers of the era, in fact, these little machines were often used as such. Unfortunately, this little wonder never really caught on with the general population. The entire 3 year production was less than 40,000 machines for the entire United States, a rather paltry figure when you consider that a Yamaha model saw sales averaging 20-30,000 per year for the same time frame.
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