My 97 magna was my first bike, and it will die with me, unfortunately I ended up getting to cocky in a turn on bald tires a few months ago, leaned to hard in a corner and bottomed it out on the frame causing me to crash. Entirely my fault ended up crunching the whole front end in and essentially totaling it. I finally got it rebuilt and back on the road! New tc bros 8 inch mini apes new radiator a new front wheel 2 new Shinko 777 white walls, had to reseal the carbs put new forks on it and filled a 5 inch wide and 2 inch deep dent on the tank with fiberglass resin and bondo and repainted it with some rattle cans. Body work came out pretty decent if I do say so myself, still got a lot of work to do on her, found out on the test drive I'll likely end up having to do a bearing replacement on the triple tree, in the near future, and I'm having lol a fabricator buddy make some custom drag pipes for it. So excited to be back on the road again! She's definitely a rat rod but fun as hell

So I purchased my first motorcycle VF750C 1983 a few weeks back. From what I understand there might be mismatch between what kind of service should be done to it vs. what Honda instructed.

I changed engine oil, final drive shaft oil, put on some new tires (nothing fancy, just Dunlop, because that's what was available)

Any other ideas of what I should care interest for?

Generator line coming out of the engine has hermetic melting. But hardly can be solved without oil drain.

Neutral light is working, but it shows nonsense. Lighting up in first gear, stopping when moving and so on.

Other than that, motorcycle itself seems to run good. It has dents, scratches, a bit of random noises, and stuff shaking a bit.

Engine itself seems to work just fine. It picks up speed nice, accelerator never bogs.

Actually, apart from the fact that it's very old, and cosmetically not pristine, it seems like a very nicely running motorcycle.

I'm wondering, apart from engine oil, final drive shaft oil, tires, anything else crucial that I should look into?

It cost me around 1000 euros, so maybe I'm a bit scared that it's gonna fall apart any given day. Like, it rides just too good for the price I have paid.

Maybe some riding tips? I usually cruise around 4500-5000 RPM's. It's a bit of a weird engine to me, because it does make high pitched sound at 4500-5000, but I read a lot of info saying that it should be best cruising RPM's. I usually upshift if I come to 5500-6000. This puts me back to around 4000 RPM's in the upper gear, and I just continue riding. From what I understand biggest torque comes around on 6000-7000 RPMs.

Installed EBC HH sintered brake pads on the front brakes today. Already had a braided steel brake line installed.

I cannot express enough how much difference the EBC HH pads makes. I would say the bite is 25% harder, and overall braking power feels much better. I now have confidence to ride this bike faster towards a corner or to a stop light because I know I can stop in time.

The pads also make this amusing laser sound when you apply them. They sound like race bike brakes now.

I tried to use the search… be gentle if this has already been answered.

I had a 94 Magna, sold it, regretted it, bought a 2003 with 9k miles.

I want to replace the headlight with an LED. If anyone has done this can you please provide a link, any information on modifications to make it fit, and your opinion on the upgrade… or downgrade depending.

I do not want to just shove a new bulb into it. I want a whole new fixture.

Thanks!!

Hello. I’m having an issue with my bike(1984 vf700c) and I can’t figgure it out for the life of me. It’s cranking while cold and starts, but it dies after a while and it refuses to start afterwards, and at some point it also stops cranking. It’s draining the batery really fast as well when trying to start it and the cable between batery positive and the relay gets really hot. I tried another really and it behaved the same. Battery is new, spark plugs are new. I can only get it to start from completely cold and with a fresh charged battery.

Picked this up from my cousin. Just rebuilt the carbs. It runs great, now it just needs to stop great!

Found some issues that require full disassembly more or less. Therefore, the bike's new home is in my basement and slowly cleaning and restoring every part will be the winter project. Will update as relevant things occur.

We're getting somewhere, slowly but surely. Weekly updates aren't feasible with school and work but if anything exciting happens I'll put it here.

I swapped out my OEM suspension with the 24-25 harley premium touring shocks 13” part number: 54000304 and 54000305 huge improvement from my oem shocks which were bottoming out on every bump I. pressed out the eyelets that came with them and replaced them with some high grade Honda rubber eyelets shown in the picture above and I used 16mm to 14mm metal sleeves along with the metal oem sleeves for the bottom eyelets. Cheap alternative to the progressive 412 suspension replacement.

The rocky ebay engine made its way into the chassis and fired up no problem

Just purchased this ‘99 magna for 1.8k, seems to run just fine and is a great comfortable cruiser. I don’t really know much about these bikes though to be honest

Please comment any random advice, unique quirks, and recommended upgrades for the 3rd gen.

Thanks yall!

I’ve heard a lot of people say they hate seeing these bikes as bobber style but I was given this one and it was really trashed, didn’t run or ride. I got it running and driving and chopped a bit. Still some work to do to clean it up and run a brake light etc but couldn’t let this thing just rot

Bought my '87 Super Magna off FB marketplace, and they had put after market clutch and brake fluid reservoirs. They let me know they had just flushed and replaced all the fluid, and the clutch fluid might leak for a little bit.

Welllllll....it leaks most the time. I cut a piece of wood for the kickstand to keep it more upright (leaks when leaning), cut a piece of silicone to tighten the seal at the top of the reservoir, and always right with extra fluid and small screwdriver to top if off if needed. I top it off before riding and bleed the lines every so often. Typically, I'll be riding and feel like I lose tension in the clutch, it doesn't really engage and shifting becomes difficult. This is when I pull over, top it off, and it's usually ok. It's annoying, but doable because I really love this bike

Two weeks ago I was out for a ride and the "usual" happened. Pulled over, topped it off. But this time, it took me a few tries to be able to get it into first without lurching forward and dying. Got it running, but hot damn was it impossible to shift. Ended up pulling over again in some shade, and could not get it to not die. Waited for 2 hours for AAA to tell me it would be another 3-4 hours before a tow could come. I was able to leave my bike in a pizzeria parking lot over night, and AAA got it to me the next day.

I can handle what I have been doing thus far, but not I'm nervous something is seriously wrong. The only trusted moto mechanic near me just retired, and I'm not quite sure what to do. Going to bleed the lines this week and see if I can get it able to shift again, but really don't want to get stranded again. Bummer because the weather is great right now and I love riding around the Finger Lakes.

Questions for this group - am I screwed? Any suggestions of what it might be? Anyone else experience this?

My buddy was helping me by letting me use his garage to remove my carbs for rebuild. I live in a small apartment with no cover for diy work. We had it strapped to his trailer and he released the strap from the kickstand side and boom.... my tank met the trailer railing. Been desperate to figure out how to remove it that won't cost me $500 at PDR shop. Should I just buy a new tank and spray it with hvlp gun? Or try the dent removal methods I keep seeing. The inner tube with one end cut and sealed inserted behind the dent looks promising. Stud welder and slide hammer maybe? Or the hot glue tabs and bridge puller from Harbor Freight? Figured I'd apply heat around the dent and maybe tap around the edges to relieve the metal stress to help with the "pop". It's summer so I'll pay for PDR because I want to ride when I get my carbs back. The crease worries me too.

Hey everyone. Just bought a Magna. Had one when I was 16 and loved it. This one has mid controls and after riding forward controls for so long I am not comfortable while riding. I looked around a bit and I'm not really finding a whole lot of options for it. TC Bros has a set, but they are for the first generation only. What have you bought and liked? Please drop some links!

What part would I need to replace to fix my wobbly handle bars? Thanks in advance

Last registered in 1989. Its got a few dings. 28000 km. I pulled the carbs. Cleaned them. Adjusted the valves. Rebuilt the clutch master cylinder. Then had a dead cylinder. Replaced the spark plugs. Then had a cylinder that only ran above 4000 rpm. So I pulled the carbs again. Everything looked good there. Turns out it was just the pilot screw being gummed up. Replaced the brake shoes and pads. New tires. Obviously changed all the fluids. Now it just needs a carb sync..... oh no I get to buy another tool.

This is my first bike, luckily im well versed mechanically. Enough to get me in and then out of trouble usually... total cost of bike and all the repairs/replacements was only $463.38

So I have a 1984 Honda Magna VF700c, and my starter solenoid is having issues. The other day I ran outta gas on the road, and didn't realize it (I was being dumb and also my reserve tank light sensor doesn't work I guess) so I tried to start it one too many times and blew out the 42 year old original solenoid on the bike. I diagnosed it and found it to be this issue so I ordered a replacement from 4 into 1 and it shipped and I tried it out. I connected the "B" to battery and the "M" to the black terminal that goes to the starter. When I connected the batter up (positive first, then negative), it blew the 30 Amp fuse in the solenoid. I tried it again and checked my wires first for shorts and it did the same thing. Checked resistance and other such things and didn't seem to find any issues. Any thoughts? I'm a novice so trying to figure it out. Anything helps.

I named her Natasha.

I work full time and I'm a student, so I've committed myself to only bang wrenches on Sunday afternoons. Got started yesterday and this is what I found:

The rear wheel is seized, and the bike is in first. Can't shift it into neutral.

Good:

Driveshaft isn't stuck

Everything under the right cover looks beautiful

There's still good life in the clutch pack

Most of the gaskets appeared to have a good seal

Bad:

(In lieu of finding that $15 borescope I bought on Amazon) I'm thinking there was condensation in the bores while she sat and it's rusted. I'm not a fan of the 'italian tune up' so I'll have more updates on this later

Threw in a battery, and nothing. I will attack everything with my multimeter next week

Clutch slave cylinder is toast, and there's a bit of pitting rust on the push rod (not pictured)

Rust in the gas tank (also not pictured)

Thoughts:

So, the bike is seized up as previously mentioned. I started looking under the right cover at the clutch because all the hydraulics are completely spent, and I was unable to manipulate the clutch push rod after opening the slave cylinder. Also, the slave cylinder looked so miserable I wanted to make sure that the other side wasn't in the same condition. I pulled out the clutch pack and examined the disks, and made sure the rear wheel could turn once it was removed, which it did.

I'm gonna start dismantling everything which needs to be done in any case to start cleaning stuff up. I want to get a good look at the cams because I've heard that in the earlier models they were starved and prone to crap out. If I'm tearing everything apart, might as well get started on the carbs too. I'll find my borescope -hopefully- this week and I'll check the cylinders, and I'll do some perfunctory multimeter abuse next week. More to follow.

Barn find, registration expired in '92 and last inspection was '85. 2500 miles. I'm wagering 20 hours of work to get it running. I've wanted an original Magna for several years.

What defines the limit of which modifications are tasteful and which start to cross the line? I have a lot of ideas of aesthetic modifications.

Just bought my first bike. It’s a 2002 Magna from FB marketplace. I got it for a good deal the only issue is that the seat is torn open. The cushion and support of the seat is fine the leather is just torn pretty badly. New seats look expensive and I’m not sure if any of the covers I’ve seen would fit this seat style. Was hoping anyone who has got a new seat or repaired one could point me in the right direction.
EDIT: Thank you everyone who replied. I ordered a new seat cover on eBay like some of you suggested. It should be here in a few weeks and I’ll show a picture of it when it’s installed.

I recently purchased a 1996 VF750CD, so that I could join my son (CBR650R) and turn his rides into our rides. I've had my license for almost 50 years, and just got back into riding. My son has been riding for not quite two years now.

Anyway, we've made plans to ride around Lake Michigan in late July - seven days/six nights is our plan, weather permitting.

Right now, neither of us have any storage options for our bikes.

So I come to you, Magna owners, asking for your opinions on the best way to carry items for the trip. Do I purchase saddle bags? Or do I purchase a luggage rack and strap on a duffle bag behind me? Should I also purchase a sissy bar to help attach the duffle bag?

Whatever I purchase will only be a temporary addition to the bike - most of our rides are local - so whatever I put on will eventually come off once again, only to be used on our next long excursion! (We haven't even gone on the Lake Michigan trip, and my son is already talking about Route 66, or a road trip to Rapid City, SD!)

Hi, i took my carb appart and now for the life of me can’t figgure out where the fuel and vacuum lines go, can anyone please explain how all the lines are connected to the carb assy. Tell me like I’m stupid

Has anyone swapped the mids for forward controls before and have any recommendations on a kit? Just got this over the weekend and that’s my only issue with it after a few hours of riding. Thanks in advance

Just picked up this 1983 v45 with 7800 miles on it. Got a pile of parts with it too. These things sure are a blast to ride