Thoughts and Opinions on 1985 Honda VF500C Magna V30?

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Flywheel is correct - the 500 Interceptors and Magnas were pretty stout.
The 750s were the ones that had the cams, rockers, cam chains and tensioner issues.
 
They were serious breakthrough motors at the time but complex...that Suzuki 650 motor much better ....good find
 
I imagine that you are only hoping to get one or two seasons out of the bike before you trade up. It's probably not a risky gamble. If you've got a line on a newer bike for a lower price, that might make more sense, though.

Personally, I'd be hesitant to take an old bike on a long road trip for fear of getting stranded 500 miles from home. Should be fine for bombing around close to home, though.

See if you can get him to knock a few more bucks off the price and certify it as part of the deal.
 
Depends on the bike.....I'd take a 1990 ST1100 anywhere ....ditto with a maintained KLR of any age as they are dead simple machines.

Bikes with a history of known electrical issues are suspect no matter what year. Forums will generally show up the problem bikes on a search or the problem years.
 
On an older bike like that make sure all rubber ( rad hoses, brake line ) are good condition . The V4 500 is a great motor .
 
I can't speak for the Magna but I had a 84 450 nighthawk for a few years when I first got into biking. The thing was bulletproof. It never let me down even though I didn't treat it the greatest. In three years all I needed to fix was a snapped clutch cable and a new battery (I left it in over winter)
 
2wzilla said:
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Ok, so I'm in a process of looking for a new bike, my old 2013 CBR250RA died this March as I was taken out by a cager who failed to Yield right of way at a intersection and proceed truth the intersection on her "Red" my "Green", the bike was under financing so the big fat portion of the cheque went back to Honda Canada... As of now I manage to save up $2000, not much but I find few bikes selling for that price, some seem to be way too good of a deal like 2000 CBR600RR or 2002 R1 going for meer $2000.

If I had the money I would go for a 13-15 SFV650A Gladius but I don't have the $8000 to get one, so I'm stuck looking at $2000. Anyways outside of running into CBR125's with $1000 - $3000 price tag or Ninja 250R's with as equally crazy price tag on Kijiji or Auto Traders, and then during my search I came across the VF500C. The bike looks clean, like super uber clean, and it's only $2000 with 24,xxx KM on the clock.

The problem is how reliable would such bike be and would I have problems finding the parts as it is a 1985 model, so it's older then I am 1992 child. But the upside I can get a nifty slick insurance on this thing from everyone as it's a cruiser and is only 500cc cruiser.

So thoughts and opinions on this bike? And if you owned one how reliable of a buy would this be?

Also do you guy's have any suggestions for which bike I can find that's easy and fun to ride without breaking the bank? Naked or Cruiser style. Also should mention I never ridden a cruiser so the leg controls may be bit odd for me that is why I would much rather have a naked bike, but again I got a very small budget at the moment.
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You paid back the old honda with the cheque from the insurance company....why not get another bike financed?(seeing as you were ok with it the first time? Though i can understand you not wanting to owe people money all the time)
I know financing isnt considered the ideal option, but plenty of people do it, maybe you can get a decent rate?(My buddy sold his first financed bike, send the cash to the company, then got a new bike financed as well)
Cant imagine a bike like that would be fun, breaking down or having issues on the regular....

If i were in your shoes id either get a new bike i can count on, or just not ride for a while till i have a decent amount of cash saved up
 
bigpoppa said:
You paid back the old honda with the cheque from the insurance company....why not get another bike financed?(seeing as you were ok with it the first time? Though i can understand you not wanting to owe people money all the time)
I know financing isnt considered the ideal option, but plenty of people do it, maybe you can get a decent rate?(My buddy sold his first financed bike, send the cash to the company, then got a new bike financed as well)
Cant imagine a bike like that would be fun, breaking down or having issues on the regular....

If i were in your shoes id either get a new bike i can count on, or just not ride for a while till i have a decent amount of cash saved up
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This is an interesting suggestion. The CBR500R would make a nice little upgrade if the OP would consider refinancing.

However, if you go with this Magna there are a couple of things for the OP to keep in mind.

-If your older bike had Fuel Injection you are in for an interesting experience with this Magna. Even new these 1980s bikes could be cold blooded and needed extended warm ups before you could get going. Also, a slight vacuum leak or other malady could give you quite the high idle speed. (Edit: I see your bike was a 2013 so FI; wait until you deal with a choke and a reluctant cold blooded bike. ;) )

-1980s brakes... Well... They kind of suck. Unless you put on braided brake lines and use some really nice brake pads you may well find the brakes lacking. They will stop the bike decently enough but they will be nothing like a newer bike.

-You have come from a bike that can cut a corner like a scalpel. This is older technology, older frame design, and the bike is like a smaller muscle cruiser (I have long thought that the V65 Magna might have been the original muscle cruiser). That bike is going to handle much more ponderously than your old bike.

If you go this route make sure that Freaky or someone else competent gives the bike the once over. Budget some money for this. It will save you headaches and lost riding time and more importantly keep you safe. An older bike is fun to ride and makes a great conversation starter where riders meet up.
 
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The problems you could be potentially having with this bike are the same with any other older bike (lack of maintenance, carb trouble caused by lack of maintenance). There are no egregious faults with the V30 that I am aware of, other than maybe the exhaust can be annoying to remove. Also I found these motors to be weirdly sensitive to stale gas. I wish Honda had made a Sabre-styled bike with the 500cc V-4 but you can't have everything.

DejaVu said:
Hope this link works. 1984 V30 for half the price, located in Napanee:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/MGSONTARIO/permalink/512053008982460/?sale_post_id=512053008982460
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That's kinda... far
 
Agreed - it's a beauty!!
Blackfin said:
Sorry, can't speak to the reliability of a mid-80s V4 Honda (though I suspect it's fine) but, jeez, that is a fine-looking motorcycle. Looks like it just came out of the shipping crate.
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TK4 said:
Flywheel is correct - the 500 Interceptors and Magnas were pretty stout.
The 750s were the ones that had the cams, rockers, cam chains and tensioner issues.
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the 500 was part of a recall - do you know for sure this bike EVEN had the recall kit installed? or how many km's were put on before the recall kit was installed? is it even the original motor?

V65 - told a friend about this when he was looking at a V65 - nonetheless he bought the bike and less than 4 weeks later the bike was in the shop for, yes you guessed it - cam problems.

had another friend with a V65, never had a problem,

do you like to gamble? know when to walk away.. all the early V4's had problems including the 500 and 1100. or there would not have been recalls.

I'm not a gambler.
 
From total motorcycle .com used bike guide on the V30 interceptor and magna.

Description:
Notes:

While both these engines are nearly identical, it is important to note the Interceptor version is superior to the two because of its modified cam oiling passage ways. The Magna version does not have these and can easily suffer from lack of oil to the cams (top of the engine) reducing reliability. Kits are available to fix this problem for the Magna. If you buy a Magna (any size, 1984-1986), check to see if it has the kit installed, if not, try to find, buy and install one.

yup - only the V45? Hardly sounds stout. Also note the "any size" magna. sorry, you and flywheel are wrong. and like I said earlier, being an old guy I am familiar with the V4's of that era. I knew this from first hand experience during the 80's. Search V4 cam oiling problems and be prepared to find an onslaught of posts and info.

there were other problems with the V4's beyond the oiling supply problem, such as the tensioner problems of the V45. Cams also had a problem with the hardening of the lobes and delaminating. By the mid 80's people knew to stay away from these bikes- not just the magnas, but particularily the magna's. Most everyone during that period considered them to be lemons. Although some were not, their reputation was tarnished beyond repair.
 
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boyoboy said:
From total motorcycle .com used bike guide on the V30 interceptor and magna.

Description:
Notes:

While both these engines are nearly identical, it is important to note the Interceptor version is superior to the two because of its modified cam oiling passage ways. The Magna version does not have these and can easily suffer from lack of oil to the cams (top of the engine) reducing reliability. Kits are available to fix this problem for the Magna. If you buy a Magna (any size, 1984-1986), check to see if it has the kit installed, if not, try to find, buy and install one.

This is bullsh*t - the V30 Magna and Interceptor motors are identical.

yup - only the V45? Hardly sounds stout. Also note the "any size" magna. sorry, you and flywheel are wrong. and like I said earlier, being an old guy I am familiar with the V4's of that era. I knew this from first hand experience during the 80's. Search V4 cam oiling problems and be prepared to find an onslaught of posts and info.

V30s are not V45s or V65s -they had NO cam chain/tensioner or cam/rocker recalls.

there were other problems with the V4's beyond the oiling supply problem, such as the tensioner problems of the V45. Cams also had a problem with the hardening of the lobes and delaminating. By the mid 80's people knew to stay away from these bikes- not just the magnas, but particularily the magna's. Most everyone during that period considered them to be lemons. Although some were not, their reputation was tarnished beyond repair.
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Like a lot of what read on the web, its simply not true that these (the V30s) were bad motors. I worked in a Honda shop for 24 years - I remember those days too...
 
TK4 said:
Like a lot of what read on the web, its simply not true that these (the V30s) were bad motors. I worked in a Honda shop for 24 years - I remember those days too...
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I repeat - there was a recall. sorry if you cannot recall. For the 30, 45, and 65. I give up.
 
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boyoboy said:
I repeat - there was a recall. sorry if you cannot recall. For the 30, 45, and 65. I give up.
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The 500 had the least amount of problems . Saying that my 84 had the cams replaced under warranty . But I remember correctly the problem was with the 750 and 1000 motors .
 
Thanks all. I ended up picking up a 2002 SV650S for $1400. I don't like to Finance as it requires me to carry full insurance coverage vs. just liability.

Plus I was thinking of financing something like Yamaha R3, after calling around I was quoted $3080 to $4400 that's not including $150+ in monthly payments on the bike. You see were im going. And I would still have $4600 left on bike to pay even with $2k down.

As a very popular member on here ones told me in person.

"Don't buy from dealers, go buy a used bike and if you need help seeing if it's worth it I can help you."

Yeah my SV650S is 1st gen but mechanically it's sound outside of fairing damage which I don't honestly care about, with bit of money down the road I can repaint the fairings and make the bike to look new. But as long as mechanical portions work I cant complain. My bike came with new Street Pilots with only 1k on them and new front brake rotors $500 set.

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Matt Rain said:
That's a lot of bike for 1400 bones, well done!
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Yeah. It's a nifty bike, sounds amazing with Delkovic exhaust. Outside of needing minor tune up, new plugs and new break pads as existing pads feel dirt cheap it's all good. Oh and it needs some wiring work as left signals don't work both front and rear. But for that money it's a steal. 80k on it but oh well, and I'm the 10th owner but again I heard SV650S are darn reliable bikes and you can always swap parts from GSXR onto SV


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bigpoppa said:
You paid back the old honda with the cheque from the insurance company....why not get another bike financed?(seeing as you were ok with it the first time? Though i can understand you not wanting to owe people money all the time)
I know financing isnt considered the ideal option, but plenty of people do it, maybe you can get a decent rate?(My buddy sold his first financed bike, send the cash to the company, then got a new bike financed as well)
Cant imagine a bike like that would be fun, breaking down or having issues on the regular....

If i were in your shoes id either get a new bike i can count on, or just not ride for a while till i have a decent amount of cash saved up
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Well as you know with financing you need to have full coverage. I asked a friend of mine who got R3 last year in Winter how much the bike costs him a year, the bill was around $6k. Believe it or not but an R3 would cost $3000-$4000 to insure. Not to mention $150+ mon on bike payments.

Yeah I could again finance but I don't want to deal with having to have full coverage and making monthly payments on the bike, were instead I can just pay for insurance and that's all.

Saving well I could have, but you as a rider know how hard it's to stay away from ridding when you have people all around you riding there motorcycles and your not.


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