The Honda Motorcycle That Quietly Became A Legend

9 minutes reading

Monday, 6 Jul 2026 17:31 0 5 autotech

Today, Honda is the largest manufacturer by volume, and that volume comes from small-displacement motorcycles, scooters, and step-throughs in markets like Southeast Asia and Brazil. Large-displacement performance icons aren’t high sellers in these markets. However, there is no doubt that Honda is one of the premier motorcycle manufacturers in the history of motorcycles. It is usually a sleeping giant, but every once in a while, it awakens and decides to remind the world (and the competition) of what it is capable of.

Table of Contents

The Well-Known Honda Legends Are Aplenty

1972 Honda CB750 side shot

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Legendary Hondas Aren’t Restricted To Performance Bikes Only

It wasn’t just the lightspeed Hondas that became legends; some of the most unlikely products became heroes. The Gold Wing is Honda’s most luxurious product in history, and it remains one of its biggest successes. At the other end of the spectrum, the Super Cub and its variants are the highest-selling vehicle in history, with over 100 million sold since its inception in 1958. The Grom is a minibike, but its second most popular market remains the good ol’ USA.

Some Legendary Hondas Have Slipped Under The Radar

Press image of the HONDA CB400 Super Four

As with all legends, some end up being unsung heroes – and that is the case with some Honda motorcycles as well. The XR650L seems ordinary because it has always been around and is affordable even today, but a quarter of a century ago, a dry-sump dual-sport with a chassis as its oil tank and cooler must have been amazing! Even today, it probably is better than you remember it being.

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The Honda V65 Magna Quietly Became A Legend

A black Honda V65 Magna front 3/4 shot with fairing

The Honda Magna lineup had different displacements, but the V65 Magna was the king of them all. The ‘65’ denoted the displacement in cubic inches, and it was an unholy marriage of a sports bike engine and a cruiser chassis. Honda did this specifically to make Harley-Davidson sweat, because Harley-Davidson did not have quick motorcycles at that point in time. So, not only did the Magna achieve the target of showing up the American brand, but the V65 Magna was briefly in the Guinness Book of World Records for the fastest production bike of its time — and it was a cruiser!

It Had A Tough Time In The US Market

The V65 Magna was launched in 1983. This is the year the US government put in protections for Harley-Davidson by adding an import tariff to all Japanese bikes above a certain displacement. This meant all Japanese motorcycles above middleweight displacement were taxed 45 percent for engines that displaced more than 700 cc, leading Honda to pioneer the turbocharged motorcycle revolution. The tariffs made the Magna unreasonably expensive compared to the competition at the time. Early models of the V65 also had camshafts that failed early, leading to expensive repairs and a reputation for being unreliable.

It didn’t help that in just two years, the Yamaha V-Max went on sale. It had the same basic formula as the Magna, only it offered much more performance. With competition coming from the tariffs, the new kid on the block, and the negative reputation, Honda decided to pull the plug on the V65 Magna in 1986. Just one year later, the US government removed the tariffs on big-displacement Japanese motorcycles, a full year before the plan said it would, and thus did the run of the V65 Magna end in the USA.

The Engine Was A Firecracker

The V65 Magna’s calling card was its engine; it was one of the first mass-produced motorcycles with a V4 engine. Unlike a lot of the cruisers of the time, it displaced 1,098 cc but had a short-stroke design with a compression ratio of 10.5:1. This was completely unheard of for the time for a cruiser, as was its power output of 100 horsepower at 9,500 RPM as measured at the wheel. The torque also was immense, with a figure of 69.3 pound-feet at 7,500 RPM. Honda claimed a top speed of 170 miles an hour, but independent testers could get it up to only 140 miles an hour in fifth gear; the sixth overdrive speed was strictly a highway cruising ratio.

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It Wasn’t Very Good When Not At The Dragstrip

The problem with the V65 Magna was that it was pretty much the first power cruiser. When not pointed in a straight line, it wasn’t very good despite the spec sheet reading quite well. It had a traditional double-downtube frame and quite beefy 41 mm forks that were air-assisted with 5.9 inches of travel, and the rear twin shocks were fully adjustable, again with a decent 4.1 inches of travel. The front brakes consisted of dual 270 mm discs with twin-piston calipers, which was unheard of for a cruiser at the time, while at the rear, there was a single 282 mm disc with a twin-piston caliper. It was fairly light as well, with a wet weight of 589 pounds.

The trouble was that the chassis did not match the engine’s performance. Honda chose to give it a 45/55 front-to-rear weight distribution, which meant that in a corner, you didn’t have enough weight on the front. This problem was exacerbated by the air-assisted forks that were designed to prevent dive. Finally, the shaft drive got in the way because, when you got on the throttle, the shaft-jacking effect was quite pronounced, and if you beefed up the rear suspension to minimize that, it would make the ride really uncomfortable. The engine also was really thirsty if you didn’t ride sedately, which meant there was a second underseat fuel tank with a fuel pump to feed the carburetors.

The Smaller VF750C Magna Fixed A Lot Of The V65’s Problems

Studio shot of front right three quarter of Honda VF750C Magna

Before the V65 Magna was launched, the flagship Magna was the VF750C Magna. As the name suggested, it had a 750 cc engine borrowed from the VFR750 sportbike and, just like the sportbike, it used a chain drive to the wheel. The chassis was better matched to the engine’s performance; it had reduced weight, and the weight distribution was better. It would not only keep up with contemporary middleweight sport bikes in a drag race, thanks to its 75 horsepower and 47.7 pound-feet (and this was the quoted output for the restricted Japanese variant).

But it outran them handily. This was a far more popular variant of the Magna in the US market and remained on sale for two whole decades. An example of a third-gen V45 Magna from 2003, the last year that it was on sale in the USA, can be had for a little over $3,000 today. That’s a very reasonable price for the performance, and it remains one of the most reliable Honda cruisers you can buy used today.

Can You Get Yourself A V65 Magna Today?

Yes, you can. Despite its reputation for being unreliable, the problem that the camshaft had initially was fixed with a bit of engineering from enthusiasts, and it turned out to be quite reliable once the oil starvation problem of the engine’s heads was resolved. Today, you can have one for as little as $4,000 if you look hard enough, although one in fine nick might cost you well over 6,000. Looking back at the big Magna, you realize that this is a rare motorcycle, having been on sale for just four years and not selling very well at the time, so prices might fluctuate depending on the seller and the condition of the motorcycle.

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There Were, And Are, Successors Worthy Of The Magna’s Throne

The Yamaha V-Max is the obvious competitor here, since they were both sold at the same time in 1985 and 1986, when the Honda was discontinued. The V-Max took the Magna’s formula and refined it to an extent that it became a muscle cruiser legend itself. We never saw another power cruiser quite like it until the Harley-Davidson V-Rod, and then the second-gen V-Max burst onto the scene in the 2000s.

Today, if you want something like the Magna, you’re in luck – the Ducati Diavel V4 RS occupies this exact niche; it is the most powerful cruiser on sale today. It has a 0-60 MPH time of 2.5 seconds (claimed). Even the regular Diavel V4 and XDiavel V4 powered by the Granturismo engine get to 60 MPH in under 3 seconds, which is mental.

Action shot of a Triumph Rocket 3 GT with saddlebags accelerating on an airstrip

If you prefer something a little out of left field, the Triumph Rocket 3 will also keep up with the Ducati, with a 0-60 MPH time of 2.73 seconds. However, it is a well-rounded machine, and the most balanced power cruiser on the market today. These times are equal to any liter supersport or hyperbike, in case you were wondering. The Magna’s legacy is in safe hands, even if it hasn’t got the full recognition it deserves for pioneering the power cruiser segment.