Yamaha VMax vs Honda V-65 vs Suzuki Madura....

[Shuriken]

Back in the day when my 85 Max was prowling around, there were also 2 other super cruisers that I am aware of - the Honda V-65 and the Suzuki GV1200GL "Madura". I had never heard of a Madura until 2 years ago when a work buddy of mine began bragging of how fast his old Suzuki was. I looked it up and was surprised.

Of course I knew about the Honda Magna and Sabre. I rode as a passenger on a Magna once and it was extremely powerful and fast. Coming from the XS1100 world, I have the ability to compare power.

What do you guys know about the V-65 and also about the Madura? Anyone owned either? Anyone raced any of these bikes against each other? I think I recall my old work buddy saying that he pinned his Madura at 160 or so.....

I found this page:
http://www.lk3000.com/madura/faq.cfm

On that page is listed the following:
"What are the 1/4 mile and HP specs for my Madura?
V1200 - Per CYCLE MAGAZINE from Jan. 1986: The V1200 BHP is 89.36 max @ 8500 rpm and the torque is 61.41 max. @ 6000 rpm. In a standing start 1/4 mile, it finishes in 11.75 sec @ 115.06 mph.


It was tested at the time against three other cruisers and came in 3rd place in the 1/4 mile (can you believe that garbage???!!). The test included the Yamaha Vmax ([email protected]), Kawasaki Eliminator 900 ([email protected]), Suzuki Madura ([email protected]), and Honda Magna ([email protected])."

And I also found a dyno sheet for the Madura from the same page:

I found a great article on the Magna as well:
http://www.magnaownersoftexas.com/v65/v65article.htm

On that page, they are saying that the Magna could run a 10.84 1/4 at 124.82. Here is the dyno:

No need to post a VMax dyno unless someone has a bone stock 1985 chart.

So, I'm trying to open up a big can of worms here, because of all of these big V4's at the time, which was truly the king? Seems like they were nip and tuck in comparison, mostly rider ability?

 

[one2dmax]

It's been awhile since I have seen a Madura but know what they are. Pretty rare bikes. No competition for the Vmax though I don't care what the numbers say. I almost bought a Suzuki V65 before I got the max. Only reason I didn't was the oiling prolems they were having with them back then. I knew I was going to beat on it and it would not survive my riding style.

Sean

 

[KY_BOB]

Back in the 80's I had a 1984 V-65 Magna and one of my friends had a 85 Vmax. My bike was strong but not as strong as his Vmax. They were never drag raced from a dig but I would guess that the Vmax was .5-.75 sec faster in the quarter based on us playing with them on the street.

 

[Mitchell]

I had a 83 V65 Magna, just last year. I recovered it from a garage after years of abuse and spent a winter restoring it. Anyway my take on the V65 is that they can be just as quick as a Vmax if tuned properly and with the right rider. For the day they had some cool features like LCD gear indicator & temp gauge, "6 speed". Man I miss that!
IMO they are actually more comfortable and smoother reving then a Max. But definitely not as cool to look at. Nore as addictive to ride.unk: None the less, they are a great machine that started the whole muscle bike scene. And who knows, without the creation of the V65 Magna, Yamaha may have never built the Vmax:ummm:

 

[KY_BOB]

None the less, they a great machine that started the whole muscle bike scene. And who knows, without the creation of the V65 Magna, Yamaha may have never built the Vmax:ummm:

That's very true. In 83 and 84 they were about the quickest things on the street. Had Honda not set the bar pretty high, Yamaha may have never topped it.

 

[Mitchell]

Absolutely!

 

[Shuriken]

Well, so far, you guys have said what I expected..

In the real world, that .5 or .75 difference wouldn't amount to much, I suppose. The features that were mentioned on the Magna - LCD and 6 gears - are things I'd love to have on my Max. I always thought the Magna was a great looking bike as well. Clay's Magna looks fantastic.

Don't know much about the Madura but I think it's an ugly looker.

There is a V-65 Sabre for sale locally for like $1500.

Would love to see all 3 against each other in a race.

 

[knottyrope]

My friend had both the magna and sabre in the same season.
He was never able to catch me on my 92 VMAX.

I was able to ride them both after doing some work on them.
Not a bad bike at all, just a lil slower.

 

[Redbone]

I had a '84 Honda Sabre vf700s. Not much of a performer, was easy to ride, typical Honda did nothing really bad nor nothing really good. I had it for a couple of years then sold it when I moved to Atlanta.

 

[Vee4DFW]

I had a V65 Magna from 83-86. I had a RC Engineering 4-1 header, and the carbs jetted. It was a screamer. They handled OK but the front end was extremely light. It didn't take a whole lot of throttle to get it off the ground.

Have a buddy here in Mckinney that collects 80's muscle bikes. He's got a V65 Magna, V65 Saber, V-Max, Kawi 1000 Eliminator, 900 Eliminator. His latest purchases are a GS1100ES and a CB1100F.

I love all those bikes!

IMO they all had their good qualities.

 

[113s&s]

buddy had a v65 i had 1150 e suzuki ...id pull him pretty good at track or street few vmax i raced on the street pulled just as good as the 1150 max was 100 lbs more

 

[Mitchell]

Well, so far, you guys have said what I expected..

In the real world, that .5 or .75 difference wouldn't amount to much, I suppose. The features that were mentioned on the Magna - LCD and 6 gears - are things I'd love to have on my Max. I always thought the Magna was a great looking bike as well. Clay's Magna looks fantastic.

Don't know much about the Madura but I think it's an ugly looker.

There is a V-65 Sabre for sale locally for like $1500.

Would love to see all 3 against each other in a race.

Well said and thanks for the comp on my ol V65. Nothing like old school 2 wheeled hot rod machinesunk:

 

[Mitchell]

I had a V65 Magna from 83-86. I had a RC Engineering 4-1 header, and the carbs jetted. It was a screamer. They handled OK but the front end was extremely light. It didn't take a whole lot of throttle to get it off the ground.

Have a buddy here in Mckinney that collects 80's muscle bikes. He's got a V65 Magna, V65 Saber, V-Max, Kawi 1000 Eliminator, 900 Eliminator. His latest purchases are a GS1100ES and a CB1100F.

I love all those bikes!

IMO they all had their good qualities.

You got that right!

 

[Shuriken]

I had a V65 Magna from 83-86. I had a RC Engineering 4-1 header, and the carbs jetted. It was a screamer. They handled OK but the front end was extremely light. It didn't take a whole lot of throttle to get it off the ground.

Have a buddy here in Mckinney that collects 80's muscle bikes. He's got a V65 Magna, V65 Saber, V-Max, Kawi 1000 Eliminator, 900 Eliminator. His latest purchases are a GS1100ES and a CB1100F.

I love all those bikes!

IMO they all had their good qualities.

Yeah, I think they may have had light front ends, but don't they seem to have a tall fork/front end anyway? Seems like the Magna is ready to wheelie just sitting there....

I should collect those bikes. There is both a Sabre and also a GS1150 for sale right now around here. All of those bikes would have been fun to ride. It would be great to see a magazine article with all of them in the same article, and a pic of all of them out on the street. Didn't Kawi make a z1300 also?

 

[Shuriken]

Well said and thanks for the comp on my ol V65. Nothing like old school 2 wheeled hot rod machinesunk:

You're welcome. That's a damn fine bike. Much akin to Redbone's avatars....

 

[Hercules]

It's been awhile since I have seen a Madura but know what they are. Pretty rare bikes. No competition for the Vmax though I don't care what the numbers say. I almost bought a Suzuki V65 before I got the max. Only reason I didn't was the oiling problems they were having with them back then. I knew I was going to beat on it and it would not survive my riding style.

Sean

Sean didn't you mean Honda V65? I had a V65, it is nowhere close to a Vmax the max is 1000 times torquer I had one of each back to back Sean is right they had a recall on the cams because of a oiling problem they would wipe the cams.

 

[Mitchell]

Sean didn't you mean Honda V65? I had a V65, it is nowhere close to a Vmax the max is 1000 times torquer I had one of each back to back Sean is right they had a recall on the cams because of a oiling problem they would wipe the cams.

I'm sure thats what Sean meant to say. Yeah the Vmax has more torque with the gearing and the V65 had cam oiling issues. But if you run a tight V65 there is no doubt in a 1/4 mile shootout it would give you a run for the money, bigtime.

 

[one2dmax]

Holy crap, what was I thinking. Yes, the Honda! But the same could be said about the Vmax if it was tight vs the magna. There is no way in hell if the two were in similar running order that it would have a chance.

.5 to .75 is a huge amount. Were not talking 1 bike length. We're talking 5 or more.

Sean Morley

 

[Hercules]

Holy crap, what was I thinking. Yes, the Honda! But the same could be said about the Vmax if it was tight vs the magna. There is no way in hell if the two were in similar running order that it would have a chance.

.5 to .75 is a huge amount. Were not talking 1 bike length. We're talking 5 or more.

Sean Morley

I agree with Sean I rode my V65 year around because my car got totaled by some diplomat,I was going to school at the time and the only other transportation I had was the V65 until the insurance company straightened things out,have you ever ridden a motorcycle all winter long?[what a nightmare] this by no means makes me an expert but I got to know that bike pretty well ,although it was somewhat fast it was nothing like the Vmax I got months later, there is no way the V65 is a 10 second bike Id compare it to a Vrod they feel similar maybe mid to high elevens with a normal rider[not peewee]

 

[dbeller]

Hey Clay,
I just noticed you are a member here. I have been reading your posts on the supermagna forums for the past year or so. I had an '87 super up until a month or so ago when I bought my '86 VMax. It was a sad day when I sold the super. I just had to fulfill my Vmax fix since I have wanted one since high school.
As for the comparison, I have had an '83 V65, '85 V65, '83 V45, '87 Super, '94 Magna, and '99 Magna. I guess you could say I have been a Magna fan over the years. I will agree that they feel really strong and handle pretty well if you get the right suspension on them. I really like the cornering ability of the Super and the gen 3 Magnas, compared to the Vmax. I still have to get used to the center of gravity of the max, but I definitely think they are much faster on the straights than any of the Magnas. There is also no way you can get the magnas to sound as good as the Vmax, especially since I just put on some SuperTrapp slip-ons. They sound AWESOME. Much different than the stock '87 Super exhaust which is nearly whisper quiet. Oh well, that was my .02 worth.
I love this site!
Derek