1985 Honda V65 Sabre. Problems/solutions?

[Guest]

Got solicited on a 7k V65 Sabre, naked bike, the black one.
Might want to trade a singular GS part ( just kidding!) for the bike locally.
$2500 price, looks like a nice survivor.
Thoughts on this bike?

[chuck hahn]

Look at parts fiches for the usual critical parts...starters, electr4ical stuff etc etc for availablity. If there are a lot of NLA parts imusually skip over it. Also check Ebay for stuff and see whats listed for it..parts availablity in case of a major situation can mean your stuck with a boat anchor.

[koolaid_kid]

Decent bike, best of the v-65 IMHO. Trans issues IIRC. Very heavy, but par for the course.

[Jedz123]

Well I've never dealt with the V65 but I have owned a V45 and cannot recommend them. My V45 I bought for $1500 it was in good shape loads of midrange had less then 20k I think 18k or in that ball park. Went for a spirited ride with it and the motor ran fantastic. Got on an open stretch and me and the boys went for an all out drag race to see how the V45 faired with the FZ6's(obviously the best way to see what bike is better lol). Well half way through second bike fell out of gear on WOT. She would never hold Second correctly ever again. I sold it for a huge loss...
Two buddy's had 2 V45's both had issues. 1 had a Magna and the bike would never work electrically, we tore it down to fix it but one thing would go or short out right after fixing the first issue. He ended up selling it at a huge loss too and never got more then a 1k miles on it. The other guy had a V45 Interceptor. Bike had about 35k miles on it when it decided to internally grenade it's transmission on a spirited cruise... Bike sounded like a blender with nuts in it when the tranny let go. He got a good year out of it but he payed close to 2k for it...
I hear the V65 are just as savage to their Transmissions. But my 2 cents. You want a reliable Honda then go with an I 4, I twin or single... The only motors that I've rarely heard issues with.

[83GS1100E_Tornado]

Too much for a big Sabre, trust me on this one. You can basically find a MINT one in the 1500 dollar range, this topic has been beat to death on the Honda V4 forum. People just DO NOT like the looks of the big Sabre, although comfort wise, I prefer the riding position to that of the big Magna. People just think they are UGLY, even most of the Honda guys! The instrument clusters are VERY hard to find in good shape, the lenses are plastic and fade really bad if left in the sun for any extended period of time, they get cloudy, crack and become unreadable, they are basically a third of the value of the bike, used ones in decent shape bring 300-500 dollars on eBay all the time. The fatal flaw on the early V4's were second gear, if it pops out of gear in 2nd under hard acceleration, it's a parts bike! I restored 3 of them about 5 years ago, then found out I couldn't give them away, and haven't bought once since. I have restored about 50 V65 Magnas, and only a handful of Sabres, I am getting 3-5K for fully restored V65 Magnas, the last 3 big Sabres I sold were all right around $1500. I can go on Craigslight right now and find a nice one somewhere in the country in that price range. Sure, guys are always ASKING for more, but that's not what they are getting, we've seen some stubborn guys listing these bikes for years without selling them. A nice bike to ride, but don't pay too much for it, because it's not going to be a money maker, you'll be lucky to break even!!!

[Roscoe]

Too much for a big Sabre, trust me on this one. You can basically find a MINT one in the 1500 dollar range, this topic has been beat to death on the Honda V4 forum. People just DO NOT like the looks of the big Sabre, although comfort wise, I prefer the riding position to that of the big Magna. People just think they are UGLY, even most of the Honda guys! The instrument clusters are VERY hard to find in good shape, the lenses are plastic and fade really bad if left in the sun for any extended period of time, they get cloudy, crack and become unreadable, they are basically a third of the value of the bike, used ones in decent shape bring 300-500 dollars on eBay all the time. The fatal flaw on the early V4's were second gear, if it pops out of gear in 2nd under hard acceleration, it's a parts bike! I restored 3 of them about 5 years ago, then found out I couldn't give them away, and haven't bought once since. I have restored about 50 V65 Magnas, and only a handful of Sabres, I am getting 3-5K for fully restored V65 Magnas, the last 3 big Sabres I sold were all right around $1500. I can go on Craigslight right now and find a nice one somewhere in the country in that price range. Sure, guys are always ASKING for more, but that's not what they are getting, we've seen some stubborn guys listing these bikes for years without selling them. A nice bike to ride, but don't pay too much for it, because it's not going to be a money maker, you'll be lucky to break even!!!

Thanks guys, very helpful.
The V65 Sabre is pretty rare around here, I think I can see why now.
Only Honda I ever owned is the XR650L in the trailer next to my Suzuki's, it just keeps plugging along on the fire trails. And our Y2K home generator, still runs a couple of times a year. Crazy dependable.
Think I will stay with the GS to ride dependably.
Much appreciated!

[FiremanBob]

Price is at least a grand too high, but the V65 Sabre is a great motorcycle. It's very fast, can tour at illegal speeds all day (I did 700 miles on my best single day) in total comfort, and with Avon radial tires handles as well as a steel-cradle frame bike possibly can. Both 5th and 6th gears are overdrives, so it gets great mileage on the open road for its size..mine consistently made 40 mpg.

If the transmission has been badly abused, second gear does go and then it becomes a $500 bike because you'll have to open the cases to replace it. If the bike has the "oil mod" - an adapter and new oil lines that feed high-pressure oil directly to the heads, that's a big plus. Some V65s that have been run at low RPM too much get cam pitting from low oil pressure.