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============
©
1999-2008
Total Motorcycle
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You are here: Index --- My Bike History
Our Motorcycles
Mike's Motorcycles:
• #6 - Current Bike 2007 Suzuki V-Strom 650 (DL650)
• #5 1982 Yamaha XJ650RJ
• #4 1978 Suzuki GS550 (full restoration project finished)
• #3 1980 CBM400T (the project that never was finished)
• #1 1984 Honda Magna V30
• Mike's Motorcycle History in Brief : • 2007 Suzuki DL650 V-Strom 650 • 1980 Honda Hawk CB400T • 1980 CBM400T • 1978 Suzuki GS550 • 1982 Yamaha Seca XJ650RJ • 1984 Honda Magna V30
Andrea's Motorcycles:
• #2 - Current Bike 2006 Kawasaki Z750S
Magazine Reviews (Also includes manuals & brochures):
2007 Suzuki V-Strom 650 -- DL650
Blasting into the future... 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, 25 years later..Wow, what a strange looking bike from 25 years in the FUTURE! Or so it seems that way when I'm going from my last bike, a 1982 Yamaha to a 2007 Suzuki. Does this mean my next bike will be a 2032 model? Will it fly?
It's purchased and being built as I write this. Haven't had the call yet to pick it up, but I'm sure I will soon. :)
1982 Yamaha Seca XJ650RJ. After restoring the 1978 GS550 and selling it ($1300cdn), I wanted something bigger and a little newer (didn't like points and condensers too much). So I just purchased a 1982 Yamaha XJ650RJ Seca with shaft drive. Nice bike, test rode it and got a professional mechanic to give it a once over before he gave me the "thumbs up". (A HARD lessen I learned after buying the GS550 without a mechanic to check it over first!). Note to self: Next time you buy a used bike/car always have a mechanic look it over before you buy.
I
was in luck, with an asking price of $1300 and $840 in my pocket it was mine
(with me and the mechanic negotiating on the price). The bike had been restored
too with lots of money in bills to prove ($800 worth) and only needed another
hundred and fifty dollars to make it perfect (rear tire, oil & filter,
spark plugs & caps, fuse hold & fuses). So $1000 and I still had $300
to spare for extras this winter (fork springs, valve adjustment, carb sync,
stainless steel brake hoses, new pads) and why not because as I write this
I'm gone 3,000km in 1.5 months and only 2 oil changes a front signal light
and $0 else in cost!! I have a review of my bike so far on my .pdf
files page here. Also check out the XJ650 page
too.
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I find it interesting to note that I've now owned motorcycles from 3 of the 4 major Japanese manufacturers (Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha). I guess that means one day I'll own a Kawasaki too, but first I'll enjoy the Yamaha. :) Hummm, that Kawasaki ZRX-1200 looks mighty fine or the Kawasaki ZR-S7, the Honda Hornet CB900, even the Suzuki Bandit....
One of the most interesting feats I did on the XJ650R when I owned it was to participate in the 2000 XJ World Relay in 2005. I was responsible for the leg between Calgary, Alberta and Golden, British Columbia wearing a 75lb backpack containing stuff from around the world.
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I wanted another standard, I love the riding position and did research on
the top bikes in terms of mechanical reliability and rider happiness. I decided
to look for the following bikes and whatever one came up first with the best
price I'd get: Yamaha XJ Seca/Maxim, Suzuki GS, Honda Nighthawk and the Kawasaki
Zephyr and the GPz550. I was looking for a 650-750cc but I think the 4cyl
Suzuki GS550 will do fine. It has quite a legendary reputation for 
going
past 100,000km+ and a very rock solid engine that "outlasts many Japanese
bikes by double".
Update: Well, I did indeed finished
the GS550 project, I did 95% of the work myself, spent near $800 to do it
all and took a bike from junk yard status to
s omething you would be proud to ride around. I was still never very happy
with the bike and its reliability. I'd always be fixing something on it I
felt and it did die on me a few times. While others may of had better luck
with this model than I, I figured I'd sell it and get something more suited
to me. Update
Bike #3 - The 1980 Honda Hawk CM400T
The 1980 
Honda
CB400T Hawk was pretty damaged so I purchased a $150 1980 Honda CM400T parts
bike and will be
using as much as I can from the CB (such as the complete engine) and fit it
into the CM400T. The CM400T is the "cruiser" looking version of
the Hawk. Thus, CBM400T. The above picture is not my bike, just an example.
Update: Unfortunately this project
never really worked out as fast as I wanted it to so I purchased a GS550 and
sold ($500) the CM400T and the CB400T to buy it. Update
Bike #2 - The 1980 Honda Hawk CB400T
First photo of me on a motorcycle! Seems like ages ago...
The 1980 Honda Hawk CB400T is a wonderful bike
and I'd highly recommend it to anyone! After almost a full season on the 400cc
Hawk I felt the need to move on to a bigger bike. Not that there was anything
wrong with the Hawk, its a very fun bike that is perfect for in town riding,
5.5 hour rides and gets excellent gas mileage, so why the decision to move
on? 
Well
I joined the Southern Cruisers Riding Club and they tour (a lot). I found
traveling at up to a constant 80mph (120km/h) on the 400cc wasn't really that
fun. At 120km/h its at 7,000 rpm and you can you can feel the buzz in your
hands, the longer you ride at that speed the longer it stays. So I really
just wanted a bike that didn't buzz in the handlebars as much as the Hawk.
The Hawk is happiest at 100km/h and that's about 6,000 rpm and it also gets
it best gas mileage (up to 57mpg) at that speed to, I just wish we did that
speed all the time! The roads here are 100km/h for secondary highways and
110km/h for main highways and the club has a policy of doing 10km/h over so
we aren't passed as much as its "safer".
Bike #1 - The 1984 Honda Magna V30
What a gorgeious tail end...
I'm sorry I don't have a picture of me on this bike. Not much history to share with it. I purchased it a couple of months after my MSF course in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I wanted a good starter bike, something with power but had style. I remember reading a review for it saying "faster than a corvette", wow! It was the rear fender that made me fall in love with this bike... ah, what a gorgeous tail end. ;) I owned the Candy Maroon version... seems I liked Maroon as I also owned too many bikes in that colour!
At the time I found it a top heavy bike that was too torquey for my liking. Dropped it once on a rural gravel road and cracked the windshield it had. My parents were not hot on the idea of me owning a bike, especially since I didn't tell them when I bought it. OPS!
1/4 mile=12.79 @103.03 mph, 64hp, top speed 140mph.
The 1982 Honda V45 Magna was sold in 1982 and was available in either Candy Maroon or Candy Imperial Blue, for the gas tank and side covers. The headlight, instruments, and fenders were chrome. The front disc brakes have straight grooves, double piston calipers, and TRAC anti-dive. The speedometers read 150 mph, and the red line is 10,000. The engine is a 748 cc DOHC 16-valve liquid-cooled 90 degree V-4 linked to a 6-speed transmission with hydralic clutch and a shaft drive. Compression is high, and thnm m me stroke is short.
A milestone in the evolution of motorcycles, the V45's performance is comparable to that of Valkyries and Honda's 1800cc V-twin cruisers. However, its mix of performance, reliability, and refinement was overshadowed by the more powerful 1098cc "V65" Magna in 1983. Honda notoriously emphasised the speed of this bike. In failing to stress the total package, the engineering and design triumph was foiled by a feeble marketing approach. This era produced the aesthetically dubious, but fast, V-Max by Yamaha. Suzuki also joined in on the v-four cruiser trend with the Madura, mostly noted for having hydraulic valve lifters, as opposed to Honda's DOHC set-up, which was prone to premature wear of the cams.
The 1983 V45 Magna was available in one of two colors and the headlight, instruments, and fenders were chrome. The gas tank and side covers were the basic color (maroon or black). The front disc brake grooves were curved. The speedometer had a 150 mph (240 km/h) limit. The engine was a 748 cc DOHC 4-valve liquid-cooled V-4 linked to a 6-speed transmission and a shaft drive. (1983 starting SN JH2RC071*DM100011)
The US government imposed tariff rate hikes for foreign-built motorcycles in order to combat their rise in sales in North America, and to aid the domestic motorcycle manufacturers, namely Harley-Davidson. So for 1984 Honda responded by reducing the engine size for the 750s, and the Magna became the VF700C in the USA. Colours available for 1984 were either black or Candy Andromeda red.
Specifications:
Engine: DOHC 4 valve 90 degree V-four
Displacement: 748 cc
Transmission: 6 speed
Seat height: 29.9 in (759mm)
Final Drive: Shaft
Cooling: Liquid
Brakes: Dual Disc-Front, Drum-Back
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