My SuperDuper Magna Is Finally Done!!!!

[Chokse]

Well, it all started over a year ago, but it is now finally finished.  I am now the proud owner of a 1995 Honda Magna with CBR 600 wheels and brakes, and a VFR 750 engine.  This thing is a blast to ride.  This all started a few years after I bought the Magna (2006) and discovered how much I hated the brakes and tires but how much I loved the rest of the bike.  So, I set out to find a solution.  After hundreds of hours of research and postings on different forums, I finally came to a conclusion that the parts from a CBR 600 would fit the Magna.  The biggest concern was the rear wheel since it had to be centered and the sprockets had to line up.  All went to plan on the wheels, though I had a lot of trouble with painters and chrome shops.  During the lull in work, I decided to drop a VFR 750 engine into the Magna's frame.  It was not as simple a task as I had imagined, and in fact was harder than the wheel mod.  I also added some extra items like an air dam, a MotoGadget speedometer, a hydraulic clutch, RaceTech fork springs and cartridge emulators, and Progressive 440 shocks.  I am now running Michelin Pilot Road 2 Radial tires front and rear, and have EBC sintered brake pads at all disks.  I have set up a site where you can see pictures of the bike in its current (finished) state.  The link below will take you to those pictures.  On the site menu, there is also a link to the Magna/CBR/VFR Project where you can find pictures taken during the whole process.  If you have any questions, feel free to email me or leave a comment here or on the site. 

http://web.me.com/gechoike/Chokses_SuperDuper_Magna_Site/Chokses_SuperDuper_Magna/Chokses_SuperDuper_Magna.html



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[greg_o]

Wow
stunning
awesome

The cobra paint scheme and chrome details are.....just flat out stunning.

[LIMagna]

Truly super duper!  Congrats (again) on such a professional job (although I doubt many professionals could even pull that off).

[MarylandMagnav45]

AMAZING!  I was eagerly flipping through the slideshow looking at every detail with wonder.

I gotta ask, since you replaced the engine, and made changes...


DOES THE BIKE GO FASTER/ACCELERATE FASTER AND IS IT BETTER IN THE TURNS?

[John Luttrell]

Wow, nice job!  Certainly one of a kind Magna; I'd seriously look into getting a magazine to publish it.

[lragan]

Chokse, that is an awesome bike.  Congratulations on a terrific job. 

Perhaps you should open a custom bike shop...

[silveradocowboy]

Awesome job and love the detail that went into it. If I had a third thumb it would be up! 

[Sledge Hammer]

Holy cow, George!

That is an amazing job of reengineering the bike! It goes far beyond what I had visualized from your earlier descriptions. It would be impressive enough just as eye candy, but the fact that so much of it is functional upgrade, too, is truly astounding.

That is what the Magna should have been all along! 

[ryjb]

Hot damn!! That is amazing.  Great job, thanks for sharing.

[Sledge Hammer]

Hey, Chokse, are you on the V4Musclebike board? I'm sure the guys over there would love to see these photos and to read about what you did.

[Jerry G Turner]

WOW that is one nice looking Magna. Great job !

[drkngas]

SuperDuper Magna is Right!!!  Great job!

[Troystg]

Very nice..  Wait, veeeeeeeeeeeeeery nice.

[Chokse]

Thanks for the compliments guys.  The project took a lot longer than I had anticipated, and a lot of that was due to the "details".  I had to plan out what the finished look of each part would be before I actually did anything, and that was very time consuming.  Sometimes I think that more time was spent planning things out than was spent actually working on the bike, but I guess that's true of everything like this.

To answer a few of the questions:

Sledge Hammer:  No, I did not post on the V4Musclebike board.  I actually didn't know it existed.  Thanks for the reference.  I'll try to get over there and post the link.

1985v45Magna:  First the bad news.  For the next 1,000 miles, I need to keep it at low RPM because of the rebuilt engine (especially because of the new crankshaft bearing sleeves), so I haven't been able to run it at more than 5,000 or 6,000 RPM, and I'm trying to keep it under 4,000 whenever possible.  The good news is that I can tell you while the Magna engine basically ran like crap under 6,000 RPM and then finally woke up at around 6,500 RPM, this new engine has much more pull under 6,000 RPM.  It is really easy to feel the difference.  It seems to have much more torque at the low end of the RPM range.  Also, the sound of the gear driven cams and the VFR's crankshaft is amazing.  No way to describe it, but when you hear the bike drive past (with the Vance & Hines exhaust) it sounds like a Ferrari or Lamborghini screaming by.  It really is a nice sound.

To everyone else, thanks for the compliments and if anyone wants advice or information, feel free to contact me by email or post a question here.  The braking power now is amazing, and I can't say enough about how much the ride is improved with radial tires on the wheels. 

I probably could have spent less money in the end if I had just gone out and bought a new bike.  But, I liked my Magna too much to abandon her and I also wanted a bike that would be unique.

[Sledge Hammer]

Sledge Hammer:  No, I did not post on the V4Musclebike board.  I actually didn't know it existed.  Thanks for the reference.  I'll try to get over there and post the link.

Hope you'll pardon me, but I took the liberty of linking to this thread. It's just too good to keep it under wraps.