Topic: Non-Goldwing, non-CB750 bikes for touring?

[Stretch]

The big sabre is a fine touring bike. If you can find some of the farkles then it is a pretty comfortable ride. It has all the dodads that the early goldwings had but considerably more power. The engine is almost goldwing smooth but it has an 5 + overdrive transmission.  Once in OD the next time you'll have to change gears is when you need to stop. A decently tuned, stock bike should get over 40 mpgs, on the slab you can push 200 miles per tank full. You will want to look for a new seat, a driver's backrest would be nice but they are getting really hard to find. The 84 has 3 piece adjustable bars so you can make them pretty comfortable. They are relatively heavy (650lbs w/honda faring) but once you get it rolling you feel how smooth cruising can be.

Traveling 2 up will take some creative packing. My setup is capable of carrying a weeks worth of stuff (for one).

You can pick up the sabres relatively cheap. If you get one, you won't be sorry.

This Sabre V65 looks pretty cool, and has been on CL for a couple of weeks. What would be a reasonable offer for this "rare bike"
http://nashville.craigslist.org/mcy/4432340927.html

Offer the guy 2g's. He probably won't take it right off but you can find nice sabres for $1200-$2000 all over. As much as he probably likes his bike, they do not bring the same money as the magnas.

[MoMo]

PC/golf cart    and you'll be politically correct too, which is very important in this modern age quashed free speech...Larry

[Terry in Australia]

Well far be it from me to opine on the aesthetic beauty (or otherwise) of some bikes, but fark, that V65 is about as fugly as a bike could get! Now we weren't blessed with V65's in Oz, (but the VF750 and VF1000 of the same era were crap, and the engines lasted about as long as a disposable cigarette lighter) but that's probably a good thing, that CBX fairing sorts out the weird looking front end, but the unfaired standard V65 looks like it was designed in Russia, by a kidnapped Lego engineer!



Also, I'd suggest that the seller has taken some liberties with the truth when he says that thing was "The worlds fastest production bike in its time". By comparison, Yamaha's FJ1100 of the same year was 30 pounds lighter, had more BHP, and was a second quicker down the quarter mile. It also looks better, by around 10,000,000%.



Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that an FJ1100 is the ideal bike for Tug, and I know we're all Honda fans here, but there are plenty of bikes out there within Tug's budget that are both big and comfy, and reasonably attractive as well. The more I look at that V65 the more I feel guilty for putting #$%*e on Larry's golf cart......... Cheers, Terry.
 

[Tugboat]

Haha! Yeah, I hear ya about the looks. Part of me likes the "uniqueness" of it but part of me thinks it's super fugly! Packing it would seem to be a bit more of a pain than I'd like too.

What about the Honda V-Twins? Shadow 1100s.. Anybody know anything about those?

[Stretch]

The old concourse's are some sturdy bikes. There's still a pretty good supply of parts since the made the same bike for 20+ years. They have pretty good power and the luggage for them is bottomless. They do have a buzz at a certain rpms like most I4's. I've not ridden an FJ but the couple people I know that have them really love them.

I'll give you guys points on the sabre's styling. It sacrificed styling for farkles. I will stand by my comments about it being an excellent touring platform.

They made some great bikes back in the 80's but as with any of them, parts and service are getting harder to come by.