1998 Honda Magna (Factory Hot Rod)

    I am always looking for a way to make a quick buck,...so in 2005 I was at the Plainview, Texas distribution center for Wal-Mart and saw a motorcycle ad on the bulletin board. I copied down the phone number and when I got home I made some inquiries on the computer to see just what a 'Honda Magna' was all about. Turns out it is a V-4 750cc engine and even Honda calls it a factory rocket.

      This is the way it looked the day I purchased it. The previous owner was also a Wal-Mart driver and he had nothing but glowing reports on the bike. He also had documentation on all the service work performed on the bike. A photo album was filled with pictures of him and his girlfriend traveling all over the country on this bike. We haggled a bit on the price, but I ended up giving him something less than what he wanted. 

     We loaded it into the back of the Silverado for the trip home to Denison. Notice how I had to get down in a ditch to lower the rear end so the bike could ride right into the bed?... Well that little maneuver turned out to NOT be the best idea of the day.

     Luckily the dude had a 4-wheel drive vehicle to pull me out of the ditch... Then Momma and I could start the 300 mile trip back to Denison. I have a Harley-Davidson decal in the back window of the pick-up and it was the only thing between me and the Honda on the way home..

      As you can see, the bike had almost new tires on it, and despite being seven years old, it had only ten thousand miles on the odometer. I figured I might be able to turn a pretty good profit on this one.

       All I did to it was detail it real good with some chrome cleaner and put a couple of coats of wax on the paint and it shined like a new penny. The previous owner asked me if I knew anything about Magna's, but I scoffed him off with some comment about riding bikes since I was fourteen years old. He said, "This bike is just like any other bike,..until you reach seven thousand RPM's..and then you better have your head screwed on real tight." I can attest his comments were very true. This bike comes alive in the higher RPM's and it's almost like another gear.

       Notice it does not red-line until ten thousand RPMs..and it will do every bit of that in a heart beat.

           I placed ads on Craig's List and in the Cycle-Trader but without any positive results. Local Constable Mike Putman is a good friend of mine and he told me about a guy in Southern Oklahoma looking for a Magna. I called him one night and told him about this one and the next day he showed up and we ended up tying down the Magna in the back of his pick-up. I made a few hundred on the exchange, but many times I have thought about this bike and secretly wished I had kept it....but don't tell my Harley friends.