22nd Mar 2011, 06:28

Try a different windshield, I have a Memphis Shades windscreen, and have gone 120 MPH with no wobble or scary handling, Also try putting the rear shocks on full damping. It made a great difference on my bike, from when it was set on its softest setting, Good luck!!!

27th Dec 2014, 18:03

Near death experience?

I'm going to guess you have little to no experience with motorcycles. Or perhaps you've only ridden either large heavy bikes with no power, or small "crotch rockets" with better brakes and more modern suspensions (including radial tires).

I've been riding for close to 50 years and this is my second Magna (it's a '94 gen 3). My other Magna was an '82 (first gen).

While I think the Magna would have been better with a rear disk brake, I still find the drum adequate (you just need to know how to use the brakes). It was a long time and many bikes before I even had a disk brake on a bike... I had old Hondas and mostly British bikes (Triumph, BSA and Norton - when the 800 Norton was the biggest and baddest bike around... and no disk brakes).

I find the balance of the gen 3 Magna incredibly good for a cruiser. If you think it wasn't stable, you've obviously never ridden a Harley or for that matter, any 700-2000 cc cruiser. The Magna handles better than any power-cruiser I've ever rode.

My son has a brand new Kawasaki Ninja 600, which is faster than the Magna, but not at the lower end.

A comment about the Magna not being able to keep up with the VTX 1800 and the Valkyrie... They are all right around the same as far as acceleration and time in the quarter mile. The larger displacement bikes will cross the finish line at a higher speed and then pull away from the Magna, but for that first 440 yards, they are virtually all going to run in a dead heat. The Valkyrie had double the displacement of the Magna and the VTX 1800 has even more (no real substitute for size, plus the VTX has fuel injection).

The Magna however (the 3rd gen) has a chain drive, which gives it an edge in performance (one thing I feel is an improvement over the shaft drive of my '82 gen 1 Magna - YMMV). You will NEVER see a shaft drive on a sport bike!

You talk about the Magna having a long rake - as if it's a chopper - it's very far from that, and in fact is more like a standard bike than many so called "cruisers" (which is why I'm guessing your experience is on small bikes - maybe scooters?).

Maybe I've been lucky in that I've never had the "power surge" issues I've read about in some gen 3 Magna, but as has been said, getting the carbs synced is the cure and should be permanent (assuming the bike is otherwise well maintained - which requires very little other than oil changes - and if not ridden in the winter, then starting the bike up occasionally, and making sure to keep the gas tank filled to prevent condensation, which will end up messing up the carbs with water and dirty gas).

Read the Wikipedia article about the Magna - it's reliable enough that some older woman (a grandmother) rode around the world on a Magna without a support team. That is putting faith in the bike's reliability!

As for the rear tire being large... seriously? It's as standard as I can imagine - a 150/80/15 is a large wide tire? And up front a 120/80/17 is a skinny tire? In what universe?

The Magna isn't the best handling bike in the world, but among cruisers, even after being discontinued for over a decade and basically unchanged for over 20 years, it's among the best handling cruisers still - same with its usable power. It's not going to keep up with a liter sport bike with over twice the horsepower, but aside from the Harley V-Rod, it will walk away from any V-Twin I can think of.

Like other Magna fans, I'm hoping that a 4th generation Magna will become a reality. The VFR1200 engine in a cruiser frame seems almost too obvious. And yes, it would be "de-tuned" to get more torque and less horsepower (no one needs a bike to run at red line in high gear on the street... who needs to go over 80 MPH, let alone 180 MPH?)

Lastly, you said you rode the Magna and had a "near death experience" - but how many times did you ride a Magna?

I've NEVER heard anyone say the Magna wasn't rock-steady on the road in any sane riding conditions.

Check out v4musclebike.com and get an idea of what owners think of their bikes. Riding any bike one time means nothing.

Peace, D.