1984 Honda VF1100S V65 Sabre
A few months before that trip, after finding their V45 Sabre short on power and comfort, Dave bought a '84 Honda V65 Sabre (1100cc). This bike had the power (plus some) and was more comfortable for both his wife and him. So I decided that that is what I needed to do too, get a V65 Sabre. I started looking and even bought one bike off ebay with only 16k on it, but found that the frame was tweaked. Then in November '03, I bought this gem off ebay for only $1,675. And then paid $600 to have it shipped to the West Coast. It had just over 26,400 miles on it and with a little bit of work and a lot of the parts from my parts bike, I had it running really good. I added the rack and back rest. I also put stock handle bars on it, all from the spare parts bike.
In April of '05 I updated the V65 Sabre with a '85 fairing I bought off ebay the previous June along with the tank, side covers, tail section and front fender from the parts bike. I had always preferred the blue stripe to any of the other Sabre colors! I did this in conjunction with rebuilding my carbs and then proceeded to ride the bike up to Santa Barbara over Easter weekend for my niece's wedding. The bike ran great, which surprised me, since I have never had any luck rebuilding carbs in my life! I even got 41 mpg according to my bicycle speedometer. I must have done something right! (-:
In April 2005, I purchased a set of softsided saddlebags off ebay and I really like the way they look and mounting was much easier. Also, notice the red saddle? I obtained that from a friend. It's a "Russel Day Long" saddle. I used it for a 1,200 mile trip for Sabmag Arizona (SMAZ) gathering (April 05). After that many miles in just three days, I wasn't saddlesore at all. I had planned on having it recovered, but a while after buying the '05 ST1300, I decided to sell it.
When I sold it, I took everything off of it and sold most of the Blue Stripe stuff on ebay. I didn't get back all of the money I paid for the fairing, but came pretty close to it. Here's what the V65 Sabre looked like when I sold it. I did put the rack/backrest and saddlebags back on since the new owner wanted them.
