I finally got around to it and bought a classic motorcycle. My search was on going for pretty much the whole summer. Kept going back and forth between different motorcycles. Compared the different characteristics, and tried to narrow things down to what was important to me. Saw a lot of things come up and get sold. But eventually I just decided to pull the trigger.

There was a 1983 Honda VF750S (v45 Sabre) available for sale. The guy wanted $800 for it and it said it only had about 30,000km on it. The bike did run and was advertised as needing new fork seals. The characteristics of the Sabre that ultimately drew me to it were: 

• Twin disk brakes in the front 
• Driveshaft 
• Unique motorcycle that you don’t see a lot of (the world didn’t need yet another CB750)
• Fairly straight frame that will need little modifications
• Monoshock rear suspension
  

So I took a buddy of mine and we went to check it out.

It was dark out and a lot of the problems that I’ll talk about later on were not apparent. But what I did notice was that the bike didn’t have working blinkers, and it was slightly struggling to idle. The battery was drained and the bike needed a boost to start. After doing a quick test ride I noticed the front forks bottoming out a bit too quick as well...Long story short, I was ready to walk away and in the last moment ended up buying the bike for $400. I rode it home and dropped it off in my garage.

Few days later I started to assess my latest purchase. Starting at the front a few things were evident right away. The handlebars and headlight had been swapped. The bars were an odd straight bar from what seemed like a completely different motorcycle. They were mounted on risers that attached to the tops of the fork tubes positioning them right above where the stock ignition would be.

This presented a few problems. One of which was taking out and putting in the ignition key. The top of the key would hit the riser, and would have to be forced to the side in order to fully remove it or be able to slide it in. Most of the electrical controls on the handlebars were either not wired in or not working at all. As soon as I had departed with the bike when I bought it I noticed it was also missing both mirrors. The clutch/brake levers were miss-matched, and completely different shapes. They also seemed to be cut or ground down on the ends.

The headlight that was mounted on the bike was also not an original piece. The bracket it was attached to tilted it downwards, which made it useless. I found that out the hard way on my ride home with the bike. The high beams would only light up about 2 feet in front of the front wheel. If it wasn’t for my buddy driving his car with the high beams on behind me, I would not have seen much on the dark country roads. The good news was that I had no mirrors so the light didn’t bother me at all.

To my surprise the stock gauge cluster was kept on the bike. However due to the mess of a wiring job under it, most things didn’t work. The tacho had a significant delay in its readings, the speedo didn’t work at all, and there was no working odometer on the machine. The blinkers as I mentioned already were shot as well. So far none of that stuff really mattered as I was getting rid of all this junk. So I started moving down to the rest of the components.

The forks had been pulled up through the triple trees about 2.5”, which gave the bike a much more aggressive stance. Once restored to their former glory I would likely keep a good portion of that stance for the bike. The left fork seemed to be covered in quite a bit of oil, which was expected since the guy mentioned it needed new fork seals. There didn’t seem to be any dings or major scratches on the tubes, and they are straight. So a good clean and polish, some fresh oil and new fork seals will get them ready for the road.

One reason why I choose to go with the particular model of motorcycle was that it had twin disk brakes in the front. The rotors and pads on it are definitely shot and need replacing. However the callipers look in really good condition and do work. The brake lines need to be upgrade to steel braided lines.

The front rim is in a good condition and could use a fresh coat of paint. The front tire is the older of the two by I would say a decade. The rubber has deteriorated quite a bit and cracked in a lot of spots.

The gas tank appears to be repainted, in a very amateur way. The ownership says the bike used to be red. There is one minor dent on the top left corner, potentially from the handlebars hitting it. The gas cap has been utterly destroyed. The old owner didn’t have the key for the tank so decided to use a flat head to open it. I will need to replace it for sure. The tank doesn’t seem to have any rust inside which means a lot less work for me.

One thing that I have some concerns about is the fact that the bike is missing both air filters on the carbs air box. Those circular holes under the tank is where they should be. Looking at the service manual for this year and model I also came to the conclusion that a number of the electrical components have been rearranged on the bike.

The coolant fluid bottle on the bike was cracked and repaired with some weird putty. It will need to be replaced and relocated. The bike currently has a 4:2 SUPERTRAPP exhaust. It has rusted all over, and seems to be re-welded on the right side.

Overall the Sabre has a lot wrong with it, but also a lot of potential. I think with a bit of tender loving care it can become a great cafe racer. Stay tuned for the next episode where I will be striping the bike down to its bare bones, and starting to plan my next steps.