View Full Version : Any Vmax owners here?
SouthPaw
09-13-2018, 11:10
Anyone here ride one of those sweet Gen 1 VMAX's? I'd like to hear what you think about them. I'm not quite ready to make the jump to a full blown cruiser, but the VMAX has always appealed to me.
wctriumph
09-13-2018, 11:24
The Yamaha V-Max is a pretty nice power cruiser, proper tuning and they will get right up and dance. Old tech but if taken care of they are a pretty solid ride. I always liked them.
bellavite1
09-13-2018, 12:21
Then there is the HD Fat Bob...
ruthabagah
09-13-2018, 12:58
Beautiful bike, reasonably reliable and a blast to drive in straight line. Not a road carver, and it was heavy to move around. This was the third bike i ever owned and i miss it dearly.
Just get an H2 with me next year.
SouthPaw
09-13-2018, 14:13
Just get an H2 with me next year.
Ha! I don't think I have ever bought a bike for over $6K because I am too cheap. Those are a sweet machine but dear lord are they pricey.
I have owned 15+ motorcycles and they have all been sport bikes. Earlier in the year I picked up an FZ09 to sort of fit the hybrid category as a sport/cruiser bike and it has served well. I do like the FZ a lot but with adding an R1 to my garage two weeks ago, I think it would be nice to have a full blown cruiser. The VMAX have always appealed to me for their aggressive look, sound and power; all at a very reasonable price. Most of my friends have all moved away from sport bikes but at heart, that's where I feel at home. I know some years of them had bad second gear problems but I think they were addressed in the early 2000's? I found a couple local to me that I want to check out since I have never even planted my ass on one.
Great-Kazoo
09-13-2018, 14:16
Ha! I don't think I have ever bought a bike for over $6K because I am too cheap. Those are a sweet machine but dear lord are they pricey.
I have owned 15+ motorcycles and they have all been sport bikes. Earlier in the year I picked up an FZ09 to sort of fit the hybrid category as a sport/cruiser bike and it has served well. I do like the FZ a lot but with adding an R1 to my garage two weeks ago, I think it would be nice to have a full blown cruiser. The VMAX have always appealed to me for their aggressive look, sound and power; all at a very reasonable price. Most of my friends have all moved away from sport bikes but at heart, that's where I feel at home. I know some years of them had bad second gear problems but I think they were addressed in the early 2000's? I found a couple local to me that I want to check out since I have never even planted my ass on one.
If you decide to buy 1, don't look at it as a potential resale item. They take a while to sell as it's a different riding crowd.
Never owned one but rode my buddy’s back in the early 90’s. I remember it was pretty fast as long as you just wanted to go straight. It was heavy and I didn’t care for the way it handled curves. I only had it up to around 150 ish before I chickened out and slowed down. Didn’t really do anything to impress me enough that I’d ever want to own one.
I don’t have numbers or facts to back anything up but I’d be surprised if a current 600CC sport bike didn’t have better acceleration if for no other reason than power to weight ratio.
To each their own though. It’s not my thing but I if it fits what you’re looking for then go for it.
SouthPaw
09-13-2018, 14:34
If you decide to buy 1, don't look at it as a potential resale item. They take a while to sell as it's a different riding crowd.
That's kind of what I am seeing as well. They aren't real big movers which actually surprised me. The local dealer here is trying to tell me to hurry and get there since people are pouring in over it and its been for sale for 15+ days.
Never owned one but rode my buddy’s back in the early 90’s. I remember it was pretty fast as long as you just wanted to go straight. It was heavy and I didn’t care for the way it handled curves. I only had it up to around 150 ish before I chickened out and slowed down. Didn’t really do anything to impress me enough that I’d ever want to own one.
I don’t have numbers or facts to back anything up but I’d be surprised if a current 600CC sport bike didn’t have better acceleration if for no other reason than power to weight ratio.
To each their own though. It’s not my thing but I if it fits what you’re looking for then go for it.
I have no doubt in my mind a modern 600cc buzz rocket will blow it out of the water in most any aspect except comfort. Hell, a new 600 is not that much 'slower' than a 1000 these days. Have any suggestions for a similar bike? Cruisers are a whole new ball park for me and I have only ridden a handful here in there. A buddies VROD (loved it), Suzuki Boulevard, and some little 800 suzuki my bro had for a little while is all I have under my belt.
Not an owner, but worked on many over the years. The engine steals the show. Watch for 2nd gear issues, as many of them have damaged engagement dogs and shift forks from botched clutchless upshift attempts. Frame and fork braces improve the handling immensely. The stock rear shocks are marginal. Brakes and forks received a major upgrade on the 93-07 models. Respond well to exhaust and carb mods.
SouthPaw
09-13-2018, 14:53
Not an owner, but worked on many over the years. The engine steals the show. Watch for 2nd gear issues, as many of them have damaged engagement dogs and shift forks from botched clutchless upshift attempts. Frame and fork braces improve the handling immensely. The stock rear shocks are marginal. Brakes and forks received a major upgrade on the 93-07 models. Respond well to exhaust and carb mods.
For the second gear issue, what am I looking for? Sticky shifts? Hard to get into gear? The current I might go see today is a 2007 with exhaust.
sportbikeco
09-13-2018, 15:06
That's kind of what I am seeing as well. They aren't real big movers which actually surprised me. The local dealer here is trying to tell me to hurry and get there since people are pouring in over it and its been for sale for 15+ days.
I have no doubt in my mind a modern 600cc buzz rocket will blow it out of the water in most any aspect except comfort. Hell, a new 600 is not that much 'slower' than a 1000 these days. Have any suggestions for a similar bike? Cruisers are a whole new ball park for me and I have only ridden a handful here in there. A buddies VROD (loved it), Suzuki Boulevard, and some little 800 suzuki my bro had for a little while is all I have under my belt.
Alot would depend on budget, but considering your 1G V-Max is say $3k I would also be looking at-
Yamaha Roadstar warrior
Harley Dyna
Harley Sportster
more sporty-
FZ1
Buell
Ducati monster
Aprilia tuono
Suzuki strom and tl1000
Grant H.
09-13-2018, 16:13
I've ridden a few of my buddies Concourse 14's and they are a very comfortable ride that are still fun to ride. They can't keep up with my GSXR1000 on the corners, or even in acceleration, but that's not the point.
You can watch for them on the cheap, and they move rather quickly when you decide to sell it.
In ‘86 I bought a first year ‘85 a guy was selling because he claimed it was too easy to ride fast and he lost his license lol. Don’t know if any of that was true but I loved the power it made, a bit of a bear in the twisties but better than the ‘14 Fat Bob I traded off last March.
A very fun ride no doubt, didn’t own it long enough to run in to any problems.
For the second gear issue, what am I looking for? Sticky shifts? Hard to get into gear? The current I might go see today is a 2007 with exhaust.
Usually it manifests itself as popping out of gear (usually back into neutral) under power, often when the V-Boost opens up at 8K(big power hit).
My neighbor has one with over 100K. He's had trouble getting the V-boost to work proper. He is old and cheap. I road one a long time ago, I am a fan of the V-boost. Like an old timey turbo.
Have any suggestions for a similar bike? Cruisers are a whole new ball park for me and I have only ridden a handful here in there.
I made the switch to riding cruisers almost exclusively back around 1991. I can’t really suggest a particular bike for you as everyone’s needs/wants/style are different but can share my own personal thoughts with you based solely on my experience.
Owned a handful of metric cruisers. All were decent enough bikes but never were exactly what I was looking for as far as comfort or ride quality. If we’re being honest, the Japanese cruisers are all pretty much trying to mimic the look of a Harley to capture a piece of that market. They are designed more for looks with very little effort put into anything functional and usually have cheap suspension, poor ergonomics, crappy seats, etc.
I was kind of between bikes when I bought a first bike for my wife. She wanted a Harley and since she was a new rider the Sportster made since. I had never been on a Harley before I picked that thing up from the dealer. It was night and day different from any metric cruiser I had owned. Felt solid and well built, no plastic parts, rode reasonably nice for a smaller bike. My wife rode it for ten years. Over every mountain pass and through every canyon in Colorado, to Sturgis and back and all through the black hills. It was a great motorcycle. It impressed me enough that I bought one for myself.
Figured out that while the Sportster was a nice bike it wasn’t my cup of tea. It was fine for short rides but after a couple hundred miles I was ready to get off of it. Physically, the bike was just too small for me to stretch out and get comfortable on and no amount of aftermarket goodies or upgrades were really going to make the bike bigger.
The Sportsters did make me realize that I belonged on a Harley. I like the simplicity of the design. No radiator, no cheesey plastic parts, just two wheels and an engine to get you where you wanted to go. I ultimately ended up on a Road King and will likely have that bike until I’m too old to ride. It fits me, looks good, is comfortable enough to ride all day, and I can go at least 260 to 280 miles between gas stops. Also, tipping the scales at about a thousand pounds with me and a full tank of fuel means it doesn’t get pushed around in the wind.
Anyhow, sorry for the long winded post.
hurley842002
09-14-2018, 07:24
I made the switch to riding cruisers almost exclusively back around 1991. I can’t really suggest a particular bike for you as everyone’s needs/wants/style are different but can share my own personal thoughts with you based solely on my experience.
Owned a handful of metric cruisers. All were decent enough bikes but never were exactly what I was looking for as far as comfort or ride quality. If we’re being honest, the Japanese cruisers are all pretty much trying to mimic the look of a Harley to capture a piece of that market. They are designed more for looks with very little effort put into anything functional and usually have cheap suspension, poor ergonomics, crappy seats, etc.
I was kind of between bikes when I bought a first bike for my wife. She wanted a Harley and since she was a new rider the Sportster made since. I had never been on a Harley before I picked that thing up from the dealer. It was night and day different from any metric cruiser I had owned. Felt solid and well built, no plastic parts, rode reasonably nice for a smaller bike. My wife rode it for ten years. Over every mountain pass and through every canyon in Colorado, to Sturgis and back and all through the black hills. It was a great motorcycle. It impressed me enough that I bought one for myself.
Figured out that while the Sportster was a nice bike it wasn’t my cup of tea. It was fine for short rides but after a couple hundred miles I was ready to get off of it. Physically, the bike was just too small for me to stretch out and get comfortable on and no amount of aftermarket goodies or upgrades were really going to make the bike bigger.
The Sportsters did make me realize that I belonged on a Harley. I like the simplicity of the design. No radiator, no cheesey plastic parts, just two wheels and an engine to get you where you wanted to go. I ultimately ended up on a Road King and will likely have that bike until I’m too old to ride. It fits me, looks good, is comfortable enough to ride all day, and I can go at least 260 to 280 miles between gas stops. Also, tipping the scales at about a thousand pounds with me and a full tank of fuel means it doesn’t get pushed around in the wind.
Anyhow, sorry for the long winded post.Makes me want a Harley so bad.
To follow up ray1970's post the last cruiser I had, as mentioned above, was a '14 HD Fat Bob. I needed to improve the rear shocks and fork springs, did what's called a "stage 1" performance upgrade (tuner, pipe, intake) and really loved that bike. My body however would ache after longer (2 hours or more) rides. I'd strap a small pack to the passenger section of the seat and would often take weekend trips on it. The fat tires gave it a great ride though made it less nimble than most other rides.
The only other cruisier I had before that was a '07 Honda VT1100 (discontinued). Very comfortable bike, easy to do long rides on and fun around town. Power was a little lacking and there really wasn't much to do in that regard. In over 49 years of riding I've owned all kinds and like pretty much all of them lol. I also had a '06 HD Xl1200R, Sportster Roadster, also heavily modded and that was tons of fun but also like ray I needed a larger bike for long rides but for around town or day rides it was tons of fun. Lost the pics of it during the photobucket cluster but will try to find one and will add it.
The Harley Dyna line though discontinued offers a nice selection of different models, prices are pretty reasonable, with nice ergos and decent (for a Harley ahahaha) handling. I traded off the Fat Bob for my '13 Road King (it's the second one I've had, the first was a '99 I bought new and sold after 87k miles). This Road King is an amazing bike, much more nimble than the Fat Bob, good power, the advantage of the hard bags is very nice (plus they quick detach for a different look) and I ride it as much as I can. Most comfortable bike I've ever owned, really love riding it.
It's almost like which pistol do you like best? I keep coming back to 1911s and Smith revolvers though I do really like my M&P Pro. You're entering the best time of year to buy (the '99 Road King and a '83 XR1000 are the only bikes I bought new) as the more casual riders are looking at other hobbies and the used market will be very flush. Good luck in your choice and have fun!
'14 Fat Bob
https://s19.postimg.cc/t5xye0gtf/IMG_0806.jpg (https://postimg.cc/image/yhcuyq2vz/)
'13 Road King
https://s19.postimg.cc/u46wrimer/D4F1DD7D-D3BC-463D-BF83-7FC5EE918FC5.jpg (https://postimg.cc/image/scdxwm31r/)
Hard to beat the Road King for straight up comfort. There are currently two in my garage. When my wife upgraded from her Sportster she had her pick of bikes and test rode everything. She thought she really wanted a Heritage soft tail until she rode the Road King.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180914/ca97c9bb0464e3ba63fd8eab02fb30e6.jpg
Gotta admit though, there isn’t much of anything “fun” about riding a big, heavy, slow bike. Even though I love the RK and have no plans to part ways with it, I missed some of the things that made riding a motorcycle fun in the first place so ended up picking up something different just to have fun on.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20180914/e7fefcb704cccc4eabee223db06ec4ba.jpg
Needs an exhaust to sound good but depending what you are looking at for features you mightlike the vulcan s. Keep some of the nimbleness/speed of a sport.
Very light can really throw it around, actually on top 10 fastest 0-60 cruiser lists. With a ninja 650 in it, you start to run out of oomph at 80/85 and can run it out to hit 100 eventually.
We need a “like” button!! Also remember-it’s more fun to ride a slow bike fast than a fast bike slow. [Coffee]
If you want to take my goldwing for a spin just text me.
BushMasterBoy
09-14-2018, 16:38
174 Horse power motorcycle ? Sounds crazy to me...
https://www.cycleworld.com/2010/06/14/comparison-vmax-vs-3max
174 Horse power motorcycle ? Sounds crazy to me...
https://www.cycleworld.com/2010/06/14/comparison-vmax-vs-3max
I chuckled when I saw the 27mpg. I guess there’s a price to pay for being fast. My bike will double that on a bad day.
174 Horse power motorcycle ? Sounds crazy to me...
https://www.cycleworld.com/2010/06/14/comparison-vmax-vs-3max
Let me tell you about a bike I built for a customer a few years back. 2nd Gen Hayabusa with a Rotrex supercharger...317 HP at the rear wheel, and more there if we went to a bigger fuel pump...
https://www.hayabusa.org/forum/threads/supercharged-gen-ii.131915/
Interesting read on the bike forum. Thanks for the link, and congrats on the really cool build.
SouthPaw
09-18-2018, 05:31
Let me tell you about a bike I built for a customer a few years back. 2nd Gen Hayabusa with a Rotrex supercharger...317 HP at the rear wheel, and more there if we went to a bigger fuel pump...
https://www.hayabusa.org/forum/threads/supercharged-gen-ii.131915/
That sounds like a blast!
Well I’m still considering the VMAX as a replacement but it seems they can be hand pretty cheap and as some have mentioned, they may be a little difficult to sell as they only appeal to a certain crowd. I have however been drawn to the metric muscle bikes such as the Yamaha Warrior and the Raider. Anyone have experience with either of those?
I like the looks of the warrior but don’t have any first hand experience.
SouthPaw
09-18-2018, 08:36
I think I found a decent deal on a Raider; 2010, 6K, all stock for $4500. Looking around it seems to be the cheapest one and if I don't really like it, I should be able to move it pretty quickly. I am hopefully going to test ride it today after work.
SouthPaw
09-19-2018, 08:14
Well, I met up with the guy that owned the Raider last night and we struck a deal on my FZ09. I actually ended up knowing the guy from a business relationship and he lived 10 minutes away from me. Seeing it in person, it did not have a single nick on it, I mean, not one single blemish. Everything was polished up nicely (I really dislike chrome) but it looked really clean. I hoped on it and loved it. Coming from many sport bikes, it felt like a lazy boy on wheels with the forward controls. The 1900cc put down some decent power, not quite like I thought it would but I am used to a different platform. Don't get me wrong, it was no slouch and would run up to 85mph in a hurry but I am used to wrist snapping, high RPM, hold on to your lug nuts kind of power; not smooth torque delivery. Anyways, the old lady gave it the seal of approval as long as it did not keep her from parking in the garage. I had to do some shuffling around and I quickly realized what a long bitch it really was but made her fit. Anyways, here is some pictures of it and I look forward to learning all about it. Appreciate all the advice given!
https://i.postimg.cc/htPpq73W/Raider.jpg (https://postimg.cc/HVRQwjgB)
https://i.postimg.cc/Qd4SNxRB/Raider2.jpg (https://postimg.cc/hXmVpg4g)
Great-Kazoo
09-19-2018, 08:49
Nice Hardly-Davidson.
Don't get me wrong, it was no slouch and would run up to 85mph in a hurry but I am used to wrist snapping, high RPM, hold on to your lug nuts kind of power; not smooth torque delivery.
Remember it's a cruiser, not crotch rocket.
SouthPaw
09-19-2018, 09:26
Nice Hardly-Davidson.
Don't get me wrong, it was no slouch and would run up to 85mph in a hurry but I am used to wrist snapping, high RPM, hold on to your lug nuts kind of power; not smooth torque delivery.
Remember it's a cruiser, not crotch rocket.
I call it a smart mans Harley Davidson [Coffee]
Martinjmpr
09-19-2018, 10:38
Nice Hardly-Davidson.
Don't get me wrong, it was no slouch and would run up to 85mph in a hurry but I am used to wrist snapping, high RPM, hold on to your lug nuts kind of power; not smooth torque delivery.
Remember it's a cruiser, not crotch rocket.
I'd call it a "COUCH rocket." :D
Great-Kazoo
09-19-2018, 14:08
I call it a smart mans Harley Davidson [Coffee]
Get back with me in 2-3 years to tell me how it's resale value has held up.
Either way at least you're riding. Just remember it's a different animal when carving turns in the hills, or even local turn lanes.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.3 Copyright © 2025 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.