VMAX Newbie asking for input

Fire-medic said:

Wear-out the rear, and use that as an excuse to go radials. It's my #1 choice of "how to transform your bike." Better steering, better braking, better cornering, less shimmy from the front-end, better sex... most of this is true.

The Dynojet Stage 7 carb kit or Morley's Muscle carb kit w/a good aftermarket exhaust, tuned correctly will increase your performance by probably 10% or a bit-more. 120 +RWHP is a good output for something designed and manufactured in the early 1980's (despite the fact it was produced until 2007, virtually-unchanged). When it was released, it was King of the Hill. Like other performance icons when they were released, it serves as a reminder of "what-was," though the contemporary vehicles may out-perform it on all fronts, save-one. That's the time it was at the top of the heap, and for people of a certain age or those who revere those performance icons, it is "The One." For them, every-time they get-on the bike, it reminds them of that time in their lives when it was new, they were young, and anything seemed possible. A-body GM cars w/421's, 454's or 455's, Gen II Corvettes w/427 Tri-Power, Chryslers w/426 Hemi's, Ford Super Duty Cobra Jets w/Drag Paks, those are the cars usually compared to the VMax. But the VMax is balls-to-the-wall quicker and faster than any of those, in stock condition. Sure, send it to Kar Kraft, Holman & Moody, Smokey Yunick, Royal Bobcat, TRACO, and any of the other premier tuners and modifiers of those vintage American iron, and they will make even-more HP than they did stock (some of those guys are tuning in the Great Garage in the Sky). Indeed, those same tuners often had a hand in the design and/or manufacture of these beasts which distinguished themselves on the roads, race tracks and dragstrips of America and the world. And the VMax with a similar amount of attention, will howl at the moon and far-exceed its original performance parameters. Built for 22 years, that's nearly 1/3 of the time that has elapsed since a motorcycle with one-half the VMax's horsepower was the world's fastest and most-desirable motorcycle. The Vincent Black Shadow, a legend then, the Yamaha VMax, a legend now. You didn't buy an old bike, you bought a piece of motorcycling history.

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Hi new newbie , have fun with the new used vmax, good 1 the vmax is a legend.

Going to have the forks re-spring with the progressive springs. The forks are kinda beat up cosmetically so I needed to get them removed anyway, so in go the springs.....

They're going to remove the valve covers for refinishing as that clear coat is peeling and they'll check the valves while they're at it.

Thanks again for all of your useful comments!

Deciding on a seat is next!

Newklear said:

Going to have the forks re-spring with the progressive springs. The forks are kinda beat up cosmetically so I needed to get them removed anyway, so in go the springs.....

They're going to remove the valve covers for refinishing as that clear coat is peeling and they'll check the valves while they're at it.

Thanks again for all of your useful comments!

Deciding on a seat is next!

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Can't go wrong with a MaxGasser- I love mine!!

OK! Since the rear rotor was pulsing a bit this season, I'm getting that replaced with a new EBC rotor.

Next question.....I'm looking at the UFO Swing Arm (Chrome, of course!).

Any comments on replacing the stock swing arm with this in terms of better handling?

How about those UFO billet shocks to go along with the swing arm?

Cant comment on the UFO specific products but both will be good additions provided a swap to radials is in the cards to take full advantage of it. Having ridden one with similar goodies on bias plys you could tell it felt better in the twisties but after my friend put radials on it with that setup it was waaaay better. Felt like i could drag my knees if i wanted to (should note that the front suspension had been addressed as well). At the least id go with the swingarm change an stiffen up the rear suspension a little to see how it feels with your riding style.

Thanks, Adambweierd......

Do I have to change the rims to accept radials? Just had the rims painted.......

The back one, yes. The front will hold a radial, but then youve got mismatched rims unless you get a modified stock one from Kosmans. They do exchanges or you can buy one outright if i remember correctly. Keeps your eyes open one the parts for sale section, there were a couple of radial setups that just sold not long ago.

Here are some of the same questions you are facing I already have been thru, like a lot of other guys on-here: http://www.vmaxforum.net/showthread.php?t=26485&highlight=radial+tires

Plan what you want to-do use a system instead of just throwing $$ at the bike. See what the other guys say is the biggest bang for the $, & what made the biggest difference for each of them. I think you'll find radials at the top of the choices more-often than-not. Yes, you just bought new bias-ply tires, wear-out the rear in 3-4K mi & splurge for the different 'budget' rear wheel, re-use your front, and see what a difference the radials make.

Thanks, Fire-Medic....I read the thread that you linked......

I am going for a "system" as you suggested. I dropped the whole Stage 7 thing for now as I don't want to replace the new stock exhaust that I just bought.

I've got the cosmetics pretty much dialed in.

Suspension seems to be a next logical choice with the new, progressive front forks they're doing as we speak. And as I mentioned, I'm thinking of the UFO swing-arm and new rear shocks.

After that, the wheels and radials. But, as my grandfather taught me, "Do it right or don't do it at all" so I'll probably go for a set of matching chrome wheels when the budget allows.

Thanks again!!!! Now I can't wait until spring!!! the Ski-Doo will have to stand in until then!

The mod monkey said to get rid of my ski doo so i could focus on the vmax, lol.

Fire medic gives great advice about planning.

I love how my bike turned out but if I had to guess I bet 25% or more of the $$ I've spent in the almost ten years I've had it doing modifications was stuff I ended up changing or doing away with later on because I started out without a solid vision of what I wanted.

Some of that was due to me not ever thinking I would go as far as I have with it and starting out small.....Mod
monkey took over though...

The only thing I would like to change now would be those heavy ass RC wheels I have for the Carr's I should have gone with.

How about something like this:

Arguably one of the best swingarms out there.

Is that extended or stock length?

Pics are labelled as "3 inches over."

Sure are 'purty!' I hate to ask the price, but it would be good to know. I wonder about clearance for my UFO Dragstar 4/1? And, if you're not really going to be drag-racing the bike, is there a need for the 3" over, besides looks? I suspect not.

Anpther question would be, "are the positions for the lower shock stud mounts moved-up to enable re-using your stock length shocks, or do you use some-sort of bracket to make it work?" Sean probably answers those on his website, but I don't recall the answers.

Here's the swingarm info I send out (chrome pricing varies) - the pictures previously are the +3" extended arm. The benefit of that is we can set the wheel to the left getting it into a more true centerline.
>>>>>>>>>>>

GENERAL SWINGARM INFO:
I like the stability the extended swingarms give personally (plus they look cool). Theoretically the extended arm reduces handling but I have not found any significant loss when it came to that. They also help cut down on wheelies so you can launch harder or keep the front end down in situations you don't want that happening (like at the drag strip).

When extending the swingarm you have to deal with the shock locations. Your options for a +3" arm is to use an offset shock bracket (available in 1.5"-3" correction) or leave it as is. If you leave it as (moved 3" rearward) is the bike is lowered approx 2.5" when using your existing shocks. We've used some KYB shocks from Kawasaki ZRX bikes with the rearward position (without relocation bracket) and they work quite well. They are longer then stock though (around 14.25") and help keep the lowering to about an inch or so.

For a +6" arm we relocate the shock brackets forward from the stock position by approx 1". This raises the back of the bike approx 1/2" when using your current shocks. Also, when looking closely the shock on the left side is at a slightly different angle then the right shock (again this is due to the method of relocating the shock to the swingarm instead of the differential).

Most arm builders keep the wheel "plane" in the same reference as stock but rearward. We like to offset the wheel to the left by .250"-.300" to help correct the offset commonly seen in both stock and aftermarket wheels. +3" over is as long as you can go and still have the stock fender. I do believe most people take off the stock light assembly though I can't remember if it can be left on. I sell an aftermarket rear fender (sportbike type) for going over that length and you can maybe even use one of the shorter OEM look fenders (as well as a number of aftermarket vmax fenders).

One option that is available with an extended arm is a matching extended fuel tank. We can get another gallon of fuel by extending the tank +3". - $300 Option (exchanged)



3" EXTENDED ARM (exchanged):
$500 Standard Arm - Notched/Braced - 1"x2" box tubing - Uncoated - No shock relocation (it would get moved 3" back)
$150 Powdercoating (custom to choose color)
Optional $125 Shock Relocation Bracket (puts shocks back to within .5" of stock position) - used on drive side
$150 Driveshaft Extender
$60 Brake Line +3 in Length
$80 Bearings/Seals
$50 Shipping
------------------------------------
$1115

Optional $450 Used KYB shocks if not using the shock relocation bracket. This will lower the bike approx 1.5" compared to stock.


6" EXTENDED ARM (exchanged):
$600 Standard Arm - Notched/Braced - 1"x2" box tubing - Uncoated - shock relocation 1" forward from stock position.
$150 Powdercoating (custom to choose color)
$200 Driveshaft Extender
$60 Brake Line +3 in Length
$80 Bearings/Seals
$60 Shipping
------------------------------------
$1150


MONO SHOCK ARM (NOT INCLUDING SHOCK):
$600 +6" Extended swingarm, Braced and Offset for tire correction, mono tab added (customer must modify frame for upper mount) - Raw Finish
$160 Upper Mount
$200 Driveshaft Extender +6"
$150 Powdercoating (customer to choose color)
$60 Standard +6" brake line OR $60 3 part brake line for underslung conversion
$80 New Bearings/Seals
$40 Figure "8" bracket to mount reservoir (raw aluminum)
$150 Shock Adapter (to extend gen 2 shock)
$60 Shipping
--------------------------------
$1500

Sean Morley
316-619-8411

Some compare pics of various arms we've built. Stock length arms limit the brace type depending on the exhaust. Extended arms allow the drop hoop to be used which is stronger then the flat box type (though that type is still very strong).

We don't like using the round tube as much but as you can see we still can work with that if the customer so chooses.

We do not stock arms completed since there are so many options available.

Hi Sean,

How about a stock length chrome arm?

There is a pic in there of a stock length arm. What exhaust type? The flat brace will clear most systems. The hoop will only clear some of the 4-2's (not marks) unless we do the angled brace (also seen in the pics). The flat brace in my opinion is the better option if you aren't sure what exhaust you are going to eventually use.

$250 - Notch/Brace Stock Swingarm with Flat Box Brace
$80 - Bearings/Seals
$350 - Chrome Work
Shipping to you.

Sean,

How wide of a tire will the 3" extended arm accept?

Right now, I'm running stock OEM exhaust that I just bought last spring. Probably will stick with that for a while but sometime down the road, I might switch it out so I can do that Stage 7 mod.