Is Max dangerous

[mwilson410]

Hey guys I am a newbie here. Have dreamed of owning a Vmax for 15 years and have finally got one. She is a 98 silver model with 20,000 miles and totally original. since joining the forum I have started to learn about the band handling characteristics of Max. This bike is a supposed to be a touring pleasure machine for my wifie and myself. We are both 48 and I think we have a few years left in us yet so I don't want to kill us prematurely on the bike. I have upgraded the rear shocks and plan to fit new fork springs. I am certainly not a speed freak so will the original brakes be up to the job and is the balloon trye on the rear wheel ok or should I go for a 17 inch wheel. I like the stock Vmax so I dont want to go overboard on mods. I would appreciate any other saftey upgrades you guys would reccomend!

Thanks Michael

 

[ripinanroarin]

Saftey mods...1 good full face helmet 1 complete leather riding suit with body armour. 1 set of good riding boots. 1 pair leather gloves. Excellent reflexis. The ability to predict.
Other than that,..all is good. If you ride the max normaly, you really shouldnt encounter any problems. The only time I got into trouble is when I put the hammer down hard. Do not twist the wick hard in the corners. This bike was made to go!......and GO it will!

 

[RaWarrior]

The Max's biggest and most widely reported handling problem is a wobble that comes on at high speeds. Some as soon as 80 or 90, others get to 130 or more. It's usually caused by worn/poorly adjusted head bearings. Loose bearings can also cause instability when cornering....a wiggle after hitting bumps and such.

Since the bike is new to you, I'd check them by doing the "drop test". Find a way to get the front wheel off the ground(centerstand and sitting on the passenger seat works). Put the handlebars dead center, then lightly nudge it to one side. Ideally, they should fall to the stop and stay. If they bounce, the bearings are too loose, and if they don't fall all the way, they're too tight.

For touring purposes a 17" rear and swapping to radials would work well, since the larger rear wheel gives you an effective higher "gearing". But a new rear wheel is in the neighborhood of a grand. I run the Metzler ME880 tires on stock rims, but run a 170 rear instead of a 150. Good grip, great handling, I ride pretty hard and don't have any complaints.

Stock brakes will get the job done, but upgrading them isn't that expensive, and really easy. R1 calipers will bolt straight on to your bike. I have stock rotors, but R1 calipers, SS lines, and the R1 master. I think the braking performance is phenomenal given the size and weight of the bike.

And yes, a full face helmet, armored riding jacket, and boots should be absolute minimum riding attire. A Vmax will make a hooligan out of anyone, so be careful with the happy twister.

 

[[email protected]]

The bike is only as dangerous as you are. Basic maintenance will keep it riding just fine. Just make sure everything is in good order before getting to crazy with it. Its a pleasure to cruise with IMO. Just not a whole lot of room to carry stuff if you also have a passenger.

 

[Buster Hymen]

Hey guys I am a newbie here. Have dreamed of owning a Vmax for 15 years and have finally got one. She is a 98 silver model with 20,000 miles and totally original. since joining the forum I have started to learn about the band handling characteristics of Max. This bike is a supposed to be a touring pleasure machine for my wifie and myself. We are both 48 and I think we have a few years left in us yet so I don't want to kill us prematurely on the bike. I have upgraded the rear shocks and plan to fit new fork springs. I am certainly not a speed freak so will the original brakes be up to the job and is the balloon trye on the rear wheel ok or should I go for a 17 inch wheel. I like the stock Vmax so I dont want to go overboard on mods. I would appreciate any other saftey upgrades you guys would reccomend!

Thanks Michael

Any "bad" handling characteristics are from lack of general maintenance, usually the head bearings or the tires. These items are easy to fix.

 

[mwilson410]

Cheers guys. Have all the proper safety gear, went to Hein Gericke and bought all good armoured Gortex stuff to keep the good lady and I nice warm and dry. Once i re fit all the resprayed panels(now black) she is off to workshop for fork srings and bearing check. Just needed to be sure about brakes and 15 inch wheel! What is the cheapest route to take when changing to 17 inch rear wheel?

Michael

 

[Mod Monkey]

Cheers guys. Have all the proper safety gear, went to Hein Gericke and bought all good armoured Gortex stuff to keep the good lady and I nice warm and dry. Once i re fit all the resprayed panels(now black) she is off to workshop for fork srings and bearing check. Just needed to be sure about brakes and 15 inch wheel! What is the cheapest route to take when changing to 17 inch rear wheel?

Michael

Michael,

First off I would like to welcome you to the wonderful world of the vMAX. I am the Mod Monkey and it is my job to assist you with making decisions on what to modify on your Max on occasion. Changing to a 17" wheel is not a cheap thing to do, but there are several options. As I see you are in N. Ireland your best bet would be to check with Exactrep and see what they have to offer. As a matter of fact here is a link: http://www.exactrep.com/acatalog/index.html?http%3A//www.exactrep.com/acatalog/catalogbody.html&CatalogBody
If you order from the U.S. you are going to get hit with HUGE shipping fees on items that heavy. I will say though that if you can find them cheap enough there it can be worth your while. For U.S. pricing I recommend checking with Sean Morley here on the forum or Cycle One Off, www.cycleoneoff.com and see what they can do for you.

Good luck on your search!

 

[Rhoy Carter]

For touring and pleasure the 15" rear wheel with a Metzler ME880 works very well, If you put a 17" wheel with a radial tire on it you will need to put a Venture differental with it to keep the rpm's down ( 4000 rpm at 65 mph is high enough in my opinion )

 

[SpecOps13]

Michael: Welcome to the VMF. Any motorcycle is dangerous, I almost died on a Honda 160, 42 years and 34 bikes ago.

The VMax got a reputation soon after it came out in 85. It became folk lore that 1 in 4 of the original owners were killed on it. Mainly said to be from wobble at high speed. I watched one slam into a wall at the end of a drag strip about that time. The rider had almost no experience and froze at some point all the way to the end. He didn't survive. He'd had the bike about a week, moved up to it from a 400 Yamaha.

If you've been on a few motorcycles, you should be alright but you've always got to respect what the Max is capable of. Ride it normally and it's very mild mannered. Twist the throttle hard and it becomes a Jet Fighter with After Burners at 6,000 RPM. Especially in 1st and 2nd gear.

Good maintenance goes a long way toward keeping you safe. Knowing your capabilities and those of your bike help too. More often, it's other drivers that are the worst danger.

 

[dmax1]

After all above mentioned mods you shuold get a morley seat for you and passengers comfort since you will be using it for cruising. And have fun on your new vmax! :rocket bike:

 

[ripinanroarin]

Michael: Welcome to the VMF. Any motorcycle is dangerous, I almost died on a Honda 160, 42 years and 34 bikes ago.

The VMax got a reputation soon after it came out in 85. It became folk lore that 1 in 4 of the original owners were killed on it. Mainly said to be from wobble at high speed. I watched one slam into a wall at the end of a drag strip about that time. The rider had almost no experience and froze at some point all the way to the end. He didn't survive. He'd had the bike about a week, moved up to it from a 400 Yamaha.

If you've been on a few motorcycles, you should be alright but you've always got to respect what the Max is capable of. Ride it normally and it's very mild mannered. Twist the throttle hard and it becomes a Jet Fighter with After Burners at 6,000 RPM. Especially in 1st and 2nd gear.

Good maintenance goes a long way toward keeping you safe. Knowing your capabilities and those of your bike help too. More often, it's other drivers that are the worst danger.

"A jet fighter with afterburnners LOL"
Isnt that the truth. An excellent discription.

 

[vmaxcruzer]

Like...This?

 

[Rollie]

All motorcycles are dangerous , especially on public roads with j.q. public drivers with cellphones, make-up , text messaging distractions , etc.

If you have ridden , you know all this. Only advice from me would be to learn all the accelaration & braking nuances of the Max , prior to putting a passenger on the back. Welcome to our addiction. unk:

 

[Rusty McNeil]

Spend a few weeks just doing short jaunts around the homestead, learn how the bike responds to throttle etc when making slow corners, all the basic stuff.

If your head/neck bearings, tires and brake pads are in good shape you should never have any problems riding normally.

The 15" wheel/tire combo is no problem and is most definetely not the root of the maxs tendencies to wobble. A metzler ME880 is the tire of choice and I've had plenty of riders outride the crap of my not so bad capabilities with my radials and 18" tires.

A 17 and just about any tire that goes with it will raise your RPMs at cruise, you may not be comfortable with that since if your not used to it the Max feels like it's over revving in the first place when stock, stop feeling sorry for it and just ride it in that case because 5000 RPM's for hours on end will not hurt it.

My brakes are bone stock and are up to the task and I ride extremely aggressively, the feels not as good as the modded bikes but they wil stop when you ask it too, just takes a more aggresive hand than the better systems.

Ditto on the gear, it's a must.

Other drivers/cages....either they do not see you or if they do see you they would like to kill you, ride with that attitude and anticipate thier lethal actions and you'll do just fine...

Good luck..

Rusty

 

[naughtyG]

Yea, the 15" wheel's just fine for touring. Especially 2-up, as I don't think anyone's ever had handling problems when riding with a pillion. On top of that, the Max's handling shortcomings only show up when you really push it to its limits - the rest of the time it's actually a great-handling bike.

For brakes, EBC HH pads up front makes a good difference, or those wave rotors from China also help.

Fitting a Venture pumpkin is a great idea to reduce revs when touring (10% less revs for the same speed) and does not break the bank.

Changing rear wheel, OTOH, is rather expensive and will only win you the Mod Monkey's appreciation LOL..

 

[kevman]

Hey guys I am a newbie here. I have upgraded the rear shocks and plan to fit new fork springs. I am certainly not a speed freak so will the original brakes be up to the job and is the balloon trye on the rear wheel ok or should I go for a 17 inch wheel. I like the stock Vmax so I dont want to go overboard on mods. I would appreciate any other saftey upgrades you guys would reccomend!

Thanks Michael

Greetings Michael since you are in Ireland and if you really want to you can get a Diversion rear wheel second hand and an adaptor axle/spindle from Clink or clunk from Vmaxchat.I use them on my Max and even with the stock front wheel I prefer the stickier rear tyres you can use.And you can use a YZF600 17" front with some minor changes.Or as the boys reckon you can use the stockies with no problems.Cheers Kevman.