My Bike

[user 79535]

I got it in December, but wanted to scent mark it before 'unveiling' it here.
It's an '01, carbon fiber deco, Hole Shot exhausts, K&N for air and oil, new rear rotor and re-finished wheel, new or polished bolts everywhere I encounter them. New valve cover gaskets. Swapped out the tall back rest it came with for the low grab rail. I had to re-finish that. Also added faux velocity stacks (chopper I built had actual stacks and I couldn't resist!).
Here she is so, far:

 

[joksi]

Nice looking bike!

It reminds me a bit on my Max when I picked it up - except the exhaust. Did you ride it, can you manage the tires?

 

[user 79535]

Thanks. The tires were new when I bought it. I've put about 500 miles on. Straight roads and highways around town. Haven't hit any twisties yet, but I know that's not it's forte'. Is that what you mean about the tires? They're IRC.

 

[CaptainKyle]

Welcome

 

[joksi]

Thanks. The tires were new when I bought it. I've put about 500 miles on. Straight roads and highways around town. Haven't hit any twisties yet, but I know that's not it's forte'. Is that what you mean about the tires? They're IRC.

All fine. First things that I "upgraded" was to change rims and tires - but I am living in a mountain area.

 

[user 79535]

What did you go with, Metzlers?

 

[OGMAX]

Thanks. The tires were new when I bought it. I've put about 500 miles on. Straight roads and highways around town. Haven't hit any twisties yet, but I know that's not it's forte'. Is that what you mean about the tires? They're IRC.

It actually should handle ok in the twisties just don’t ride it like a sports bike. I was surprised how well it handles if you respect it with a smooth throttle response.

 

[joksi]

What did you go with, Metzlers?

I swapped out the rims front and rear into 17" and have chosen Pirelli Angel.

@OGMAX is not wrong, it handles OK (which depents what you understand as OK). Here in my area its more or less useless with the OEM rims/tires you can ride the Max, but it doesnt make fun. Real fun riding a VMax comes with a bit of investment into handling (well, hmm a bit ;-) .... then it handles too good for the brakes and this winter I am upgrading the brakes.. so its kinda endless story).

But I really love it. Best boys-toy ever

 

[user 79535]

I didn't know Pirelli's would be in the mix. Good to know. I still need to get to know mine better, but I also find that it handles OK. I also have steel brake cables in mind. I've seen others mention different calipers, but that would also require progressive fork springs, right?

I love it , too. So many years, and so glad I finally got it.

 

[Fire-medic]

I also have steel brake cables in mind. I've seen others mention different calipers, but that would also require progressive fork springs, right?

Just switching to SS hoses and HH compound pads from a well-known manufacturer will improve your confidence in your brakes. You do not need to switch calipers. 1985-1992 calipers are for the 40 mm downtubes/sliders, in 1993-'07 the downtubes & sliders were 43 mm and 4 opposed piston calipers (2 pair of pistons, per caliper), and 298mm rotors.

Sean Morley has a large Suzuki 3 pair of opposed pistons single caliper kit he sells. Another swap is the Sumitomo 3 pair opposed piston (that would be six pistons total) which was used on the FZR750 and FZR1000 later models, and the YZF's before the R1 first year. They are a bolt-on fit for the 1993-'07 fork sliders. Ask Sean Morley about those, and rotors to fit.

If you want to improve the front end, get Race-Tech springs and Cartridge Emulators, which are a great improvement over OEM forks. You can alter the damping with the Cartridge Emulators, and another brand which does a similar function is RICOR. YSS is a third manufacturer of fork damping kits.

 

[user 79535]

Gold mine of info, Fire-medic. Thanks much.

 

[joksi]

Gold mine of info, Fire-medic. Thanks much.

Oh yes, @Fire-medic and Sean are angels and V-Max wikipedia in person, they also supported me a lot.

Well, if you are happy with handling, leave it - or improve it gradually, just like @Fire-medic suggested. In my opinion the biggest jump improving (and the $$$$ side of it) was to swap the original rims/tires into 17" rims/tires. But this might not be necessary for you, since you are happy as is.

For the brakes I agree, the 6-piston Sumimoto would be the best. Availability in my area is a big problem, so I am using R1- Brembo calipers front and one original caliper of the exisitng front brakes on the rear, and also a front disc. Front brake cyinder will be a XJR1300 cylinder for better control.
.
If its enough? Ask me in June. In May I will be riding across the European Alps region and in June to a V-Max meeting in Croatia on the Mediterranian sea. So about 4000 miles in 6 weeks on a '99er VMax. The Alps-trip will be done with friends who ride KTM, BMW R1250GS and one on a Ducati, and Im quite convinced I can keep pace...

 

[Fire-medic]

An expensive upgrade, but my vote for the #1, best, most-noticeable change to your ride is radial tires. I've posted plenty of times about it, the 'search' is your friend (upper-right corner of the page). Going 18" in the rear is less of a choice of tires, but you will be much-closer to your 15" 90 series tire, in height, and it won't cost you top-end, though how many of us have hit redline in 5th gear?

The radial tire switch is expensive because of the need to make a modified shaft drive OEM hub to a larger diameter hoop, 17" or 18". My machinist has made both.

The 18":



The 17":



Next to a stock VMax rim.

Don't mix bias-ply and radial tires! Yes there are a few bikes where the engineers actually did this, but they are the professionals. Even mixing the types of construction or the rubber compounds on radial tires can cause evil handling! Some radials have the layers of construction at perpendicular angles, called 'zero degrees' while other radials have their layers at acute angles, much-less than 90 degrees (think of a 'V'). Choose one or the other.

Another consideration is rubber compound. Having a 'hard,' durable, long-lasting rubber compound on the front causes longer tread life, but less grip. That's not what most VMax riders want, unless you are a very-conservative rider, and you never see the oil red light flickering as you run through VBoost operation.

Run a harder rubber compound in the rear, for longevity, and you will find that even turning a right-hand corner, especially from a stop, and especially if the road surface is degraded, dirty, broken pavement, or someone's 'clunker' car just dropped ATF, oil, or hot tar like a roofing truck's tar kettle, you can easily expect the rear end to break traction if you are not very-cautious with your right hand throttle. Even crossing the black stripe of vehicle deposits in the middle of each lane at intersections can cause your tires to pick-up enough crud to cause you to lose traction after you cross that traction-losing stripe, and try to accelerate. Be careful out there!

All these considerations are magnified by precipitation.

 

[OGMAX]

Oh yes, @Fire-medic and Sean are angels and V-Max wikipedia in person, they also supported me a lot.

Well, if you are happy with handling, leave it - or improve it gradually, just like @Fire-medic suggested. In my opinion the biggest jump improving (and the $$$$ side of it) was to swap the original rims/tires into 17" rims/tires. But this might not be necessary for you, since you are happy as is.

For the brakes I agree, the 6-piston Sumimoto would be the best. Availability in my area is a big problem, so I am using R1- Brembo calipers front and one original caliper of the exisitng front brakes on the rear, and also a front disc. Front brake cyinder will be a XJR1300 cylinder for better control.
.
If its enough? Ask me in June. In May I will be riding across the European Alps region and in June to a V-Max meeting in Croatia on the Mediterranian sea. So about 4000 miles in 6 weeks on a '99er VMax. The Alps-trip will be done with friends who ride KTM, BMW R1250GS and one on a Ducati, and Im quite convinced I can keep pace...

Whether you keep pace or not I guarantee you will be giggling the most. Ask me how I know

 

[apsolus]

ur bike looks a lot like mine, nice! ive heard from a friend that did the 17 in wheel swap that the bike had weird issues afterwards and wasnt the same. so keep th eold stuff just in case you run into any problems.

 

[VMAXXIMUM]

ur bike looks a lot like mine, nice! ive heard from a friend that did the 17 in wheel swap that the bike had weird issues afterwards and wasnt the same. so keep th eold stuff just in case you run into any problems.

I’m curious about the weird issues. What were they? I did the conversion to 17” wheels years ago and the only issues I had were a much better handling and faster accelerating Vmax. Oh and it’s a bit lower. I short so that was another benefit to me.

 

[Fire-medic]

I suspect any 'weird issues' were due to a choice of rubber instead of any problem with going to a larger, wider wheel. because a 17" or 18" wheel/tire combo is shorter in height than the 90-series 15" OEM wheel/tire, you're effectively gearing it lower (higher numerically) so your rpm's are higher at a given speed, and acceleration is better.

 

[user 79535]

That's interesting about acceleration. I figured the wheel and radial recommendations were primarily for agility.

 

[joksi]

The periferal is a bit less, so the speedo wont show the right figures and to the same extend the acceleration is better. If you ride an OEM VMax and right after a bike with 17" wheels (what I did) you can feel it.
But this difference is not the point. Riding mountain roads makes a huge difference and you will feel that the brakes wont be strong enough. I had fading on my second trip after changing to 17", thats why I decided to improve brakes to get the full fun out of my setting.

 

[Jack Hammer]

I've got 18x5,5 in the back with 180 rubber without mods to the fork and 19x3 in the front. Radial tires. Handles very well, predictable, what you would expect.