'New' member from NH

[Maineiac70]

Greetings all VMAX enthusiasts from the pretty New England state of New Hampshire! I've owned my 1993 Max since 1994, purchased while stationed in Aviano Air Base, Italy. We have lots of great memories riding through Europe together and turning heads in every country I visited, to unfortunately getting run off the road twice- resulting in a 'totalled' bike, body cast/broken hip and then some. The attached photo is how she looks now after being dusted off. Both the Max and I are as healed as we can be at our age, but the bike has been sitting in the garage since I retired from the Air Force and moved to New Hampshire, so about 8 years now-ouch! Late family bloomer, so too busy with my 9 & 11 year old girls. The time has come however to bring Taz back to life. I've been on this forum for years, but just became a supporting member because of the wealth of knowledge you all bring to the table- I'll need some of that know-how I'm sure as I go through the bike. Already read up on the thread 'bike sitting for awhile' so that was useful. I'm replacing the tank now due to an old Kreem job that doesn't look so good anymore. Followed by rebuilding the carbs, flushing all fluids, new tires, etc. Already been in touch with Sean, who is amazing as you all know, and intend to make my first purchase(of many I'm sure), the muscle jet kit.
My military duty has taken me around the world, and I've owned a few bikes along the way such as an old Honda CB750k, V-45 Magna, and Kawasaki ZRX1100 while stationed in Japan. All fun bikes, but none like the Max which is why I only kept this one. Riding other bikes just doesn't give me the rush that the Max does. It's a special bike, but no one understands that until they ride one. It's also a 'special' bike to work on as a mechanic right? My friends tell me to stop wasting my time working on it myself, and to take it to Billy Joe Bob's Moto Fix It shop down the road, or even the local dealership. It takes someone who knows the bike to wrench on it correctly right? I have a few bad stories myself to prove that theory...'v-boost, what's that'? Rambled on long enough, thank you all in advance for the support I may or may not need over the next couple months:-}

 

[Marauder03]

Hi, love the color of your bike! Is that a holeshot exhaust or kerker? Looks great and hope you get it back up to snuff. There’s nothing like the sound of a 1st Gen piped! Well maybe a Gen 2 lol but I love the Gen 1s sound wish I still had mine. Thank you for your service!

 

[Maineiac70]

Thanks Marauder! Been surfing through this website all day- man does it cover lots of stuff!, to include your numerous posts!
It's the Holeshot. Didn't think Dale was still in the biz but his website still looks current.

 

[mckzx9]

Welcome. I’m just below you in Mass. Good luck with getting her back up and running. With the people on this forum you will have no problems with that.

 

[Fire-medic]

Among those I've owned, there was a '93. I like the color. If you've been reading the 'resuscitation' posts/threads, you have a lot of good advice already. I wouldn't bother trying Billy-Bob's Moto-sickle Sales and Repairs Shop, and even Yamaha dealers often don't want to work on Gen. 1's. Sometimes you can find someone who knows them and will work on them. You're a day's trip from a few great guys who can fix anything your bike might need, and there's always FedEx and USPS.

I suspect you may have some mechanical skills already, and with the factory service manual, and a place to ask questions, with patience and some skill, there is very-little you couldn't do yourself.

Here's a pic of my '93, now in So. America. I bought it off a US Army retiree with 10K miles, it needed attention from being little-used for years, but it came back nicely. The buyer had it sold before it left the USA.



Remember to take pics and to write a story about your return to service, we all like a good story.

 

[CaptainKyle]

Welcome! Have fun with the project

 

[RedMax]

Greetings all VMAX enthusiasts from the pretty New England state of New Hampshire! I've owned my 1993 Max since 1994, purchased while stationed in Aviano Air Base, Italy. We have lots of great memories riding through Europe together and turning heads in every country I visited, to unfortunately getting run off the road twice- resulting in a 'totalled' bike, body cast/broken hip and then some. The attached photo is how she looks now after being dusted off. Both the Max and I are as healed as we can be at our age, but the bike has been sitting in the garage since I retired from the Air Force and moved to New Hampshire, so about 8 years now-ouch! Late family bloomer, so too busy with my 9 & 11 year old girls. The time has come however to bring Taz back to life. I've been on this forum for years, but just became a supporting member because of the wealth of knowledge you all bring to the table- I'll need some of that know-how I'm sure as I go through the bike. Already read up on the thread 'bike sitting for awhile' so that was useful. I'm replacing the tank now due to an old Kreem job that doesn't look so good anymore. Followed by rebuilding the carbs, flushing all fluids, new tires, etc. Already been in touch with Sean, who is amazing as you all know, and intend to make my first purchase(of many I'm sure), the muscle jet kit.
My military duty has taken me around the world, and I've owned a few bikes along the way such as an old Honda CB750k, V-45 Magna, and Kawasaki ZRX1100 while stationed in Japan. All fun bikes, but none like the Max which is why I only kept this one. Riding other bikes just doesn't give me the rush that the Max does. It's a special bike, but no one understands that until they ride one. It's also a 'special' bike to work on as a mechanic right? My friends tell me to stop wasting my time working on it myself, and to take it to Billy Joe Bob's Moto Fix It shop down the road, or even the local dealership. It takes someone who knows the bike to wrench on it correctly right? I have a few bad stories myself to prove that theory...'v-boost, what's that'? Rambled on long enough, thank you all in advance for the support I may or may not need over the next couple months:-}

Welcome aboard! You are right when you say, "there's nothing like the rush from a Max!" Once I saddled up one I knew there would never be another ride for me.
Keep the rubber side down my friend!

 

[Maineiac70]

Welcome. I’m just below you in Mass. Good luck with getting her back up and running. With the people on this forum you will have no problems with that.

Thanks neighbor! Is there a way to search on here to see which members live in the NH, ME, MA area?

 

[Maineiac70]

Welcome aboard! You are right when you say, "there's nothing like the rush from a Max!" Once I saddled up one I knew there would never be another ride for me.
Keep the rubber side down my friend!

Thx Redmax, after one too many accidents it's my intention to keep the rubber side down indeed. I'll have to bring up some old photo stills of my moto after the two times I was run off the road. I was in the hospital for almost three months the one time; as a single guy in an off-base apartment they didn't want me to live alone while in my body cast. During that time I had someone pick up my Max from the tow yard and had it delivered to a great Moto-Guzzi mechanic, but he worked on anything that had a motor. I ordered all the parts needed, based off of the photos my buddies took, and had the mechanic work his magic. Picture the bike sliding on it's side after I got sideswiped and ejected doing 60, and the top area of the Max slamming into a concrete wall. The entire top area was crushed down. 'Luckily' I slammed into the wall just two feel from where the bike hit, or else I would have been the cushion between the two. The bike was in showroom condition right about the time I would walk again and was released from the hospital. So naturally I hobbled straight over to pick up the bike! I could not bend my hip/leg enough to put my foot on the peg without assistance, but once I did I was in heaven again:-}

 

[Maineiac70]

Among those I've owned, there was a '93. I like the color. If you've been reading the 'resuscitation' posts/threads, you have a lot of good advice already. I wouldn't bother trying Billy-Bob's Moto-sickle Sales and Repairs Shop, and even Yamaha dealers often don't want to work on Gen. 1's. Sometimes you can find someone who knows them and will work on them. You're a day's trip from a few great guys who can fix anything your bike might need, and there's always FedEx and USPS.

I suspect you may have some mechanical skills already, and with the factory service manual, and a place to ask questions, with patience and some skill, there is very-little you couldn't do yourself.

Here's a pic of my '93, now in So. America. I bought it off a US Army retiree with 10K miles, it needed attention from being little-used for years, but it came back nicely. The buyer had it sold before it left the USA.

View attachment 84526

Remember to take pics and to write a story about your return to service, we all like a good story.

Beautiful clean ride and of course color indeed! One of my mechanic horror stories while stationed in Las Vegas was that after a tune up the Vboost effect was gone. Not sure how they did it, but somehow had tuned it in a way that it was flat across the throttle range. Long story to that one, but eventually figured out the issue. I have the CALI spec motor. The mechanic stripped out a carb screw and jacked up the threads, so did me a 'favor' and replaced it with a non-Cali carb body. It took almost a year to figure out what they had done. I pulled the carb rack twice and took it to both a Yamaha dealer(the wise old man with the white beard, the Vmax God), and a high end shop that refurbs Vmax's to use for cart racing on the track in Vegas. All they both did was tear down, clean, tune, done. I pulled the carbs again one day and noticed one of the throttle plates had a different number-bingo!

 

[Maineiac70]

Welcome! Have fun with the project

Thanks Capt K!

 

[mckzx9]

Thanks neighbor! Is there a way to search on here to see which members live in the NH, ME, MA area?

I’m not sure never tried that lol. There are a couple up in NH. A few gen 1 in mass also. If you have Facebook there’s a page for the forum. Maybe easier to search that way.

 

[Maineiac70]

Among those I've owned, there was a '93. I like the color. If you've been reading the 'resuscitation' posts/threads, you have a lot of good advice already. I wouldn't bother trying Billy-Bob's Moto-sickle Sales and Repairs Shop, and even Yamaha dealers often don't want to work on Gen. 1's. Sometimes you can find someone who knows them and will work on them. You're a day's trip from a few great guys who can fix anything your bike might need, and there's always FedEx and USPS.

I suspect you may have some mechanical skills already, and with the factory service manual, and a place to ask questions, with patience and some skill, there is very-little you couldn't do yourself.

Here's a pic of my '93, now in So. America. I bought it off a US Army retiree with 10K miles, it needed attention from being little-used for years, but it came back nicely. The buyer had it sold before it left the USA.

View attachment 84526

Remember to take pics and to write a story about your return to service, we all like a good story.

I think the only thing that intimidates me thus far on what I intend to go through is checking/adjusting the valve shims. I had a gasket leak when I last rode Taz, so since the carbs are off I want to pull the valve covers to replace the gaskets, and adjust while I'm in there. I should be 'wide open' access, in that I also have new coolant hoses I'm installing, so the old ones will be cleared out of the way. I know I need to post this elsewhere or go look through more valve threads, but any pointers or videos you can share would be most appreciated!