I'll admit I only joined this forum so I could download a color wiring diagram for a 2002 model that I'm working on, but I purchased my first VMax last year. Long time rider of Yamaha Viragos and also a motorcycle mechanic, been working on these for 25 years now. Thanks for the add!
New Member, Long Time Yamaha User
- Thread starter Polkahero
- Start date
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Welcome. Where in MI are you? Do you work at a dealership? I bought my first new Yamaha, an RT-2, in 1972 in SW MI, and used it in hare scrambles and enduros. The coldest I've ever-been on a motorcycle was one December at an enduro at Mount Garfield, which has been an AMA hillclimb for decades. They used that as the start/finish for an enduro, with snow on the ground, and 32 degree water on the powerline rights of way beneath a thin layer of ice. The ice wasn't thick-enough to support the bike's weight, so you would break through the ice and end-up in just-under a foot of water beneath the ice. That section eliminated a lot of entrants, but my riding partner on a Rickman-Zundapp was able to place in his class. It's the only enduro I didn't finish, riding in MI.
I know the story of 'Poletown,' Hamtramck, where GM got to build a new factory after getting the State of MI to condemn entire blocks of homes and then they were razed to make-way for the assembly plant. There was a Catholic church which was a meeting place for the resistance to the 'urban condemnation & renewal', and that was knocked-down too. Hamtramck was a traditionally Polish neighborhood-city. A friend of mine owned a home there and worked at a Chrysler plant where they built Volares. Yes, he was of Polish descent. There's a book written about the process of building the GM plant and it's appropriately named, Poletown.
I know the story of 'Poletown,' Hamtramck, where GM got to build a new factory after getting the State of MI to condemn entire blocks of homes and then they were razed to make-way for the assembly plant. There was a Catholic church which was a meeting place for the resistance to the 'urban condemnation & renewal', and that was knocked-down too. Hamtramck was a traditionally Polish neighborhood-city. A friend of mine owned a home there and worked at a Chrysler plant where they built Volares. Yes, he was of Polish descent. There's a book written about the process of building the GM plant and it's appropriately named, Poletown.
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I’m near Saginaw. I‘m self-employed, no dealership will pay me enough and I like setting my own hours. Never rode dirt bikes, started on a street bike and have ridden those ever since.
Jack Hammer
Well-Known Member
Dirt bikes are awesome. I used to ride Kawasaki KX500s but now I'm too old, don't have the physique for that anymore. That means a Vmax is just perfect.
