New member

[AndrewT]

Hi,
New member from Sydney Australia.
Had a few bikes over the years and chalked up around 350000 km on bikes. Always wanted a VMax 1200 I like the look, and cult culture with nearly all bikes modified to suit the riders style.
Purchased in 2014 a black 96 Aussie model after looking fro a good one for more than a year. I'm the third owner so inherited quite a few modifications some obvious and know and other found out later.
The VMax did not disappoint and has put a smile in my face each time I ride it or just look at it. I have spent the last 10 years improving it to my taste. Still plenty of mods in the pipe yet. I'm a mechanical Engineer with a trade background so I enjoy modifying it as much as riding it.
Fantastic bike!

 

[apsolus]

hell yea, nice to meet you!

 

[CaptainKyle]

Welcome

 

[Fire-medic]

We want to see what you come up with in your mods. Pictures and a write-up.

 

[Burrows]

Welcome to the forum

 

[Dkid]

Welcome to the Classroom. Nice Max.

 

[wayne billings]

Andrew T Welcome. This is a very friendy forum and members are ready to help. Look at the heading 'forums' for a lot of great tips.

 

[Mr. Hyde]

Hi,
New member from Sydney Australia.
Had a few bikes over the years and chalked up around 350000 km on bikes. Always wanted a VMax 1200 I like the look, and cult culture with nearly all bikes modified to suit the riders style.
Purchased in 2014 a black 96 Aussie model after looking fro a good one for more than a year. I'm the third owner so inherited quite a few modifications some obvious and know and other found out later.
The VMax did not disappoint and has put a smile in my face each time I ride it or just look at it. I have spent the last 10 years improving it to my taste. Still plenty of mods in the pipe yet. I'm a mechanical Engineer with a trade background so I enjoy modifying it as much as riding it.
Fantastic bike!

Very nice Andrew. I like what you've got going there. Hey, does anyone know where I can get a sissy bar like that? I can't tell from the angle, but does it have a luggage rack too?

 

[AndrewT]

The sissy bar is the standard Yamaha accessory from 96. Although I modified it to fit the panniers and rack on.
Yes it has a rack which is custom made. There are lots of tie down points so you can carry a lot of gear.

 

[Mr. Hyde]

Thank you for that information Andrew. So, you are from Sydney? I love NSW! My best friend lives between Sydney and New Castle, in Kuri Kuri. I love your country. My wife and I spent 3 weeks visiting my buddy and his wife (whom I met during our mutual affiliation with a classic boat club/forum) in November 2019.

That was just before the big C-19 virus hit the States, and the quarantines and lock-downs went into effect. I will tell you that I did not want to leave Australia, and if we had chosen to visit just five months later in March of 2020, we would not have been able to leave.

Coincidentally, I called my buddy "Aussie Jim" yesterday. As usual we compared outside temperatures, as we are both well aware of each others opposite seasons. He said he was expecting 32 degrees C. I said that's a bit warmer than my 5 degrees C here in the warm side of Washington State.

Enjoy your Summer and your 1996 Vmax Andrew!

 

[AndrewT]

Thank you for that information Andrew. So, you are from Sydney? I love NSW! My best friend lives between Sydney and New Castle, in Kuri Kuri. I love your country. My wife and I spent 3 weeks visiting my buddy and his wife (whom I met during our mutual affiliation with a classic boat club/forum) in November 2019.

That was just before the big C-19 virus hit the States, and the quarantines and lock-downs went into effect. I will tell you that I did not want to leave Australia, and if we had chosen to visit just five months later in March of 2020, we would not have been able to leave.

Coincidentally, I called my buddy "Aussie Jim" yesterday. As usual we compared outside temperatures, as we are both well aware of each others opposite seasons. He said he was expecting 32 degrees C. I said that's a bit warmer than my 5 degrees C here in the warm side of Washington State.

Enjoy your Summer and your 1996 Vmax Andrew!

38 degC here today in Sydney. Roads are melting. Too hot to ride.
Your mate is about 45 minutes from me.

 

[AndrewT]

We want to see what you come up with in your mods. Pictures and a write-up.

Hi just saw your post. Not used to this site yet, sorry.
Any mod in particular you would like to know about first as there are enough to make a small book?

 

[AndrewT]

We want to see what you come up with in your mods. Pictures and a write-up.

Here is a video so you can see what is externally visable.

 

[Mr. Hyde]

I understand Andrew. I am just figuring out the site too. Thanks for the video. Wow 38C! That's too hot for me too. Thank God for air conditioning and the beautiful blue ocean being so close!

I really like some of the mods that are on your bike. Would you be willing to take a few more detailed shots of the instruments and gear on the handlebars? What are those two gauges on either side of the speedometer? Also, wat are those switches or indicators below them. That rack is very cool, and the saddle bags are a very useful addition. How much of this did you do yourself?

 

[AndrewT]

I understand Andrew. I am just figuring out the site too. Thanks for the video. Wow 38C! That's too hot for me too. Thank God for air conditioning and the beautiful blue ocean being so close!

I really like some of the mods that are on your bike. Would you be willing to take a few more detailed shots of the instruments and gear on the handlebars? What are those two gauges on either side of the speedometer? Also, wat are those switches or indicators below them. That rack is very cool, and the saddle bags are a very useful addition. How much of this did you do yourself?

Today 18DegC crazy.
I did all of it myself.
The 2 gauges are: left side is a digital Innovate Motor Sport air fuel ratio gauge. The air fuel sensor is located at the bottom of the front left header. The right gauge is digital Innovate Motor Sports vacuum/boost gauge on the centre readout and RPM indicator around the periphery it is programmed green at low RPM yellow mid RPM and red above 6000 RPM and it flashes red if over 9000 RPM. Although this gauge is a bit smaller than the Tacho it is in a better position to see when hard on the gas.
Mounted on the handle bar on the left is a twin USB charging port.
In the left pannier there is a 7 channel Innovate motor sport data logger. The outputs from the 2 gauges are daisy chain can-bus cabled to the data logger in the pannier.
I have other sensors fitted:
A Throttle position sensor (TPS). mounted on the left rear carb.
A knock sensor mounted on the front left cylinder block.
Digital speed sensor mounted just below the speedo.
I have another sensor I'm making (work in progress) that will give position of the vacuum piston in the front left carb.
Vacuum/boost from the gauge,
RPM
AF ratio from the gauge.
The data logger records to a SD card at 20 Hz all 7 channels.
The data logger can be turned on or off from the left switch underneath the handle bar centre.
The SD card I can read with the Innovate Motor Sport software where all 7 channels can be looked at in fine detail. Additionally you can create calculated additional channels from the data in the software like acceleration, de-acceleration
With all this data I can see what is happening with the carb tuning at any RPM and throttle position.
As well as giving me an idea of what is happening in the inlet and exhaust.
I have been able to tune the carbs pretty good with this set up.
From the data I also have some extra developments for the inlet and exhaust to improve the performance further.
It has not been on the Dyno yet but a guy with a stock Gen 2 was hard pressed to keep up with me at lower speeds.
I get around town 7 litres per 100 km and on the open road 5 litres per 100 km if cruising at around 100 km/hour and 6 litres/100 km if high speed and more aggressive riding.
Give me a range of about 240 km before reserve.
The other improvements to inlet and exhaust will improve this further.

 

[Mr. Hyde]

Regarding what you've done... I am speechless. That does not happen very often.

Your climate is really crazy. I never would have believed it could swing so far, so quickly. Well maybe you can ride today?