Tested it today and it drives good.

[Robby Tweak]

I repaired the clutch slave and clutch master cilinder last week and this morning i took it for a ride. I've had several motorcycles in my life but i've never had a Vmax 1200 since one year.
Although it is an old bike (1999)
I love it very much. ( Almost everything on my max is new by now) I drove it this morning on little country roads, just cruising at 40, 50 miles a hour. I have forward controls which makes it like riding on a cruiser.
Then after 30 minutes of cruising the Frankenstein in me wakes up and i kicked his ass. The (cheap) gps speedometerneedle can't keep up with the acceleration and like a rocket i am at 100 miles a hour in just seconds.
Thats what i like so much at my Vmax...i can drive it like a cruiser and if i want i can feel the adrenaline when speeding up.
The fact that it still is a fast bike anno 2024 gives me the peace of mind to just cruise with it. Like it was my old Suzuki Volusia 800, many many years ago.

Drive save.
Greetings Robby from Holland.

 

[Fire-medic]

The great thing about a Generation 1 is that when it was released, it was the quickest thing out there, and nearly the fastest, for production bikes. It had a unique appearance, and back then, a 'big tire' was a 130/90 x 18". The VMax's 150 exceeded everything else, and the 15" dia rim was what a lot of choppers ran 5.10 x 15 being a common size. That happened to be the size that a VW beetle used, and many hardtail choppers used a VW-sized tire, running a low tire pressure to provide some semblance of 'rear suspension.' VW-sized tires were cheap, and they were easy to acquire in the 1960's/'70's, when the VW beetle was still being manufactured, and into the 1980's when beetles were still a common sight on the streets of the USA.

The Honda 1100 Magna was a performance bike which made use of the Honda DOHC V4 which was available in a few different sizes, as did the sportbikes the Interceptors, and the Sabre which was more of a standard. The 1100 Magna was a badass, until the VMax came along and re-set the top of the displacement category for "what is the badass streetbike?"

In these days of streetbikes with 175 RWHP, like the Generation II, Ducati V4's, and Hyabusas busting-through the previous 186 mph limit agreed-to by Japanese and other manufacturers, the Generation 1 may not seem like much, but if you're a decent rider, and you've done a bit of tuning bolt-ons to your VMax, you can surprise a lot of riders with the torque the Gen. 1 provides.

 

[Robby Tweak]

The great thing about a Generation 1 is that when it was released, it was the quickest thing out there, and nearly the fastest, for production bikes. It had a unique appearance, and back then, a 'big tire' was a 130/90 x 18". The VMax's 150 exceeded everything else, and the 15" dia rim was what a lot of choppers ran 5.10 x 15 being a common size. That happened to be the size that a VW beetle used, and many hardtail choppers used a VW-sized tire, running a low tire pressure to provide some semblance of 'rear suspension.' VW-sized tires were cheap, and they were easy to acquire in the 1960's/'70's, when the VW beetle was still being manufactured, and into the 1980's when beetles were still a common sight on the streets of the USA.

The Honda 1100 Magna was a performance bike which made use of the Honda DOHC V4 which was available in a few different sizes, as did the sportbikes the Interceptors, and the Sabre which was more of a standard. The 1100 Magna was a badass, until the VMax came along and re-set the top of the displacement category for "what is the badass streetbike?"

In these days of streetbikes with 175 RWHP, like the Generation II, Ducati V4's, and Hyabusas busting-through the previous 186 mph limit agreed-to by Japanese and other manufacturers, the Generation 1 may not seem like much, but if you're a decent rider, and you've done a bit of tuning bolt-ons to your VMax, you can surprise a lot of riders with the torque the Gen. 1 provides.

What an interesting comment and nice to read. I remember the super magna from those days very good. I was 19 then but it was way to expensive for me. I agree that there are faster bikes but not with the same appearance and "cruiser like" driving style. It is of course a matter of personal taste. I could have bought a brand new Kawasaki Z 900 for the money i spend on the Vmax but it does not appeal to me.

Grtz Robby