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So whats the deal with the V-max?

Jedz123

Jedz123

Forum Sage
Past Site Supporter
Hey guys. Some of you know I'm on the Market for a newer liter plus motorcycle for the spring. So locally there is a mint 92 Vmax 1200 with 12k miles on the clock guy is asking 4k for it which I will barter that price down as much as I can if I decide to buy...

Any way other then the thing being big brash and powerful does anyone have any opinions on the bike? Pointers? What to look for? Issues these bikes may have? It looks to be quite advanced for it age, with exceptional build quality and honestly the bike is just a bad a$$ looking machine. I also have no idea what they are worth but I've seen online others that are older going for mid $3k with well over 50k miles...

So please enlighten me.
 
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Mostly from what I've heard, very fast in a straight line, not so great in the turns. The guy I bought my 1100 from had one. As far as cruisers go, they are pretty cool.
 
Yep, I agree with Evan. Very powerful bike, and great in drag or straight line.

It mostly suffers on the twisty roads due to a low ground clearance.

If you want a bike to haul ass in a line, V-Max is fantastic. If you want a corner carver, look elsewhere, or put the Max on some stilts and see what happens :cool:
 
Alright. So she's not s canyon carver. Which is fine for I would use it as my primary ride mostly interstate to and from work and long trips, so comfort with a decent upright ridding position is important. How about value for money? Is the price right on or too much. What would be fair? What the Reliability of these bikes?
 
I've never ridden one either but have known folks who had them and I've also read a lot about them. They are extremely popular in Europe where they do some wild upgrading and customizing on them. As mentioned, they are noted for their straightline acceleration but are said to have a "mushy" backend making them tricky in the twisties. Stiffening the backend is a common improvement that guys do.

Up here, the lack of stability in curves combined with so much power has caused many accidents and fatalities and the bike is known as "the widowmaker". As I've been told, it is not a bike for folks lacking experience.

In the right hands and with a cool head I'm sure they are a fun bike.

Cheers,
Spyug
 
I've restored at least a dozen of them in the past 5 years. Very fast bikes, not great for canyon carving, but not designed for that either. You can improve them greatly with Progressive springs front and rear, lowering seems to help a bit too. The BIG issue to look for is a bad 2nd gear, these 1st generation VMAX's are notorious for it! Take it for a test ride, get it in 2nd gear and punch it! If you can take it all the way to redline in 2nd gear and it doesn't pop out, you're golden. Be careful though, make sure and have plenty of straight road in front of you, redline in second is going to bring you close to 80-90 mph! Also, they are basically the same bikes from 85-07, outside of color. However, in 93 they made some upgrades, including a better charging system and upgraded bigger forks, went from 41 to 44 mm if I remember correctly. Mileage is also huge, because 2nd gears almost ALWAYS go out, and the repair is expensive, most repair shops won't touch them, and the ones that do are charging 2K to do it! A pre 93 model, with lower miles (under 20K), should bring around 3K this time of year, 4K is definitely too much. 4K will get you a early 2000's model, the newer the model and lower the mileage, the higher the price gets. You're also going to pay for accessories, the things that add value are a backrest/luggage rack (300-400), engine guards (100), aftermarket seat (Corbin or Sportmax are the best) 300-400 bucks, aftermarket exhaust (4 into 1 Kerker sounds the best), they are close to 800 new though. Aftermarket slip-ons like Supertrapps sound good and don't require rejetting, can get those in the 400 dollar range. If the bike is bone stock with no accessories, I wouldn't give a penny more than 3K. If the miles are high, above 25K, I would look for another one. If you need any more info, feel free to join the http://www.vmaxforum.net forum, I'm a member over there too!
 
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I saw one at bike nite and the guy had a fairing and bags on it.

His reasoning was that it was the best of everything, was still ugly, and didn't care.

I have a friend with an early model but he is ****ed off about the fuel mileage... I guess it's just what you are after.
 
Mileage really depends on your wrist, can range from 20-35 mpg. With a 3.3 gallon tank, I seldom get much over a hundred miles before the fuel light comes on. It does have a neat little switch on the handlebar that let's you switch to reserve and get another 10-15 miles out of the tank, I think the MOST I've ever gotten out of one is about 130 miles. To be honest, after riding one for a hundred miles, I'm ready for a gas stop anyway! :D
 
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I've owned one and loved it. As above, best in a straight line. On mine I dropped the forks through the yokes an 1" and fitted progressive springs which helped. I also fitted R1 calipers (the early ones are a straight swop) which helped braking.
MPG is poor.
 
83GS1100E_Tornado said:
Mileage really depends on your wrist, can range from 20-35 mph. With a 3.3 gallon tank, I seldom get much over a hundred miles before the fuel light comes on. It does have a neat little switch on the handlebar that let's you switch to reserve and get another 10-15 miles out of the tank, I think the MOST I've ever gotten out of one is about 130 miles. To be honest, after riding one for a hundred miles, I'm ready for a gas stop anyway! :D
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Not to jump this thread but I notice you have a V65 Magna.
Local offering of a 1985 Sabre with 7K miles. No fairing but I always liked the review of the engine and that it is a 'big guy' bike. Any concerns with the Magn/Sabre line?
I can start another thread if others weigh in.
Guy might trade me for a stainless S left hand mirror straight across.
 
Ok so what is up with all these V-4 bikes killing their transmissions mainly 2nd? I had a V45 Saber that did that. I will have to take it out to a good stretch to make sure 2nd is still intact. But MPG isn't very desirable neither is the seemining inevitable loss of second gear... Maybe I should just keep looking at the B-12's, ZRX"s, FZ1's and CB9's. Bummer.
 
Jedz123 said:
Ok so what is up with all these V-4 bikes killing their transmissions mainly 2nd? I had a V45 Saber that did that. I will have to take it out to a good stretch to make sure 2nd is still intact. But MPG isn't very desirable neither is the seemining inevitable loss of second gear... Maybe I should just keep looking at the B-12's, ZRX"s, FZ1's and CB9's. Bummer.
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Nature of the beast, they were built to ride fast and hard, and generally, that's what happened to them. When you race a bike and power shift 1st to 2nd gear, generally, they wear out quickly. The ZL900 and ZL1000 Eliminators don't have issues with trannys, but their fatal flaw is the starter clutch, when it goes out, usually around 30K miles, you're talking about an engine removal, case splitting type of repair. It's really luck of the draw here, I've had V65's and VMAX's with high miles and never had a an issue with the tranny. I have a 91 VMAX in great shape that I will be selling soon, and the 2nd gear/tranny rebuild was already done about 3K miles ago, have the receipts from the shop that did it, the repair was 2K! It should be good for another 50K miles! What kind of bike are you looking for? Most bikes are going to have some kind of fatal flaw or three.......
 
Roger. Looking for a low maintenance mile eater liter bike. HJFISK is selling a ZRX that we are going to swap slash I throw in some coin for my 1150ES. However I'm looking around just in case HJfisk deal goes south. Pretty much when the sap starts running marks the start of my motorcycle season. It's looking like the sap will start in a couple of weeks so I want to have my new bike by the end of Feb. A customer of mine has the Vmax for sale so I'd figure I'd do some research on it and ask about it.

Thanks for the input. If I can get some good seasons out of it I'd be happy. But reliability is a huge factor in what I want for a daily rider... This year I want to beat my Record for miles on a bike in a year and that's 20k. If the Vmax is capable I'll consider it. If not I'll look else where.
 
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I had a 99 ZRX1100, and it wasn't as fast as any VMAX's I've ever had. It literally sounded like a sewing machine, just didn't have any "soul" behind it. Handled better than a VMAX of course, but I had that bike probably a year and only rode it a couple of times, I always found myself choosing another bike in the stable to ride. ZRX's are good bikes, just boring as far as I was concerned. Now I'm sure you could throw a pipe and jet kit on it and liven it up, but mine was just too tame for me. A VMAX and the GS1150E are right there performance wise, in fact, when it came out in 85, I think they were basically 1 and 2 in all of the Superbike shootouts that I had seen, and both are faster than a stock ZRX. Not "mind blowingly" faster, but just a tick or two. Sounds to me like you should probably just keep the 1150 and do some maintenance on it, I've seen pictures of it, that's a sweet bike! If you were closer, I would have made a run on it!
 
Too ugly. I'd rather have a Harley, or GS450A.

On a more serious note, they are really ugly. Pass.
 
Nessism said:
Too ugly. I'd rather have a Harley, or GS450A.

On a more serious note, they are really ugly. Pass.
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I'm glad you said that so I wont have to.
They're not bad in pics but when ya see em in person, well..

I have however seen some pretty nice custom V-max's but thats about it.
 
The V-Max is awesome! But a face only a mother could love!
 
Looks are subjective. There are plenty of guys that think old GS's are ugly too, it's all relative! Besides, I can't see myself riding it down the road, that's gotta count for something! :D
 
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This is true. No matter what it looks like there is no denying that bad ass motor. Thing is a beast, and a Yamaha, so it's awesome!
 
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