Long lived Yamaha

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
May 27, 2019
Messages
58
Location
Holland, NY
First, I'd like to thank the forum administrator for letting me become a member. I'm the proud owner of a 1985 Yamaha Vmax motorcycle. As of today, it's got 134,200 miles on the odometer. ( actually the odo READS 34,200 - the 100,000 mile digit doesn't show on the analog odometer.)

I thank frequent oil changes for the engines longevity. It's never been apart, nothing has ever failed mechanically, and it uses absolutely NO oil. I used GTX 20/50 for years, but recently switched to Rotella 15/40.

image.jpeg
 
There aren't many left, because so many were wrecked by riders that didn't understand how to handle that much power. I had a salesman tell me the first 13 that were sold in Iowa, were wrecked in the first couple months of ownership.
 
Nice lookin bike!
Lots of people I knew rode bikes most every day when I started my career in Dallas and I figured I would join them.
Asked a friend if he would help me learn how to ride and he said not on HIS bike!
I told him I would buy a VMax and he could drive it to my apt complex and then teach me in the lot there.
He told me I would be dead before I could get a license.

Never got into riding...it was really funny, I told my dad I was thinking about buying a bike and he freaked out at me over the phone. Too dangerous!
I then mentioned that he told me about an Indian he had when he was young and how much he loved it...silence...then, "Well, THAT was DIFFERENT."
 
Nice! My son owned a 1985 vmax. I like the look of the air intake scoops. Fast dependable bikes, but the suspension "torque rise" from the shaft was disconcerting until you got accustomed to it. Is that an Akrapovic can?
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by gman2304
Nice! My son owned a 1985 vmax. I like the look of the air intake scoops. Fast dependable bikes, but the suspension "torque rise" from the shaft was disconcerting until you got accustomed to it.

Beyond what my friend told me, I read in several places that it was a bike that required a capable, attentive rider...or trouble/tragedy could easily ensue.
 
Nice bike! Remember sitting on one of those in my teens drooling. I'm 50 now.
shocked.gif


Just curious...why switch oils now when you had so much success with the Castrol?
 
I still have my Cycle magazine with the Vmax wheelying on the front cover, and the relative dyno graphs from all the hot bikes of that time. Of course the Vmax 'graph' towered over the others. As a teenager, I felt lucky to have a V65 Sabre (one of the lower powered competitors represented) at the time.

High performance bikes have been an obsession, since then.

Congrats on a nice example.
 
Originally Posted by gman2304
Is that an Akrapovic can?


Definitely not Akrapovic.

It does look like a Delkevic.
 
Recommended by guys on the Vmax forum. I also use Rotella in my 2002 Roadstar, that one has 85,000 miles on it. I've been using Rotella a while now, and it seems to work fine.
 
Wow, 134K..that is a lot of rear tires lol. Probably front ones too! Never got to ride one, but I do remember hearing that when that butterfly opened to line up the carbs in parallel, you best hold on!
 
A friend let me drive one in 1991.

I remember it had Kerker exhausts, but don't remember many mods - other than those.
I know he put some money into it.

He said his best was 10.14 in the quarter mile around 133 or so - - - - I ran a 10.87 at 127 and it just about scared the internal organs out of me!
 
It also did a credible job of pulling a trailer.. This was around 1989, on a trip through Quebec and New England. Harbor Freight style trailer, and a Sears car top carrier. Homemade hitch. Arguably one of the fastest trailers ever built.

image.jpeg
 
Last edited:
I remember them well, I traded in my 83 VF1100C for one in 86.

Edit: I didn't keep it very long the twisting torque was worse than the VF1100C. Do you notice this on yours or it doesn't bother you?
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top