Thread: Yamaha V-Max Motorcycle

Fifty years from now petrol will be outlawed and all those who use it will be fotced underground. Bikers will be bikers again. Hard, fast and fearing nothing. Roaming the roads at night, racing away from traffic lights. Mad, bad and dangerous to know. And they'll all be riding this, the new Yamaha V-Max. It's hard not to get caught up in all the Mad Max imagery when you first clap eyes on it. The signature huge air intakes, inspired by the intakes on fighter jets and hot rods, the massive zoo-section rear tyre and the beautiful aluminium frame just scream post-apocalyptic civilisation. Technological yet primal, a traditional cruiser gone space age.

In my head it's zoS8. We're rolling through the California mountains, a squadron of outlaw petrol pirates aboard a fleet of zo09 V-Maxes. Women and children cower and men look at their feet. This is a big bad bike. But back to reality, where the only apocalypse has been on your bank balance: pulling away at low speed, the Rs 13,60,000 (UK Price) V-Max's mass is immediately evident. You feel like you've got control of the bars while the rest of the bike swings madly around the headstock. It's disconcerting at first, bur a combination of revs, gurs and back brake soon gives you mastery of the art of controlling the V-Max at low speeds. It belies its size and 1770mm wheelbase and becomes a pussycat.

The suburbs and freeway stand between us and the mountain roads. This is not a problem the frequent stop signs become makeshift dragstrip start lines. A look, a grin and a twist of the throttle unleashes all of the bike's 200PS at once. The old V Max had the V-Boost system, which involved extra butterflies opening in the carbs at S700rpm, doubling the air/fuel mixture to each cylinder and giving the bike a turbo-like powerband. The equivalent on the zo09 bike is GE IK, a system that uses YCC-I (Yamaha Chip Controlled Intakes) and YCC-T (Yamaha Chip Controlled Throttle) to alter the length of the throttle body intakes and regulate a secondary throttle butterfly.

Instead of the traditional narrow V-Boost powerband, GENIK gives the benefits of V-Boost but at all points on the rev range. Just open it up and let it fly. The smoke and scores of black lines at each set of sun baked traffic lights are testament to that. Those with a stomach full of courage could nail open the throttle in first gear and send the V-Max off in a sliding, shimmying cloud of noise and smoke. Even for the not-so-hardcore like me, the acceleration from the light, compact new V4 engine is incredible. Twist the throttle and you're instantly reeling backwards, like someone's just thrown a Doberman at you. Being just Sft 7in tall and relatively compact, I was able to hook my knees beneath the hand-finished aluminium air intakes and brace myself for the assault, but larger riders just had to hold on tight and take all that straight-line speed savagery right on the chest.

Leaving the smog of the city behind, the winding roads head upward and become progressively twistier. Despite Yamaha's marketing video labouring the acceleration and dragstrip point, the V-Max actually goes around corners. The szmm fully adjustable front forks give a confidence inspiring amount of feel and feedback from the front, no mean feat when you consider how much weight is involved. Initiating turns via the wide bars is child's play. It's light to steer and relatively quick to respond; this isn't a lardy, lethargic cruiser. The front end easily copes with quick side-to-side turns, bur the link-type fully adjustable Monocross rear suspension will shimmy if you ask it to turn aggressively. But it's only a slight shimmy and actually adds to the bike's character.



The plush ride quality feels appropriate to a cruiser. Yamaha have pulled a blinder getting this chassis to be comfortable without being soggy and sporty without being overly focused, But, disappointingly, it's weirdly easy to unsettle the bike while trying to do nothing more ambitious than ride along at a steady speed. The throttle sometimes seems to be too sensitive; there's a lot of engine braking and you only need to knock the throttle off slightly to send the bike wobbling all over the place.

Hauling a zooPS, 315kg bike to a stop takes some serious equipment, so Yamaha fitted the V-Max with twin 3zomm wavy discs with six-piston radial calipers up front and a z98mm disc with single-pot caliper at the rear, as well as ABS. In a straight line the brakes are excellent, bringing the bike back under control without grabbiness or fuss. But try to trail brake into tight low-speed corners and the fierce front braking system won't have it. Even the lightest touch of the front while cornering will provoke the bike to sit straight up. The original V-Max was a favourite with shorter riders, but this new version has a seat that's wde and Izmm higher. The width, combined with the position of the footpegs, stops me putting my foot down where I want to and forces me to plan which foot to put down and where.

The tank-mounted LCD display is in a bit of an odd place too, dictated more by cruiser convention than by practicality. It displays intake air temperature, throttle position, gear and fuel level, but you can't see it from the normal riding position. If you want to peek at your fuel gauge and you'll need to keep an eye on it, with a range that can easily drop to just lIS km between full and reserve you'll have to shuffle back and crane your neck.

But this Rs 13,60,000 bike is, unashamedly, a plaything; it doesn't need to be practical. Yamaha have made no attempt to hide the fact that this bike is aimed at V-Max enthusiasts and 'high profile motorcyclists' (that's wealthy celebrities to you and me). Make no mistake, this is an excellent bike, but if you're not one of the above there are plenty of other ways to get kicks like this.