Hello new friends!
I am one of those over-the-hill Vmax owners. I'm 57 years old from deep South-Eastern Illinois. I used to ride a Seca 750 and when my back started bothering me, i gave up motorcycles for 15 years. Then, last Summer I started having that urge to ride again when several of my co-workers and Church friends started showing up on motorcycles.
The only thing I didn't care for, was that everyone rode cruisers that all looked like they were trying to look like Harleys. I wanted something different than everyone else in the parking lot. For 15 years, I had made myself stay out of cycle shops for fear of this sickness overtaking me again...but I had the virus already. So I started looking for a Vmax, or an ST1300, as those were two bikes that appealed to me. I bid on several bikes on Ebay within 50 miles without winning. Then one evening, I widened my search to 200 miles, and there she was....a red 89 Vmax that appeared in good shape with some subtle upgrades already installed. I bid, not even having hope of winning her. But an hour later, I checked , and I now owned one of the coolest bikes ever made.
Once I had trailered her home 200 miles through a pouring rain, and got her dried out after 2 days in the sun....All I could think was, "How could I have let 15 years go by without riding?" as I took a spin through the country to get acquainted.
I don't take long rides as my back might not take an all day ride, but I truly look forward to decent weather when I can ride to work around 6-6:30 Am ...the very best part of the day...especially when there is a nip in the air, and the sun is just coming up.
The only problem I have is every time I wash the Vera-max, I may spend from an hour, to 2-3 days in cloudy damp weather getting her dried out enough to run. I read a lot of posts here with the same problem, and I think it has to be the CDI box or its' plugs causing the problem, and it is so hard to get to the black box in order to dry it and I haven't figured out how to prevent moisture problem and have a clean bike.
One more thing I learned about a hydraulic clutch....when you fire her up for that first Spring ride after a couple of months sitting in the shed and just being started weekly, (had to hear it run at least)..be sure the clutch hasn't leaked off before you toe it into 1st, or at least make sure you are headed towards the open door!
I used to enjoy riding in the rain on my Seca, but for now, when it starts sprinkling , I head for shelter as I'm too old to push the bike very far! Hopefully, with your help, I can figure out how to keep moisture from shutting me down.
Looking forward to meeting some of you other Vmaxers out there.
unk:
