First Vmax/First Bike

[fitfo]

I'm in Dallas Texas. My mentor just gave me his old bike (1994 or1996 vmax). I got no previous bike knowledge and will be fixing it up. I will probably be on here a lot asking questions so thanks in advance.

 

[VMAXer]

Welcome and congrats. The attachment is empty, can you upload it again?

 

[fitfo]

Welcome and congrats. The attachment is empty, can you upload it again?

My bad my man. I think its fixed.

 

[Aquamax]

I'm in Dallas Texas. My mentor just gave me his old bike (1994 or1996 vmax). I got no previous bike knowledge and will be fixing it up. I will probably be on here a lot asking questions so thanks in advance.

You have a mentor that GAVE you a Vmax? DUDE!!
I'm pretty sure that's a 1994, if I recall, 1996 was the first year of black wheels & black bike. But I may be a year off...maybe.

Regardless, nice score!

 

[Fire-medic]

Welcome, here's a link to the factory shop manual, save it to your computer, and print-out a copy for use in the garage.

VMX12- Service-Manual.pdf (vmoa.net) The first pages have 'supplemental' yearly info as the bike went through changes. The appendix has cable routing, screw sizes, torque values, and much more.

Many questions you will have are answered here. (111) New Vmax Owner FAQs....new members please read! | Yamaha Star V-Max VMAX Motorcycle Discussion Forum (vmaxforum.net)

Use the upper-right search and the 'advanced search' (click on 'search') to find threads on whatever you may have questions about. Chances are, your burning question has been answered many times before.

 

[Warp12]

Can you imagine, back in 1985, someone saying they got a V-Max as a first bike? That would have sounded insane!

 

[CaptainKyle]

Welcome have fun with it.

 

[Rick52]

Search and join vmax facebook forums
There is a Vmax Houston and Vmax Dallas group as well. Imho

 

[fitfo]

You have a mentor that GAVE you a Vmax? DUDE!!
I'm pretty sure that's a 1994, if I recall, 1996 was the first year of black wheels & black bike. But I may be a year off...maybe.

Regardless, nice score!

I was just as surprised as you my man. And good to know on the year.

 

[fitfo]

Welcome, here's a link to the factory shop manual, save it to your computer, and print-out a copy for use in the garage.

VMX12- Service-Manual.pdf (vmoa.net) The first pages have 'supplemental' yearly info as the bike went through changes. The appendix has cable routing, screw sizes, torque values, and much more.

Many questions you will have are answered here. (111) New Vmax Owner FAQs....new members please read! | Yamaha Star V-Max VMAX Motorcycle Discussion Forum (vmaxforum.net)

Use the upper-right search and the 'advanced search' (click on 'search') to find threads on whatever you may have questions about. Chances are, your burning question has been answered many times before.

Thanks for the tips. I really appreciate it.

 

[02GF74]

Pretty sure that the VIN contains a letter that represents the year of manufacture.

 

[DirtieGirtie]

Congrats! Just make sure you go easy on the throttle for a while once your on the roads.

And if you ever want to trade tins, let me know. Mine has silver carbon fiber bits on her right now, but I will be changing her to yellow at some point in the near future... #dreambike.

 

[VmaXXX]

Nice! That's a heck of a machine to ease into motorcycling with. Ride safe!

 

[WS6 Formula]

Can you imagine, back in 1985, someone saying they got a V-Max as a first bike? That would have sounded insane!

Everyone I know that rides told me to start off on a small bike to learn, then later on get a bigger bike. I didn't want to waste my time doing that, so in late 1985 I looked for the biggest, most powerful cruiser and bought a new 1986 V-Max. Just before I rode off, the Yamaha dealer asked me what my first bike was? I said, this is it. He looked horrified. When I went to the DMV to get my motorcycle license, I had to demonstrate my riding skills by riding around cones in the parking lot. When the DMV guy came out to watch me he said "You got to be kidding me, that's the biggest bike I've ever seen here to take a test on."

I sold it in 2002 @ 50,000 miles for five hundred less than what I paid for it when it was new. I had it for sixteen years and thought I was done riding.

I keep the VIN's of all the vehicles I've owned and I occasionally search for them just out of curiosity to see what happened to them.

Unfortunately, I lost the VIN to my V-Max but I search for cars and bikes on a regular basis and noticed the mods on this bike for sale were the same as what I did on mine thirty-six years ago: 1986 Classic Yamaha VMAX motorcycle - motorcycles/scooters - by...

I could end up like this guy:

1985


2022

 

[fitfo]

Congrats! Just make sure you go easy on the throttle for a while once your on the roads.

And if you ever want to trade tins, let me know. Mine has silver carbon fiber bits on her right now, but I will be changing her to yellow at some point in the near future... #dreambike.

I would love to. Once I get her running the first thing ill be doing is swapping the yellow. Sadly its not the color for me.

 

[JMax92]

For some good videos on rebuilding a VMax, check out ‘Kodokuna Raida’ on YouTube, he doesn’t do everything the way I would but he does a great job showing how easy it is to bring a bike back to life

 

[VmaXXX]

Lots of good videos on basic biking skills too. Everything from getting on and off to trail braking. Wish there was such a thing as YouTube when I was starting out. Sure would've spared me some woe.

 

[VMAXer]

I'm in Dallas Texas. My mentor just gave me his old bike (1994 or1996 vmax). I got no previous bike knowledge and will be fixing it up. I will probably be on here a lot asking questions so thanks in advance.

Nice looking bike. When was the last time it was used?

 

[fitfo]

Nice looking bike. When was the last time it was used?

Around 5-8 years ago.