Yamaha_Fan
Active Member
Just found this forum a week or so ago when I found a vmax I wasnted to look at and I bought it a few days ago.
Picked up a 1997 with 29k miles on it for $2500 to join my 2014 R1 and my 2009 YZ450F in the garage. Drove 3.5 hours each way to get it.
The bike was pretty clean, especially considering the year and the only things I found were a scratch underneath the left exhaust, and a small bubble/ding in the paint on the top left corner of the fake gas tank.
He told me he painted it because he didn't like the original silver color, and was going for a "cast iron" look. I think he got it, but I don't particularly care for it. I'm probably going to repaint it flat black, paint the front fender flat black and put it back on the bike, but leave the rear fender off.
The bike had aftermarket bars and mirrors, I like the reach to the bars so I'll leave those alone, can't see much out of the mirrors but oh well. The bars are straighter than stock.
I like the riding position of the bike, with the pegs directly below the seat. Makes it easy to stand up on the pegs if I feel like it, and a bit more aggressive than a typical cruiser. I'm about 6'2", and my knees hit the fake air duct things, and it bugged me on my test ride but I rode some more and it's not too bad. Might look into rearsets or a different seat to keep my knees from bumping. The guy I bought it from put highway pegs on the bike and they're nice to stretch out on.
The one thing the bike needs right away is a fork rebuild. They're extremely soft, probably low on oil or ran out of oil. Don't really notice it going straight, but it feels squirrelly hitting potholes or speed bumps, especially turning and hitting a bump at the same time. I didn't notice any headshake, but I read that these bikes can suffer from headshake due to faulty steering bearings, so I may replace the steering bearing just for peace of mind.
Feeling the brake rotors with my hands they're a bit warped and could use some new ones, but there is no shake while braking and it stops fine. I'll replace the rotors soon and pads soon.
The Vboost is awesome. So much fun to hit it. The R1 still obviously takes the cake for power, but the Vmax has enough to keep me interested, which is what I was looking for.
Overall very happy with my purchase.
Yesterday I changed the engine oil and final drive gear oil, and put in a new air filter. The guy I bought it from had the bike for a year or two and only put about 1,000 miles on it, and all he did was change the oil and replace the tires and the battery, so I'm going to go ahead and check the valve clearance and adjust them if needed. While I'm in there I'll probably throw some new spark plugs in there as well.
I'd already mentioned the steering bearings, would it be a good idea to do the wheel bearings just in case? I figure with the age of the bike it would be cheap insurance.
Anything else I should check maintenance wise right away?
I know I will want a new exhaust for the bike, and possibly a re jet as well. Just started looking into those. When I got my R1, I put a full Akrapovic exhaust on it and flashed the ECU, and it turned it into a whole nother beast. Looking for something that will give me the equivalent on the vmax.
Yesterday on the way home the speedometer quit working. I haven't taken it apart yet, but guessing the cable needs to be replaced or messed with.
Picked up a 1997 with 29k miles on it for $2500 to join my 2014 R1 and my 2009 YZ450F in the garage. Drove 3.5 hours each way to get it.
The bike was pretty clean, especially considering the year and the only things I found were a scratch underneath the left exhaust, and a small bubble/ding in the paint on the top left corner of the fake gas tank.
He told me he painted it because he didn't like the original silver color, and was going for a "cast iron" look. I think he got it, but I don't particularly care for it. I'm probably going to repaint it flat black, paint the front fender flat black and put it back on the bike, but leave the rear fender off.
The bike had aftermarket bars and mirrors, I like the reach to the bars so I'll leave those alone, can't see much out of the mirrors but oh well. The bars are straighter than stock.
I like the riding position of the bike, with the pegs directly below the seat. Makes it easy to stand up on the pegs if I feel like it, and a bit more aggressive than a typical cruiser. I'm about 6'2", and my knees hit the fake air duct things, and it bugged me on my test ride but I rode some more and it's not too bad. Might look into rearsets or a different seat to keep my knees from bumping. The guy I bought it from put highway pegs on the bike and they're nice to stretch out on.
The one thing the bike needs right away is a fork rebuild. They're extremely soft, probably low on oil or ran out of oil. Don't really notice it going straight, but it feels squirrelly hitting potholes or speed bumps, especially turning and hitting a bump at the same time. I didn't notice any headshake, but I read that these bikes can suffer from headshake due to faulty steering bearings, so I may replace the steering bearing just for peace of mind.
Feeling the brake rotors with my hands they're a bit warped and could use some new ones, but there is no shake while braking and it stops fine. I'll replace the rotors soon and pads soon.
The Vboost is awesome. So much fun to hit it. The R1 still obviously takes the cake for power, but the Vmax has enough to keep me interested, which is what I was looking for.
Overall very happy with my purchase.
Yesterday I changed the engine oil and final drive gear oil, and put in a new air filter. The guy I bought it from had the bike for a year or two and only put about 1,000 miles on it, and all he did was change the oil and replace the tires and the battery, so I'm going to go ahead and check the valve clearance and adjust them if needed. While I'm in there I'll probably throw some new spark plugs in there as well.
I'd already mentioned the steering bearings, would it be a good idea to do the wheel bearings just in case? I figure with the age of the bike it would be cheap insurance.
Anything else I should check maintenance wise right away?
I know I will want a new exhaust for the bike, and possibly a re jet as well. Just started looking into those. When I got my R1, I put a full Akrapovic exhaust on it and flashed the ECU, and it turned it into a whole nother beast. Looking for something that will give me the equivalent on the vmax.
Yesterday on the way home the speedometer quit working. I haven't taken it apart yet, but guessing the cable needs to be replaced or messed with.
