Things to check:
steering head bearings and tension
f & r wheel bearings
swingarm pivots tension
front fork oil capacity, fork seals
front fork air pressure (may be disregarded if you have Progressive Suspension fork springs, they do not run air pressure in the forks)
front fork alignment and bolt torque, including the axle
tire pressures, tire wear
condition of rear shocks
fork alignment, front to rear wheel alignment
if you live near one a GMD Computrack frame alignment
GMD Computrack
http://vmoa.net/VMX12-Service-Manual01.pdf
Values and processes/procedures can be found in the Yamaha Service Manual. Print-out a copy and put it into a loose-leaf notebook, and save the file to your computer. The first part of the manual has year by year updates from the beginning to p.64 as shown on the .pdf page counter on the upper-left of your screen. The rear of the manual has bolt sizes, torque values, cable routing, hose routing, and much-more. If you plan on doing your own work, get to know the layout. There are a few errors in the manual, there is a thread on the forum about that. Use the forum's upper-right-hand 'search' function to get that info.
The #1 best change you can do to your bike for handling in my opinion is to switch to radial tires. While there are now 15" radial tires for bikes, I don't believe there are any in a V-rated capacity. Usually people switch to a fabricated rear wheel 17" (more V-rated rubber choices, because that's used on sportbikes) or 18" which will put you much-closer to stock wheel/tire diameter, and cost you less in loss of top-end, which happens when going to a 17" rear.
The front tire choice should be the same as the rear tire, in construction (bias-ply vs radial) and in the durometer of the rubber (hardness of the tire compound) so the f & r tires are complimentary to each other. If you have a soft rear for traction, but choose a touring tire (harder compound) for the front, the rear would tend to stick better while you could find that the front end wants to slide rather than stick. Unless you're Freddy Spencer (who possessed an extraordinary ability to slide the front and rear simultaneously) this is
not a characteristic you want for your rubber! In other words, when it comes to front and rear rubber,
match but don't
mix.
The front VMax wheel is not the optimal width for a radial tire of the same dimension as OEM, and you definitely do
not want to replace the front tire with a larger-than-stock front radial tire. The 'footprint' of the radial tire requires a wider tire/wheel interface than you have with a stock bias-ply tire/wheel. Those of us who grew up when tires were matched to "inch" sized rims, and the old standard WM system of wheel size ratings, will recall that a WM-3 (2.15" by whatever wheel diameter, usually 18") was considered a 'wide' tire/wheel combo, but which is puny by today's standards. There was a WM-4 (2.50" by whatever wheel diameter) but it was rarely-used. It wasn't until the mid/late 1980's that radial tires were commonly-used on sportbikes. I use a front radial tire of the same dimension as the OEM VMax tire (110/90-18"), as-close as I can get, for bead width and aspect ratio. Don't neglect to match the tire rubber front and rear, for intended use. If you don't ride hard, you may choose to trade some stickiness of the rubber for tire longevity, but this is a sporting, high-performance motorcycle. Too-much throttle while turning a corner at an oily intersection will have the rear-end step right-out on you! Of course, even if you're on sticky rubber, if someone just leaked fluid (ATF, coolant, engine oil, tar, power steering fluid) all-over your tire's pathway you may lose traction.
People have used a European-market wheel in the rear, from another bike, but it wasn't a USA-market bike.
The increase on steering precision at-speed is considerable with radials over OEM bias-ply tires. It's not as-pronounced with new bias-ply premium tires, but after 1,000 miles, for me, you can really discern the bias-ply vs radials difference.
Be aware that your grip on the handlebars provides some damping, so removing your hand changes that. In the initial list, there are many possibilities for things in your bike's mechanics to be less-than optimal. If several things meet that 'lacking' criterion, and you add to it by removing your hand from the grip, well, there you have it.
Sean Morley (Morley's Muscle) has a couple of videos you can access on youtube, about your front end. One is 'the bounce test.' With the front end off the ground and the wheel centered, give it a slight push to each side, individually, and see what happens. It should readily fall to that side. There should be no stickiness, no sense of bumpiness in the travel of the forks' flop to that side, or to the other side. If you can feel notchiness in the travel of the forks going left-right, you have either dirt in your steering head bearings, or (more-likely) worn-out bearings and races. One cause of worn-out bearings and races is an enthusiastic right-hand on the throttle, pulling big wheelies, and letting the front end smash back to the pavement. This can cause indentations in the bearing races and harm the bearings, causing that 'notchy' feeling, somewhat like running your index finger across the teeth of a haircomb. They're shot, and need to be replaced. Companies like All-Balls and Race-Tech as well as OEM Yamaha bearing kits will take care of that. Watch the video to learn the 'bounce' criterion.
You have a low-mileage example, so I wouldn't expect the steering head bearings to be 'knackered,' as our British friends describe it. However, a loose steering head bearing stack and big frequent wheelies with hard-impact landings could cause abnormal wear. Biggest issues in bearing replacement are removing the lower triple tree bearing race, and the upper steering head outer race. The lower steering head outer race can usually be driven-out with a driftpin. There are also specific tools for the job. A bit of heat can help things part company.
The upper steering head outer race removal is where heat helps greatly. Some people put a couple weld beads onto the race surface, and use that as a place to use a driftpin or a chisel to get purchase-enough to knock out the race. The welding often provides enough heat that tapping on the weld beads placed 180 degrees apart, will drive-out the race. First one side, then the other. Back to the first, etc. If you really wanted an easy job of it next time, grind a small 'eyebrow' 180 degrees apart into the steering head sleeve, where you could get a driftpin or a chisel onto the thick outer edge of the bearing, should you need to replace the race again. Seeing as most bikes probably go from production line to recycling on the same set of steering head bearings, this may not be something you do again. But if you do, the job will be easier.
Some people use a grinding tool to cut-through the races discussed. If you choose to do that, use full-face protection, not just safety glasses! An exploding abrasive disc can lacerate you badly before you even know it happened. If you're stupid-enough not to use safety glasses, you can substitute 'blinded' for 'lacerate.'
