- VMax Year
- 1999
My name is Robert and I am a daily motorcycle rider. I had been relying on my old 99 honda Magna to get me through the insane traffic in my area. But the old girl is developing some issues that I need to address before it goes from a fixable problem, to a replace situation. I like to take care of my things, but unfortunatly it is my only source of transportation as I'm starting things over again. I don't have money to throw around to fix it and I can't spend multiple days without it while I try to fix it my self.
So I went on a panic hunt for something to drive, while I repaired the honda. But most of the bikes for sale were not appealing, I loved having a sports bike engine on a cruiser frame. Thanks to my brother, he informed me that I need to get out from the rock I was living under. He said Yamaha made something that I needed to look into. After some brief investigation into it, I was hooked on the idea of getting a vmax. This proved to be a difficult choice as they are not common and what was around was not in my budget range. But after a few weeks of nail biting riding around on the magna, I found an offer that was something I could buy. So after a 4 hour ride I got the tour, owner said it had marks performance mufflers, dinojet jet kit, upgraded fuel pump and filter, and a few others at 31k miles. Not great on the miles but it's 24 years old and his price wasn't that bad. Due to the fact that I was in desprate need of a new bike along with the long drive, I gave in. There was no way I could turn down this bike. With that being said I knew I was asking for trouble by not doing a detailed look at the bike to see what I was buying. But the first test would be immediate since it had a 4 hour ride home. I loved how this bike looked, handled, and the sound the exhaust made. It made it back without a hitch, and I actually got decent millage for the ride as well.
So it has taken me back and forth to work for about a month now and I absolutly love this bike. Now that I am through the busy season at work, it was time to start digging into this bike and see exactly what I need to deal with. I had to be sure I have it reliable enough to use while the magna work starts. I have noticed a few dumb ass marks left on the bike that did have me a bit worried at first. Some one butchered the oil drain plug and the threads on the oil pan. I took a risk and got out the parts cannon and ordered a new oil plug. Threads are boogered on the pan but the new plug worked and even seated the crush washer without pulling the plug out. A replacement pan will be on the list for later. After that fun I noticed that the top lid to the air box was missing, along with the toolkit and toolkit lid. I guess it was just something the previous owner didn't care to keep. Another set for the list. Stumbled upon a cracked brake reservoir cap for the rear brakes. Replaced that immediately. During my second or so week of owning I learned about the vboost, and started to look into that. Due to my ignorance I had no idea this bike was suppose to pull around 6.5K RMP. So the honeymoon phase was officially over. It was time I went and did what I should have done when I first got it home. New plugs, oil, rad fluid, filter, gear oil, and fuel filter. Plugs I took out were the cheap lower rpm option, and were really old. I noticed plug for cylinder two was black compared to the other three. After I was done the bike became noticeable more powerfull, and it started to kick the vboost on sporadically. But sometimes it worked and sometimes it refused. Now that I was really paying attention to how the bike ran, I started to notice that it was sputtering while mantaining speed on my work commute. Read about the shotgun method for the carbs, and decided to skip it for now as I was not confortable messing with it. I had been warned as a teen not to mess with carbs unless you know what your doing. But I did have a carb sync kit and have used that a few time before.
I was glad that I had done this as it solved a few things. The idle was off from where it was suppose to be, and cylinder two was out of sync. After adjusting this I now had even more power, but most importantly the vboost system was working all the time. Wow, now this was getting impressive with how the bike performed. The hell with miss cleo, I can see speeding tickets in my future without her help.
On the topic of a ticket I did commit a blasphemy with the mufflers. I really liked how they sounded but damn was it loud. I would have no issues keeping it that way 20 years ago, but my tinnitus says hell no. I would like to go back to stock but considering what I make, that is going to be a long time in the comming. So I got my hands on baffle can inserts for cheap enough on fleabay. They have made a big difference on the db level but was still good on the sound. Since they insert before the muffler/resonator it didn't mess up the sound too much. Now as far as I can tell the only remaining problem is the studder. I am looking into a few different avenues of attack on that. I have never been keen on jet carb kits. Harder to cold start and a considerable loss of MPG for a few ponies, with the potential of causing other problems. Which is probably likely, due to the dumb ass level of what a previous owner did. I might save up and have someone rebuild the carbs with stock components. I am strongly considering this since I need to have the valves adjusted anyways since it just hit 32k miles. Normally I would do the work my self but it needs to be done and fast since I have nothing else to drive. The honda is staying parked, I am not risking an oh **** moment because I used it when I shouldn't be. Today I had a coworker listen to me describe the studder and how it goes from ok to worse as the bike warms up. He suggested I look into the ignition coils as he has had a similar issue that was fixed with that. So I guess that will be the next step, and if that was the issue I have some breathing room on my budget and what needs to be done. All said the bike has been a little bit of work but nothing catastrophic. I started just looking for a temp replacement bike and instead I got something much better. I simply love this bike. The Magna and the V-Max will become my permanent bikes to keep regardless of what work needs to go into them. Looking forward to being a part of this communtiy, any help I might be able to provide, and anything else it might bring.
So I went on a panic hunt for something to drive, while I repaired the honda. But most of the bikes for sale were not appealing, I loved having a sports bike engine on a cruiser frame. Thanks to my brother, he informed me that I need to get out from the rock I was living under. He said Yamaha made something that I needed to look into. After some brief investigation into it, I was hooked on the idea of getting a vmax. This proved to be a difficult choice as they are not common and what was around was not in my budget range. But after a few weeks of nail biting riding around on the magna, I found an offer that was something I could buy. So after a 4 hour ride I got the tour, owner said it had marks performance mufflers, dinojet jet kit, upgraded fuel pump and filter, and a few others at 31k miles. Not great on the miles but it's 24 years old and his price wasn't that bad. Due to the fact that I was in desprate need of a new bike along with the long drive, I gave in. There was no way I could turn down this bike. With that being said I knew I was asking for trouble by not doing a detailed look at the bike to see what I was buying. But the first test would be immediate since it had a 4 hour ride home. I loved how this bike looked, handled, and the sound the exhaust made. It made it back without a hitch, and I actually got decent millage for the ride as well.
So it has taken me back and forth to work for about a month now and I absolutly love this bike. Now that I am through the busy season at work, it was time to start digging into this bike and see exactly what I need to deal with. I had to be sure I have it reliable enough to use while the magna work starts. I have noticed a few dumb ass marks left on the bike that did have me a bit worried at first. Some one butchered the oil drain plug and the threads on the oil pan. I took a risk and got out the parts cannon and ordered a new oil plug. Threads are boogered on the pan but the new plug worked and even seated the crush washer without pulling the plug out. A replacement pan will be on the list for later. After that fun I noticed that the top lid to the air box was missing, along with the toolkit and toolkit lid. I guess it was just something the previous owner didn't care to keep. Another set for the list. Stumbled upon a cracked brake reservoir cap for the rear brakes. Replaced that immediately. During my second or so week of owning I learned about the vboost, and started to look into that. Due to my ignorance I had no idea this bike was suppose to pull around 6.5K RMP. So the honeymoon phase was officially over. It was time I went and did what I should have done when I first got it home. New plugs, oil, rad fluid, filter, gear oil, and fuel filter. Plugs I took out were the cheap lower rpm option, and were really old. I noticed plug for cylinder two was black compared to the other three. After I was done the bike became noticeable more powerfull, and it started to kick the vboost on sporadically. But sometimes it worked and sometimes it refused. Now that I was really paying attention to how the bike ran, I started to notice that it was sputtering while mantaining speed on my work commute. Read about the shotgun method for the carbs, and decided to skip it for now as I was not confortable messing with it. I had been warned as a teen not to mess with carbs unless you know what your doing. But I did have a carb sync kit and have used that a few time before.
I was glad that I had done this as it solved a few things. The idle was off from where it was suppose to be, and cylinder two was out of sync. After adjusting this I now had even more power, but most importantly the vboost system was working all the time. Wow, now this was getting impressive with how the bike performed. The hell with miss cleo, I can see speeding tickets in my future without her help.
On the topic of a ticket I did commit a blasphemy with the mufflers. I really liked how they sounded but damn was it loud. I would have no issues keeping it that way 20 years ago, but my tinnitus says hell no. I would like to go back to stock but considering what I make, that is going to be a long time in the comming. So I got my hands on baffle can inserts for cheap enough on fleabay. They have made a big difference on the db level but was still good on the sound. Since they insert before the muffler/resonator it didn't mess up the sound too much. Now as far as I can tell the only remaining problem is the studder. I am looking into a few different avenues of attack on that. I have never been keen on jet carb kits. Harder to cold start and a considerable loss of MPG for a few ponies, with the potential of causing other problems. Which is probably likely, due to the dumb ass level of what a previous owner did. I might save up and have someone rebuild the carbs with stock components. I am strongly considering this since I need to have the valves adjusted anyways since it just hit 32k miles. Normally I would do the work my self but it needs to be done and fast since I have nothing else to drive. The honda is staying parked, I am not risking an oh **** moment because I used it when I shouldn't be. Today I had a coworker listen to me describe the studder and how it goes from ok to worse as the bike warms up. He suggested I look into the ignition coils as he has had a similar issue that was fixed with that. So I guess that will be the next step, and if that was the issue I have some breathing room on my budget and what needs to be done. All said the bike has been a little bit of work but nothing catastrophic. I started just looking for a temp replacement bike and instead I got something much better. I simply love this bike. The Magna and the V-Max will become my permanent bikes to keep regardless of what work needs to go into them. Looking forward to being a part of this communtiy, any help I might be able to provide, and anything else it might bring.