VMax Paparazzi

[hijacker]

True story.

Went for a short afternoon ride with a good friend Saturday. He rides a really nice HD Super Glide currently but has owned lots of different bikes from all different manufacturers so he isn't one of those HD-Only guys. His bike is very nicely modded, not over the top crazy, tastefully done but he DOES have a $3000 paint job on the thing and it looks awesome.

So, we are headed down to Hell, Michigan to ride the nice twisty roads that lead to Hell. We stop at a gas station on the way, his bike next to mine and a guy and his gal walk up and say "nice bike!". My buddy turns to say thanks and sees they are looking at my VMax :ummm:. I stand there and talk to them for a few minutes about the VMax and we all go on our way.

We get to the Dam Site Inn in Hell, a well known Harley hang out, although riders of all bikes are welcome and I've never heard of any brand issues having occurred there.

We park amongst all the other bikes, mostly HD's as usual. 3 HD guys walk up and start looking at my bike, asking questions and talking about it. Conversation is something like...

Vest Guy: "What the h*** kind of engine is that?"
Patch Guy: "That's a VMax, you don't f*** with this bike!"
Fat Guy: "Never seen an engine like that."
Me: "It's a V4"
Fat Guy: "Oh."
Vest Guy: "Think it would beat so-n-so's VRod?"
Patch Guy: "Hahahaha! It'd smoke it if this guy knows how to ride it!"
Me: "Where's so-n-so? Let's find out."

So-n-so was in the bar but he never came out even after they went in to find him.

The funniest part to me is none of these people ever even looked at my buddy's HD. He was a little tweaked about it and was mumbling something about VMax Paparazzi as we walked away to get some ice cream cones.

Naturally as we rode away with all the HD guys looking on I laid a nice 20 foot patch in front of the bar. It was necessary.

All in all, a good day.

 

[donnelly317]

hahaha great story!!!

 

[Traumahawk]

hahaha great story!!!

+1

 

[one2dmax]

Ha!

 

[Rollie]

Most of my pre-abstinance drinking day riding friends were H.D. only kind of guys. Since I was a drinker , I was allowed on their excursions to the next bar , saloon , party , etc. No matter where we went though , the Vmax usually stood out as the different one. There was always a , new to the H.D. fold , H.D. rider that didn't know anything about the Max. That was the one putting it down and talking about he could smoke it with his " modified for the strip " H.D. Since we rarely stayed long anywhere , soon it was time to saddle up. Naturally the old timers would let the new guy ride next to me so they could get a laugh or two. The new guy would usually look at me to " get the nod " , about putting the rubber down in a race after a mile or two of sorting everyone out of the way. After a couple of lessons they would shrink back to the rest of the pack and were always quiet at the next stop.

 

[95spfldmax]

Great story indeed!!

 

[Redbone]

Now that's the way to represent the mighty Vmax!

 

[Fire-medic]

A good story about how the VMax legend lives. Nothing aggravates the H-D Big Spenders as not getting any attention from their $30,000+ rides.

I used to do the Trip to Hell when I was attending college in MI starting in the late 1969. It was a good nighttime road trip to blow-out the cobwebs from studying. No VMax invented then, and the SOHC Honda 750 was only a year old (1st year).

It's always fun to see the H-D guys who don't know the VMax learn "the hard way."

A couple of years ago, at Daytona Bike Week, I emptied a biker bar down the street from Boxenstopp's when I demonstrated my UFO Dragstar 4/1. They wanted to see what was making more racket than a straight-pipe H-D.

 

[Fire-medic]

Something made it double-post, sorry. Fat-fingers?

I'm hoping to be in SW MI in Aug. for a high school reunion, but I won't have a bike. Maybe a Trip to Hell for old-time's sake? unk:

 

[leecifer]

The legend lives on. unk:

 

[PATMAX]

"It was necessary" LOVE IT !!!

 

[Tex85]

Simply awesome.

 

[marsmax85]

Very NICE !!!! unk:

 

[Biker Dash]

Awesome story! Wish I could have been there to watch

 

[1st Shirt Maxer]

I had a similar thing happen to me at the local HD shop here on Guam. I rode down with a buddy who had an anniversary edition Fatboy to participate in a poker run. When we were turning in I noticed all the vRod muscles were lined up at the entrance and a guy was taking lots of photos for the paper here. When we pulled in I naturally pulled past those guys and parked toward the back of the pack not knowing if there was going to be some brand crap started. I was taking off my helmet and the photographer was standing there waiting on me.
He told me how he knew a buddy who had owned a vmax on island but had sold it. They used to race it at the local track and he remembered how badass the vmax was. He then asked me if he could get some shots and info on the bike. Next thing I knew he had done a small write up in the news article, still trying to get a copy. A few weeks later is when I was able to race my max for the first time at a HD sponsored event and was able to beat most of the vRods that were there. I love this bike and the legend and reputation it has. I just hope I can get this thing tuned so that I can contribute to that legend. My last outing sucked on the track, more to come this weekend.