| Author | Message | ||
     Daveinm |
Just got back from the Palm Beach Bike Show. I entered my bike in the Streetfighter class. Didn't win though. The whole class was V-Max's. There must have been a dozen of them and my Buell. I never even considered a V-Max to be a streetfighter. I would put them in a sport-cruiser class and put them up against the V-Rod's. If not, they should be in their own class. No way I could compete with some of those bikes. However, I was happy that my bike never looked out of place, and people seemed to really like my bike. Overall, it was fun and I will definitely be entering some other shows. Here's some pics of my bike... At the show...   After the show...         Here are a few of the V-Max's I was up against. Like I said, should have been in the same class.     Here is the only other Buell I saw at the show. It one Best Cafe Racer (whatever that is). It was really nice. I would have liked to get better pictures, but it was at a bad angle.   | ||
| Pa_xb9sx |
Who was doing the categorizing for that event? The V-Maxes do not fit the street fighter category, like you stated. And that XB*R is not the first thing that comes to mind when I hear cafe racer. | ||
| Daveinm |
Exactly...I'm assuming it was the promoters that made the categories. I still don't even know what a "Cafe" racer is. | ||
| Craigster |
When we were kids, you would throw a quarter in the jukebox at the pizza joint or Cafe and race out to a designated spot at the other end of town and race back. If you were fast (and the song long) you could be back before the other guy and before the song was through. If you beat both you were a hero. Cafe racers grew from stripped down bikes with low bars to the sportbikes of today. | ||
| BadS1 |
What would you categorize the V-max then??? | ||
| Craigster |
What's a Street fighter anyway? A no-faired bike witha a big assed motor and F-U attitude? I think the V-Max fits. No offense intended as your bike looks very sharp, but look at what you were up against. The V-Maxes had: Raked frames, polished everything, custom tripple clamps, custom inverted forks, brake rotors, calipers and wheels, chain drive conversions, custom paint, nitrous oxide, custom bodywork etc. Those bikes are not your typical assortment of catalog parts bolted on a stocker. Very custom. | ||
| Krassh |
“Cafe Racer” Glossary From Walter Kern, Your Guide to Motorcycles. Definition: A Cafe Racer is a style of bike popularized in London in the '50s where bikers wanted a fast, personalized and distinctive bike to travel from cafe to cafe. Many Cafe Racer bikes have distinctive small low-cut fairings.   | ||
| Krassh |
What would you categorize the V-max then??? It would be muscle bike or power cruiser category as far as I am concerned. The Street fighter would be Speed Triples, XB9S, bikes like that. The term street fighter signifies a bike that is capable and nimble on the street, which the V-Max is not. It is a straight line machine. | ||
| Doughnut |
Daveinm, great looking bike! Would have had my vote. Love it! | ||
| Daveinm |
Craigster: What would you consider a V-Rod then? Cause I think the V-Rod is more of the same class to the V-Max than the Streetfighter class. The Streetfighter class is a sport bike class. A naked bike that can hang on the track with all the full fairing bikes. Lightnings, Monsters, Triumph Speeds, etc. There is no way a V-Max will even come close to being able to run on the track the way any of those bikes do. At least, that's what I think. I'm not upset about it. I was just expressing my opinion. The whole experience of being in a show is fun and rewarding and I will be entering others. I just hope they make the categories a bit more fair so I can win  | ||
| Odie |
Dave, bike looks very sweet..... | ||
| Doughnut |
Power cruiser? | ||
| BadS1 |
Doughnut not a cruiser.Krassh is right its a muscle bike and thats pretty much what Yamaha promoted it as. | ||
| Craigster |
Why do you care what a V-Rod is? Did you lose to a V-Rod? You realize they Don't include the V-max in the power cruiser shoot outs right? 20 years old and it's quicker in the quarter than the V-rod. And that's funny since the V-Rod is the quickest power cruiser. I 'm not trying to be argumentative but the term 'street fighter' existed before all the bikes mentioned above (XB9, Speed tripple, lighning, Monsters etc.). I subscribe to some street fighter mags and there are plenty of V-Maxes featured in them, so I guess that's why I don't see an issue with calling it a street fighter. Especially if it is modified accordingly. | ||
| BadS1 |
Your right Craigster but thats being modified.Bone stock a V-max is and was slated a muscle bike.Just like a muscle car. | ||
| Craigster |
Bad S1, I think that's because in 1985 there was no street fighter. In fact, I believe the V-Max invented (or rather the marketing firm Yamaha hired) the term muscle bike. Remember the add with the Hot Rod on the outside pages that folded out Four pages wide? I still have mine! | ||
| BadS1 |
Yep still have mine and my brochure with peewee gleason doing the burnout.It was a huge fold out.Loved the bike so much that I bought a brand new 1986 in 1987. | ||
| Krassh |
Back when the muscle bike term was "invented" there were other muscle bikes. The Honda V65 Magna, this bike had so much grunt the first year there was reports of twisted frames. Then Kawasaki Eliminator and others. | ||
| Krassh |
now a days they lump the V-Max with the speed triples and M900 monsters and the like. I guess it comes down to the persons definition of the different categories. Plus how many bikes are in each category, sometimes they have to mix some together. | ||
| Craigster |
That's too funny. Did you ever see the pro-mo video that came out in winter '85? It had Jay doing a big smokey burn out that left the tar smokin'. Way too funny at the time. In today's extreeme stunting it's nothing. But it was Peewee after all. I bought a crashed '85 in 1986. The kid was a weight lifter that wanted a muscular bike to match his ego. Good at lifting heavy things. Wasn't very good at riding. Crashed it at 1100 miles. I took it home cheap and put it back together. It was fun while I had it. With a Metzeler up front and a stock Dunlop out back it was great but the Bridgestones (I worked for a dealer that had a shite load of stock Dunlop and bridgestone rubber) made it shake its head. Did yours wag its bars at all? I'd like to have one now to build a cool street strip machine, but I can't justify a third bike in the garage or the time spent I'd spend on the thing. Spent the day at 'A Day Out with Thomas' with my son. Thomas the Tank Engine will never be the same again. My kid loves the show and really digs trains right now. I don't think there will be many days spent in the garage that are not soleley and specifically for earning income. No project bikes need apply..... | ||
| Krassh |
If you want a good street strip machine out of the box pick up and old GS1150ES, great strip bike out of the box. | ||
| BadS1 |
IMO The V Max is now in a class of its own.A 685 lbs. 10 second bike.Anything on the market these days that weighs that much that is that fast??Its a wonderful machine and I may own one again one day. | ||
| Krassh |
If I ever add a fourth or fifth bike to the garage the V-Max would one in mine as well. | ||
| Krassh |
Model railroading is a fun hobby when the weather turns bad and you are not wrenching on the bike. | ||
| Craigster |
Krassh, I remember the V65 intro. They had PeeWee on that too. Two years later the V-max and Eliminator came out. Unfortunately the only thing the Eliminator eliminated was itself....Not as fast as a ZX900 Ninja and not enough to keep up with the V65 or the V-Max. Suzuki had that GodAwful Madura 1200. Those goofy over and under pipes and a cartoon like shape. Thank god they still had the GS1150E here in the States in '85. I think they redeemed themselves in 86 with the GSX-R1100. After that muscle bike just evaporated.... No V65 and only that more customized ZL1000 (no longer eliminator). Those were fun days.... | ||
| BadS1 |
Craig mine I wound up burning the 3rd cylinder out of it at the drag strip.Something that is not common to happen considering they were bullet proof.Wound up boring and bigger piston cams and flat slides in it.Removed the v-boost so it was really kicking in right away instead of at 6500rpm's.Kerker 4 into one pipe.Right before I sold it in 1990 I had the chain conversion done.She was fast. | ||
| Krassh |
Yep always wanted a V-Max, but buy the time I could afford a new bike I was looking at the GTS1000 until I saw the price on the 1993 GTS1000. Then two years later when they were not selling I picked up a 93 for $7500 out the door. Better than the 12,999 they were asking at launch. Still have a soft spot for the V-Max, maybe one day. | ||
| Krassh |
Bet that chain conversion was tight as the shaft flex was a pain in the butt I have heard. I had a Yamaha Venture, not as much power as the max plus more weight, but the best handling and most power in a touring bike I have ever felt. | ||
| Craigster |
I had a 82 GS1100E.... S&K head, .348 257 deg cams, orient express spings, Mega Cycle hardfaced rockers....the list goes on and on...so the the checks.... It was real fun. It would stand up in third gear even with a four inch over swing arm on it. My favorite feature was the Rodon (anyone remember the?) Quick shift. It was a cable actuated ignition kill. Just a real early electric shifter. WOT shifts just by stabbibg the lever. Unfortunately on nitrous it often back fired and damaged the cab slides. It once blew the carbs completely off the manifolds. I had to call Sudco and get their aluminum slide replacements for the plastic ones in the Mikuni RS's.....lots of check writing... | ||
| BadS1 |
If I did it again I would of left the shaft.It was a much smoother bike then.Also easier to ride. |
