update
One of our V-Maxes is missing. Actually, the very one used in this article. The bike remained with Kerker after the story, then was moved on to a local Yamaha dealer, who sold it to a customer. There the trail goes cold.
Beloved Baylands Raceway is gone, too, plowed under to make way for an auto mall. Talk about paving paradise to put up a parking lot.
The story’s other protagonist, Jay Gleason, was not any easier to track down. When liability lawyers forbade blaring banner announcements of quarter-mile times in bike ads, the man found himself out of work. Last we heard, he installs tile roofs somewhere in Southern California.
Of course, brand-new V-Maxes are still with us, largely unchanged, still being sold by Yamaha dealers 17 years after the bike’s 1985 introduction. How would the original V-Four power-cruiser stack up against the new breed of V-Twins? To find out, we borrowed a 2001-model Max from Yamaha and ran it through our “Super Cruiser Shootout” regimen.
On the road, the V-Max betters the four newbies for comfort by virtue of its low, sporty handlebar and normally placed footpegs. Sadly, Miss Tweeden was not available for co-pilot duty, but the V-Max has 6 inches more passenger legroom than the Road Star Warrior, 3 inches more seat padding and a rear grabrail, so we know which Yamaha she’d go for.
Always a better handler than its reputation would have you believe, the VMax aced our Handling Course. some 8 seconds quicker than the winning Warrior, and a full 16 up on the lastplace Honda. Credit cornering clearance, good riding stance and lotsa stonk out of turns.
At the dragstrip, the Max has lost a few tenths over the years, but it still outclassed everything except the Harley. In fact, the V-Max and the V-Rod turned in almost identical times, though the old Yamaha outran the new Harley in outright top speed, 148 mph to 137.
Style-wise, however, the V-Max is sucking wind. Save for upgraded brakes and new-style wheels early on, and some fake carbon-fiber applique (whoppee!) a few years ago, Mr. Max is his same hoary old self. At $10,899, at least he’s cheap, a hunski lower than even the bargain Mean Streak.
Things may change. “We will not forget the V-Max in the future,” a Yamaha source told us. Pressed for details, he quickly clammed up. “We’ll just leave it at that.”
Hey, Jay, wherever you are, those old leathers still fit?
David Edwards
