YAMAHA V-MAX (1991 - 2004) Review

Year: 1999

The looks alone will get you talking with strangers, let alone other bikers. 4 into 1 exhaust sounds like big block race car. so many options for performance its unreal. The only down side is the bike goes twice as fast as it stops.

Version: 1200

Year: 2004

Annual servicing cost: £50

A real handful of a bike sometimes scary always exciting ,been very reliable quite cheap to maintain and run,owned it around 12 years still love it .

Buying experience: Private ,when it was 2 years old .

Year: 1996

The best feature of this bike is that everyone who is into bikes will come up to you and smile and have a comment or story about a vmax.

Buying experience: Very nice private purchase. Vmax is one of the few buyer / seller situations where the seller is jealous of the buyer for the purchase. The person I purchased my bike from is keeping my information so he can check with me later to see if he can buy it back.

Version: 1200 (140 hp)

Year: 1998

Annual servicing cost: £300

Enjoy the seating, Upright standard. I'm 6ft 1in and it's comfortable. Bought it used 5 years ago with a Corbin seat, so comfortable (though removing the gas cap through a flap and hole in the seat is annoying. Weights 620 lbs wet, so harder to upright if tipped, but have done it myself (I'm 74 yrs old). I agree with the previous comment that the bike is what you make it. I enjoy it and would recomend it to a friend who is a responsible rider. Otherwise it could get someone in trouble. Also had to add an aftermarket smaller windshield (about $50.00 USD) to prevent "parachuting" at highway speeds.

Buying experience: Bought used from a Yamaha dealer. Paid less than advertised base on blue book at time. V-max's tend to hold value - cult following.

Having owned and ridden my Max for the last ten years in all conditions, including snow and ice, I find that comments of bad handling to be misplaced. Understand and respect what is under you and the machine csn return fast safe rides. No I'm not a slow rider, I use the Max to the Max. Reliable, fun, respected by others, reputation justified, only down side is the quality of finish, but with some effort this is easy to overcome. I still look for a replacement for the Max but fail to find a machine that has the ability to come close to it's stance, torque, power, and all round suitability. I have ridden 350+ miles in a day and enjoyed every mile, and still walked normally when I got off. My missus when a pillion passenger does not have to perch on a pad high above me. Basically it's as mean as a junk yard dog, and it's rear end dangely bits.