Yamaha VMAX Cafe Racer motorcycle test

Menus

• Rocket hyper modified by Roland Sands Design
• The Power Cruiser stripped down to lose 36 kg
• Discovery
• In the saddle
• Test
• Conclusion

Rocket hyper modified by Roland Sands Design

The Power Cruiser stripped down to lose 36 kg

The Yamaha VMax is undoubtedly one of the most iconic motorcycles of the last thirty years, having made people talk about it with the help of Coluche and its capacities to be a widowmaker, so much the power of this first power. cruiser was disproportionate to the rest of the machine between braking, road holding and range. And it is a motorcycle which by its physique has inspired the greatest trainers on the planet, like Roland Sands. Go back…

Carrying out the genes of an iconic bestseller of yesteryear, but in a modern way, is the most complicated chapter in a motorcycle design manual. John Mockett certainly achieved this goal by renewing the style of the Triumphs of the 60s 40 years later by recreating the Bonneville in 2000 when John Bloor’s engineers were right about the modern twin parallel. Sales figures show Pierre Terblanche lost his bet writing Ducati’s Sport Classics page 15 years ago, but that was mainly because the company’s marketing mafia frankly didn’t know how to promote them and their engineers weren’t retro. Then there were others like Royal Enfield and Moto Guzzi who didn’t have to worry about doing like yesterday, simply because tomorrow never came for them and they kept producing. the same machines over the years, properly overhauling them to meet noise and emission standards. But whether you win or lose, the stakes are high to revive a popular model, as is amply demonstrated by the commercial success of the Bonneville, which today represents more than half of Triumph’s annual production..

When Yamaha decided to relaunch its V-Max power cruiser in 2008, the automaker spared no expense by employing a dedicated team of 50 engineers to recreate what was almost certainly the best-selling and most profitable model ever. the brand has never manufactured, repaying its development and infrastructure costs several times over in more than two decades of production. First launched exactly 35 years ago in 1985, the V-Max did not leave the tri-tuning fork brand’s lineup until 2007 after almost unprecedented 23 years of production in virtually unchanged form and which was the ultimate toy for big boys. More than 100,000 copies of the V-Max have been produced over the years (40,000 in Europe including 12,550 in France alone, generating loyalty from its Maxisti around the world for this motorcycle which has become the equivalent of two-wheelers. of the Cobra 428 and representing the ultimate acceleration bike.For fans of muscular looks and straight-line acceleration, the neo-vintage V-Max was THE choice, although few of the thousands of examples built remained in their original condition, so much so that a "stock V-Max" became an oxymoron. It was the model of choice for cosmetic modification, creating a whole cult of worshipers at the V-Max altar , all impatient for the second coming of their divinity on two wheels.

Yamaha VMAX Cafe Racer review by Roland Sands Design

Discovery

Their prayers were answered in 2008 with the debut of the VMAX, rebirth of this brutal motorcycle whose performance and technical data even today make the competition look like wimps, well, anything that would not have a compressor. And that’s even without that aggressive appearance, the work of the late GK Design boss Kenji Ekuan, who, between the design of the Shinkansen (the Japanese TGV) and the Kokkusan soy sauce bottle, sought to emulate the unjustly less acclaimed designers of the Original V-Max by combining the old with the modern in the design of the second generation VMAX to make it the king of the jungle, a two-wheeled Tarzan following in his father’s footsteps. With its claimed power of 200 horsepower at 9,000 rpm offered by the all-new 1,679cc V4 with four camshafts and 16 valves, as well as a massive 166.8 Nm of torque delivered at 6,500 rpm via a torque curve completely flat up to 10,000 turns of the breaker. The bike was also very different from anything you could buy at the time in terms of design, due to the literally mind-blowing engine performance that can be achieved with just a flick of the wrist..

The VMAX 1700 reviewed by Yamaha in 2008

However, the point is, this Gen2 update has not hit the mark in terms of sales, failing to ride the wave spawned by its ancestor, despite incredible performance and plenty of clever design cues. Yamaha Europe sold 3,000 units in the first two years on the market (2009-2010), after which sales plummeted, not helped by the unfavorable economic conditions in countries like France which were the best markets of its predecessor. But unlike the original V-Max, most VMAXs sold have remained exactly as they were delivered, with very little attempt to use them as a basis for customization. Hence the reason why the product manager of Yamaha Europe, Shun miyazawa, hired several tuners to design "Hypermodified" versions of the bike, including Roland Sands Design (RSD), based in Los Angeles:

We wanted to inspire future VMAX owners who had not yet made up their mind to buy the bike by showing them what a great basis for customization it could be, just like the old model. Maybe it’s our fault because we made the design of the VMAX too dense, with too many design elements, but it didn’t generate enthusiasm even for professional tuners, let alone the individuals. So I approached Roland to create something based on the VMAX and he agreed to do it. We were very happy that he did and were even more so when we saw him. "

Two Yamaha prepas of VMAX and TMAX cut in the RSD workshop

The machines prepared by Roland sands debuted at the EICMA Milan Show in 2011, then spent nearly three years touring the world before finally returning to their owner, ready to be piloted rather than just displayed on a booth. However, the creation was not easy, as the preparer explained in his store in Los Alamitos, north of Long Beach:

“I’ve always loved the V-Max, ever since I rode my first when I was about 20. She was just excellent. She was so fast, but this one is even faster. a pretty radical motorcycle, but with a lot of adornments. So when Shun asked me what I wanted to do with it, I thought about making it as minimalistic as possible. Making it a Cafe Racer seemed the logical thing to do, although the operation was rather complicated in terms of design. Since there was no time or budget to make a new frame, we had to leave a lot of things in stock on it. The idea was to strip it and lighten it up in order to get what I would call awkwardness out of it. There’s a lot of geometry to the design, which was popular a few years ago, but all those straights have to be smoother nowadays and not so My goal was to simplify it as much as possible and it was quite difficult because the engine is very large. It was a tough challenge, especially reducing the tail section and making it cute, cafe racer-style. "

The rear of the VMAX has been greatly reduced

The result is a motorcycle which Roland claims has lost 36 kg compared to the production model and in doing so has become much sharper. Without the visual connection provided by this prominent powerful V4, it’s hard to think of it as the same bike, with the same chassis and many common elements..

But not only was the VMAX dieted, the cosmetic surgeons at RSD also had a full facelift. The steel fuel tank has been replaced by an aluminum element mounted under the original swingarm with chamfered plates to allow angle without friction. The intake scoops, dominant in the aesthetics of the stock model, have been eliminated and the rear end has been minimized.

If we had had more time and budget I would have made the swingarm shorter to compact the bike even more. But I like the bobtail look we found on the stock chassis by getting rid of the Sportster-style rear fender. Building a new 4-2-1-2 stainless steel exhaust with mufflers under the saddle was the starting point. It’s a crazy system that sounds thunder and looks great, especially when it’s blowing fire when you cut the throttle !

The tank has been deported under the swingarm

The list of original parts kept by Roland’s rocket includes the headlight now enclosed in a shell that complements the custom airbox trim that envelops the instrumentation above the "tank", as do the imposing steel lids. magnesium hooked above the clutch, swingarm pivot … Maintaining the cast aluminum swingarm provides additional traction to control all that torque. This is all the more vital as I remember VMAX project manager Hajime Nakaaki telling me his engineers had thought about installing traction control before removing it after concluding that it would hurt the thrill factor and rider satisfaction. !

The 4-cylinder VMAX remains identical to the stock model

The massive torque from the powerful engine is still transmitted to the asphalt via the stock suspension set, using a tool-free fully adjustable Soqi rear shock in spring preload, compression and rebound with easy-access thumbwheels. Up front, a 52mm diameter Soqi fork is coated with titanium oxide and painted black to enhance the look. It is held together by a huge triple aluminum upper triple clamp and a forged aluminum lower triple clamp, both offering 30mm offset and substantial 148mm trail. The cartridge fork is conventional rather than inverted as you would expect and open to a 31 ° lean with a 1,700mm wheelbase. That’s 110mm longer than the first V-Max, making the VMAX almost impossible to pitch up, despite all that torque. Better riders than me have tried to lift the front wheel without success, including Mr. Sands who is used to the genre….

The Soqi shock absorber, also original, is fully adjustable

The RSD VMAX now offers Performance Machine (PM) forged and CNC machined aluminum Judge wheels in their Black OPS finish. The stock 18 "rim is replaced by a 19" one fitted with a Dunlop D208 120/70 tire matched at the rear to a Dunlop Elite ER3 in 200 / 50-18. These support huge RSD 330mm floating front discs, also made by PM and gripped by the VMAX’s six-piston Sumimoto radial calipers. At the rear, the 292mm PM disc, which seems way too big for a cafe racer, is braked by a PM 4-piston radial caliper. The brake and clutch master cylinders are produced by RSD. The brakes must be effective to stop a motorcycle which, despite being registered with Weight Watchers Anonymous, still weighs 255 kg.

The front wheel is now fitted with a 19 inch rim instead of 18

Renthal bracelets replace the original large one-piece handlebars to complete the new visual aggressiveness of the bike, with a very "cafe racer" single-seater saddle supplied by the Bitchin’Seat Company.

The VMAX has swapped its raised handlebars for sportier bracelets

Finally, to finish the job, it remained to move on to painting:

We figured that with the bike that was going to travel to the fashion capital of the world, Milan, for its public debut, it had to be dressed in a beautiful suit with fine black stripes. We therefore entrusted our professional tailor, Chris Wood from Airtrix, with the installation of the paint..

Great care has also been taken in the painting of the Yamaha

In the saddle

Finally back home to the RSD design studio where it was originally designed, the VMAX was ready for me to take it for a ride through the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, north of Los Angeles. Here is the opportunity to check if Yamaha has not missed a shot by not offering a Cafe Racer version of its VMAX.

The VMAX is adorned with a single saddle typical of Cafe Racers

In reality, this VMAX Cafe Racer looks like half a Mustang V8 Boss with that awesome RSD exhaust, although I think it should have been fitted with afterburner shields to prevent passersby from getting brown eyebrows when you walked in. let go of the accelerator in front of a red light. The VMAX RSD has a real physical and visual presence that seems all the more important and downright powerful when you sit on it in cafe racer mode. Because the path is L-O-N-G to reach these Renthal bracelets over the "tank". This results in a very stretched out riding position which, due to the bike’s mass and performance reserves, was already downright intimidating even before I started trying to push the VMAX through the twists of the Glendora Mountain Road. towards San Gabriel Beach. I discovered, almost to my expense, that this is one of the most intimidating motorcycles to ride that I can remember ever having encountered !

The instrumentation is positioned at the top of the false tank

Test

As I accelerated, which is hardly complicated with so much power and torque in my hands, after a few kilometers of acceleration and starting to try some nice trajectories in the curves of the canyons, I quickly had to coping with persistent attempts by the VMAX to turn the front wheel as it entered the corner. Nothing to do with cornering braking, although surprisingly the front discs and six-piston calipers offered very little stopping power (although I was apparently the first to ride the bike aggressively after three years. pass on shows and that it is quite possible that the pads were not broken in). But after narrowly escaping the crash of this two-wheeled artwork the first time I put it on the corner, when I JUST managed to counter the steering and prevent the wheel from locking up completely, then I be very careful when approaching each curve to be ready to counter-counterbalance to keep the VMAX straight to avoid these lockups. Phew !!

The VMAX Cafe Racer is very difficult to handle in curves

The reason for this misconduct was not difficult to find. By replacing the original upper right handlebar with a pair of bracelets, RSD has eliminated the leverage one needs to counter the long front drag. There is indeed no less than 148 mm that the geometry of the Yamaha sports. Add in the wide 31 ° cusp opening and it’s a recipe for disaster if you don’t have the leverage to counter that on the handlebars. And the bracelets have been lowered too much for that. Sorry, but for the first time in all these years trying his custom artwork on two wheels, I finally encountered a Roland Sands motorcycle that does worse than the original it was derived from! Who would’ve believed that ! One of his motorcycles finally turns out to favor form over substance.

Changing the handlebars without changing the geometry makes the VMAX very difficult to ride

However, this is not what cut short my ride on the VMAX. The wristband-dictated stretched-out riding position means it’s hard to see the dashboard mounted on top of the airbox, where the tank should be on a conventional motorcycle. However, I got no warning that my somewhat, er, enthusiastic ride on a bike designed for straights rather than virolos had caused the VMAX to overheat. The first sign I got was when a spray of coolant went off the rear tire. And yes, I managed to avoid the near-end moment that followed, but it was time to stop playing for today..

It’s funny, the last time I rode a V-Max in California was in 1985. I then broke the clutch on this brand new motorbike just launched while performing burnouts for the cameraman. Yamaha at the top of that same road and then had to coast down the 7 miles to the Yamaha pickup truck. Funny how history can repeat itself…!

The V4 still delivers its 200 horsepower and 166.8 Nm

Conclusion

The next time, Roland Sands finally rode the bike himself:

If this was my everyday bike, I would put the handlebars back on high, because that’s what it was designed for. It was an aesthetic piece. What we have done. Shun wanted something that looked compact and sleek, that’s why we installed the bracelets, but ignoring geometry is never a good idea! However, he wanted to show the Dark Side of Japan, you made him see! The day we finished this bike, it left here and went to Milan with the paint barely dry, so no one had really ridden it properly before you. And now that I’ve done it, I know she really needs that high handlebars !

The look or the handling, the VMAX RSD has made its choice

While Yamaha still offers the VMAX in its lineup in the United States, L.A.’s customization king knows what the company should have done in 2008 by recreating its most profitable heavy-duty motorcycle:

Yamaha made it way too complicated. If they had just taken the old V-Max, kept the same steel frame and updated with inverted forks, radial brakes, nice rims, a nice exhaust that passed standards then refined the styling, added a few LED and put that fucking engine in there, they would have offered people what they asked for. But the second generation is far too designed and far too difficult to customize for an individual, even with bolted parts. Even though professionals like us have a hard time working on it, it goes a bit against the purpose of a motorcycle like this, right? ?

Yamaha VMAX Cafe Racer by RSD

We cannot dispute it. Shun Mikazawa was much more satisfied with the restyling performed by RSD on the VMAX:

First of all, I think the motorcycle is cool, beautiful and that it conveys the spirit of the model. I also love that people are rethinking the VMAX. But most importantly, it shows others that it is not that hard to turn the stock model into something very different..

At the time, Mikazawa was also hinting that Yamaha would produce a revised production version of the Cafe Racer, correcting the issues with the RSD prep. We know today that this was not the case.

Strong points

• Motor
• Look

Weak points

• Maneuverability
• Driving position

The technical sheet of the Yamaha VMAX 1700

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