2009 Vmax: Back burner's the hot rod! (See my post on 2 wheeled addiction)

I went and did it.... I can't shake the urge anymore. Back in September, I was travelling in Taiwan on vacation, and the frustration of dealing with the ongoing problems with the 34 were mounting. I have had to engineer the frame around the new 4" drop axle. The floor is in, but there is still a ton of things that have to be done (wiring the entire car, getting a kit to space the torque converter, etc). All kinds of things that require help, money, or both. It was not going to be finished this year, maybe next year either.

I feel like a guy in a movie at a Catholic confessional: Forgive me father for I haven't accelerated. "How long since your last acceleration?" 2 years father, 2 long years.

It's actually been longer than that, because the acceleration offered by my last bike (the 2005 Victory Hammer) was okay as far as American V-twin bikes go, but still lacking - Especially compared to the Hayabusa that was the ride from 02 to 05.

Anyway, facing another year without the thrill of acceleration was just too much. The hot rod was going so slow, and the mountain of money I have put into it was depressing. Yes, it will get finished, and it will be fast, but I needed a fix. I was on Youtube one day and I spotted an ad in the corner. Unfortunately, I had already clicked on the next page and the page changed. I tried t go back, but another ad had replaced it. I wasn't sure what I had seen, but it looked like a motorcycle. It looked mean, and I felt excitement at the possibility that this motorcycle was the new version of one of my dream bikes. But I only saw it for a split second and couldn't be sure.

Back in 1994, I finally had the opportunity to purchase the dream bike I had been lusting after ever since I saw a picture of one in 1985: The Yamaha V-max.

If you have never heard one, it sounds like a V8 engine...nice lumpy idle to boot! The power of these bikes is extraordinary. At 6500 rpms, the "v-boost" kicks in and it just goes nuts with acceleration. It's an experience that has to be experienced firsthand to truly understand. It's addictive, to say the least. The bike was essentially unchanged from 1985 to 2007. That's unheard of in the motorcycle world. It was a great bike, but far from perfect. The chassis was lacking and barely coped with the claimed 145 crank horsepower. The brakes were updated in 93, but my 92 had the old ones, and stopping was severely lacking compared to modern sportbikes. Mine landed me in the back of a car in a split-second indescretion while dealing with some bimbo on her phone that tried to kill me. Road rage cost me my bike, it was totalled. I took a year and a half off, but the urge to ride never died. I said that if they make an updated version, I'd be in line to get it.

Recently, I flipped to a Youtube page that had the ad on it. It was true, Yamaha had gone and updated the bike and was coming out with a new version. I quickly found a website that gave me the details, and I was blown away. 200 horsepower. Wicked looks. A complete redesign from top to bottom. It has ABS standard. I was giddy with excitement. There was the bike of my dreams in front of me. I couldn't wait to see one at the dealership. Yamaha had other plans...

The new Vmax is a limited production motorcycle. There would be no showroom ogling for me. You see, the only way to get one was to pre-order it, and only 2500 would be made for the U.S. To make it even more complicated, a non-refundable $1000 deposit had to be in the dealership by October 31st. After that, there would be no ordering it until 2010. The bike was also expensive at an MSRP of $18k. That's all the information I could get at the time.

I spent the end of September in Taiwan on vacation. It was lovely, but my mind was on this bike. The fact that it was a brand new bike meant that there would be little or no aftermarket support for a year or so. It could also be plagued with problems as a first year production as well. I had to weigh these factors and figure out if it was to be or not. It would also put the 34 on the back burner indefinitely.

Fortunately I found a website that answered a lot of the questions that I was having, had pictures and video, and helped me make my decision. Halfof the bikes had been pre-ordered according to an August article that I found about the bike. More pressure. My wife left the decision up to me (technically not an approval - leaving room for the "I told you so" later if I regretted the decision). On October 3rd I walked into the dealer to ask them about it and get some information. I would give the decision a weekend to sink in and let some of the excitement fade. It didn't. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, or the constant pressure of knowing that I couldn't let this bike not be in my life, but on October 7th, I put my deposit down and got the bike on order. Here is what is coming:

It's bigger, badder, and better in every way. Mountains of torque on tap. It looks like nothing else out there, and has the raw acceleration that I crave. Magazines report 0-60 in 2.5 seconds...0-100 in less than 6 seconds. The highest performing bikes in the world are marginally faster in a 1/4 mile (We're talking a third of a second), but well within reach of some aftermarket modifications. There is an unbelievable support network of fellow Vmaxxers at http://www.starvmax.com/ who have been working since the first few bikes hit our shores on modifications that will unleash even more power. Mine is supposed to be here in February... stay tuned.