With a strong history of innovation in almost half a century of motorcycle production, it would have seemed that the lead motorcycle for Yamaha's 2009 model year would have reflected the reality of the times. Perhaps a three wheeled dynamic-attitude scooter that seats four and runs on biodiesel, or a hybrid touring model, or a hydrogen fuel cell commuter, or even a fully electric plug in city bike. Those models would have not only made sense in the current market but would have been warmly welcomed by a growing portion of the motoring public who has grown weary of pumping $200 at a time into the gaping maw of their SUV's fuel tanks.
Yamaha, however, did nothing of the sort. Demonstrating once and for all that the company is run by a bunch of rabid motorheads with no perspective on reality, the star of the Yamaha 2009 lineup is none other than a 1.7 litre version of the most excessive motorcycle of a very excessive bygone era: the V-Max.
When the V-Max first premiered in the long gone days of 1985, it turned stomachs around the world thanks to its bulbous styling and glued on faux scoopery. The handling on the early models was litreally white knuckle as the bike only ever wanted to go in a straight line... that was when the front wheel was actually touching the road and not pawing at the air. The only thing that could not be argued was that the V-Max had more thrust than a Saturn V rocket. If you wanted your motorcycle to be the unquestioned drive in burger stand burnout champion, the V-Max was your ride.
The 2008 model was virtually indistinguishable from the 1985 original as Yamaha just kept stamping out V-Maxes catering to a tiny but insanely loyal clientele who like their bikes ugly and their tires smoking.
When Yamaha finally put this Jurassic bike into the extinction column, they replaced it with a motorcycle that takes the V-Max formula much further out into lunacy than the original ever could dream of. The 2009 V-Max VMX17 is a new 65-degree, four-valves-per-cylinder, 1679cc V4 behemoth, almost a half litre bigger than its already impossibly-overpowered ancestor. Yamaha claims an absolutely deranged 197 horsepower and 123 foot pounds of torque. To put that into perspective that is much more horsepower than a 2008 Chrysler Town & Country minivan, and that vehicle is designed to propel seven people around! With a wet weight of 683 lbs, each horse has to push around less than 3.5 pounds so the acceleration and top speed ratings are completely astronomical.
The 2009 V-Max seems to have done the impossible. Not only does it make the original model look good as it's all whoops and scoops and oversized cages, metal drilled lace, ducktails, and tin cans... but it has made the antediluvian hyperhormoned 1,198 cc version seem absolutely tame and responsible by comparison. Yamaha should be profoundly ashamed of itself and show a sincere commitment to developing motorcycle models that are appropriate to the times, not hulking murdercycles designed only to shred asphalt on public roadways while returning the fuel mileage of a Dodge Ram with a Hemi stuffed under the hood. It's not 1985 any more!
Yamaha, however, did nothing of the sort. Demonstrating once and for all that the company is run by a bunch of rabid motorheads with no perspective on reality, the star of the Yamaha 2009 lineup is none other than a 1.7 litre version of the most excessive motorcycle of a very excessive bygone era: the V-Max.
When the V-Max first premiered in the long gone days of 1985, it turned stomachs around the world thanks to its bulbous styling and glued on faux scoopery. The handling on the early models was litreally white knuckle as the bike only ever wanted to go in a straight line... that was when the front wheel was actually touching the road and not pawing at the air. The only thing that could not be argued was that the V-Max had more thrust than a Saturn V rocket. If you wanted your motorcycle to be the unquestioned drive in burger stand burnout champion, the V-Max was your ride.
The 2008 model was virtually indistinguishable from the 1985 original as Yamaha just kept stamping out V-Maxes catering to a tiny but insanely loyal clientele who like their bikes ugly and their tires smoking.
When Yamaha finally put this Jurassic bike into the extinction column, they replaced it with a motorcycle that takes the V-Max formula much further out into lunacy than the original ever could dream of. The 2009 V-Max VMX17 is a new 65-degree, four-valves-per-cylinder, 1679cc V4 behemoth, almost a half litre bigger than its already impossibly-overpowered ancestor. Yamaha claims an absolutely deranged 197 horsepower and 123 foot pounds of torque. To put that into perspective that is much more horsepower than a 2008 Chrysler Town & Country minivan, and that vehicle is designed to propel seven people around! With a wet weight of 683 lbs, each horse has to push around less than 3.5 pounds so the acceleration and top speed ratings are completely astronomical.
The 2009 V-Max seems to have done the impossible. Not only does it make the original model look good as it's all whoops and scoops and oversized cages, metal drilled lace, ducktails, and tin cans... but it has made the antediluvian hyperhormoned 1,198 cc version seem absolutely tame and responsible by comparison. Yamaha should be profoundly ashamed of itself and show a sincere commitment to developing motorcycle models that are appropriate to the times, not hulking murdercycles designed only to shred asphalt on public roadways while returning the fuel mileage of a Dodge Ram with a Hemi stuffed under the hood. It's not 1985 any more!
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