Planning on a Big purchase Bking or Vmax?... or Other options.

[Hayabuser]

PS: Neither a B-King nor a Vmax will outrun a liter-bike on the track... Suzuki claimed that the King could lap a road-course as quick as a GSX-R600 in 2008 so challenging a Gixxer Thou might be a tad suicidal. On the dragstrip however, the B-King would hold its own.

[Jedz123]

When I meant track, I meant 1/4 mile strip... Lol It was late and doing my EON paper work, checking the guys out and locking the unit up while putting my post together.
I'm a linear power kinda guy and use to love spending my younger days running the 1/4 (with a car not a bike) it was the main reason why I was broke. All my bikes have -2 front sprockets installed or on hand . I have yet to run my Fizzy on the strip but I'm sure I could pull a low 11 or even a high 10 with my acceleration sprockets setup, stripped and with current motor and carb mods. My next bike needs to be faster then that.

$5500... Wow I'm very shocked by that. Most of the numbers I'm getting are from dealerships. Looks like the inventory is just sitting there so I'm sure if I walked in with $1k less in cash they may let it go. If not then I'm sure a good deal will surface.

Thanks for the input!

[amxsteve]

I like my 05 max not love buts it is an iconic bike that I had to own. Is it fast, I guess if you have never ridden a really fast bike yea. It's got great power above 6k and decent power below. It handles well until pushed and I don't like it above 100 MPH at all. It's funny when your riding it because every rider that ever talks to me about says wow those things are crazy fast. Yamaha fid a great job of hyping the crap out of them. When I was a young lad my neighbor was a test rider for yamaha and brought home the first one in Canada. He told me to go to the end of the road and dump the clutch at 6k in second gear. It's still the longest burnout I have ever done and impressed the **** out of me. That bike had less than 100 km on it and the back tire was roasted. Good ol times.

[blowerbike]

we chewed em up and spat em out.....on the street and drag strip.
my 1150 would walk everyone we encountered.
over rated IMO.

[akckhim]

we chewed em up and spat em out.....on the street and drag strip.
my 1150 would walk everyone we encountered.
over rated IMO.

Amen we used to say "vmax for snacks" never even close to losing to one.

[wymple]

The best in the business got a better time on a Max, by a good bit, than on an 1150. And thought he could have done even better with a bit more tire, it was worn some before he got to it. Same old story, "well, with just a couple of inexpensive mods", the 1150..........yada, yada. Truth is, 98 % of it at those levels are in the rider's ability. Your stock 1150 could never beat Gleason on a stock Max. I jumped a Max a couple of bike lengths on my 1100EZ, and it would have been close at the 1/4 mark. It was the rider, not the bike. Wound up that thing was closing on me like a runaway freight train and then it left. No 1150 ever pulled on me like that, they could beat me a couple or three bike lengths with an equal rider. I'm no Jay Gleason, but no V65 Sabre ever got me, so I wasn't that lame, either. I fail to see why Suzuki people, or Kawasaki guys can't give credit where it's due. Competitive or not, the 1150 wasn't quite the game changer the Max was. And I was bleeding Suzuki at the time. The 1150 settled the arguments, then Mighty Max came in and rewrote the book again. I could not beat a good 1150, but I could keep it close. A decent rider on a Max could lay waste. I once saw a 383 Charger beat a 427 Vette because the Vette driver didn't understand it was time to shift when then powerband flattened.

[blowerbike]

magazine's are bull s h i t...that's the facts.
i lived it for many years...the max guys came and went...always had excuses.
ran into to an old max guy a few years ago telling stories about running mid 10's at my local track...i called bull s h i t on his made up stories...he argued a little bit then left...his buddies had lost there hero..lol
jay gleason wasn't worth an extra second in the quarter and i never seen a 10 second anything v-max.
i give yamaha credit for bad second gears that's about it...hehe
and for the record my 1150 was faster than my 86 GSXR1100...well quicker anyways.
it's all BS unless you lived it every day of your life for 10/15/20 years..there is a few on this forum who have.
v-max/magna's...all of them was never in the running in the real world...just in magazines and TV commercials.

[Jedz123]

The other thing I don't like about the Vmax and would likely annoy me about 2k miles in is that it's shaft drive and you can't adjust you final drive ratio(at least as easy or as cheap) as a chain drive. True shaft drive is better for maintenance and when I retire the FZ1 I will likely trade up for a FJR just for this reason.... However for my weekend warrior machine I would love the best one to customize all aspects of my ridding. Swap in the larger front sprocket for that weekend 1k mile ride I plan to do 2 up, then when I return swap back to the smaller sprocket and have my wheelie king back. Chain drive is the most efficient way to transfer power for high end, correct? To me that appeals to me. Next season I plan on returning to the strip but on a bike. I want a bike that will be domineering, competitive and quick out of the box. I also want something that has potential if I did decide to upgrade to be very fast... We will see how it goes. My FZ1 has maybe 130whp now a jump of 50hp is going to be huge... Whatever route I chose.

As for my 2 cents on the classic Vmax's, I went for a nice jaunt up into grand Isle on the FZ1 a year back with the stock 01 motor that ran as well as a smoker/oil burner could. I had the hooligan setup for gearing (-2 up front) and was cruising with my sport screen and 1982 super bike bars I got from a parts GS750 I had, about as sporty as I set her up. Anyway I was passed by a guy on a Vmax, I caught up to him followed him maybe 5 miles and we both pulled over on the sand bar. The middle aged gentleman laughed and said "Boy I had you", I replied "Well sir I never really gave her my all and you startled me with that surprise pass". The sand bar where we pulled over is about a 3/4 mile straight, he looked at the road, looked at me then my bike and said " you think your little Yamaha can keep up with a big Yamaha" (Or something along those lines). I said "Not sure but I'll entertain a go" As we were lining up he was chuckling to himself asking if I knew how to launch (which I didn't really) but I did tell him I was a very seasoned rider and knew how to push my FZ1. So we lined up, he then took off a bit prematurely before I was set and took the lead through first gear but no matter by the end of second I was already caught up and by the end of third I was ahead... When my speedo crested 140mph the Vmax was behind me considerably. I remember shutting my machine down to my indicated 170mph and promptly pulled over at the next pull off to see what the middle aged gentleman would say about my Fizzy... He didn't even slow down, he just kept on ridding and passed me as I waved at him... I laughed and knew this young buck with his "little" smoking Yamaha hurt his ego and defeated his "big" bike.
True the Vmax is a cool machine but my 998cc 4Cyl Fizzy is faster then a GEN 1 Max... This I know. nothing against Yamaha.... Because the fastest bike I currently have and have ever owned... Is an Inline 4 998cc 20 Valve... Yamaha.
My Max story but doesn't mean I still don't want a Gen1...

[850 Combat]

The B King has a shot at being collectible.

[wymple]

"i never seen a 10 second anything v-max."

In Mayay of ‘85 the cries of foul were silenced when Cycle World magazine brought a production V-Max to the Bayland Raceway in Fremont, California and after a few shake down runs Mr. Max ripped through the ¼ mile at amazing 10.62 seconds with a trap speed of 129.87 miles an hour … with the mirrors still in place! On this occasion, the rider was 4-time US national drag racing champion Dale Walker who weighed in at “portly” 170lbs.

After people were dissing a 10.3 run by Gleason.

If you've never seen a fast Max, you should maybe get out of the house, and away from your little neighborhood. The stock bike was capable of mid tens with competent riders, the same guys who never got the same from a stock 1150.

[lurch12_2000]

10 seconds? low 11'S? who cares....the FZ1, Bandit and VMax all haul a$$ on the street so it comes down to price and handling. I'll take the Bandit or FZ1 any day. I never rode the BKing so I can't speak to that. The VMax seems overpriced right now and the Bandit has been the bargain for awhile. If you're patient then the FZ1 Gen 1 can be found at a good price. Both the FZ1 and Bandit will have everything you need on the street for power including handling and comfort and leave $ left for gas and travelling expenses.

[Rob S.]

V-Max story

In the '80's there was a V-Max owner near here I used to see at gas stations, etc. I guess he got so fed up with folks not knowing how big his bike was, he had painted "1200" on each of his side covers.

I thought that was the dorkiest thing in the world. Now, without my side cover emblems, people kept asking me if my Z1 was a 650. And I'm anxious to replace the "GS1100E" on my left cover. But a Max?

I thought the whole point was it doesn't need numbers on it - it's just obviously big and bad.

A guy was admiring (looking at, at least) my bike the other day and asked, "750?" I corrected him, and directed him to the right side cover.

But a Max? Nothing else looks like it.

[blowerbike]

"i never seen a 10 second anything v-max."

In Mayay of ‘85 the cries of foul were silenced when Cycle World magazine brought a production V-Max to the Bayland Raceway in Fremont, California and after a few shake down runs Mr. Max ripped through the ¼ mile at amazing 10.62 seconds with a trap speed of 129.87 miles an hour … with the mirrors still in place! On this occasion, the rider was 4-time US national drag racing champion Dale Walker who weighed in at “portly” 170lbs.

After people were dissing a 10.3 run by Gleason.

If you've never seen a fast Max, you should maybe get out of the house, and away from your little neighborhood. The stock bike was capable of mid tens with competent riders, the same guys who never got the same from a stock 1150.

you have no clue of who i am or what i have done...i stand by by statement that a v-max was mostly hype.
so from Cincinnati to Columbus is a small area?
plus IDBA and prostar??
and for the record i never said my "1150" was stock...close but not 100% stock.
quoting magazine's don't impress me anymore..25 years ago...sure but i grew up...
the max was hype and over rated...those are just the facts.

[blowerbike]

wymple,
why do you want to get in a ****ing match with me?
i stated what i have seen...my facts...
you quoted magazines...that's fine but why call me out? me and my "little neighborhood" or to "get out of the house more".
sense 1986 i have been involved with fast import bikes and working for several shops and having my own business till the mid 2000's.
this is just dumb s h i t...move on....i'm done.

[Jedz123]

10 seconds? low 11'S? who cares....the FZ1, Bandit and VMax all haul a$$ on the street so it comes down to price and handling. I'll take the Bandit or FZ1 any day. I never rode the BKing so I can't speak to that. The VMax seems overpriced right now and the Bandit has been the bargain for awhile. If you're patient then the FZ1 Gen 1 can be found at a good price. Both the FZ1 and Bandit will have everything you need on the street for power including handling and comfort and leave $ left for gas and travelling expenses.

Lurch I entertained the thought of a Bandit-1250(or GSX1250FA) but I just wasn't too impressed with power to size, 95hp on the 1250 and yet my 650 (the B-12.5's little brother) has 86hp... I will say my GSX650F has gobs of midrange and every time someone asks about it I tell them the bike feels more like a 750 then a 600. Maybe why I love ridding it so much for the power band is rich in torque the whole time its just a hoot to ride, just like my old GS750 was, it was torquey and quick but had nothing past 10k rpm... Now I've read that the 1250 is much of the same in that regard, just loads more torque. I do like the idea of getting back in the saddle of a Bandit and if they made it faster then the gen 1 Bandit I would be on board... But it's slower and fatter then the old B-12. Great for touring, but not so much for that weekend warrior I'm looking for. Maybe a test ride would convince me otherwise but the numbers the 1250 put out aren't that impressive... Except it's very fat and flat torque curve (if you even want to call it a curve)
Love my FZ1, it's been a great mule and surpasses my old B-12 in all aspects.