197 horsepower and 122 pound feet - The VMAX lives on

[Rich Rohrich]

Motorcycle Daily has the story on the introduction of the all new 2009 Yamaha (VStar) V-Max. The legend lives on. :cool:

Read the full story here : http://www.motorcycledaily.com/04june08_star2009vmax_p1.htm

Pictures from Motorcycle Daily

 

[Ol'89r]

Dayum! :whoa:

That muffler looks like an afterburner. :yikes:

 

[Rich Rohrich]

Dayum! :whoa:

That muffler looks like an afterburner. :yikes:

... and there is one on each side. :ohmy:

 

[Timmay#678]

Supposely when Yamaha dyno'd the prototype engine firstly it knocked out almost 300bhp :whoa: . Of course they had to limit it to 200bhp, sitting your ass on 300bhp and taking off down the road is asking for instant death.
The variable valve timing is very simple, the timing chain only drives the inlet cam, which has a oil pressure driven system between the cam sprocket and inlet valve to advance the timing. The exhaust cam is geared off the inlet cam, which means the timing is changed on both the inlet and exhaust valves.

 

[Rich Rohrich]

sitting your ass on 300bhp and taking off down the road is asking for instant death.

LOL, you need to come to Chicago some time. 340 HP Turbo Hayabusas are considered "pony motors" in street racing circles around here.

500hp is the minimum buy-in to be taken seriously.

Hell I was flirting with the 300hp mark on my turbo streetbike 30 years ago. Of course mine was as no where near as rideable and well behaved as the new breed of monster street bikes. These new EFI motors have just enormous potential.

I can't wait to see what this new VMax engine will be capable of. :cool:

 

[BadgerMan]

That thing looks to be pure evil.

Do you think they will offer an SM version? :laugh:

 

[Timmay#678]

:lol:, Rich, Let me rephase that, Me sitting my ass on 300hp and going for a spin down the road would result in instant death! (Judging by the number of times I've creamed myself with a 10th of the power on a yz250f). But yeah, It'll be interesting to see what its capable of, if the prototype knocked out 300bhp and had to be made more mannerly, then just wait till someone slaps a turbo on one.

 

[ZOMBIE666]

Rich, that zuki is awesome! that an old GS?

 

[OldassKDX]

I seriously doubt the rumor that this bike ever produced 100 more horsepower than its current configuration at any stage of development, but I actually find the 122 foot lbs even more impressive than the horsepower number.

 

[Rich Rohrich]

I actually find the 122 foot lbs even more impressive than the horsepower number.

That's the number that got me excited as well. :cool:

Rich, that zuki is awesome! that an old GS?

Yep, that's a 1978 GS750. In the second picture it's punched out to 870, it's running a super trick cylinder head and a arc welder strength ignition system while pushing running 18 pounds of boost. It was still my streetbike, but it tended to be ridden an 1/8 to 1/4 of a mile at a time. In 1979 this was the fastest streetbike on the North Side of Chicago. ;)

The new 2008 Hayabusa is almost as fast off the showroom floor, which should give you some idea how incredible new bikes are.

I'm really looking forward to the first full tests on Mr. Max :cool:

Cycle World Online has a nice article with a bunch more pictures and some additional tech info.
http://www.cycleworld.com/article.asp?section_id=3&article_id=724