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Neale Bayly
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2009 Star V Max: A No-Nonsense Head Banging Boogie
Written by: Neale Bayly   
11/25/2008 - 09:27 AM
Charlotte, North Carolina
 
The V Max with its unique design, is one model which will never be confused with any other motorcycle. (Photo: Riles and Nelson) ยป More Photos

Think about the bad mistake you could make seeing an Olympic shot put contestant in casual clothes at the bar. Looking big, bulky, and decidedly un-agile, you wouldn’t think he could do too much about you cutting in front of him. In truth, he could probably rip your head off with one hand, and then throw it clear out of the bar to win a gold medal without spilling a drop of his beer. And a similar fate awaits any inexperienced sport bike riders who come across the new ’09 V Max, thinking they are messing with one of their Dad’s
cruiser crowd. With an agility that defies its size and weight, and power output to match the entire Russian weight lifting team, they are going to be thinking a plug lead fell off if they try challenging the new Max.

Let’s start with the claimed 197horsepower from the 1679cc V-four engine. Laying down a simply steroid induced 123 foot pounds of torque at 6,500 rpm, and host of electronic wizardry borrowed from Yamaha’s sport bike line, Mr. Max has plenty of brains to go with his brawn. Fly-by-wire throttle control, or Yamaha chip control (YCC-T) to be technically correct, connects the rider’s wrist to the 48mm fuel-injection throttle bodies tucked in-between the
new 65-degree angled cylinders. The new engine also uses YCC-I (Yamaha chip controlled intake) to alter the length of the intake funnels. We first saw this on the new R1 and more recently the latest R6, and this system allows the engine to essentially tune itself at low and high rpm. Starting with a 150mm intake funnel to help low-end torque, this has the ability to separate at 6,650 rpm. At this time a servomotor lifts the top of the funnel to leave a short, 54mm intake, perfect for achieving more top-end power. This is the first time we have seen this technology on a V-four engine, and part of the reason was to allow the new bike to have the addictive top end hit the original machine came with. Using a system Yamaha called “V-boost,” old Max operated like a normally carbureted machine until 5700 rpm when two carburetors then provided fuel for a single cylinder. Yanking on the throttle and experiencing the V boost kick has stayed burned in my memory banks for over 20 years now, and I was interested to see if the new bike was capable of doing the same.

See the V Max Photos

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