Yamaha VMAX: 145 HP, No Turbo — The Bike Yamaha Refused to Sell

In 1985, the most powerful motorcycle you could buy off a showroom floor wasn’t a sport bike. It was the Yamaha V-Max, a 1,198cc V4 cruiser claiming 145 horsepower, with no turbo and an engine borrowed from a touring bike. Two years later, Yamaha stopped building it for America. This is the documented story of how Yamaha, fresh from losing a sales war with Honda, built the most excessive motorcycle of the decade. It covers Akira Araki’s drag-strip concept, sketched in Santa Monica with Ed Burke, and the fake fuel tank and dummy air scoops. It follows the bike from the Las Vegas dealer launch to Cycle World’s first road test. Then it explains why there was no 1987 model for America, why Europe and Britain got a detuned bike, and how V-Boost found more than 50 extra horsepower without forced induction. Finally, we follow the bike Yamaha once parked through its 22-year run. CHAPTERS 0:00 The most powerful bike you could buy 0:32 What this story is really about 1:24 Yamaha’s war with Honda 3:13 A dragster from a touring bike 6:01 The victory lap that wasn’t 6:32 No 1987 model 8:55 How V-Boost worked 10:53 Twenty-two years and a legacy 12:53 Did you own one? Did you own or ride a V-Max? Tell us in the comments whether it was a full-power American bike or a restricted European one, and what it felt like past 6,000 rpm. I don’t own any of the content used in this video, and it is used under fair use for documentary purposes. #YamahaVMax #VMax #MotorcycleHistory #TorqueStories #MuscleBikes