FJowners.com

Does anybody have any proof or experience on this topic?  :good2:

Quote from: jjbillington on June 30, 2010, 10:56:43 AM
Does anybody have any proof or experience on this topic?  :good2:

I dont know I am new to this game.
Are you looking for top end or acceleration #s.I do know that the stock speedometer on my fj1100 is not accurate I do know that it will run 155 mph  on the speedometer :shok: :shok: :shok:
I have a hand held GPS with a max speed feature I didnt GPS it then but at low speeds my speedometer is off 4 or 5 mph.I did GPS her at 137 mph at lower rpm.If the 5 mph difference is the same then 155 mph would be 150 mph.

every v-max owner i have ever meet says there's is the fastest v-max ever made!!, but none of them have modified the shaft drive gearing,
and they seem to like pottering along slowly so everyone can see them! :biggrin:

A good friend has a 93 VMax, and I've raced against an `85 at the dragstrip.

The FJ wins easily.

Thanks eveybody for your replies. I think that V-max owners under-estimate the FJ1200 when it comes to HP... I always get guys who say, well the V-max is faster because its a dragbike blah-blah-blah...  Then you have to state the fax to them, like the specs and everything and they still insist... I just want to know from you people. I think you have the best knowledge of these bikes.  If anybody has anymore info let me know.

best way to prove your point is to line the two bikes up side by side and drop the flag.

the proof is in the pudding.   :good2:


Kookaloo!

I have ridden with a buddy with the V-max, and he had trouble keeping up.  He kept making excuses as to his bike's state of tune, maybe that was the case.  He did spend alot of time being small in my rearview mirror, though.

That is just one example, though.  Any of the motorcycle magazines that tested both bikes new had them pretty even, with a slight advantage to the V-max.

To increase our sample size, maybe everytime one of us sees one, they should race it and report back.

Fast or Quick??   The FJ is Faster, but the VMAX is quicker........ gotta get the semantics correct.   :crazy:


ETA:

'84 FJ: From our very own FILES section
PERFORMANCE
Quarter mile. . . . . . . . . . 11.257s econds
Terminal speed. . 202.23k m/h
(125.69m ph)

Spent time looking, can't find a review with 1/4 mile time for an '85 VMAX...  :dash1:

Found this:  Some of you will remember PeeWee Gleasons press launch of the new Vmax motorcycle that was introduced in 1985 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. His subsequent 1/4 mile times back then set a world record for a stock Motorcycle and the Vmax made history with a 10.33 quarter mile time back in 1985.
From: http://www.starvmax.com/news/1-v-max-news/68-jay-gleason-951-143mph-vmax-history (http://www.starvmax.com/news/1-v-max-news/68-jay-gleason-951-143mph-vmax-history)

Not what I'd like to report, but according to the comparism test done by Motorcyclist - Speed Wars III - had both the FJ1100 and V-Max in it.  Jay "Pee Wee" Gleason did the 1/4 mile testing.  FJ1100 10.781 @ 124.30; V-Max 10.610 @ 128.20.  The year prior the FJ1100 was a tenth quicker (but no V-Max in the test that year).

Which bike could the average rider go quicker on?  Probably the FJ.  Which is quicker with different riders will depend on the rider, not the bike. 

Suggestion - go practice your launches, learn how to set up the bike to launch better, gather all the info you can that shows the V-Max is quicker, then challenge your "buddy" to a friendly wager (preferably at a test-n-tune night at a local dragstrip -- the entire atmosphere [staging, the tree, having spectators, etc] will more than likely intimidate him and give you an even bigger advantage!).  Even better yet, make it an 1/8th mile track - a lot easier to change the gearing on the FJ than the V-Max!  "Drag bikes" don't have shaft drive!!!

Also - it's a lot more fun to race the bikes that the magazine stats!

Stock for stock, who cares :) 

However with the usual bolt-on stuff, they're both high 10 second machines.  The FJ is nice with no shaft drive doing wonky things to the tire, and the ability to throw some gearing at it....  The max is pretty responsive to a decent pipe though (quite overjetted on the mains from the factory), but it's heavier and carries the weight badly by comparison.  Doesn't hurt that the FJ is super easy to get quite a lot lower, too.

On the street, the max just blows the tire off and the FJ tries to stand on end, so it's kinda moot there.  One issue that my friend endlessly whines to me about is the lack of remotely sticky rubber for the vmax's goofy wheel size.

Assuming the same 60' times, I'd still bet that an FJ in decent shape with the same bolt-ons will beat a max of comparable condition and mods.  The difference becomes bigger the faster you go, as the aeros start making a greater difference too.  Dunno, maybe the ones I've ridden and raced against weren't up to snuff.

The rider's ability and experience probably make more of a difference than anything....

Does having Vmax parts on my FJ make it quicker? or slower?......... :unknown:

Quote from: Firehawk068 on July 02, 2010, 12:51:30 AM
Does having Vmax parts on my FJ make it quicker? or slower?......... :unknown:

depends on the tires, oil, or handgun you're using!

Ok.  here is my personal experience with the subject at hand.

it depends who is riding the v-max and who is riding the fj.

I have owned two v-max's , an 85 and a 2001.

I have run the 2001 against the 86 fj I now own.

depending on which bike I was riding I was faster.

I no longer own a v-max, I ride a 86 fj1200.

I believe this answers the question.   

I rode a 85 vmax and a 85 fj.they were gonna be a his graduation present for bought by my father.both new off the show room floor.vamx was tons faster.I rode the fj for 1 day test ride till dad pulled it from for acting a fool on it.caught

I've owned both and I can tell you that the V-Max is MUCH faster - to the gas pump. Tiny tank and MPG's in the mid 30's make this a town bike
since anything over 100 miles between gas stations is dicey. 

Tests show the FJ/Max through the traps within a heartbeat of one another and the FJ outperforming the Max pretty much everywhere else except a certain roll-on. The FJ rolls on stronger at some speeds and the Max is stronger in some others.

They are both great bikes, but the FJ is just flat better.

Vmax has always been a bucket list bike to ride. Haven't gotten to ride one yet. But hopefully before the end gets here.

 I came across an article once that said the FJ from like 65 to 78mph with a third gear roll on was the only bike that could out muscle the V-max. Of coarse the V-max took the FJ everywhere else in the roll on test.

Quote from the 1985 Cycle World test of the V-max:

With all this talk of ungodly power and unprecedented torque, you might wonder why the V-Max's quarter-mile times aren't quicker. After all, its best run of 10.89 seconds is .02-second slower than the time posted by the FJ1100 Yamaha we tested last year. But the V-Max's considerable weight (599 pounds without gas) extracts its toll in acceleration. And its rear tire simply is unable to provide sufficient traction for ultra-quick launches, despite its mammoth size (150/90-15). But once the big Yamaha gets ahold of the ground, there is nothing you can buy off of a showroom floor that can rocket down the road as quickly.

A very interesting topic. There are a few motorcycle owners that I have come across, either here or on the Facebook FJ pages that actually own both an FJ and a 1st Gen Vmax. I am one of those owners. Sadly at the moment, I can not give a first hand, seat of the pants comparison. My Vmax is in project mode and has been neglected for far to long. :ireful: I need to get on the ball and put some effort into getting the big lump running and road worthy. I have never ridden a Vmax and having one tucked away in my garage is almost criminal.

I know this is an FJ forum, but there are a few bikes that have reached legendary or mythical levels. And members love to read about them. A few that come to mind are the Kawasaki H2, Yamaha RD400 Daytona Special, Honda RC30, 1982/1983 Suzuki Katana and the Yamaha Vmax. Once I get mine up and running, I will give an in depth bike comparison between the Vmax and the FJ's.

Fred

Good on you Fred, taking one for the team. What a selfless person to restore that poor old rocket, then wring its neck to see how much she can give back.... :biggrin:

The thing that you need to think on the vmax is they dont like turns. The straights gst really shirt on a vmax and the corners become deathtraps. I had to try and keep a fellow biker from losing too much blood for about an hour waiting for an ambulance after a vmax got into a death wobble mid corner because of a bump.

Vmax accelerates with a visceral primal nature like no other bike i have ever ridden(including a zx10 and gsxr1000)  It is a bike that you need to experience in this lifetime the sounds and feeling when the vboost opens is almost a religious experience.

Being over a decade between riding a vmax and my fj I cant say my fj would be faster. Unless there is a couple of corners involved :)

I'm pretty sure a V-Max can accelerate harder than a FJ. But I am also pretty sure that a V-Max would not have been able to hang with the group of riders that I was chasing through the Ozarks yesterday. The most frequently question was "What year is that Yamaha?"

Quote from: aviationfred on October 15, 2016, 10:52:02 AM
...I know this is an FJ forum, but there are a few bikes that have reached legendary or mythical levels. And members love to read about them. A few that come to mind are the Kawasaki H2, Yamaha RD400 Daytona Special, Honda RC30, 1982/1983 Suzuki Katana and the Yamaha Vmax. ...

Fred

Like this 1982 Katana GSX-1100S (http://www.kijiji.ca/v-sport-touring/city-of-toronto/1982-katana-gsx-1100s/1203293291?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true) or this 1972 Kawasaki 750 H2 (http://www.kijiji.ca/v-motorcycle-other/city-of-toronto/1972-kawasaki-750-h2/1204610015?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true) or this Yamaha RD400 Daytona Special (http://www.kijiji.ca/v-motorcycle-other/mississauga-peel-region/yamaha-rd400-daytona-special/1202058466?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true) - couldn't find an RC30 specifically around here.

I only own one bike at the moment. And have never had the benefit of owning more than one  :cray:.  I think a thread about other rides members own would be a good idea.  A basic who/what/when/where/why would be interesting.  Stock - modded out to the t's?  Practical or sentimental?  Resto junkie?  What quirks to look out for if in the market for one?

Just a thought.

I like the "other bikes owned" idea. We all like FJs obviously, but we may also like other stuff, for other reasons.

I've ridden one briefly, and ridden with the owner almost as briefly.

The V-Max was a jewel of an engine, a liquid-cooled V4 that sounded like rolling thunder and ran like an old Can Am racer. And in its day, there were probably things a V-Max would do a bit faster than the FJ.

Also, riding it was an event; it sits like a cruiser but it accelerates like a sport bike, and it looks and sounds unique, and it responds to the throttle like nothing did back in the 1980's.

And that's part of the impression it makes on the rider - it sits like a cruiser. There's minimal wind protection, your feet are in front of you, and you're sitting upright, and this all makes its acceleration and speed feel much more pronounced.

Its weight and its shaft drive and its aero drag take back a bit of what that engine gives you, and the result is something that will accelerate pretty much like an FJ, up to the point where the FJ's aero advantage conferred by its fairing becomes more pronounced. But as strong as the FJ feels when you ride it, it would feel even stronger if you were sitting upright and had no fairing. And if you the type of person who "would never ride a sportbike," a V-Max's acceleration would be like nothing you had ever experienced before. It can be overwhelming. The actual performance is not much different from its sportbike contemporaries, but the experience is different because a V-Max doesn't help you cope with the acceleration and speed the way a forward-leaning fully-faired sportbike does.

It's not that it's faster than an FJ, it's that it *feels* faster. To get an idea what the fuss is all about, try going against typical sport-touring ATGATT practice and try riding with NONE of the gear - normal pants, a t-shirt, and as little helmet as you can get away with. Even better if you have the windscreen off, or the entire upper fairing. Even a worn-out old bike like my 115,000 mile FJ will suddenly feel "HOLY SHIT" quick.

Been years ago.but  on my test rides if both the vmax and fj .I'll never forget the vmax getting rubber in second and grabbing then pulling the front wheel off the ground.very impressive. Shaft driven bikes aren't my fav.

Quote from: gumby302ho on October 14, 2016, 11:28:35 PM
I came across an article once that said the FJ from like 65 to 78mph with a third gear roll on was the only bike that could out muscle the V-max.

Gumby, I suspected you may have been winding us up, now I'm sure of it. Do they even have equipment that can measure that?
65-78 mph is barely a hearbeat.

Noel

Quote from: ribbert on October 17, 2016, 08:14:26 AM

Quote from: gumby302ho on October 14, 2016, 11:28:35 PM
I came across an article once that said the FJ from like 65 to 78mph with a third gear roll on was the only bike that could out muscle the V-max.

Gumby, I suspected you may have been winding us up, now I'm sure of it. Do they even have equipment that can measure that?
65-78 mph is barely a hearbeat.

Noel
Not sure of testing procedure, one does come across roll on tests articles, not sure how they stage them or line them up beside and go but that is what I read, I agree it is barely a heartbeat and I think the actual number was even smaller. I was always told ''Dont believe anything you see and only 50 percent of what you hear'', bottom line is both are fast powerful machines. I would never wind you guys up! I would like to smoke a few of you around some twisties FJ to FJ though on 16's.

Quote from: gumby302ho on October 18, 2016, 01:58:57 AM
....... I would never wind you guys up! I would like to smoke a few of you around some twisties FJ to FJ though on 16's.

Good onya Gumby, excellent reply. Yep, if there was a higher power that could police internet content for truth and accuracy, 95% of it would disappear tomorrow.  :biggrin:

Noel