Meet Mr. Max

MEET MR. MAX

ROUNDUP

AFTER NEARLY A QUARTERcentury, one of motor cycling’s longeststanding performance icons has been reborn. Last month, our world-exclusive preview, “Back In Black,” gave readers a detailed first look at the 2009 Yamaha Star V-Max, an all-new, 197-horsepower remake of the famous “power cruiser” that first lit up the streets back in 1985.

A week or so after seeing the new Max for the first time, I was able to spend some time with Hajime Nakaaki (Ha-GEE-may Nock-a-OCK-ee), the Project Leader for the bike’s development program. He’s a longtime enthusiast who ranks sportbikes-including Ducatis-as his favorites but who also has affection for a wide range of others, including H-D Sportsters.

Development for the new VMax began almost 10 years ago, but Nakaaki-previously the primary chassis designer for quite a few other Yamahaswasn’t named project leader until 2003.

Numerous engineering and design concepts had been experimented with up until that time, and Nakaaki was given the task of synthesizing that information into a production motorcycle that would meet all the requisite goals.

"My biggest challenge was using a very large V-Four engine to pro duce just the right bal ance between power and comfort," he says. "We wanted the rider to feel almost like he is riding just on an engine. The chassis had to be very good to control the power, but we wanted it to be `invisible' to the rider."

Although the motorcycle the engineers had in mind needed to possess awe-inspiring acceleration, it also had to be both stable and agilewhich, for a bike so large, can be a contradiction in terms. “It was very important for the bike not to create any fear in the mind of the rider,” said Nakaaki.

“The rider must enjoy the experience or the bike will not be successful.”

Externally, at least, this new V-Max looks practically identical to the showbike that appeared in the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show. When I asked why it has taken more than 2/4 years to get that bike into production, Nakaaki answered without hesitation. “The Tokyo bike might have looked final, but it did not have the exact power and comfort and stability I knew it must have. The ‘feeling’ of the acceleration also was not yet correct. Getting these things just right took much time.” More time, in fact, than pleased Yamaha’s upper management. “The president kept asking me why development of this model was taking so long,” confessed Nakaaki. “He told me it was the most expensive development of any motorcycle Yamaha had ever made.”

Engine displacement was another matter that chewed up a lot of R&D hours. “We tried several engine sizes,” said Nakaaki, “some bigger, some smaller. We liked this size best. The bigger engines made the acceleration too easy; it wasn’t exciting enough. And the

smaller ones did not produce enough acceleration. We thought this engine with this bore and stroke gave the best acceleration, smoothness and feeling, and the best physical size for a V-Max, too.”

Given that the engine produces a claimed 197 hp, I asked Nakaaki if there were „ any sensitivities or concerns about making too much power. I wondered if management had mandated that the hp output could not reach or exceed 200 for fear of raising a few eyebrows in all the wrong places. “Not at all,” he replied. “After we reached the desired acceleration, comfort, feeling and smoothness, and met all emissions standards, this is the power that resulted. If the power had been more than 200, that’s what the engine would now have.”

Same goes for the electronically controlled 220 kph top speed. “No one told us that this must be the highest speed. We felt that with no fairing and an upright riding position, 220 kph (137 mph) was not only a reasonable maximum speed, it was in keeping with the concept of the V-Max, which is not a racetrack bike.

“Developing this motorcycle was very challenging, but it also gave us much freedom because it has no competition. There is nothing else like a V-Max. During its 10 years of development, no one here has ever forgotten that.” Paul Dean