The Yamaha Vmax is the motorcycle equivalent of Chuck Norris on a kicking spree - it won't let up till you can take no more. When launched in 1985, the VMax created a storm of garguantuan proportions in the motorcycle world. Here was a bike that thrived in the thrill of going in any direction you might point it, as long as it was straight ahead. Judging from that fact alone, it's no wonder really that the VMax was designed and consequently first launched in the US of A, the only place in the world where the roads don't ever take a turn. So if you've missed an exit on the US superslab, you'll just have to ride straight ahead, cut through Russia, then come back to where you had begun and have another go.
Motorcyclists love the twisties, but the VMax rider will have none of that. He'll pulverise every crotch rocket in the race to the next stop light. He wants his shots of thrust straight up, just like that. And he wants them in the largest quantities possible. This was the motorcycle for the megalomaniac, the only thing on two wheels that could satisfy that heady feeling which only commanding near-limitless power can bring. They used to say, with much awe and respect, that the rear tyres on the Vmax 'led short but exciting lives'. In a plume of smoke, those tyres reached up to the Gods and yes, they were amply pleased. Yamaha was on to something - the Vmax, when launched, was something that couldn't quite fit into motorcycle genres of the time. Cruiser? Er, no. Sports bike? Nope again. Adventure/trailee? Not by a stretch. This was the bike that was the Mopar Challenger of the bike world. And a new breed of motorcycle was born - the muscle bike.
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