Muscle Bikes Part 3: The VMax and Friends

In the early 1980’s the Japanese motorcycle manufacturers decided they wanted a piece of Harley’s cruiser action. The market filled with Honda Shadows, Suzuki Intruders, Kawasaki Vulcans, and Yamaha Viragos. None of these bikes could really be considered muscle bikes however. But in 1985 Yamaha took the idea of the cruiser and added an interesting twist, they gave it the most powerful engine in the industry. The Yamaha VMax was born. Even today the VMax can be considered the quintessential muscle bike. It was powered by a liquid cooled dual overhead cam V four that made 145 horse power which was packed into a cruiser type chassis. The rest of the manufacturers fallowed suit with the Suzuki Madura and Honda Sabre and Magna each of which were V four powered cruisers. Kawasaki took a different route with their Eliminator a traditional inline four in a drag bike type design. These bikes began to fade away in the 80’s and 90’s with only the original VMax surviving. The VMax continued on in its original form until 2009 when it was redesigned.