Hey all, this past weekend a bunch of us went to Niehaus Honda's open house in Litchfield Illinois to check out Honda's 09 line up and to get some free goodies from Honda.

Niehaus had American Honda and Yamaha USA on hand for factory test rides of their 09 street bikes.

I hade the opportunty to Ride Yamaha's VMax and FZ6R.

I will start off with the FZ6R.

The bike was very quiet and smooth, handling was good, no vibrations the bike tracked straight and braked good.

The transmission sucked! Big gaps between gears and the slightest touch of the shifter in any gear put the bike in neutral.

Over all power wise the bike was a puppy. the bike was smooth all the way to red line but had no punch of power at all, nothing. It was like it was missing 30 HP?

A perfect starter bike.

The VMAX was a different story.

The bike claims to be the worlds fastest street bike and I had to see for my self.

Yamaha had 2 VMAX's to test my buddy Todd got one and I signed up for the other.

First I am 6ft tall and when I got on the bike I had to tippy toe to stand the bike up standing still?

This bike is a cruiser and it's like getting on a dirt bike...

The handle bars are like something off a rupp mini bike and the controls are difficult to master.

The mirrors both left and right only show reflections of your arms and the transmission is like the FZ6R, sloppy.

The tank is huge and combersome, the foot pegs are some where between cruiser and supercrosser.

The VMAX putts around in first and second gear and is very well mannered, but once you crack the throttle that is where things change and quickly.

Third gear and the bike takes off and pulls with such force it could rip your helmet off, click 4th gear and you at 100+ mph and all of this happened in less than 1 mile of roadway.

I would back off and roll on 5th gear from 55 mph and the bike would pull with a force like you feel when your in a jet aircraft taking off the runway...

I smoke a R6 in the 55mph roll on!

I never had a chance to click 6th gear and I am not even sure it had a 6th gear to be honest with you all, It would pin my arm back to full lock and it was all I could do was hold on for dear life, this bike is sure to kill unexperienced riders!

The VMAX is super fast, too fast!

I would not purchase either bike.

SIRR1

 

haha. thats what 200 hp will do to ya, no matter how heavy it is.

Didnt get a chance to ride the new R1? Ive heard some amazing things about the engine,(cant stand the sound of it myself), but then have also heard some bad things too. I cant stand the looks of em either, but I still want to ride one. lol

Thats odd about the transmissions. Normally, Yamaha has a great smooth transmission.

 

Yeah, my 06 R6 transmission was smooth as butter. A lot nicer than the 929, but the R6 was new and the 929 has almost 15k on it, so it's not a fair comparison.