VMax Power Cruiser

The 2009 Star Motorcycles' VMax was unveiled in a cloud of smoking rubber Tuesday night, which was appropriate considering the many burnouts this 197.4-horsepower machine will inspire when it hits the market in October. Powered with four cylinders configured into a 65-degree V, the new VMax is also likely to flatten a few eyeballs -- not just from its 123 pound-feet of torque, but its brooding and masculine profile. The new VMax is black, but if it were green, it would be the Incredible Hulk of motorcycles. A 1,679 cc beast of a machine, it gulps air through the huge scoops protruding from its sides, then forces it down the engine's 16-valve throat and out the catalyzed, 4-1-2-4 titanium exhaust jutting from its haunches.
The VMax first came on the market in 1985. It's received only minor updates and color changes in the years since. But for 2009, Star has gone all out, outfitting the bike with fuel injection, anti-lock brakes and many of the same MotoGP-derived technologies it uses on its supersport models, i.e. a slipper clutch and computer-controlled throttle and intake systems to deliver power more responsively. The chassis has also been updated with an all-aluminum frame that uses the engine as a stressed member and jacked-up components that can handle some major thrashing, i.e. 52 mm titanium-coated fork tubes and 6-piston-caliper, 320 mm wave rotor brakes on the front.