[TX_Biker]

It looks like there are a few Warriors within a couple hours of me under $4k.

I think I'll just keep an eye on my local craigslist and if I can find a low mileage one for $3,500 in the next 6 months or so I'll be happy.

 

[jkden]

I will shamelessly promote the Warrior, you will not regret it. Aluminum frame which lightens it up a good 70-100 lbs over other cruisers the same dimensions. You are still tipping 600 lbs wet but that is better than 700. The 102" motor stock from 2002, puts out more than the silly HD 103" "screaming turkey" anemic lawnmower engine today. And parts are cheap and relatively plentiful on eBay. Plus, if you have old R1 parts from 98-03, many of them will fit straight on a Warrior like brakes forks and calipers they are straight across. The Warrior uses R1 suspension and brakes, and Z rated radials. It really does handle very well even now it is recognized as one of the best turning big "cruisers". It does not compare with a crotch-rocket not even close but that is not what you get it for; however, it is almost "flickable" and drops into a turn reasonably well...

Check out the mods, most guys do some sort of big air kit and get one with aftermarket pipes... the V&H 2-1 gives great power but a 2-2 with H pipe is close. You are buying torque not necessarily HP, but a Warrior with a few upgrades will give you 85-90 HP and 100-115 ft-lbs TQ. You will top out only about 130-135 mph but you get there quick (for a cruiser) and hit the 5200 rpm rev limiter quickly. Seriously I like taking the Warrior out as much as my R1, for different reasons. I am very lucky to have both.

 

[TX_Biker]

I will shamelessly promote the Warrior, you will not regret it. Aluminum frame which lightens it up a good 70-100 lbs over other cruisers the same dimensions. You are still tipping 600 lbs wet but that is better than 700. The 102" motor stock from 2002, puts out more than the silly HD 103" "screaming turkey" anemic lawnmower engine today. And parts are cheap and relatively plentiful on eBay. Plus, if you have old R1 parts from 98-03, many of them will fit straight on a Warrior like brakes forks and calipers they are straight across. The Warrior uses R1 suspension and brakes, and Z rated radials. It really does handle very well even now it is recognized as one of the best turning big "cruisers". It does not compare with a crotch-rocket not even close but that is not what you get it for; however, it is almost "flickable" and drops into a turn reasonably well...

Check out the mods, most guys do some sort of big air kit and get one with aftermarket pipes... the V&H 2-1 gives great power but a 2-2 with H pipe is close. You are buying torque not necessarily HP, but a Warrior with a few upgrades will give you 85-90 HP and 100-115 ft-lbs TQ. You will top out only about 130-135 mph but you get there quick (for a cruiser) and hit the 5200 rpm rev limiter quickly. Seriously I like taking the Warrior out as much as my R1, for different reasons. I am very lucky to have both.

Appreciate all the feedback from someone with firsthand info. I understand I'm not going to get near the acceleration or handling that I get from my R1, but like you said that's not what I'm buying it for. I just don't want something that handles and accelerates like a complete turd haha.

 

[jkden]

I got a Powercommander ignition module as well that raises the rev limiter to 5700 rpm so it will top out like 138-140 mph fast enough. It gets hard to keep the feet on the forward pegs much above 110... lots of pictures of mine in my garage and profile.

I had a Vstar 1100 nice cruiser and nice looks but not enough power. 2008 Road star classic was badass and fun like being on an EZ boy recliner at 90 mph all day long down the highway but the handling was heavy, or in other words "normal" for a cruiser. Raider handled well for such a big chopper, but the Warrior did handle better, with better suspension. If you cross a typical classic heavy clunky cruiser with a crotch rocket, the RS Warrior is the offspring right in the middle of the 2 classes.

Good luck finding one... I spend as much time on RSwarrior.com, as I do on this forum.

 

[ussprinceton]

back in 2011, I got an '07 Honda Shadow 750 for $3k, with only 3k miles

 

[jkden]

I bought a 2010 Shadow Phantom as my first bike, it was a great little machine and looked pretty nice all blacked out... quickly outgrew it however. I recommend spend an extra thousand bucks and get more than twice the bike, have already stated my preferences for cruisers...

 

[TX_Biker]

Any thoughts on the Honda VTX1300? I'd still rather have a warrior, but there's a on craigslist locally for $2,000. 2004 with 24k miles.

 

[Carne Seca]

no midnight warrior. no care.


the midnight is obviously the fastest warrior. the pinstripe definitely helps in the twisties. :kekekegay:


but seriously the warrior is awesome. i miss mine. but i traded it in toward my 15 r1. so im getting over it.

 

[Banky]

I said it before but maybe it got passed over, for 3K you can get the fastest "cruiser" within any reasonable price range, the Gen 1 Vmax is a 1197cc V4 that has Vboost, which makes the bike a fun ride up to about 6500rpm, then hold the **** on. It acts like a 2stroke beyond that when the Vboost kicks in.

It is literally like having a a supercharged nova 350 or something lol, and I used to play with sportbikes on the back roads out here in North Western Virginia, it won't keep up with stuff on the mountain roads but when your on the back roads, someone would have to drag a knee to get away from you.

At the wheel, mine made 120hp and either 79 or 80ftlbs, it was a beast. NEVER had any mechanical issues with it.

with the not well kept ones, the carb gaskets and the vboost seals are the only things that really go bad. Have a FULL carb rebuld and vboost rebuild and it will run like a top for another 10 years.

1987-2008 are all the same...... they didn't need to change anything. in 1985 it did the fastest street legal quarter mile for a factory bike at 10.33 at 127.83mph STOCK :fact

 

[TX_Biker]

If it's not sold by Friday I'm going to go look at this one:

http://houston.craigslist.org/mcy/5435960592.html

 

[Obijack]

If it's not sold by Friday I'm going to go look at this one:

1997 YAMAHA VMAX

That is sweet!

 

[Banky]

If it's not sold by Friday I'm going to go look at this one:

1997 YAMAHA VMAX

So, the only thing to look out for is if it sputters or bogs out when low RPM or when you try to get into Vboost, ask if he ever had his headlight apart, if you dont pack the headlight wires back in correctly you can wear them raw and they will ground out and fry the voltage regulator. Once this happens people will chase an electrical problem with Wires and coils, then voltage regulators, then fuses and so on and so on, sometimes it will be hit or miss, if it does it wiggle the S*** out of the head light and ride it some more.

If you hear a pop when idleing after going really slow, like if you come out of a driveway and you slow down for an immediate stop sign, its just the jets, it means you need to get it rejetted for your area. Mine did that until I moved to the mountains.

You should be able to dang near bunny hop the thing from a stop, like a dirtbike. its the shaft play and the TQ. if it doesn't snap the heck out of you if you roll at like 3mph and wrap the throttle, than the carbs are not tuned or need to be rebuilt.

You should be able to launch it like a Car, tiny clutch LOTS of throttle.

Ride it like you would drive a muscle car, if its not impressive than somethings wrong with it.


All this said, that is a killer price for a pretty clean looking somewhat *tastefully* modified Vmax.


Oh, and ask him to let you WATCH him cold start it, Vmax's are horrible at cold starts which would normally turn off a buyer who isnt used to BIG cc carb bikes, he will probably have to try to start it with the choke 2-3 times until it fires. let it run for a while and turn the choke off, once its really warm if it still backfires like its cold and choking somethings not right.

Vmax's choke and sputter if you rev them when they are cold WAY WAY worse than a small cc bike.

 

[Obijack]

Man banky that is some good insight. All this Vmax talk makes me wanna go get one.

 

[Banky]

Man banky that is some good insight. All this Vmax talk makes me wanna go get one.

:fact

 

[Obijack]

Found one
97 Yamaha vmax

 

[TX_Biker]

So, the only thing to look out for is if it sputters or bogs out when low RPM or when you try to get into Vboost, ask if he ever had his headlight apart, if you dont pack the headlight wires back in correctly you can wear them raw and they will ground out and fry the voltage regulator. Once this happens people will chase an electrical problem with Wires and coils, then voltage regulators, then fuses and so on and so on, sometimes it will be hit or miss, if it does it wiggle the S*** out of the head light and ride it some more.

If you hear a pop when idleing after going really slow, like if you come out of a driveway and you slow down for an immediate stop sign, its just the jets, it means you need to get it rejetted for your area. Mine did that until I moved to the mountains.

You should be able to dang near bunny hop the thing from a stop, like a dirtbike. its the shaft play and the TQ. if it doesn't snap the heck out of you if you roll at like 3mph and wrap the throttle, than the carbs are not tuned or need to be rebuilt.

You should be able to launch it like a Car, tiny clutch LOTS of throttle.

Ride it like you would drive a muscle car, if its not impressive than somethings wrong with it.


All this said, that is a killer price for a pretty clean looking somewhat *tastefully* modified Vmax.


Oh, and ask him to let you WATCH him cold start it, Vmax's are horrible at cold starts which would normally turn off a buyer who isnt used to BIG cc carb bikes, he will probably have to try to start it with the choke 2-3 times until it fires. let it run for a while and turn the choke off, once its really warm if it still backfires like its cold and choking somethings not right.

Vmax's choke and sputter if you rev them when they are cold WAY WAY worse than a small cc bike.

Thanks, that is some great info.

How does it handle in your opinion? I've read some mixed reviews online, some say it handles decent and other say it handles "like a drunk girl on a copy machine".

From talking to the guy, he's had the bike only about 2 years. The one thing that has me worried is he says he repainted it black (originally silver), but claims there was no damage he just wanted a different color. But he pulled the fenders off and didn't paint those, which is king of weird but oh well.

I wish it was closer to me or I'd be there right now. It's a 3 hour drive so I have to wait until I'm off work Friday.

 

[Banky]

Thanks, that is some great info.

How does it handle in your opinion? I've read some mixed reviews online, some say it handles decent and other say it handles "like a drunk girl on a copy machine".

From talking to the guy, he's had the bike only about 2 years. The one thing that has me worried is he says he repainted it black (originally silver), but claims there was no damage he just wanted a different color. But he pulled the fenders off and didn't paint those, which is king of weird but oh well.

I wish it was closer to me or I'd be there right now. It's a 3 hour drive so I have to wait until I'm off work Friday.

The handling is what youd expect for a cruiser, BUT like I said, I would joke around with sportbike guys and as long as they werent REALLY getting it, you can keep up no sweat, it handles heavy, but not really sluggish IMO, its fairly stable, I only had the bike start to rock like a boat a few times in a corner but LOL im draging pegs so take that with a grain of salt. I had NO problem taking it on country roads and even enjoyed riding the mountain passes, you just gotta go in a little slower so you don't drag, and when I say it drags pegs, it only does it when you REALLY get into the turn and dont hang off just a little..... It does NOT drag like a bagger, where every turn is a scratcher. Its hard to explain, its a MUSCLE CAR not a Lincoln.
Harleys are surley more comfortable, but no where near as fun. its the heart of a sportbike but has almost the comfort of an "old man bike".

About the painted parts..... Its a toss up, he may have dropped it, but probably didn't wreck it. The air scoops are not real, they are asthetic on the Gen1, they are made of Alluminum and they are POLISHED and clear coated fromthe factory, very very hard to fix on the cheap if you drop the bike, and very VERY hard to find in mint condition to replace. I ended up painting a second set black just to get rid of a little of the shiny stuff. I'll put up some photos.

He may have had some clear coat imperfections or just wanted it to look more like a *night rod*. You should be able to tell if the parts were re buffed and painted, they are pretty angular and well sculpted. Listen to me, LOL i want mine back now.....

another thing about these is the steering head, if it is improperly tightened and or not greased, it has HORRIBLE head shake, usually in the form of a handle bar shake or vibration, when it gets worse, if your going about 40ish and just completely let OFF the throttle the handlebars will death wobble. if this happens ITS OK, its easy to fix with proper maintenance, he has new tires so if they shake its the steering head and he replaced the tires to try and fix it, or it just needed new tires lol.

Ill put up a few of my pics. Just remember mine was an very well kept bike that I bought from the 1st owner who kept it in his HOUSE lol, it had never seen water for crying out loud, he washed the bike with cleaners and polishing spray lol.


Well, its not letting me put up photos right not photos are too big lol ..... Sorry :icon_eek:

 

[TX_Biker]

I am heading out to look at the bike first thing in the morning. I hope it checks out.

 

[TX_Biker]

:d :d

 

[TX_Biker]

I bought that vmax. It's awesome. Paid the full $2500, but sold a dirtbike within an hour after getting home from getting the vmax for $1200, so if you take that into account I got the vmax for about what I paid for the exhaust on my R1 lmao.

The bike was pretty clean, especially considering the year and the only things I found were a scratch underneath the left exhaust, and a small bubble/ding in the paint on the top left corner of the fake gas tank.

He told me he painted it because he didn't like the original silver color, and was going for a "cast iron" look. I think he got it, but I don't particularly care for it. I'm probably going to repaint it flat black, paint the front fender flat black and put it back on the bike, but leave the rear fender off.

The bike had aftermarket bars and mirrors, I like the reach to the bars so I'll leave those alone, can't see much out of the mirrors but oh well. The bars are straighter than stock.

I like the riding position of the bike, with the pegs directly below the seat. Makes it easy to stand up on the pegs if I feel like it, and a bit more aggressive than a typical cruiser. I'm about 6'2", and my knees hit the fake air duct things, and it bugged me on my test ride but I rode some more and it's not too bad. Might look into rearsets or a different seat to keep my knees from bumping. The guy I bought it from put highway pegs on the bike and they're nice to stretch out on.

The one thing the bike needs right away is a fork rebuild. They're extremely soft, probably low on oil or ran out of oil. Don't really notice it going straight, but it feels squirrelly hitting potholes or speed bumps, especially turning and hitting a bump at the same time. I didn't notice any headshake, but I may replace the steering bearing just for peace of mind. I'm going to do an engine oil change in the next few days. Even with the sloppy forks I was pleasantly surprised with how the bike turned and especially with how easy it was to maneuver at parking lot speeds. Better than any cruiser I'd ridden (not that many).

Feeling the brake rotors with my hands they're a bit warped and could use some new ones, but there is no shake while braking and it stops fine. I'll replace the rotors soon.

The Vboost is awesome. So much fun to hit it. The R1 still obviously takes the cake for power, but the Vmax has enough to keep me interested, which is what I was looking for.

Overall very happy with my purchase.