Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128208
IIIIIIRIEC:J - or maybe all the muesli they eat for breakfast - but this helps explain why the Swiss market has consumed such a high proportion of V-Max production through the years and why such a good part of Fritz Egli's business today is devoted to making the Max even madder for his customers around the world and especially in Europe's GeTman-speaking countries. Since inventing the cafe racer more than 35 yea rs ago with his first Egli-Vincent V-twin racer with lights, Egli has run the gamut of twowheeled excess, producing 3000 or so handbuilt ultrabikes powered by a variety of engines ranging in complexity from one to six cylinders, variously turbocharged, supercharged, or plain tuned out of sight, each installed in his own trademark spineframe chassis design. These are constructed to customer order, south of Zurich in the converted hilltop lumber store that comprises the Egli factory, alongside the array of tuned American V8 muscle car engines, which for the past 26 years have been Fritz's core business, and their two-wheeled equivalents, the Egli-modified V4 Yamaha V-Maxes. Oh, and don't forget three wheels: Some of Fritz's V-Max customers have a sidecar fitted to their bikes! "The first time I heard a V-Max running back in 1985, I got the same feeling as listening to one of our small-block Chevy VB car engines," said Egli, taking a trip down memory lane. "It had the same rumbling sound, the same firing order and the same prodigious torque, which made it the king of the stoplight Grand Prix. It was very powerful for a street bike, with more horsepower than a 500cc GP racer back then! Straightaway, I knew I wanted to work on·it - and when I did, I realized it's a very good, 50 APRIL 9, 2003' cue I e Egli Yamaha V-Max 1500 very harmonic bike, with looks that have never dated. Yamaha designed it extremely well, all of one piece . there's no need to go to a special chassis, as we did with so many other engines. It's an excellent package, which for some crazy reason the official Yamaha importer wouldn't sell at first, because he said it was 'not suitable for the Swiss market'! We went to the U.S.A. to obtain stocks and so far have brought in more than 1200 of the full-power 140-bhp versions. Then, when he saw we were doing so well, he decided to start importing them himself but by then could only get stocks of the 100-bhp Japanmarket version! It's been a pleasure to import and sell them to happy customers who kept coming back, asking for the aftermarket parts we were able to develop. It's a bike that was born well, has enjoyed a long life and is still in good health!" One that's also enabled Egli to give full flight to his creative talents, in mainly cosmetic but also engineering senses. "V-Max enthusiasts are a bit special," Egli said. "They like to personalize their bike, and while I happen to prefer it looking just like Yamaha made it, recognizing that the customer is always right has allowed us to build up a big business making customized V-Maxes. We have a great workshop crew who like working on the bikes and know them very well - they can detect problems and fix them, like improving the chassis a little by stiffening it, and eliminating the compromises that come with volume production. This includes truing up the headstock, which can be up to 15mm [.6 inch] out of alignment, fitting higher-quality taper-roller bearings, and so on. It's like anything you work on a lot - you learn how to make it better." Inevitably, therefore, the urge came to further max out Mr. Max's already mighty performance as delivered by Yamaha - but unlike the many other Japanese bike engines he's extracted obscene horsepower figures from through the years, when first turning to the V4 16-valve dohc V-Max motor, Egli was in for a rude shock. "After working on so many Japanese four-cylinder engines, which we've developed to produce up to 200 bhp in street use, we expected it would be quite easy to get extra performance from the V-Max," he admitted. "But though I'd like to tell you about all the wonderful things we've done inside the motor, based on our previous extensive experience of engine tuning, the fact is that the way it comes from Yamaha, it's hard to beat! We achieved a little gain by with some careful porting and dropping in Honda camshafts, but this was at the expense of midrange and torque porting it doesn't bring much improvement like it does on other bikes, because the way that Yamaha send it from the factory is very, very good. The only improvement we could find was to effectively increase the size of the stock valves by 1.5mm each, by modifying the valve seats to blend them in better to the head. Even after experimenting with all types of fancy carbs, we had to accept that the standard Mikunis properly set up are the best choice! We also spent a lot of time trying to, improve the shape of the combustion chamber but once again had to admit defeat, and even the exhaust syste is very good. We tried every available aftermarket exhaust and even developed one of our own - but while we gained a lot of noise, we lost performance. Very frustrating! In the end, all we do is retain the stock headers and modify the muffler slightly by cutting it open and clearing out one of the three chambers inside a little to make it freer-flowing. But the Yama-