700/750 Maxim-X Menu

Freelance  Article, July 11, 2008

Although this article refers specifically to the Yamaha 750 Maxim-X Model XJ750X, it applies equally to the 700 Maxim-X Model XJ700X. The two models were identical in every respect except for engine displacement and related performance. While Canada and other countries internationally enjoyed the 750cc version of the Maxim-X, tariffs limited U.S. imports of motorcyles to those of 700cc's and less, which led to production of the destroked XJ700X for the U.S. market. But even at a 50cc deficit, the 700X surely elicits the same response and long-term dedication from its U.S owners.



Maxim-X Makes A Great Urban Cruiser

Minuscule fuel capacity, spine-jarring ride are not enough to break this
decades-long love affair between man and machine.



When he first sat on a Yamaha Maxim X at a motorcycle show, Vic Peel knew he was going to get one of his own. What he didn't know then was how long he'd keep it.

But the years rolled by and the 48-year-old Peel and his rare machine are now into their 24th season together.

Peel was 25 when he took delivery of his new 1985 Yamaha Maxim X one June day. He was with the Canadian Armed Forces at the time, stationed at CFB Chilliwack, 100 kilometres east of Vancouver. Six weeks earlier, Peel had taken a Maxim X for a test ride.

"I was utterly amazed at how fast it was," he recalls.

In January 1985, he had sat on a Maxim X at a motorcycle show at Vancouver's B.C. Place Stadium. His girlfriend snapped his picture.

"I knew then that I was going to get one," Peel said.

Peel's enthusiasm for the newly developed specialty model had started before the motorcycle show. He first read test reports in magazines, then pored over the sales brochure.

Peel traded in his 1982 Maxim 650 on the Maxim X at the same Chilliwack Yamaha dealership where he had purchased the first bike. The two Yamahas are the only motorcycles Peel has owned. The Maxim X retailed for $4,700.

What is a Maxim X? First let's explain the Maxim. It was introduced on this continent as a 1980 offering, among the first of the Japanese "cruiser" class. It had a low-slung, laid-back custom look with swept-back handlebars, a teardrop fuel tank, low seat, forward-placed foot pegs, lots of chrome, a short sissy bar and cast wheels -- spoked wheels were fast becoming obsolete on Japanese motorcycles. Maintenance-free shaft drive would become a Maxim hallmark.

The "factory custom" look was meant for urban cruising, and this class of bike would grow quickly. Entries were soon fielded by the other members of Japanese motorcycling -- Honda, Suzuki and Kawasaki.

"They were trying to mimic Harley (Davidson) but they didn't," Peel said. "From today's perspective, they have a unique style, which I prefer."

The Maxim X (model XJ750X) was only sold for the 1985 and 1986 model years. The fearfully fast machine was dubbed a "muscle cruiser," combining the best elements of performance, style and comfort. Its engine was a 90 horsepower, water-cooled, 750-c.c. inline four-cylinder, capped by the industry's first production five-valve-per-cylinder head -- three intake, two exhaust. (The non-X Maxim had two valves per cylinder, air cooling, and 16 fewer hp.)

Development of the Maxim X stemmed from successful racing technology. The head originated in the "Genesis" engine which, in Yamaha's FZ750, dominated the sport bike class.

Maxim X appearance signatures included chrome and brushed aluminum trim accents, chromed "bullet" instrument pods, a "power path" styling sweep that traced the airflow from air box to carburetor to combustion chamber to exhaust. It had a five-spoke cast front wheel and a slotted aluminum disc-type rear wheel that was styled differently on each side.

Peel soon found how quick his street samurai was at stoplight shoot-outs.

"I could keep up to litre-size sport bikes, amazingly enough," he said. "It was a good sleeper bike -- a mid-'80s cruiser with the heart of a sport bike," thanks to its broad power band and free-breathing valvetrain.

In April 1986, Peel became a civilian again after being granted an honourable discharge from the armed forces. Soon afterward, he moved from Chilliwack to St. Albert, where he had grown up. He and the "X" have been in St. Albert ever since.

No other bike has tempted Peel enough to give up his dark blue motorized missile.

"The new cruiser bikes are as big and expensive as Harleys," he says. "They push the style of a Harley. V-Twin air-cooled engines are the norm -- it's the bad-boy biker look."

Every year, Peel likes his Yamaha more.

In the mid-'90s he took it to the drag strip a few times. He had no difficulty running the quarter mile in 12.8 seconds. To date, the bike has accumulated nearly 108,000 kilometres.

"I haven't done much to it," said Peel, who has performed his own maintenance and basic repairs. He's had the forward seat portion re-upholstered, and in 2001 he was without the Yamaha while the engine was reconditioned. It got new connecting-rod bearings and other internal bearings, and a new chain drive from the crankshaft to the transmission.

Although Peel has ridden the X round-trip to the West Coast about four times, he keeps his journeys short nowadays. The bike is at the age that an electrical gremlin could cause a breakdown, something he's not willing to chance on long trips. In addition, the Yamaha induces spine soreness over an extended ride, while the minuscule fuel capacity hampers long-distance cruising range.

Peel, who now works as a driver for a wholesale building supply company, is not the rev-monster he once was -- "I've toned it down," he says. And performance technology has made quantum leaps since his bike was manufactured, making it less of a threatening projectile than it once was. But an occasional unsuspecting challenger gets caught off guard by the 20-valve retro-rocket.

by Dan Wells - Freelance Article, July 11, 2008