Yamaha R15.. When you hear this, it reminds you of R1.. Doesn’t it?? Frankly speaking, I was a die heart fan of Herohonda Karizma. In fact before buying R15(RED),
I had booked Karizma Yellow(Which looks stunning with out any doubt). But then, I asked my brother who has a Yamaha R15(Blue) to let me ride his bike for a day or two. Thankfully he allowed me to unleash the machine and then I totally and completely changed my mind and in no time I bought R15.
Simple reasons why I bought this machine-
Looks stunning n there’s no comparison with any other Indian bikes.
Has 2 discs in both the front and rear tyres which are tubeless(So Safety is more than the traditional drums).
Mystery has it and youtube shows it- The bike can run in a max speed of about 150KMPH n I love speed n I doubt any other INDIAN bike would do that.
Has a liquid cooled engine.
The 6 Gears...
Now lemme stop there or else the points will go on n on n on..
Before buying R15, I was really confused as in to go for which Indian make. I had limited options-
Herohonda Karizma
Bajaj Pulsar-220
TVS Apache RTR160 FI(Was not that interested in this one though).
No doubt Pulsar 220 has tremendous amount of Power in it. I mean 20PS @ 8000RPM is too much of power for the indian roads with 220 CC. Some how the looks of Pulsar didn’t interest me.. But from the back all the pulsars look the same. Doesn’t it?
Now lets talk about HeroHonda Karizma- The best Indian bike till YAMAHA R15 arrived. The engine as huge as 223CC with 17PS @ 7000RPM not a bad one to ruffle with. My friends have this bike and I have ridden it with all the pleasure.
But gotta admit this, when the speedometer touched 125KMPHin Karizma the bike was not at all in my control. I felt as if a dog or a man will bump in to my bike on the roads(Which normally happens in our country) then I am gone.
But that’s not in the case of R15.. My bike has just crossed 1300 Mark and man what a bike this one is. Just finished with the 1st servicing and touched 123KMPH so far. The bike has very little sound as vibration of any kind. Smooth like the sweet music, the bike cruises through the roads like a Falcon in the sky.
Gives an average of around 40KMPL which I don’t think is bad at all.
The braking of the bike is better than any INDIAN bikes including Karizma and P220. Initial pickup is awesome. The 17ps @ 8500RPM engine generates such amount of torque and power that it touches 0-60 in around 4 seconds. And that too with an ease.
I bet once you ride this bike, you won’t feel like riding any other. But must say - the first couple of days will make you feel a lil awkward since the sitting position is completely different than the traditional INDIAN bikes. But soon you’ll start enjoying your rides.
I have gone to places around 100KM away from my town in my bike and trust me it’s an awesome feeling when you ride this one in a long drive.
Lot of ppl talk about the rear tyre of the bike. But the gripping is excellent with the original MRF tyres which I don’t think any other bike will give no matter how bigger and thicker the tyres are.
The digital console in the bike makes me feel as if I am sitting in the cockpit of a fighter plane. One thing I forgot to mention is the Deltabox frame. Because of such aerodynamic body based on a frame like that, the stability of this bike is incredible. You can only know after riding it. Anybody who wants to have fun with a bike and loves speed should go for Yamaha R15. and trust me you’ll have no regrets. But this one is not for the losers!
----------------2ND REVIEW--------------
Ok... It’s been like 2 months since I am riding my YAMAHA-R15(RED). So far my bike has crossed 2400KMs. I also have a Blue R15 which my brother rides and that has so far crossed 4000KMs.There are a lot of ppl n friends of mine asking me about the bike most of the time. Questions like the Mileage, speed, Control, Rear tyre, radiator n blah blah is very normal. So I thought of adding all that to the review, it might be a lil useful for a few ppl who are interested to buy one.
Few drawbacks of the bike(That’s completely my opinion)--The Horn of the bike ain’t that impressive. I mean Yamaha seriously gotta do some thing about it.
The digital Fuel indicator is a complete mess. Not that it has some problem or some thing, but it’s one of it’s kind and doesn’t show the exact amount of fuel that’s inside the tank. May be because I am used to my CBZ’s Fuel key which I used to rotate every time it ran on "Reserve". So guys it doesn’t have a fuel key..
Doesn’t have a Main stand.. Now that’s very interesting for a lot of ppl. Specially when I go to park my bike in a Bike stand, the stand guyz always ask me to put my bike into the main stand. But unfortunately for them the bike doesn’t have one.
Now lets talk about the Best things about this bike(Which is everything ;))- You drive this bike in 100+KMPH in a good road and it will make you feel as if you are riding in 50 or 60KMPH.
My high speed so far is 136KMPH n I think it’ll touch 145+ if the road allows it to.
Touches 0-60 in less than 4 Sec n 0-100 in less than 8.(Which I’ve already mentioned I guess)
I heard some ppl talking about pick up and stuff.. Well guyz this one’s a 150 cc don’t compare it with some 200+ cc with some 20PS engines. Even those 20PS engines can’t run as fast as it can.
The control of the bike is awesome. Delta box frame is the best that you can have with your bike. Braking is quite superb. Should always try with the 60-40 ratio(Rear 60% + front 40%).
Now it gives a pretty steady mileage of around 45KMPL in my city. I ride with an average speed of around 70-80KMPH most of the time. So I consider it as a good mileage.
There is very little noise from the engine while you ride it and it doesn’t disturb a bit when you give the full throttle.
One thing to be noted for the ppl who have tried it once or twice. It takes a lil time to get adjusted to the siting position of this bike. Trust me, once you ride it for some days then you won’t feel like riding any other bike be it Karizma/pulsar/apache/etc/etc.I’ll soon post another review after finishing my 2nd servicing.. Hope it’ll help some ppl understanding the bike better.. Till then RIDE SAFE.