When I saw the R15(at this time I was not familiar with the
model and thought it was a modified
attempt of an R6) in a parking lot near my
house, my first reaction was, “its not a super bike but very close to being one”. This got me
thinking, who would have modified this piece of machinery in Karol Bagh? As I
am familiar with most of the ‘bike modifiers’ in KB and their quality levels I
looked closer but surprisingly this bike did not carry a ‘Made In KB’ badge. So
my curiosity got me thinking and pushed me to find out. I believe thoughts have
a way of traveling faster than lightning …the owner of this machine walked out
of the house and to my surprise mentioned that it was actually Made in India,
he offered me a test ride and we discussed its specs. Later that evening after
reconfirming my thoughts, my past biking experience and my knowledge on biking
I felt the urge of having this bike. This lead me to the Yamaha showroom which in
itself was a first, I never thought will happen in this lifetime cos I have
never been a Yamaha fan or of the models they had to offer. But then
happens and this time it really did. Now there I see an R15, which to me is a
brilliant attempt. Mesmerized by the looks I inquired bout it n soon booked one
for me. I checked out their other international offerings(a good showroom Visual
display to actually sell their albas and gladiators) the R1 and? What’s the
other one? Thatz when I first saw the FZ16 displayed for the first time, I
further enquired about the bike from the Sales man, in fact I remember asking
him “what’s the six digit price for this”
to which he gave me its actual 5 Digit Figure and
I think that’s when my water broke, this bit.h standing next R1 almost made me
thinking its the international offering
one of those visual merchandise and the bi#@h ain’t stop grinning. You
really can’t blame me for that 41mm front fork(the R1 has 46mm) a beastly
looking exhaust, a mono shock, the speedometer which instantly reminded me of
triumph speed three(the famous mission impossible bike sequence …remember, Tom
Cruise) and completely digital, the fuel tank looked like a flawless design
experiment, a sticker job which is truly subdued and hard to find on Indian
bikes and the tires, now are you kiddin. Well, as they say, the rest is history
and after two weeks of waiting rather impatiently for the meatiest looking bike
ever to be produced in India, a black FZ16 is smiling in my parking lot. That’s
about it I will update with the performance quotient after 500Kms, which if I
know myself will happen sooner than I can expect. Cheers