My R15 has about 1000 kms on the odo and its a bit more seasoned for me for me to write an update review. What I’ve realized about the bike is that it’s like wine, matures as it ages. Let’s take the engine, it’s now a lot more free revvving, smoother & quieter.
There’s enough torque to handle the city traffic but the sweet spot is keeping the engine revving around the 5000 rpm mark, infact gears 3, 4, 5 beyond 4500 rpm the engine is silky and loves being pushed, beyond 7500 rpm the bike is really moving and in a flash you hit the red line of 10000 rpm with the speedo showing 3 digit numbers. No vibrations, no noises, just a low frequency hum from the engine, down shift and your hear a higher frequency hum, no complaints about being pushed hard. Surprisingly the engine seems to have transformed from a put puting 4 stroke to a very refined, responsive mill.
The breaking is another highlight, extremely effective to point that it makes the bike very forgiving of the riders faults, indeed coupled with its stellar handling characterstics, even if you misread your approach into a corner, the bike let’s you correct midway and again with no complaints it simply follows your inputs with no jitters. The other notable highlight is the suspension, especially the front, it’s perfect not too stiff or soft, soaks up the bumps admirably. The skinny tires again are top notch and hug the road like they’ve got glue on them. Being a light weight bike, highway riding with cross winds is not very pleasent but in the city it lets you play your heart out. I would say the strenghs apart from the obvious good looks, is the engine, handling, breaking, quality of fit & finish & technology (Diasil, deltabox, fuel injection) and the suspension. The bike can be uncomfortable for tall people, the tail could have been made to look more sportive and maybe a sub 1 lac pricing. All in all I think Yamaha have their act straight after many years in the boondocks.
Hi, I took delivery about a week ago, finally got a chance over the weekend to ride long enough to share some early impressions on the R15. I’m sure a lot many of you, like me, are scouring the net for information and hope this helps!.
I saw the R15 press release and stopped by the dealer in Chennai, he had just got his stock and assured me immediate delivery. Purely from a looks perspective, I guess most of us would agree this Yam is a stunner, I don’t think anything with those looks has graced our roads before. I found the fit and finish top notch, the quality of the paint, switches, plastic have all raised the bar a few notches up. Ofcourse the saree guard is a stark reminder of our MV act and was the first thing I unbolted upon delivery. The tires do look puny but more on that later. Swing your legs over and I was amazed how everything fell in place nicely, the seating position is near perfect, those of you who have burnt rubber on the tracks will appreciate contours on the tank that let you grip nicely. However, I did observe that really tall people may find things a bit cramped. Push the starter button and the little 150 CC heart sputters to life, here I was a bit disappointed, I used to love the throaty gurgle of the RD350 & the full blooded scream of teh Rx100, the R15 in comparison comes across docile, almost silent. However what the engine lacks in acoustic effects it makes up on the road. A gentle tap on the shifter peddle, ease the clutch, the R15 glides on the tarmac, 2nd gear has enough torque to pull through from stand still, 3rd gear lets you sputter around in 25 kmph traffic, making routine commute a breeze. But where engine shines is when you twist the throttle, cross the 5500 rpm and the R15 is in its element, the bike cajoles you to open up and even though my bike is still running in, I did do a quick sprint past 8000 rpm and the engine showed no sign of running out of steam (It has slightly longer bore, this helps). This fiesty perfromance red lines at 10500 rpm and I have a feeling given half a chance the R15 will quickly hit that mark. But where the bike truely melted my heart was the handling, line it up into a nice corner, some courage to lean hard into the turn and you have poetry in motion. There is total harmony between the road and the wheels, both the front and the rear shocks have the right stiffness, there absolutely no lateral movement, the rear simply follows obediently. Those thin tyres..., somehow seem to defy logic and hug the road and whatever MRF has done, they’ve again upped the bar. The breaking is par excellence. So does this all qualify for a premium price tag, well I guess how deep your pockets are and how crazy a biker you are in your heart. How does it stack up against the pulser 220, no idea. Its been 15 years since I’ve owned a bike, the last one was sold off by the wife when I was on a business trip to the US, the R15 gave me a grin ear to ear.