My friend bought this bike in June 2009 and by July 2009 end we had driven 3000 kms, out of which I had rode it for about 800-900 kms. Let me explain how the bike behaves and the feelings which my friend went through while owning this bike for 3000 kms.
Comfort :
It’s an amazing beast once you know how to romance it... Mostly we are used to sitting in upright position and this bike is different, your body needs to bend to atleast 45-60 deg for good riding position. Till you get adjusted, you might feel pain in your wrists, since you might be giving unnecessary pressure to it and nothing more. Initially my friend that it was a bad design but by 3k Kms he realised how comfortable it was.
Also, the seating position needs to be take care of.. .you cannot sit closer to the tank, as it might hurt your "balls" ( yes I mean it... my friend came to a conclusion of selling it once he got hurt for the second time ) on a "bad" road. ONE NEED TO SIT SLIGHTLY AWAY FROM THE TANK, WITH THEIR KNEES GETTING INTO THE KNEE REST AND HUGGING THE TANK. YOU SHOULD NOT SIT CLOSE TO THE TANK AND OPEN BOTH YOU LEGS, as we do in normal bikes. R15 has amazing shock absorbers, which can take care of most of the worst roads... But it’s not adjustable to my knowledge.
Peformance :
R15 is definitely a performance bike, if you "don’t" consider it for 0-60 against Karizma.. the bike was so good, I hesitated to take it about 3000 rpm(which you don’t need.. due to the gear ratios) while switching gears from start. May be if I had tried some 6000+ rpm right from first gear, I might have beaten a crazy guy with Karizma.. (but what for..) At the start of the throttle gently and smoothly shifting to 5th gear with in secs one will be amazed to see that we’re cruising about 70 kmph.. No need to take the beast above 3000 rpm for this... Then I went for a test ride in NH45 and R15 reached 129 kmph at around 8100 rpm.. I know this vehicle is capable of going upto 10500 rpm, but I don’t if this was supposed to go to mechanics or if it’s the top speed. But if I turn the throttle at neutral, I can see the rpm passing 10500 rpm.
Handling and speed :
The peak of handling ( which I don’t any vehicle in India to date can match ) when I had to break from 129 kmph, when a old fellow suddenly jumped in front of me from nowhere from the divider near Chengalpattu. I applied both the breaks maximum rear and lesser on the front, the bike immediately came down to 90 kmph without any sign of strain... This is good enough.. took a slight bend and crossed my "fate" Taking a second thought... I would have been rolling and romancing the tarmac with good amount of bruises if I had been on any other bike... except for R15... Now you know what the stability is and what the engineering is... People should take a note of this when they talk about thinner tyres... My friend who has taken it upto 130 kmph now says that he’s feeling like skidding if he rides other bikes... that’s the amount of confidence in stability you have on R15.. I had peacefully taken my 6 yr old kid along with me at 110kmph. You can’t see any sign of pain exhibited by this beast at these speeds. Absolutely no vibrations..
Mileage :
R15 is happy at 70s and if you manage to keep it slightly below the mileage turns out to be 45+kmpl.
Summary :
Amazing vehicle.. but once you own it you may not want to ride another vehicle.. Considering the forged piston, mono shocks very good twin lights ( really helps in the night ), rear disc brakes, very nice suspension, oil cooled engine and the preciseness for stability.. the price looks reasonable... even though it’s out of reach for some. BUT YOU NEED TO KNOW HOW TO DRIVE IT... else you’ll definitely curse...