YAMAHA YZF R15: FIRST RIDE IMPRESSION!
Pic Courtesy: Yamaha India
If not the most awaited bike in the country, certainly the most awaited bike from Yamaha India ever, the YZF R15 is a revolutionary bike when all the recent launches including the Pulsarv220 have been evolutionary. The light yet very strong delta box frame means no more squirming from the front end under hard braking, it also means flex free chassis meaning you can attack corners even harder. Couple that with a full blown 150cc motor with precise 6 hole fuel injection, water cooling and you got a veritable small sportsbike that can rock the pants off any other bike in the Indian market. It just doesnt gets any better than this.
Here are the first ride impression of the bike:
Jump Over to read the first impressions:
1) The overall quality of the bike is terrific. All the plastic bits look sturdy and fit seamlessly and not bolted whilst the cycle parts are even better.
2) The R1 style instrument console is eye catching and does a self check each time the ignition is turned on. The hum from the fuel pump sounds nice too.
3) The 150cc four stroke Fuel Injected water cooled engine is brilliant. Its refined and smooth even when operating at the top of its rev-range. Its a typical Yamaha screamer which pulls right to the top with maximum power coming in at 8500 rpm for that extra rush right at the top while you hit the revv-limiter. Hitting the rev-limiter in first two gears is ridiculously easy as if it belongs there only. The engine loves being thrashed, in the power-band without sounding stressed and will thank you for it! You can feel the power coming in even at 7000rpm which is unlike any other bike in the India market, most of which are almost dead as they reach higher revs. I just wish it was a bit more urgent lower down in the rev range and sounded better, but then you can only expect as much from a 150cc single cylinder. Why not a 180cc or even a 250cc Yamaha?
4) The engine lacks bottom end grunt and serious action starts happening only after 5000 rpm. But then this is one of the many things which makes this bike so much fun to ride and is a typical Yamaha characterstic right from R15 to the mighty R1. Yamaha werent lying when they said R15 has the global R-Series DNA.
5) The best gearbox on any bike in the country… period! Smooth precise clicks in each of the six gears.
6) The riding position is a good compromise b/w outright sporty and comfortable. The rearset footrests are great.
7) The disc brakes at both ends are strong without being overtly sharp. The bike reamains perfectly stable even under hard braking. The rear discbrake is well modulated.
The MRF rubber at both ends is surprisingly good. Grip levels are not a problem at all but we dont have any idea as to how do they perform in wet conditions.
9) The bike looks like a mini-R1 and drew curious glances and “wow” from the people. I was asked question at each and every traffic light including the ubiquitous ”Average Kya Hai” but I choose not to answer it.
10) We saw a brief 124 kmph on the digital speedo and felt the bike had more.
Its a brilliantly focussed 2 wheeled machine from Yamaha. While its not the fastest, it will keep up with the fastest of them all and leave it for dead in corners and although its not intended for commuting, it still a very comfortable bike for the daily run and a potent track tool. This is the new benchmark and is worth every penny of Rs. 97000 Ex-Showroom tag you spend on it. Just head out to a track near you every weekend and feel whats biking is all about… hit the rev-limiter, put your knee down, brake late, attack corners…. Nirvana!
12 People have left comments on this post
Nice ride review. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers
http://www.motorbeam.com/
Hello, I am a Tech Specialist in a MNC in Noida and a great byke lover, I am riding since the age of 9 and I am 29 today.
I have completed 4000 Kms on R15 and using it since a month.
I totally agree that when I first made up my mind to go for it, I thought it must be a something more powerful (when it comes to pickup).
But I would really say that its far more better than any other Indian Bike in the market.
Having used both Karizma and Pulsar .
And I will like to share my outlook;
1. I have travelled straight from Lucknow to Delhi having only two stays in between thats about 200 kms of non stop riding at a speed of 75-80 on avg. (coz of its DIasil cylinder and Forged piston, cilinder has 20% silicon which keeps it cooler than rest of the bykes.)
I dont think any other Indian Byke can do that, it will burn out and the clutch plates will cease.
2. It has given me amileage of 45 km/lt on highways and 38-40 kms/lts in City.I n which I have operated it around to 135 km/hr at times.Which means Its best in its class.
2. It has an awesome grip on roads, its not important for a bike that it goes past 130-140 what is important its that how much safer it is to go to that speed. Toy can really feel safe at speeds of 120, the byke will not skid when applying brakes as that speed.
Some people say that it has narow tyres, they were specially made for R15, having soft rubber and different raddi, complete tubeless providing 3 times better grip that Pulsar and about 2 times better that Karizma in my view.
Before riding this I loved Karizma, coz it was better than Pulsar, but those two feel to be pieces of srap of primitive machines when comapred to R15.
Dont check the speed and pickup. Ride it above 120 km/hr you will forget about the price and comparisons.
oh wow I never knew other indian bikes are so poor for long drives … I did 225 km without a single stop on by Enfield Machishmo (lucknow to farrukhabad) regularly between 1995 and 2000 at an average speed of about 65-70 and not even once did it “burn out”. Same holds true for many many other indian bikes of today .. not only Enfields …. and to say “I am a Tech Specialist in a MNC in Noida and a great byke lover, I am riding since the age of 9 and I am 29 today”
Awesome bike for India. Thanx a ton to YAMAHA
As of the review, Its really a revolutionary bike from Yamaha. What about the next step of Yamaha’s counterparts (HH, Bajaj, TVS, Honda…). Did they annouce any bike that matches the standards of R15???????????????
And any news regarding the specification of Yamaha FZ
yamaha r15 is the best bike on diasil engine in terms of looks.
its far better than europes r125
we here in asia have lots of mods to diasil engine
like bigvalves. so if you want proven working bigvalves
“plug and play” just ask around at http://www.yamahat135.com
how i wish i can go to india and try riding r15
hi guys
i do agree that the technology of R15 is good but the bike is too underpowered for that looks. i wish it had a 250cc mill with a little bit of more bhp. the tyre in the back looks too sleek and does not look good on the looks wise, though it is a tubeless tyre. i have been using avenger for the last two years and it has been a wonderfull bike. The best thing about it is the right looks and the value for money. On these fronts the R 15 could have been better with a bigger rear tyre and a better mill.
george.a
I too was unaware of this ‘Indian-ness’ of bikes; but I have actually traveled from Hyderabad to Pune (around 650Km..maybe more) at a stretch (stopped just for filling up my waterbottle in between) on my Apache 150cc, and returned (again non-stop, but overnight journey) the very next day. It never broke down, in fact, its still running!!!. The max speed I attained was 112 kmph. I got an average of around 65+ as I had completed the entire journey in 1.5 times the tank capacity.
Finally Indian youth has got a dream bike which is affordable as well. The first time I saw this bike I was shattered and stunned, thinking that this must be another imported product but later I got to know that this is a yamaha product and avaialable in India as well. So this is a fabulous one seriouly
http://venusvij.blogspot.com/
The R15 may be better then the R125 but the R125 looks way better.
Sumit u r a old man who still rides bullock carts like enfield ,stop being in 18th cetury bastard.Come with me on a race track or any track,let it be long ride ill make ur bike look like a piece of shit.
From now on dont talk about for Milkman bike in this column.
R15 rulz!!!