pulsater

Slight OT:

can anyone confirm this news that R15 is now the second largest selling bike in India and Yamaha has gain a market share of 10% by Oct 2008 (which was just 2.6% earlier i guess)

riazmomin

Okay, Here I go with my Initial review on R15 which has completed 175km in just 3 days. I say again this is just the initial review, so bike hasn’t been tested for its acceleration & top speed. I will go by features and concepts of biking. These are just my observation on MY R15.

1. Looks: I hope nothing much can be said from my side here. Looks are purely subjective so may differ from one person to other. As per me, Bike if one of the best looking bikes in India with ZMA and P200 around. Tires may look skinny in photos and flesh too. But practically they are way better. Tank is tear drop shaped and well designed for knee recess for tall riders too. Full fairing is the USP for this bike, looks too good and sure is a head turner. Dual head lamps are the most attractive part of this bike. Coming to tail section, it’s comparatively sleeker than the front section. But wider rear cowls compensate the whole body for its equal distribution of dimension around the bike. The Exhaust section is also unique of its own with Fiber shield compared to regular metallic ones with a muffler cap in shiny metallic material.
2. Comfort: Many tall riders had apprehension with this bike for its comfort. But me being a person of height 6 ft is quite comfortable for city rides. Body leaning a bit forward and most of the weight on the hands and wrists one may need couple of days to adjust with it, with pain in wrists for initial days. But that won’t be for long. The hardest thing I found in this bike is to stress on the left ankle to shift the gears that I felt. Gear lever is angle to more height that would make difficult in initial days for a person to shift gears to lower number, shifting gear to higher numbers is pretty easy though. Rear sets placed well for comfortable rides for long distance and no stress on legs except the gearshifts. Coming for touring purpose, I ride daily for 35km to my office, that’s up and down 35km. I am quite optimistic about its touring capability even with its sporty riding positions, though won’t be that comfortable as ZMA. Still suits for touring with breaks when ever your body needs. RTR riders may not find much difference when they ride this bike.

3. Engine, Refinement & Gears: A 150cc block throwing out 16.8BHP, one would definitely doubt on its refinement abilities, but on the contrary R15 is well refined with just between Xtreme & Unicorn from its 150cc segment. Some times fell it’s as refined as Unicorn. This refinement can be more felt after 5000 on RPM. Vibrations are very very minimal when compared to other bikes. One can feel the resonance vibration at 3000-4000RPM, later on there are no vibration till the top speed I clocked. On refinement part, this bike is excellent. Coming to gears and shifts. One of the best gearboxes I have seen or ridden. Butter smooth shifts and hardly any sounds while shifting gear, with just a tak sound. As I already said, shifting gear many need some time to get adjusted. Coming to its 6th gear, it’s only for overdrive I think. There is hardly or marginal difference between 5th and 6th gears. This will be more useful for cursing speeds. The power band for this bike lies after 5000 on RPM, below this I would behave like P180 or RTR for the initial acceleration. And its has loaded punch in 3rd & 4th gears. 6th gear can be well used for city rides to; I felt there was no load on engine at speeds of 50kmph on 6th gear. Just to save some petrol for better mileage may be.


4. Acceleration/Top speed: As I already said, I haven’t tested my bike on this point as I am waiting for to complete its run in. But for some speed bursts I made on this bike. One would feel that his is bit sluggish at lower gears like 1st and 2nd, But later on its packs all the power and punch in it and there we have sudden increase in acceleration. Top speed, I marked 100kmph on speedo for couple of time, and still holds potential to mark 125kmph+ easily on open roads. At speed of 100kmph this bike was rock stable and well planted. I can put more on this on Run is completed.

5. Handling, Tires & Braking: Gone are the days for Karizma and Unicorn, which are best handlers of the bikes from India. R15 is unbeatable at turns, cornering and high speed curves. Even a rookie rider can easily handle this bikes at turns and curves at high speed. Thanks to its Mono crosslink suspension and its tires, this bike provides best handling capabilities. Brakes are again one of the best features of R15. I felt both front and rear are up to the mark and front brake being quite crispy making this bike a best for pulling out stoppies. There were no skids and nervous ness in the during the hard and panic braking. Tires, these may look skinny, But does great job when it comes to road grip, handling. This is my serious suggestion to owners and to-be owners to not change the tires just for sake of looks. This machine is great handler, let it remain that. Even the gap in swing arm doesn’t look to be more to fit in a big and fatter tire.

6. Mileage: I haven’t checked it till now, but during my first reserve check, I am sure it was not giving less than 40kmpl. Still waiting for its next reserve to chk it out again.

This is just the initial review on my bike. I would come back with detailed review once its run in is completed.


THE END.....

MG

OT:Will be deleted

Second largest selling in what?Performance segment?

R-1-5 sells around 3000-4000 units per month.Yamaha sold 14300 units last month of the total 6lakh units(Only Motorcycles) sold last month.

sk8er_joe

many say dat dey hav ot 140 clocked in deir bike without pillion. But I hav touched only 130 so far (It took ages for dat too).. Can anyone tell me at wat rpm range should i change the gear to get top speed( at 8.5 K or near the red line).

MOD MESSAGE:Avoid using SMS language in forum pages.

bprags

Dude, What language is that Plz post in proper english. Even proper hindi would do.

R-series

i have done 141kmph on the speedo...all gears shifted at 8.5k rpm except the 6th one. completley tucked behind the front fairing..with chest resting on the tank. the 6th gear was engaged when the speed was 127kmph on the consol...try that out..make sure u have correct tyre pressure cos it really gets nast incase u have less air in those rubber... rest should be ok

__________________
Just because you haven't seen it doesnt mean its impossible...expect the unexpected.

iNSANE_YZFR15

hey vikas how you da

well thts bad man... i suggest you take it to panache motros on old madras road and check with them if they could do a paint touch up or something its difficult to tell as i havent seen the scratch could you post a pic wud be great though... But for the solution is say go there and have them take a look...

cheers

souvikb83

can anyone tell me whether yamaha is planning to upgrade all the R15s sold so far to 22bhp???? i have heard this from an internal source....if its true then it will just SMASH OUT others...

R-series

i came to hear a lot about this too..but no official news yet..n i wont trust any article or rumour till it actually comes out. came to know about performance ECU's over some website that are available in indonesia for the V-ixion with are the same one's that can be used for the R-15 as well..but as i said..wont suggest u to believe in the news till they are brought out in the shops

__________________
Just because you haven't seen it doesnt mean its impossible...expect the unexpected.

iNSANE_YZFR15

okies point one during the race test at chennai some of the test bikes went past 11500 rpm... thts confirmed... So basically you wud assume the ECU is diff there thts entirely correct but then even if R15 hits 22 Bhp my question being then wht? U cant hit the actual speed tht the present ones are giving arnd 130 mark day in and day out in our roads...

From a racing perspective yes remapping matters a lot but on daily use i dnt think you guys shud be much bothered abt tht... I wud be more concerned abt the accessories availability time etc... Coz its been real late from the time the bikes are out