Re: Yamaha YZF-R15

Replace. Period.

Cheers!
VJ

2010 Yamaha YZF - R15 Eight year ownership report (Service Record included).

I took delivery of the motorcycle from Cheerans Yamaha, Thrissur sometime in February 2010 (which makes it 8 years and 4 months old today). I got it 4 days post booking. Liked it the moment i rode it. I never had a testride of the R15 before that. It was my first time. Felt weird at first, courtesy the fairing and the handlebar - footpeg positioning. Day one took it slow, just to get acquainted with the new motorcycle. Day two, started to beat the shit out of it. No running in, straight ripping! 3rd day, hit 140 on the speedo, which is like close to its limits. Its ridiculous how some guys ride this thing below 5k rpm for the first 1000kms! But still the "Ripping" part was systematic. Oil change after the first 200kms, 5-6 kms daily warm up routines(which i still follow), Pre ride checks and stuff like that. Yamaha Service sucked at that time. So did all the service myself. The good thing about this was, I could keep a detailed service record and i became familiar with the servicing. And dare i say, I now service my R15 better than those certified people!

I find the R15 extremely reliable for the kind of riding i does. I never had to change a part because it abruptly failed during operation except for the spark plug boot(micro crack because of heat cycling of plastic, fatigue is the result. My bad, i was supposed to change it after 2 years. It still didnt left me stranded though. safely got home as the problem was excessive only at low revs below 3k rpm. Troubleshooting took some time as this was a problem i was not familiar with. But finally figured it out after a lot of hair pulling). The parts i changed was because of the reason that it was either worn out or because i broke it! I never fed it any fancy fuels. Just the normal 87/89 octane regular fuel. From 6000 kms onwards i started using fully synthetic oil. Drain interval i follow is 4000-5000 and sometimes i push it to 7000 kms when a major service is close.

Now coming to the spares availability and Service quality. It sucked ass! Most service centers doesnt stock basic spares like Oil filters and Air filters. I've seen service center personal riding a customer's R15 with a pillion with a flat rear tire. I notified him that the tire is flat and he nodded in a fashion like "Yeah, Its not my bike, some sucker owns it!". I swear to god, if it was mine i would've kicked that dickhead's face in! A few of their other tips and tricks include swapping faulty parts of one guys motorcycle with functional parts from someone else's motorcycle. Taking advantage of customer's unawareness about things like coolant and engine oil etc. The only consolation is the prompt actions taken by the back office customer service desk. The problem is, not many people know about it. Just shoot a mail or give a call and the problem will be solved quickly. I once broke the Oil drain bolt of my R15 and even after a month after ordering the part, the Cheerans Yamaha gave the same old "next week sir" bullshit. Finally got tired and sent a mail to the back office customer service desk. Second day after sending the mail, they gave me a call and asked for the part number. Gave 'em that and they assured that the part will be sent ASAP. Needless to say, four days later that annoying lady at the Cheerans service center called me and told me that the part has arrived! So, Kudos to the rapid response team, that is the Back office customer service desk. Here is the mail if someone wants to try their luck - [email protected]

The above mentioned scenario has changed now i guess. Spares are available and service is acceptable. Even though it took 2 years, the effort Yamaha India has put into improving customer satisfaction is commendable. The only thing which needs serious changes is the Service Center Mechanic's "I dont give a shit" attitude. Fix that and Yamaha can bring back their old glory which the RDs and RXs made back in the 80's and 90's.

Scratch what i said above. Yamaha is back to its old self again. Crap service backup. You are at the mercy of the showroom service and spare dept if you are looking for a replacement spare part. Especially something which they usually doesnt stock. Like an ignition coil assy for eg. I tried almost all svc's in Thrissur, Ernakum and some in Kottayam and Pathanamthitta via friends with no luck. When i ordered the part, the reply was that it may take 6 months to recieve the said part(6 effing months! What i am going to do with my bike for that 6 months?!). I decided that they arent going to help. Then comes the next part. Tried to contact yamaha directly as i had success with their back office email id before. Sent a mail, no reply. Sent one again, no reply. Then tried the mail id provided on the yamaha-india website. Same thing. Then i tried contacting the corporate Yamaha, which redirects to the same old piece of shit yamaha-india website. Its like the Yamaha Global only contacts the India Yamaha guys when it comes to providing them with their annual report on how many customers they milked that fiscal year! So finaly i decided to use the Ignition coil assy of the V2 (which has a different part number btw, so it was a wild guess that it might work) which was available at Vijayagiri Yamaha- Alwaye. Thankfully, it worked fine. And thats how i fixed that problem, which otherwise would've made my bike a show piece. And that will be the last time i contact yamaha india for any help, which i know now that i wont recieve. So why try?!

One of the best Dealers i've came across in terms of availability of spares is Vijayagiri Yamaha, Aluva. I've always had luck at that place. They never disappoints. Basic spares will be there and more rare parts will be available within a week.


Below is the rundown of the parts i changed.


Current Odo Reading - 56500+ kms
For those guys who are hell bent on knowing the top speed - 148kmph on the speedo which i did today (dec 21, '11)
Fuel economy - Still delivers above 40kmpl. On highways it delivers above 45 kmpl (this is still the same even after 8 years)



Service
4x Oil Filter - 420rs (200kms) + 160rs (12000kms) + 160rs (24000kms) + 160rs (36000) + 160rs (49000) [Total - 1060rs]
3x Air filter - 240 (12000kms) + 240rs (24000kms) + 240 (36000kms) + 240 (49000) [Total 960rs]
2x Rear tire - 2000 + 1900 + 1300 (at 16000, 25000kms, 47000) [Total - 5200rs]
1x Front tire - 1850rs + 1100 (21000 kms, 45000 kms) [2950]
3x Front brake pads - 390 + 390rs (at 14000kms and.....) + 160(ASK non oem Sintered Pads @49000) [Total - 940]
2x Rear disk pads - 690rs (at 18500kms) + 160 (ASK non oem Sintered Pads @49000 ) [850]
3x Drain bolt O ring - 10 + 10 +10 [Total 30rs]
2x NGK Platinum Spark plug - 150 + 160rs [Total 310]
2x Chain Sprocket set (Rolon X Ring on Yamaha OEM sprockets) - 1500rs (at 20100kms, 49000kms) [Extremely reliable! I havent adjusted the chain after i plonked it in and it is now almost 15000 kms without an adjustment and at the time of writing this it is still within spec! How cool is that!? It has seen a trackday and numerous fast canyon runs and touring, almost 2 rainy seasons and some very bad, dirty trails. Forget DID and OEM Rolon O ring chains, this stuff is King and at almost half the price of DID(but still higher than the OEM Rolon) its almost ridiculously cheap! Lube it regularly, clean it occasionally, do not over-tighten and i think this stuff will last forever!] [3000]
3x Swingarm pivot Shaft - 111rs*3 (at 31000kms, 49000kms reached service limit of 2.4mm) [333]
3x Swingarm pivot bearing - 69 x 2 (138rs) + 200 [338]
3x Steering head bearing (non oem) - 300*3 [900]
4x Front fork oil - 120*3 + 200 + 200- [760]
3x Coolant - 350*3 [1080]
1x Brake fluid - 250
5x Diamond chain lube - 100*5 [500]
1x Yamalube offroad chainlube - 450
3x Rolon chain lube(again great stuff, doesnt mess up the rims too much like the others and lasts longer than the other two i've used) - 140*3 - 420
1x Rolon white chain lube - 335


13x Oil changes - 180(Shell A-S) + 200(Motul 3000) + 250(Shell A-VSX) + 200(Gulf) + 900(Motul 300V @ 6000kms) + 850(Mobil 1 R4T @ 9994 kms) + 850(Mobil 1 R4T @ 14000kms) + 850(Mobil 1 R4T @ 18931kms) + 900(Mobil 1 R4T @ 24000) + 900(Mobil 1 R4T @ 29000) + 300(Motul 3000 for top up @ 34500) [6380rs] + 850(Mobil 1 R4T @ 36008kms) + 450 (Yamalube Full Synth @ 41706kms) + 450 (Yamalube Full Synth @ 49000kms) + 1100 (Motul 7100 1.5lt @ 55000kms)


Total Labour Charges - 100+100+100 [300](Tire replacement)
PS: i might've missed to add here some parts i changed. Mostly because i forgot to add it here and couldn't recollect what i bought and at what price i bought it.


Normal Service Total - 30196 (average service cost is 302rs per month or there abouts)


Caused by damages.
2x Engine oil drain bolt - 90 + 130 [Total - 220rs]
1x Silencer end cap - 140rs
3x Fairing bolts - 10 + 10 + 10 [Total -30rs]
Crash damage - 16000
Damages Total - 16390

After crash



Unexpected failiures
Spark plug boot replacement(Availability - Readily) at 30680 (Reason- damage which causes arcing resulting in bucking and ignition cutoff at low rpms)- 76rs (Update- the issue showed up again which resulted in replacement of the spark plug boot. The new one lasted a 1000 kms before the issue showed up.....again. Bought a new one. which failed within 100kms. So that is 3 new plug boots in a very short time. Tested the ignition coil, which was fine. The OEM plug boot is made of hard plastic. Disassembled all of the plug caps which had its capacitor terminal oxidized. Even brand new ones. Which led me to conclude that OEM Yamaha plug caps are craptastic! Ended up diagnosing this issue myself as yamaha technicians dont know jackshit. I Decided to see if i can find a boot which i can fit instead of the stock one, which is made up of a different material. Bought CBZ Xtreme plug cap which is made out of rubber. Was a tight fit. But it cured the issue. Dont know how much i spent to fix this annoying f**k of an issue. But it is sure upwards of 500. Still running on the cbz plug cap. Not a single problem even after 56k kms)
Ignition coil assy replacement - 1400(Faulty unit)



2 Rear Tires(1700 x 2) and 1 Front tire(1450) bought for - 4850
Service Due
Engine oil at 62000~kms - 900
Oil filter at 62000~kms- 160
Air filter at 68000~kms- 240


This motorcycle has done it all. Trackdays, over a 1000 kms in 12hrs, many tours and daily commutes. The engine is absolutely fine and the original clutch is still like on a brand new motorcycle. After 8 years of ownership i thought it deserved a writeup because it was and still is a trusty companion whenever the other machines which i have gave me trouble. Also a note to new members- This thread was one of the best there ever was on xbhp and i now see a lot of utterly nonsensical posts. Please dont flood this thread with questions about the noises an engine makes. From what i could figure out, if i went ahead and tried to fix all the "sounds" my engine made, then i wouldve replaced the cylinder and head twice and split the crank case thrice only to encounter the same after maybe a 5k kms. And one another thing is that this thread is almost a decade old and have covered almost all problems an r15 will have. Use the search function to find out about the issue you have. From my experience, if there is enough oil in the engine and the other control and cycle parts are lubed and within spec, chances are that the bike is absolutely fine, regardless of the noises it makes. I am a guy who pushes oil changes to over 7k kms occasionally. My bike still does over 130 in no time and delivers over 40kmpl and if kept under 80 kmph it delivers around 49 kmpl. The only thing i do religiously is the daily warmup routine where i ride (not start and leave it there for a couple minutes) under 5k rpm without lugging the engine for 5-6 kms(or till it hits operating temperature). So all i have to say to the new riders is stop worrying and start riding.

From a track day which we did back in 2012. Back when kari had few restrictions.

Re: Yamaha YZF-R15

Thanks for the response will do this over the week end, the funniest thing about this crash is that, after i fell a group of people helped me up and picked up my bike and moved me to the side of the road, a teen about 16 to 18 year old came running from the other side of the road held my hand and said "I never wear a helmet, but after what i saw today i will never touch my bike without a helmet".

Re: Yamaha YZF-R15

Hey! I'm new here. I was thinking about switching the swingarm of the v1's with the v2's. Is it possible to do so?

Re: Yamaha YZF-R15

offtopic but related to r15

what's the ideal price for a 2012 version 1 r15 , ridden only 20k km ?

Re: Yamaha YZF-R15

Hi,
I need an advice. I bought my R15-S in February 2017. It has been an amazing year with the bike; loving every bit of it. But as my free services are over, should I go to a local mechanic for servicing my bike from now on, or I should stick to the authorized SVC?

Anyone here in Kolkata knows a mechanic who services R15 bikes like it was their own. Replies would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Re: Yamaha YZF-R15

Any 2008 Model R15 owners in Chennai ?

I think we can plan for our 10th year anniversary meetup !

Re: Yamaha YZF-R15

Hi guys, can anyone tell me if I can then where will I get 300mm Disc for my R15v2 in Ranchi or Kolkata and is there any 320mm option from any company ?

Re: Yamaha YZF-R15

My bike's silencer has started sounding louder than normal last couple of days.
Visually everything seems fine on the outside at least. End cap bolts, bend pipe bolts all are tight.
Could this have anything to do with the silencer gasket?

Re: Yamaha YZF-R15

Take the exhaust off and reinstall with new consumables.

If sound goes, all is well, if not then live with it or replace.

Re: Yamaha YZF-R15

I have bought a gasket. Will check for holes in the silencer too when fixing.

Re: Yamaha YZF-R15

Most probably it would just be that your catcon has crumbled due to age. Not a matter of concern unless you find the noise unbearable.

Re: Yamaha YZF-R15

The sound isn't coming like that exactly.
I heard something from my showroom Mech about the joint from airbox pipe. Need to check that as well but all after a month.

Re: Yamaha YZF-R15

If that is the case then do not use the motorcycle, else you mind end up with an expensive bill.

The manifolds costs under a 100 bucks, so better you replace it ASAP.

Re: Yamaha YZF-R15

I just changed front pads and engine oil. I'm already riding with a busted chainset, coneset, almost gone rear pads. Hope it can make it through a few weeks till the next oil change. After R3's major service I'm not in the mood to sit getting bikes fixed for a few days at least [emoji38]