Hi,

Ok here's the deal, I'm looking to buy my first bike. My story is like this, I am a contractor and residing in Goa, I have to cover lots of distance on some days, I have come to the conclusion that I need to get a bike to do this.

Now I have narrowed it down to the R15 or the 220 dtsi, why these two? you may ask, the answer is simple, i need good performance as I'm not a daily commuter, I have ruled out that segment and I can't ride or drive a slow vehicle, I don't thrash vehicles, but good performance is required as it can get you out of trouble as well, plus occasionaly I would like to use the bike for fun.

I have ruled out anything from Honda or Hero Honda, purely because when I visited the Honda show room no sales staff even approached me, Hero Honda they had little interest either, when I enquired about a zmr, they said no test drive vehicle and to even see one I would have to go to there storage place far away and were trying to push me to book a white zmr as this is what they had in stock. I have also ruled out the TVS apache as I can't even find the showroom or any contact details.

So my final choice rests between these two. Now my prefered option is to try and find a used R15 and give it the Joel touch, I may even do it to a new one. I had visited one Yamaha showroom twice and found the staff very attentive and helpful, it was a pleasant feeling and how it should be, I had visited a second showroom owned by a different dealer and found the staff either sleeping or uninterested, when I visited the Bajaj guys, it was also a pleasant feeling, with helpful and attentive staff.

The differences between the bikes and which one suits me better is where you guys will hopefuly assist me

I am 5ft 11.5" tall and weigh in at around 87kg on a good day, as i stated above i need good performance, which both will do pretty much out of the box.

I will list the comparisons between the two bikes as I see it, feel free to guide me.

1) Looks, this is subjective, both have their charm, the yammie looks sleek and sporty, the pulsar mean, meaty and raw, the yammies mono shock gives it the edge to me, so the score is 1-nil to yamaha

2) Feel, I'm talking of when you sit on the bike (In a showroom) the bulky feel of the pulsar gives it a slight edge, so that makes it 1-1

3) Engine sound and exhaust note, their both 1 cylinder engines, so not much difference, out of the box the pulsar has a more pleasing sound, so that's 1-2 to the pulsar

4) Handling, according to all the reports the R15 wins this hands down, the goal will go to Yamaha, but please give your real world experiences regarding the 220 in it's current form, with it's latest tyre upgrade (soft compound) 2-2

5) New price, simple 2-3 in favour of the pulsar

6) Straight line acceleration, I believe this is pulsars goal 2-4

7) Maintainace, Yamaha should be the clear winner here, so that's 3-4. (I seriously doubt your rating here dude, may i know the basis of that, i will not give anybody any point here since maintenance depends a lot on ur riding habits etc etc..)

8) Comfort/convenience, having only sat on both bikes in the showroom, I felt good on both bikes, my but felt comfortable on both, riding position, though different on the two, was equal on both, with the Yammie things seemed a little better in terms of the positioning of the mirrors foot pegs and controls, so a slight edge there, 4-4. (the seating position of P220 is more relaxed than R15 which has a very sporty seating position; 220 is definetely more comfortable dude, i will definetely give P220 a point instead of R15)

9) Technology, this goes to Yamaha, 5-4

10) Service and spares, I am led to believe the local Yamaha dealer gives a good service and spares shouldn't be an issue, Bajaj have an svc close by, less than 10 mins away and pulsars are very common around here, I'm giving the pulsar half a point on that, purely because they are quite common, so their is not much exclusivity, so that makes it 5-4.5 in favour of the R15, but the difference is too close to call, so please read my remarks, alter them and give me your inputs, please only comment if you either own either or both of these bikes or use them regulary, as I will probably be keeping the bike for a very long time.

Cheers,

Stefan

In real world scenerio, there is no road in india where R15 will beat P220 because of better handling charecteristics, it can do so only on race track. that too we have to find out by actually racing an R15 and P220 on race track.

Corrected

Post 100kmph, once you are in turbo mode in any diesel Car which costs over 5L, you simply can't out accelerate it in any Indian Motorcycle.

And Cruze?

As far as the topic goes, a P-220 is faster than R15 in under most conditions. And just faster, almost everywhere else, it gets triumphed. And if you aren't obsessed by pub-talk (2-3 kmph top end difference & 1 or 1.5 secs difference in 0-100 acceleration) go for a 'superior' bike.

Happy Buying

Forgot to mention Stefan this bloke (in quoted text) is world renowned racer, do listen to his advise.

And in case you do not know, P-220 is so fast that it leaves R15 for dead. Race-track? The P-220 has so much power that by the time R15 is showing its cornering abilities, P-220 is on the straight blitzing the speedo & occasionally jumps to 170-180kmph.

Well, compared to a Motorcycle which has two very small contact patches to lean and a very small patch while braking, a Car has 4 very thick patch of rubber to corner and brake.

I am not trying to sound as a Car fanatic and I love my Motorcycles as much as all do over here

(I do regularly drive/ride and love my Cars & Motorcycles, but nothing in the whole wide world can replicate the feeling (read-joy) of riding a Motorcycle.)

Have fun, cheers

My bike does 0-100 in flat 8 secs, faster than the cruze definitely, and pulls strongly thereafter. By the time I hit 120 the road was no longer suitable for race.

Forgot to mention Stefan this bloke (in quoted text) is world renowned racer, do listen to his advise.

And in case you do not know, P-220 is so fast that it leaves R15 for dead. Race-track? The P-220 has so much power that by the time R15 is showing its cornering abilities, P-220 is on the straight blitzing the speedo & occasionally jumps to 170-180kmph.

^^ quite correct -- the 220 at 30k cheaper is way much much better than the r15

huhh--the TS has already chosen the 15 but 220 is faster & faster in "real" world ----

The target is to make it quicker and faster than the Ninja 250R

a bike will always trounce a car on turns.

After getting my bike Joeled, the rev limiter no longer works. Or let me guess, after all that Jazz by Joel, may be the rev limiter has been pushed forward, because my bike goes beyond 11000 rpm in all the gears.

At 12000 rpm, the rev limiter does not cut in though, but I feel like hitting a ceiling. May be the next level of mods will address that. Will post the updates once done.

But when my bike was stock, the rev-limiter would cut in by the time I reached 10000 rpm, but in stock condition, it would rarely cross 8000 rpm, while now I shift gears after 8000 rpm almost every time, and whenever I do so, i feel a strong pull.