Topic Approved.

ZMA-R.............Value for money....no hassles......avaialbility of kick start................less costly...........low maintenance.........will survive for years



if want to spend over 1 lac.....go for ZMR.

Karizma-R is the perfect bill for the requirements.

ZMA R is the best fit here for him, unless he likes the ZMR so much - which doesn't seem to be the case here.

The R15 will NOT trouble you in those aspects.

+1. Think no more, ZMA - R is a perfect touring bike. Go for it blindly, unless you want to spend another 20k for some fancy stuff like full fairing, FI, Digital speedo, .1 extra Bhp, rear disc and tubless tyre.....

R15 is a engineering marvel, its an amazing bike for any aspect, its proven itself, but i would still recommend a ZMA -R for your requirements.

ZMA-R would be the best bike for touring & R15 would the best bike to defeat ZMA-R

LOL, Yeah that's proven as well, but for OP's requirement my vote goes to Karizma.

ZMR is good for touring, but I too do touring in my R15 and she never put me in trouble me... but off road experience is not good, but not worse.. I am too from orissa and looking at the road condition, I would vote for ZMR.. You can Check for P220 also..

Keeping his requirements in mind, ZMA would be the best bet purely from touring point of view.

Even if he goes for R15, he wont have any problem as Angul(location of NTPC) has authorised SVC.In that region, you can find an authorized Yamaha outlet center every 150kms.So not much of a concern as far as servicing is concerned for the R15.

well a bike designed in 2003 is well capable of throwing mud on face of other techo-savy bikes......

so in this way ZMA is the winner.

Not an issue-GC is as good as other Indian bikes (160mm.)
See the offroading video in my Bidar thread.

Except the chain lubrication, nothing needs regular attention.
Other things will be taken care of during regular service.

I don't think the bike is prone to breaking down. I have toured quite a bit with it&never faced any issues, not even puncture luckily.
Btw, can a roadside mechanic repair a ZMA?

I'll give you my honest opinion about both the bikes:
Assuming that both the bikes give similar mileage (~40kmpl)&both have higher maintenance costs than other commuter bikes, I feel:
The R15 will give him amazing control, stability, braking which the ZMA cannot. Topspeed is higher too.
The soft compound tyres do not work in offroading&gravel. Not that they are rubbish, just that they do not grip as good as the regular compound tyres.
The lack of low end torque will never be felt in the ZMA, it is sorely missed in the R15 but there are other things to make up for it as mentioned above. Moreover the ZMA will deliver power smoothly&effortlessly, with ample torque spread all across the rev range, while the R15 is waiting to be given the stick, i.e. all the power is concentrated in the higher RPMs. Kept in the powerband this bike can be as fast as or faster than a ZMA depending on how the rider utilizes it.
So, all in all, if riding over bad roads is the main criterion, the ZMA wins hands down for me.
I would choose the ZMA for its virtues like seating posture (will help a lot on bad roads)&terrific midrange power.
If your friend is fine with buying an old product, he can go in for the ZMA.
If he casts those jealous eyes at the R15 everytime, maybe he can still go for it-I know what it feels like when you don't get your dream bike inspite of having the cash.
At the end of the day, its the rider thats more important than the ride. If he goes for the R15, he will get comfy with it&will never wanna ride any other bike again, no matter where.
Man controls the machine, not vice-versa!

Another one of ZMA vs something else!

Sarvajit here has more or less summed it up pretty nicely and intelligently. The R15 does not really have ANY ground clearance issues. But if bad roads is the main concern, there is hardly any bike more comfortable than the Zma. However for on-tarmac touring, nothing even comes close to the R15 handling. It is the undoubtedly the BEST handler that Indian motorcycling has ever seen.

I would not go for the ZMR for that price that hardly gives me anything better than the Zma other than a 0.7Bhp power increment and some cosmetics!

I liked this reply!

IMO, There is NO 'good' touring bike in India as of now....

ZMA
- Spares are priced as if HH thinks people with money\ZMA are fools!
- The Headlamp sucks!
- The fairing is not really something that helps manage crosswinds
- Its bulky and can do without the flab
- Have seen weird issues with the swing arm bush dying in!

R15
- The alloys will be dead in no time if you offroad a lot (ps: I have done A LOT of offroading on the R15, this is why I would say the life of the alloy is at risk especially in bad roads)
- The stance is not a touring stance
- Lack of low end torque will make it sluggish climbing uphill with luggage
- The radiator is like a sucker for stones... boom! and it will give you nice heat treatment

Why this rant?
- To get flamed by people... err not really but more to suggest to the manufacturers here that there is a nice potent market out there in this segment?

My ideal touring setup would be a
R15 engine + the low end torque of a RTR + the chassis of the FZ (strengthen it if you can) + The projectors from the P220, make that two if you can!

^ WoW! What a wishlist