Yamaha YZF-R15( My First Small SuperBike)

Vasanth on the R15
Yamaha India's latest offering is the yzf r15, a 150 cc liquid cooled , 6 speed transmission , dual discs , r1 styling , monoshock at the rear , digital speedometer and all that gadgets.

Previously owned a pulsar 180 dts-i 04 model ,had been 4 years since i was riding the same thing , was more than satisfied with it ,did over a lac of kms as a student , but needed a change now , so was looking for a new bike , what options was i left with ?

zma/thunderbird/rtr fi/220/r15/fz150
These were the options that i had to choose between.

Zma and 220 were a no no to me , i love the zma , but wouldn buy a 5 year old bike which would be phased out anytime.plus compared to my old bike , i wouldn gain on power , would just be a refinement and handling upgrade.

220---i dint find it special , plus lacks something as refinement.its a straight line rocket. rest naaaaaaaaa...

thunderbird- would be a new segment , but for i wanted to get rid of the vibes thing , been with vibes for 4 years , wanted a change , i love low revving bike , doing 100 at 3800 rpm and super torque.
Im still young , the bullets technology is older than what i am only. so that also was called off , thought it was expensive for that technology .

RTR fi-
test rode the bike , rocks in the city , but on the highway hmmm not so impressive.
fi+rear disc+handling @ that price was a good deal no doubt .If a was a city rider , i would get rtr without second thoughts.

fz150
150 from yamaha , its not super fast or quick bike , just another 150 to beat the competition . nothing special in the bike .

r15
I dint want this bike honestly . Has all the goodies in it , but for a tourer i wasnt convinced , thought it wouldn perform well enough.
Had been to Bangalore wheels to ask about fz150 , just casually asked a person how much i would get selling the 180 . and in a few minutes , i ended up selling the bike immediately.

Booked the r15, black colour , chosen by my dad and girlfriend, and then did the waiting job ..
after a few days i got the delivery of the bike.It wasnt love at first sight and thing for me about the bike, the minute i got it in my hand , had issues
as soon as i started it and switched the light on , the Right side light went Kaput :-D
I was like , what an amazing start to a partnership this is.
Got the bike with a damaged heat shield , again had to fight with the showroom guys to get it replaced and losers got it out from another bike which had come to service.


Have managed to ride a 1000 kms now after getting it , dint write a review till now because it wouldn be fair commenting after 100 kms .

after 1000kms here i go
Engine-
Idles at 1400 rpm , redline at 10500 rpm.
Engine Made in Indonesia
Bike assembled here.
Diasil cylinder, forged piston and Liquid cooled 4 valve head . Its got all this for a 150 cc. wuf.
Engine is a class apart , no vibes from it at all , the engine sounds the same from idling to redline, doesnt get rough or vibes dont start to creep in from any rpm.
no problem with coldstarts or anything , just one small push and wakes up without any hassles.

FI unit
uses a Mikuni injector.smooth power delivery it offers and the metering is uniform throughout the range , hard to find a region with uneven metering.Pulls in 6th gear from 40 with ease. no problemo .

Handling and Braking
the best iv experienced on any small segment bike , it handles like a dream and im scared to ride the zma now whose handling is superb.
thats how addictive the handling is , if a newbie is riding the bike ,its like he doesn need to put any effort from his side to struggle to control.
its like flyin an f16 , one twich is all it requires to move.
braking from 120 to stop is just fabulous , u dont need to use engine braking , jus a little press on the brake and then u ll stop without any fishtail or any thing , stopping distance is super beautiful.
the discs used are both NISSIN.

Headlights
Just ok ok , rather im not happy about it , its all dc , has 2 35/35w bulbs , powered by a small 3.5ah battery . yes only 3.5 ah.Low beam only left side glows , high beam both the headlights come on.
Tail lamp used is a 21/5w bulb . no led on this .
the 3.5ah battery powers 70w of headlight + 5/21 w taillamp/brakelight+FI unit+cdi+fan+spark Plug+speedo+10 w pilot lamp+single horn+10 w indicator bulbs(*4).
to me thats amazing utilization of power.

Suspension
Its super stiff. Made with just the track and super flat road in mind .
Slightest of bad roads and the bike is pathetic. get ready for a bad back.front suspension is superb.
Rear is a link type monocross suspension , as per the weight it keeps self adjusting.
there is no hard or soft position on the rear mono shock like unicorn.
so need to adjust with stiff suspension which is actually bad in the city , slightest of hump u can feel .

Turning radius is a little more than i expected , u ll need to take a wider line than on the zma . may be cos of the handle bar.

Position and Riding Posture aint tiring for a long ride , did one and dint feel any problems . so its not bad as everyone expected it to be.
Most had written it off that its not a comfy position to tour . but No problems . can tour without any issues.
Its superbly aero dynamic , even at 120 plus u just dont feel the wind hitting u as much as on a zma , its upright on a zma .the front visor is superb for crouching , u just dont feel the speed at all.

Be it doing 130 kmph , u wont feel it until u see the speedo , thats refinement to u .People say there is no feel like the pulsar or the zma , come on , u get the feel on the pulsar because there is nothing as refinement on that.
at 60 its quiet , 70 u feel somethin , 90 ur feet's tickling , 110 ur mirrors are vibrating , 120 bike is totally crying.
130 god alone save it :-D
thats the case with pulsars, thats y u get the feel ,on this from idling to 130 , no difference at all.

Gearing & Gearbox
lower gears are short , meant for the city .5th and 6th are like my pulsar(v1).
on 5th it does about 130kmph , on shifting to 6th , the revs drop like crazy and its on super overdrive (.84) to be precise.
can do 100 all day long without knowing anything.
100 @ 6800rpm . ditto as my 180 v1.
Gearbox no comments at all . no False neutrals till date , super slick shifts up and down.

Fuel Efficiency
It returned about 38 with sane riding , doing 90 constant on the highway.
city no idea.

Riding in the city with this bike is bad , not enjoyable.its purely my opinion here.

Engine oil
20 W 40 yamalube
capacity -1litre
oil is good , im happy.

Coolant
380 ml

Power
Ppl always compare this bike to the 220 and the zma , i fail to understand why?
just cause it costs more than the the other two bikes?the bike is just a 150 cc bike.
the low end is just moderate, start to gain power from 3.5k rpm.
at about 6000 rpm there is a rush of power that carries on till 10500 rpm , it more like a well mannered two stroke , the characteristics change totally.
for me i treat this bike as a 150 cc only.
Actually the 150 cc are meant to be like this , since we are exposed to bikes like uni/pulsar150 with that kind of power ,this seems different.

Chain
Maintaing the O ring chain in the rain is the biggest headache , day to day lubrication is reqd during the rains.
No main stand makes it difficult to do it alone.
Chain Spray -> Motul (Cleaner+lube =850 rs hole in the pocket)

Tires
Small , but super grippy.No comments on that. lovely in rain too.
if u want a bigg tyre for looks , buy it , keep it at home , and keep looking at it . thats all i can tell ppl who always says its too small .
rtr is a 160 cc , comes with a 100/80 rear . for the cc of the bike , the size is apt.
the designers are not foolish to give the bike a special compund and size tubless tires.Its all in there for a purpose and reason .
BEING "Light weight , Fast bike" Thats all its designed for.Ppl fail to get that .
the gap between the rear wheel and the swing arm is about the thickness of my little finger.Thats the extent to which its been designed.

Ground Clearance is pretty low . doubles iv scraped the side stand so so many times.


The bike has been designed with on the rider in mind , what the rider when seated can see and feel is what has been kept in mind and designed.
the mirrors do not vibrate at any given speed.
the fibre quality is top notch , the finish and detailing level is amazing.

The speedo console
White Lcd display.
Rpm meter looks elegant.
the console contains 1 odo, 2 tripmeters, and another after reserve how many kms covered indicator.
The fuel gauge is pathetic , its in a world of its own , its like BSNL network , increases and decreases at it likes when the fuel is low ish.
when its full , its pretty accurate.
the white backlit speedo looks superb at night.
It lacks a clock like zma , which is really helpful thing to have.
Speedo has an error of about 5-7% .
indicated 140
true speed 131

Service and Knowledge about the Bike
This is the tricky part , new bike , how much knowledge do the service centre guys have about it ?
Honestly dint like the yamaha service , the guys have just been trained only till the first service, spares not available at present(spares prices pretty ok).
No handheld device to adjust the air/fuel ratio atleast . forget about reprogramming the ecu.
hope yam guys read this . Make me happy . Not too much of an ask.

Initially i dint like the bike so much , i appreciate it for the level of engineering and effort put into making it .the level of detailing is superb.Im happy owning it now.The bike is more of a quality product , than just being called a costly or an overpriced product.

Long review , but adjust maadi.
Any comments ,go on , always open to it.
Cheers
Santa