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Jan 20, 2008

26 Whats so Special about the Yamaha YZF-R15..??

There is a lot more to the Yamaha R15 than its pretty Full Fairing..

It was around 10 AM on the 10'th of January when I entered the the Auto Expo 2008. Since it was the first day of the Expo (reserved for the press and guys with Exhibitor passes) almost all the Pavilions had sparse crowds. But when I entered the Yamaha Pavilion at round 11 AM, I noticed a small gathering around a turn-table on which a bike was kept. I went closer and saw a full faired bike revolving slowly on the turn table.

My first thought was that it was a display bike from Yamaha's foreign stables. A few seconds later, I realised to my sweet surprise that the bike I was staring at wasn't a foreign bike, but Yamaha's next bike for India. It was the 150cc YZF-R15..!!


Yamaha YZF-R15 @ AutoExpo 2008

Yamaha YZF-R15 @ AutoExpo 2008

"You should probably also know these exotic tech bits have already been incorporated in bikes like the Yamaha Vixion (150 cc bikes from Indonesia) and the Yamaha T135 and the Yamaha Spark RX135i (135 cc, Liquid Cooled, Fuel Injected Step Thru from Thailand)

My first thought on seeing the R15 was, "Awesome..!!" The crowd that had gathered there was also equally mesmerized by the R15. To my amusement many guys who were busy taking snaps of the bike didn't have a clue of things like the R15 had a liquid cooled engine or had 6 gears.. but nevertheless they were all mighty impressed with the R15.

However, I cannot put the blame on anyone, because now I realize that the crowd was kind of hypnotized by the "R1" inspired front fairing. Virtually nobody could see beyond the front fairing of the R15.. at least at first sight.

To tell the truth, it was only in the photos that I realized that the side panels and the rear of the R15 isn't as impressive as the front.

Actually, there is more to the R15 than just the front fairing.

So, what else makes the R15 so special.??

Yamaha R15 Engine Cutout

Yamaha R15 Engine Cutout



Liquid Cooled Engine: As an engine runs, the temperature of the engine also rises. If the temperature of the engine rises too much, then it affects the performance of the engine. Therefore engines have some sort of cooling system for its proper functioning. There are two types of cooling systems for engines. The "air-cooling system", that uses air to cool the engine and the "liquid-cooling system" in which liquid is circulated through a system of passages around the engine to cool the engine much more effectively than "air cooling".

The R15 is India's first bike to feature liquid cooling. So far all the bikes manufactured in India have had Air Cooled engines. A liquid cooled engine means that the engine will be capable of higher performance.



4 Valves Per Cylinder

4 Valves per cylinder: 2 valves per cylinder have been the common format for the engines of our "desi" bikes (the now discontinued Kinetic GF series of bikes being the expection with 3 valves per cylinder format).


Correction by First_Synn: The Kinetic GF Series had 4 valves per cylinder. The 100 cc LML "Adreno"/"Energy" bikes had 3 valves per cylinder layout


The R15 will have 4 valves for its single cylinder engine. Can't exactly call it a first for India, because even Bajaj has shown the new 125 cc XCD "Sprint", which also has 4 valves. Since engines with 4 valves per cylinder usually produce most of their power at high RPM, we can expect a high revving engine in the R15.


Fuel Injection: This is also a feature that is not a first for India. The 125 cc Hero Honda Glamour "Fi", the Pulsar 220 DTS-Fi and the soon to be launched TVS Apache RTR 160 "Fi" already has fuel injection. However, Yamaha in its website says that the R15 will have a Fuel Injection with "6 hole injectors". So far, I have seen that "Fuel Injection" does not quite boost up the Power of a bike by a significant margin but it does improve the response of the engine. So expect good throttle response from the R15.


Forged Piston: The pistons made for most engines are cast pistons, it is made by melting aluminum at high temperatures and pouring it into molds. The other type of piston is this forged type, which is made by forcing aluminum that has been heated to a certain "sub-melting" temperature into a mold under pressure.

Forged Piston

Because the aluminum alloy does not reach the melting point in this forged piston production method, it retains a stronger metallurgic quality. For this reason, forged pistons can be made with a thinner, lighter body.

But there are difficulties in maintaining precise temperature and other factors in the "forging" process. Due to which such pistons are expensive to produce. In 1997, Yamaha developed a "controlled forging technology" (CF technology) that enabled production of the forged pistons at a lower cost. These pistons are now used on Yamaha's R series supersport models.


DiASil Engine Cylinder: The Engine Cylinder is that part of the engine inside which the Piston moves. Air cooled engines have fins on the cylinder to increase the cooling process.


DiASil Cylinder;

"DiASil" is an abbreviation for "Die-casting Aluminum-Silicon". In case of the R15 it is an all-aluminum cylinder which uses a 20% silicon aluminum alloy.


DiASil Cylinder

Conventional engine cylinders have a steel liner to reduce the friction resulting from the piston's movement. The "DiASil" cylinder is made by the exclusive Yamaha Aluminum Controlled Forging (CF) technology.

Because the "DiASil" Cylinder is all aluminum, it has excellent heat dissipation qualities and reduces engine weight at the same time. (Aluminum dissipates heat at 3.1 times the rate of steel.) The DiASil cylinder has 60% better cooling performance at 30% lower manufacturing cost and enables 30% lighter design.

Find more about DiASil Cylinder here..


"Link Type" Monoshock rear Suspension: The only motorcycle with a rear monoshock in India is the Honda Unicorn. But the monoshock of the Unicorn is the most basic of monoshock suspensions. The Yamaha R15 has a superior set up called the "Link Type" monoshock suspension.


Vixion Rear Suspension

Read more about Motorcycle Suspensions here..


"Delta" Frame: The R15 has a frame that is different from the normal single or twin downtube motorcycle frames seen in the present bikes in India. The "Delta Frame" of the R15 also can be found on the R series of Yamaha bikes. Apart from giving the bike the looks of a sports bike, the "Delta Frame" also has an excellent rigidity balance which should give the R15 a very sporty handling characteristic.


R15 Delta Frame

6 Gears: And Oh Yes.. the R15 also has 6 gears, a first for India (if you discount the legendary RD350 of course)

Front and Rear Disc Brakes: The R1 features disc brakes for both the front and rear.



According to Yamaha these features of the Yamaha R15 have been incorporated from the DNA of its high performance racing bikes like the R1. This is not exactly untrue since the R series of bikes from Yamaha actually do feature parts like these.


Yamaha T135

But what you should probably also know that exotic tech bits like these have already been incorporated in bikes like the Yamaha Vixion (150 cc bikes from Indonesia) and the Yamaha T135 and the Yamaha Spark RX135i (135 cc, Liquid Cooled, Fuel Injected Step Thru from Thailand).


Yamaha Spark RX135i






So is the Yamaha R15 a harbinger of good things to come for "desi" bikers..??
I certainly think so..!! Things can only get better for the "desi" biker from here.

One have to applaud Yamaha India for trying to push the envelope of the "desi" biking scene. But with accumulating losses since 2001, Yamaha India did not have much of a choice. Its "Better late than never" for Yamaha Motors India








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Disclaimer:

This is to remind that the Views or Opinions in the blog are entirely mine unless explicitly stated. The Views and Opinions published in this blog should in no way be related to any other person or organization associated -- directly or indirectly -- with me.




26 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey mate, you have done it again!!
I was thinking this morning what the hell is payeng doing without posting anything for the past 3 days and BANG!!!! you came with a beautiful article. You have given an insight about many other mechanical factors too!!
I loved it. Thanks mate!!!

When is this bike making to the indian market. I am planning for a performance bike now. Which one to go for (except the p220)? Shall I wait for R15? will it be worth it?

And please do post something about the naked bikes from the expo...both those likely to make it to india and those which do not.

Payeng said...

Thanks Rajesh bro..

According to Yamaha, the R15 should be out by mid 2008.. I think you should wait for the R15.. it sure does look promising.

If you can really strech your budget to around 2.0-2.5 lakhs then nothing could be better than the Kawasaki Ninja 250R which should also make it to Bajaj Probiking Showrooms in mid 2008.




I also have a hunch that Bajaj might also be secretly preparing to launch a 4 Valve and more powerful Pulsar Range.. (Remember the XCD will get 4 Vavles soon and the Discover had gone up to 150 cc with the DTSi engine)..

But it is still just a hunch

Anonymous said...

nice research done!great work.

Prakash said...

nice article payeng...

Sajal said...

Payeng Dude!!!

I'm confused and I have a question!!! How is the Oil-Cooling on Pulsar 200-220 different from liquid cooling on R1-R15 or any other Super sports bike.

My guess, on Pulsar 200-220, only the Engine Oil is being cooled by the Oil Cooling system on the bike and engine itself is air cool (coz I can make out the Air Tubule in the bike). On the other Super Sports bikes enjoy a system wide cooling with the help Liquid Cooling System.

PS : Don't laugh if I sound stupid, coz I'm very much layman to bikes just trying to learn things from you!!!! ;-)

Solada Somberi said...

Wah re Wah Bhai! Dil Kush Kar Diya, by giving so much of info for a n00b like me :-D. Jiyo Mere Lal :-P

Damn! So many bikes as options this year! Sometimes I feel I should have waited for a year more :-D ! But again just like cameras and mobiles more we wait better options we get, and at the end we will land up only waiting ;-). Aint it True!!!

Arun Murali said...

@payeng: Any idea if the radiator comes with a fan?

How does the liquid cooling increases power ? :)

Payeng said...

Thanks everyone..

Let me clarify that even I am a noob.. so please consider me as one among you.


@Sajal,

Yes you are right, the Pulsar200/220 has the Oil cooled via a radiator leaving the engine to be cooled by Air.

If I am not wrong, even the 250 cc Kinetic-Hyosung Comet/Aquila had a similar Oil Cooled system..



@Puma,

You are right bro.. maybe we shouldn't bother much about the new bikes/upgrades, maintain out bikes well and enjoy our rides.



@Arun,

No idea about any fan bro..

Liquid cooling makes the cooling process faster and better.. making the engine capable of higher performance

Anonymous said...

Yamaha YZF-R15 and FZ-150 should have SPLIT SEATS and a better sporty BACKLIGHT unlike the Pulsar 200cc ( and not a Gladiator seat and a backlight with ruins the whole sporty image)

Anonymous said...

hey dude what will be the price for YZF-R15......and when will be coming around mid 2008????

first_synn said...

Correction.

The Kinetic bikes actually had 4 valves/cyl. It's the LML Adreno and energy (originally from Daelim) that had 3 valves.


And yeah, the Spark is a major hit around these parts. Goes like stink too~!

Anonymous said...

hi . this is ma first blog to you . yours is an awesome chronicle . very informative . i am glad that YAMAHA have done their home work on r15 . i will definitely buy it even if i have to go on cycle to college to save money . imagine delta box . 6 speed . r1 styling . liquid cooling . damn i love it . it should develop around 20 bhp else the whole plot would loose its focus .
keep up the splendid work payeng .

Payeng said...

Thanks again everybody and special thanks to Synn for keeing an eye on me..


According to Yamaha India, the YZF-R15 can be expected by June 2008.. Price hasn't been disclosed officially but is expected to be around Rs. 90,000

Anonymous said...

hi payeng and all bikers
not only yamaha is doing 'the great work' but according to NDTV 'car and bike' show bajaj is going to bring two bikes for indian market one from kawasaki and one from KTM side.we can hope these two to be ninja 250 and duke 250.so get ready to see these two gorgeous beauties in the nearby bajaj probiking showroom.

PS:we can just hope them to be these.i am not sure these two are going to be launched or not.maybe they are working on some 150cc or 125cc.

Payeng said...

Ashes,

I have already published a post that the Ninja 250R is coming to Probiking Showrooms.. Just check out the Auto Expo 2008 updates.

And yes, KTM bikes are headed for India too.. but they will most probably be bigger than 250 cc.. Most probably the Duke 690 and the RC8..

Unknown said...

Nice Article.
any news about the 2 gladiators
they looked more pleasing to my eyes.
hopefully yamaha brings them.

imran said...

hey payeng was planning to buy p-200 but now stuck on R-15.what do u sujjest. in what price range is R-15 placed and when will it be released

Payeng said...

Hi Imran,

though not announced officially, according to what I know the YZF R15 should be priced around Rs. 90,000. The official specs of the R15 are yeat to be official.

Payeng said...

Hi Imran,

though not announced officially, according to what I know the YZF R15 should be priced around Rs. 90,000.

Also the official tech specs of the R15 are yet to be official.

Anonymous said...

hi payenge,
you do a nice jab really apreciating keep it up bro,i have a question can u please tell me does the pick-up of a bike increases if i fit a big rear sprocket(diameter increased).that is a big rear gear.
please reply me soon bro,
and thanks.

Payeng said...

Yes, fitting a Bigger Rear Sprocket (diameter increased) would increase the initial pick up.. but the Top Speed will come down.

Shalin said...

I have some Photographs of R15 with myself on it .... can i post them in your blog ?? and if yes how

Payeng said...

@Shalin,


just mail them to "satadal.payeng@gmail.com"

Anonymous said...

hi payenge,
you do a nice jab really apreciating keep it up bro,i have a question can u please tell me does the pick-up of a bike increases if i fit a big rear sprocket(diameter increased).that is a big rear gear.
please reply me soon bro,
and thanks.

imran said...

hey payeng was planning to buy p-200 but now stuck on R-15.what do u sujjest. in what price range is R-15 placed and when will it be released

mithun said...

hey dude what will be the price for YZF-R15......and when will be coming around mid 2008????

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