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Dec 15, 2010

19 European Yamaha R125 for India? Good Joke..!!

"Yamaha R125 will be launched in India". That's what most "desi" amateur auto/bike blogs say with authority. Do they really know what they are saying..??

Did you know?

The R125 is physically bigger than our R15!

This particular LSD (Lame Speculation & Disappointment) has been around for about 2 years now. Amateur "desi" auto/bike blogs are responsible for spreading and still keeping this baseless rumour alive.

Even sites like Rediff.Com couldn't tell the truth from rumour and published the following as shown in the screenshot posted below.

Why do amateur blogs speculate that the Yamaha R125 might get launched in India?

  • Because Yamaha has the R125 in its international lineup (and according to their thinking it will be very easy to bring it to India)


  • Because (they think that) Yamaha India can then price the R125 at around Rs. 90,000 (below the R15 which currently has a price tag of around Rs. 1,15,000)

Let me now explain why the Yamaha R125 is NOT COMING to India and that its just another of those LSD's thanks to our amateur blogs..

Reason #1: Size.

It would be very awakward to sell a physically smaller R15 (150 cc) alongside a phyically bigger R125 (125 cc).

The Yamaha R125 has been designed to be sold in European markets, which means that the bike has been designed to carry 6 ft plus European guys. The Yamaha R125 is a big bike compared to the Indian R15.

The seat height of the Yamaha R125 is 818 mm and just for the perspective the R15 has a seat height of 790 mm. Guys as short as 5.3 - 5.4 foot are very comfortable on the Yamaha R15, wheareas a guy has to be around 5.7 foot to be comfortable riding the R125.

Size of the Yamaha R15 & R125: Comparison

Size of the Yamaha R15 & R125: Comparison

Wheelbase: R15- 1,290 mm, R125- 1,355 mm
Length: R15- 1995 mm, R125- 2,015 mm
Seat Height: R15- 790 mm, R125- 818 mm

Valentino Rossi with the R15 and R125

Reason #2: Price

Yamaha has to manufacture the R125 in India in order to price it according to Indian sensibilites.

The price of the Yamaha R125 in Europe is around Rs. 3 Lakh (when converted into Indian rupees). Which needless to state is an impossible amount that any Indian guys would be ready to pay for a 125 cc bike. The only possibility for Yamaha to price the R125 reasonably for India would be if the bike would be manufactured in India.

HMSI (Honda Motorcycles & Scooters India) would be doing just that when its starts manufacturing the CBR250R out of India and then sell it in India and export the same to other countries.

Bajaj auto would do the same when it manufactures the KTM 125 Duke out of it plant in Pune and export it to other countries. Bajaj will in fact go ahead one step and sell a bigger 200 cc KTM 200 Duke for India and other Asian countries.



Note: Some blogs have started to speculated that the recently spotted possible Yamaha R15 upgrade is actually the R125.

I would like to say that the spy shot of the bike shows a similar looking rear portion and alloy wheels as that of the R125. But apart from that, the rest of the bike in the spy shots looks exactly like our current R15 (including its size).


My Final Take

If one fine day, Yamaha decides to manufacture the R125 in India and export to other countries, only then according to me can the model be sold in India. But in that case it would make much more better business sense to offer a bigger 200 cc engine like the KTM 200 Duke and the Honda CBR 250R and price it higher.

Another scenario could be that Yamaha India could decide to provide a R125 based on the same chassis/body of the R15 but with a smaller 125 cc engine based on the current 150 cc engine. But honestly do we really need something like that?

In any case, I am certain that the "European" Yamaha YZF R125 would NOT make it to India..

Sorry to burst the bubble of many.







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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.






19 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Best bike blog ever...:)
awsome work man..

Sorry to say,i think there is a typo on the black bolded line"Let me tell you why Yamaha R15..."I think it would be R125...

But overall the R125 is much more macho than current indian R15
-Saurabh

melville said...

Dude, there's a typo there-

Let me now explain why the Yamaha R15 (should be R125) is NOT COMING to India and that its just another of those LSD's thanks to our amateur blogs..

Payeng said...

@Saurabh & Melville,

Thanks guys for pointing out the typo. Have corrected it now.

Sajal said...

Loved the size comparison!! That's hitting hard :)

praveen said...

@payeng
iam a regular visitor of ur blog & i want to know whether ur a automobile engineer or a auto journalist because in ur previous post ur mentioned that ur busy this days for ur dedicated job, & thanks to bringing us right information without hoax statements which other bloggers will do. If i hope so this bike(R125) riding posture and design is not suitable for our indian streets, this is the bike for europeans for there day to day commuting purpose.

Day before yesterday i went to yamaha showroom in vizag to confirm whether new variant is round the corner or not, and i asked about the R15 the dealer told that at present there is no stock, and he asked me to wait for a month that yamaha is going to launch a new model he did not mentioned that new model is R15. But atleast its true that yamaha is going to launch a new bike for new year's gift....

Payeng said...

@Praveen, thanks for regularly dropping by and also for your comments.

I am an engg. by education but not an automobile engg., also I am not an auto journalist. I am just another guy with an avid interest in bikes/motorcycles.

About the new R15: Looks like the competition (Honda CBR 250R) has made Yamaha sit up and give the R15, the makeover that it always deserved.

melville said...

The Euro R125 looks seriously more capable than our desi R15. I've always disliked it for its puny dimensions and the R125 corrects most of that! But if you notice the profile image, the rear still looks out of sync with the front half (in the length of the bike)

Anonymous said...

You are 100% right bro..
The spy shots as confirmed by my friend who owns a yamaha showroom is of 2011 R15 to be launched within 2 months..

Anonymous said...

Well not all indians are short. I am 6ft myself ( I'm not done growing btw :P ) That's a lame excuse. Yamaha seems to bothered only about its archaic r15 ?

Anonymous said...

i really hoped i wud find that bike.
now am hopeless. thanks man
zein dean

sarang said...

plz plz plz launch r125 in india.....as soon as possible we indians realy need this type of bike.....its the gr8 lookin bike i have ever seen in 125 to 150 segment....plz

Anonymous said...

i want r15in india

Anonymous said...

WHEN WILL WROUND IT WILL LAUNCHED IN INDIA?
I WANA BUY THIS ONE BIKE..... PLZ TELL ME...............

Unknown said...

if yamaha r125 will not launch in india then indian automobile engineering are foolish.

Unknown said...

Maybe yamaha india WOULD bring the r125 to asia.. But not as a 125cc machine... Wouldnt it be great if they use the same design as the r125 but created it to be a 250cc machine that would fight the kawasaki and honda? Hmm now thats interesting... Hehe...
Just my 2 cents by the way...

Gunawan MS said...

Yeah, the way Kawasaki Ninja 250 and Honda CBR 250 R raise the interest in this segment & having success businesswise, and how Suzuki counters it somewhat with their own sport touring (naked) Suzuki Inazuma 250 that was launched recently, we start hearing some whisper & rumour regarding Yamaha's own 250 cc bike in the near term (say, sometime in 2013), here in Indonesia.

Anonymous said...

the bike is available in sl around rs 5 lakhs, and it wud have been much beta with a 200cc or 250cc engine, clearly a good balance with the physical macho style appearance... just my personal idea n im sure most of u wud agree with me

Anonymous said...

want dis byke nyhow.... just luvd it....
hope it'll get launched in INDIA very soon....:(

Anonymous said...

wat the ****? if yamaha will launch this bike in india they will earn more than expected!!

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