New/Upgraded R15 on cards in 2011..??
Two photos of what looks like an upgraded Yamaha R15 has been recently reported on Orkut and xBhp.Com. (by one of its member Vaibhav Saigal)..!!
Could this be the Yamaha R25, the possible 250 cc answer to the Honda CBR250R?
Just in the previous post I had put the Yamaha R15 in "Not the Best Styled Motorcycles of India: My Top 10" list. The reason was its relatively "thin" looking rear which was out of sync with its super sports inspired full fairing. The following spy shots show that Yamaha has probably finally decided to address the Achilles Heel of the R15, its malnourished looking rear portion.
2011 Yamaha R15 (?)
What's new?- Raised rear
- Split rear seats
- Fatter looking rear tyre
- Possibly a LED Tail light
- New Alloy Wheel Design
- Redesigned Exhaust Heat Shield
- Rear Wheel Hugger
2008-10, Yamaha R15
Competition surely is a very good thing..!!
Whatever the critics might cry hoarse about, it is finally the competition that makes things better for the customers. The soon to be launched Honda CBR250R could really hurt the sales of the Yamaha R15 (priced at 1.10-1.15 lakhs) if it comes at a specualted price of 1.30-1.50 lakhs. After all the Honda looks perfect and proportional from every angle including the rear.
Except the ungainly looking rear wheel hugger, the R15 is looking pretty neat and substantial now..!! The rear tyre looks wider (in the second spy photo posted below) than the original (100 mm wide) rear tyre.
But could this be the Yamaha R25, the possible 250 cc answer to the Honda CBR250R?
Well, its a perfectly beautiful speculation to romanticize, but personally I don't think it could be a new 250 cc bike. Everything else on the bike looks like that of the current (2008-10) R15. The engine of the current R15 is based on a liquid cooled, 135 cc engine which does duty on one of the Yamaha Step Thru model (Jupiter MX) sold in South East Asian countries.
And according to what I know, 150 cc is the maximum that this engine can be bored/upgraded to.
Related Posts
- "Not the Best" Styled Motorcycles of India: My Top 10
- Best Looking Motorcycles of India: My Top 10
- Honda CBR250R Video Review [Autocar India] + Official specs
- Yamaha R15 Review [November 17, 2008]
- Whats so Special about the Yamaha YZF-R15..??
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.
34 Comments:
The rear tyre huger definitely looks (F)ugly!! But dimension wise, it definitely look good for a R15, but punny for a R250 of sorts
i love your site man.... you do very good distinction of Indian bike Industry.....
nice,.. looks like this design concept has taken from r125 similar led tail lights rear design & even alloys also, but with tire hugger yucss.. of course its better like one we found in pulsar 135, but its compulsry rule for india.
i hope it should be a 250cc version from yamaha, and it should be price competatively like honda cbr 250, but i think its not possible by yamaha. if r15 is priced 1.2 lach then this 250cc machine will be priced less or equal to ninga 250r. whether its a 250 or 150 only time will decide fingers crossed.
heahhh payeng wat about the newly launched FZ1 & SZ-R 150 waiting for the info & pics of this bikes please post this article soon for us.............
i mean 2011 is the year of 200 & 250cc + bikes like ktm duke 200cc, honda CBR 250R, mahindra mojo still not launched, might be on cards apache RTR 220, pulsar 350, hope so yamaha R25.........
@Chandan
thanks bro
@Sajal and Praveen,
Yamaha could have split up the rear hugger like Bajaj did on the Pulsar 135LS. And yeah, 2011 seems to be exciting.
hey Payeng, I've been following 'The Bike Chronicles of India' for quite some time now, and first let me congratulate you on doing such a wonderful job out here..well, not only we share our love for these angels on two wheels (ironically, i had a crash last day.. lol), we've depended on the same means for our daily bread. Yes sir, am from the softwares too; and so, i know what it takes to maintain such a website.
Anyway, I've been riding an R15 for more than an yr now and trust me it isn't the way these japs giant think, the way u've described in ur post above. Yamahas aint of those who'd change themselves to keep up with the competition, they are of those who'd innovate an entirely new era for others to compete. Remember how they launched RX100 and RD350 when all what the Indian two wheelers market meant were the bajaj's, let alone those pitying mopeds. Well.. why go back in time? just a couple of yrs back, cud anyone in India imagine, some company would make such a performing motorbike with merely a 150cc heart? price it more that 1 lakh (i.e. some 20-30 grands dearer than the established 225 and 220 players), and succeed? Yamahas played it.. and Yamahas won it...!
So you see things dont really work that ways at Yamaha.. There are no 250cc R series plans of the company so far and even if there are, it is destined to be called as R4 as claimed by some Japanese magazine some time back, with pictures to justify the same. Though, sources say those were just ur so-called LSDs (japanese version) :)
Nor is the above bike an upgraded R15 for 2011. Do you really think R15 needs an upgrade that looks as ugly as one flaunting its tail so desperately as above? (OK I agree with current model's unproportionate rear and all but would you call this bike in spied pics a proportionate one?)
So what about these pictures by Mr Saigal? These pictures are of just another R15 graphite(now discontinued) with some custom job done in the complete rear unit. No? look at tail of this bike.Now google images for R1.Dont they look similar? Still a no no for you. Ok, observe the second picture of tail carefully, do you see the scope of two exhausts on either side of the taillight as in the R1. And though this should convince you, if not, this video would make you believe this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiL1KBWOvSk, that i came across when i was planning some custom done on my bike :)
Also, if you take a closer look at the tyres that are perhaps reason of all the fuss around R15, you would find these are the regular MRF zappers, the kind found on Pulsar 220 and not the existing radial tubeless. Why would a company downsize on quality on something that sells on its promise of quality? The alloys,wheel hugger and the exhaust shown can be found at any jassi paji's auto garage across the street.
Indian biking aficionados have much more expectations from the Yamaha. Is it the right time for bringing R4 into production? well..Keeping my fingers crossed.
Cheers!
Anurag
@Anurag
If it a custom job, then why some idiot would buy and put that ugly looking rear wheel hugger? I would have rather bought a split rear wheel hugger like the one on Pulsar 135LS.
Design is good but to compare yamaha r125 it not look so impressive. exhaust system looks like a yamaha ss125.rear hugger spoil the rear look...alloy wheels not looks so good to compare fz16.... front fairing little bit modified...
@Akash,
If you observe the bike, after fitting tail of R1, the rear of the bike is raised to an extent, a hugger thus being a need of the bike than just a cosmetic upgrade.
As you say you would rather buy a split rear wheel hugger like one on Pulsar135LS, do you remember how the hugger on older LS looked like? It was very much similar to the shown above. And how could you be so sure this bike was modified after the launch of LS with split hugger? I guess that should answer your query :)
@Anurag
i just viewed the video which u had posted, and ur mistaken may be some had done little R1 like modification for their bike but its totally different from this spied pics. Its a testing bike which someone had snapped and uploaded on the internet which we are lucky to see this bike. And no one can put such a clumsy rear mud fender for his bike.
it looks like ur a hardcore fan for yamaha, even me to and i own myself a yamaha fazer 150. But being a indian please dont criticise our indian bike manufacturers they also hosted our indian flag in some of the countries like latin america, singapore, malaysia, indonesia & europe, we should be proud of that....
@payeng
wat about the newly launched yamaha FZ1 & SZ-R 150, i had already asked in my previous post, couple of days was passed from their launching still u didnt mentioned information of this bikes. please post it soon....
@Anurag,
Point taken.. but the guy riding the bike in the photos does look like a company employee taking out the bike for routine tests on the roads. A few guys with similar kind of dress code were also seen in spy shots on the 153 cc Fazer prior to its launch.
Personally I'd be happy to see the R15 get a proper/proportionate and healthy looking rear.
@Praveen,
Thanks for the heads up. I have been very busy these days thanks to my dedicated full time job.
Will update my blog (which is my online dairy) about the latest launch from Yamaha soon.. right now I know as much as you do.
I take effort that every post of mine is not just another "copy paste" job, and for that I try to put in some time and effort and passion in my posts. Will try to see if I can add value when I post.
Thanks bro
@Praveen, Maybe you are right..this could be 2011 R15, but if that is the case.. to me personally, its a huge disappointment. :(
And buddy, truly in my heart I respect all the Indian bike makers, especially after having known Pulsar is the biggest selling machine in Indonesia, courtesy TBCI (thanks Payeng). But anywhere in my post, did I question on Indian bikes and their technology...? I doubt I did.
@Payeng,
The rider (rather his riding gears) is only thing that makes me skeptical, this could be a company model. But correct me if I am wrong, don't these bikes on company test rides have to have a different colored number plates (yellow i suppose) as per laws? m not sure though.
Well this might be an OT to this post... but nothing has been officially announced nor updated by Yamaha India about the launch of the FZ1 and SZ-R. All the so called authentic auto magazines have mentioned one liners about the launch and no launch images or notes what so ever. Even the images that have been posted on those websites are not clicked by the websites.
So, I see no point in getting excited about those bikes right now unless and until something official comes up.
Well, from my perspective, it does look like a camouflaged Yamaha R15 upgrade mule that is being tested. That rear wheel hugger might be a camouflage, or atleast I hope so!
@All, If you notice the image uploaded carefully you will see 2 Saree guards on the rear wheel hugger. Nobody would modify and put a saree guard on his bike.
We've got to hand it to Mr.Vaibhav Saigal. Not only has he snapped these scoop shots, he has added his giant-ass watermark, so that some crucial details are missed within those pixels itself!
For me this is a seller.. I own a 08/08/08 Yamaha R15 in blue and I absolutely loved the new tail design. Yamaha seems to be working on customer niggles and requests.
@Anurag,
I purely understand your sentiments for the bike and the company brother, but the company is answerable to more than just pure breed enthusiasts. There is a huge crowd( 75% of the R15 owners and prospective buyers) that would instantly fall in for an R15 with bigger tyres and a sleek tail with LED tail lamps.
But this bike, by no means, I felt is a user customized model. Think of it this way.. The R15 is Yamahas flagship for Indian made bikes. With regards to the highly aggressive competition from other models of various companies which upgrade models every 6 months, and the profound Honda CBR 250R ( which for me is by no means a "CBR")which is speculated to sell at 1.5 lacs, wont it be logical for the company to upgrade a near 3 year old model.
Pondering over your suggestions,I have a few points to make:
1)why would a user who customizes the rest of the bike so beautifully and tastefully, add a shitty rear hugger in the first place?
2)would he upgrade the alloys on the bike just to fit a 20mm wider tyre? And btw, those dont look like any of the jassi pajji wheel rims to my eyes.
3) while changing the exhaust, a guy who would spend so much on the modification of the bike would not install an SZ styled custom exhaust!!
4) That rear end my friend is no where close to an R1 rear (right from '98-2011), the one in the video link you pasted is an actual R1 rear fitted straight on the R15 frame.
5)The rider as S.P said closely resembles the Yamaha Testers found testing other yammie products on Indian roads.
6)I dont think any user would even think of changing the rear view mirrors and those dont look like stock mirrors to me!
6) Probably the most important point, why in the world would the rider try and hide the make or model of his bike!!! Camouflaging the bike to an extent of stripping it off all its decals and logos only to keep a black bodied R15 after doing such an extensive mod job is sort of a mystery to me!
7) to end the entire scene in a sentence, These are not the only two pictures of this bike but infact there iare two more images, one of which reveals another tester riding ( probably) the same bike with this one. End of story.
Conclusion: India is indeed getting a revamped R15 in Q1 2011.
P.S. I still love the old design and I feel it lost its character with the new rear. No way am i putting that on my bike ( even if that is possible).
Btw the third picture I spoke about is here:
http://www.motorbeam.com/wp-content/uploads/2011_Yamaha_R15_Rear.jpg
HI,
initially i was very excited to see this pic..
just now what i noticed was that..
1.)pic taken from side view , the rear foot rest bars were in black colour,like the old r15 ones...
2.)but in the rear view pics its in kind of silver colour(like r1)...u can notice that on rt side just beside number plate...
i personally want this to be true but this thing confuses me...
lets see what happens on 25th...
Why r dey not launching the r125??
is the bike launched or not....?today is 25
Maybe its a delay. I have full hope that the new R15 gets launched
i have canceled my booking of R15 b'coz of this news so i hope this do get launched...but acc. to motorbeam it is officialy conformed by yamaha that upgrade was to be launched on 25 and they have conformed that this spied bike is upgrade R15
any news regarding it ?
@Above,
just playing the waiting game bro
FAKE FAKE FAKE...
Guys do u really this that Yamaha is gonna launch this bike after the devastation what JAPAN has seen past few days??
Is this really gonna effect the bike to release in INDIA?? Any idea guys?
@above,
according to me the Japan earth quake shouldn't be a problem as the production of Indian models do not take place in Japan
when can i expect it to release the new r15... does any one here have an idea of it
When can we expect the launch of this bike
The only way to find the truth is to contact many dealers across the states and find out their opinion about the new r15 and r125....both these bikes are awesome...I will go for r125 if it is available or r15 if only the new model is available... - RANJIT
R125 will not be launched in India . and R15 2011 model will be delayed , may be till diwali . Sorry for the inconvenience . thank you
according to me its R125
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