Ritesh Madhok
The latest offering from Yamaha, the R15v3 is a complete upgrade in all the terms, may it be engine, chassis or the sharp body design. Yamaha has taken inspiration from the Elder YZF-R1 while designing the R15v3 and traces of “DNA are easily identifiable. The front dual split headlamp with LED DRL’s and the squared LED tail lamp are simply scaled down versions of the R1. The front end looks aggressive, while the sleek LED lamps simply resemble a oncoming superbike to bystanders. The fuel tank now a little bulged out from the top; with fins on top of it like the R1. The instrument cluster on the R15v3 is upgraded to a fully digital LCD M1 inspired instrument cluster with features like a digital tachometer, speedometer, fuel gauge, VVA indicator, odometer and a gear indicator inside the LCD display, while the neutral indicator, low oil preasure indicator, engine malfunction indicator, high beam indicator and signal lights ON indicator are placed on both the sides of the digital display.
The rider seat is comfortable and spacious, and the riding position isn’t that aggressive as the KTM Rc twins demand.
The R15v3 gets a completely new engine. It comes equipped with a 155cc 4 valve liquid cooled engine with a single over head camshaft having a compression ratio of 11.6: 1. This new engine now comes equipped with VVA (Variable Valve Actuation technology) which actually does all the magic here.
Simply put, the R15v3 is the fastest 150cc bike in the Indian market. This new 155cc mill with VVA delivers 19.3PS@10000rpm of power, and 15.2Nm@8500rpm of torque, which is a 16% increase from the V2 enigne, and miles ahead from its competition. Yamaha has also upgraded the R15v3 in terms of the clutch, and has equipped the V3 with an Assist & Slipper clutch. For engine cooling, Yamaha has carried forward the liquid cooling technology with an upgraded and a bigger size valve to ease the flow of coolant to and fro the engine.
The R15v3 uses a new deltabox chassis derived directly from the elder sibling, the YZF-R1. The overall wheelbase of the new V3 is just 1325mm, which keeps the bike stable and anchored even on knee scraping corners. In terms of suspension, Yamaha has upgraded the front forks to ones with 41mm inner diameter forks with a travel of 130mm, which is ready to take on bad cratered roads without much discomfort to the rider. On the rear, Yamaha has not made any mechanical changes to the mono- suspension setup with 97mm travel, but has updated the mounting from the swing arm on the V2 to a linkage type setup tuned on the stiffer side on the R15v3, which has actually resulted in delivering a plush and comfortable ride.
Yamaha has equipped the V3 with 15mm bigger brakes than on the V2 on the front, with a 282mm disk rotor with twin pistons, while the rear brakes remain the same, and come equipped with a 220mm disk rotor. Though the setup provides enough braking power, ABS will still be missed.
The rims used on the V3 are light-weight and use a different alloy than the V2, to keep the overall weight of the bike in check. In terms of tyres too, Yamaha has upgraded the V3 with beefier tyres on both the ends, with a 100/80-17 tyre on the front, and a 140/70-17 tyre of MRF Nylogrip brand for the rear. Overall, the bike is very agile and easy to maneuver, like the earlier R15 versions, thanks to R15v3’s 139kg weight, which is just 3 kgs heavier that the V2.
Priced at Rs.1,25,000 ex-factory, the R15v3 is the most affordable track spec bike from Yamaha and definitely a complete evolution of the R15 platform which Yamaha launched in 2008.
(With almost a decade of experience under his belt, auto journalist, Ritesh Madhok, holds the steering at Motor World India, an online portal that brings you the latest scoops in the Indian automobile industry)
