Yamaha R15 V4M: Likes And Dislikes

Is it too little a change for too much money?

Many years ago, Yamaha made the sportbike genre accessible to Indians with the launch of the R15. While we were quite content with the R15 V3, which was launched in 2018, Yamaha decided to give it a generational update this year. Is the ride and handling as radically different as the design of the V4 from its predecessor? Here’s what we liked and disliked about the new R15 V4M:

LIKES

Less Taxing But More Involving Ergonomics

Even though Yamaha doesn’t mention it anywhere in its product briefing, the clip-ons have been noticeably raised and angled outwards. This small tweak doesn’t force you to lean forwards as much and hence, the severity of wrist aches and back pains are lowered. Especially when commuting, larger riders will not feel their upper body as constricted, with plenty of leverage offered to zip through traffic. There are no changes to the seat height or the footpeg position. Yamaha has also redesigned the tank cover and the fairing. The former change enables the rider to hug the tank and lock their knees when cornering well while the latter aids in cutting through air more efficiently.

Handles Even Better

The R15 V3 was a pretty potent handler, be it carving through twisties or making mince of city traffic. With the addition of the USD fork, which Indian enthusiasts were dying to get on the V3 and now comes finished in gold, the front end feel of the R15 has improved. You can make quick direction changes without breaking a sweat. And this is despite it running a bias-ply front tyre. Had it been a radial, it would have elevated the handling gains significantly.

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Looks Smashing

The nip and tuck that the R15 has gone through is pretty extreme. It looks exactly like a scaled-down YZF-R7 and to my eyes, it looks smashing. Yamaha got the proportions of the R15 right with the V3 and now with the V4, it looks even better and to a certain degree, larger, thanks to the clean fairing design and large vents. The special silver and grey M colour option does enhance the R15’s sporty appeal but if we had to buy one, it would definitely have to be the MotoGP edition as we love MotoGP replica machines.

Step Up In Quality And Features

Some of the plastics and fit and finish levels on the R15 V3 were an eyesore. Thankfully, things are returning back to normal as every single panel on the R15 V4 feels more solid and put together tighter. Panel gaps are consistent, the faux vents are better finished and even the switches feel better to touch and operate. A larger LCD digital dash comes enabled with a Bluetooth module, through which you can receive call alerts, message notifications and a few other features. Sadly, there’s no turn-by-turn navigation. The R15 does have a lap timer now, which can be started when in ‘Track’ mode. Finally, the R15 becomes the smallest motorcycle in the country to get traction control as standard and even a quickshifter (only upshifts). While the traction control rarely kicks in--and in a very subtle manner when it does--the inclusion of a quickshifter aids in rideability, even when you want to leave traffic behind in the city.

DISLIKES

Drop In Performance

Yamaha says that the change in engine tune for the V4 was done to aid overall rideability. Having ridden the V3 BS6 and the V4 back to back, there isn’t any noticeable change in engine driveability. However, the R15 V4 is noticeably and, as seen on our VBox data, significantly slower than the V3 BS4 machine. Having been made to jump through the emission hoops, it has lost its outright grunt, which is a bit of a downer.

Brakes Don’t Match Up

The R15 does enjoy being ridden hard and fast, and with the advanced suspension, it handles rather beautifully too. The missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle thus remains the brakes. The relatively simple twin-piston Bybre sliding calipers bring the R15 to a halt decently well. However, the feel at the levers is lacking and we would have appreciated a bit more initial bite.

VERDICT

All things considered, the Yamaha R15 V4 remains a tasty little pocket rocket that will inspire a lot of budding riders to take up sport riding. It isn’t as aggressive as before, allowing even larger riders to feel at home in the saddle. Not only is it better for sport riding but even friendlier for commuting. And the bits like traction control and quickshifter only amplify the bike’s sporty credentials. Does the premium feel justified then? Surely.