R15 in Sriperumbudur
Saturday morning, I woke up uncomfortably at 7 after having slept only 5 hours earlier following a tiring day. Got ready, took a ride with my parents who were on the way to the temple. I got dropped on the way to be picked up by a friend who was ready in his Octavia to blaze the road till Sriperumbudur, the purpose of which was to ride Yamaha’s angel of hope, amidst it’s nerdy stable of liberos & albas, the R15. And while the nerve-jangling ride was interspersed with the hope of seeing nubile women atop two-wheeled wonders again as in the Auto Expo, I only got to see plenty of the latter. I am not sure how many because there were too many to count, one of the organisers told us 35 but it looked more like 15 to me.
We registered after waiting in a long queue. After waiting in another long queue and then yet another one in the pits to gear up (helmets and pads provided), I finally got my turn on a sexy blue R15. Before I could drop dead and marvel at the superb attention to detail, I had to get the bike started to be with the pack that would have one of the cannot-overtake-me Yam officials in the lead. I sat, got it straight, turned the key and pressed the ignition button expecting an enchanting burbling growl but instead heard a timid and slightly shallow sound that was a bit disappointing (and too close to a standard 150 cc bike). I expected more, because this bike has a spec sheet that can embarrass any other bike in the country (ok, leave out the Dukes and bigger Yams). Delta box chassis, liquid-cooled engine, six-speed gearbox, front and rear disc brake, 4-valve per cylinder head, fully faired body and a 10,500 rpm redline, just a few things that I remember from the top of my head. We lined up and then rode out of the pits. The riding position was pretty different for me but my 5 foot 7 inch frame was extremely comfortable with butt on saddle in this sporty stance, a first for me. The first thing I did as we headed out of the track was to wait for the snakey trail of bikes in front of me to leave a stretch of clear tarmac. Taking the right and then picking and dropping it to the left while brushing the curve, I revved it in second as the bike took the twitching & turning with aplomb leaving a smiling face under my helmet. I continued to do so in the following turns until I hit a road block. The econo-cruncher of a rider in front of me resisted tiliting the bike more than 2 degrees off the vertical. I had to straighten the bike in the middle of a curve to break speed with the reassuring yet beautifully progressive front and rear discs, to avoid hitting him. Then I got down to my devious antics again and the guys behind me were screaming in disgust as I slowed them down. Then I throttled up, ran through a series of curves, braked, second gear then third gear and then braked again and repeated this with unexpected thrill for what was my first outing on a race track. The straight was closed (sob), we were directed through the pits and much to my delight got a second lap too. This time it was better as there was more space to stretch the machine. The handling is undoubtedly beautiful. You don’t have to do much. You simply think and the machine does, like there’s an instant umbilical chord struck up between you and the machine. The engine feels very smooth and it revs superbly. The gearbox too – which I made sure to gear up to number six and back down to check it out – was as smooth as a Yam’s can get.
In short, I loved the experience and the event was organised pretty well. The bike is absolutely stunning for a 150! Looking at it from the rear I felt it was a tad disproportional (primarily because of an aesthetically thin rear tire). Overall though, it’s definitely amongst the best looking bikes in the country and although at a lakh+ on road I would have ideally preferred a 175 cc 20 bhp engine, the current one is still pretty good what with the bike being an awesome all round package.
