The R15 Story: Part V

Part V: Rain Ride

Thanks to all the 2 strokes that Yamaha made earlier, global warming has now become a reality and that means the rainy seasons are going to be longer and heavier with time. Hence to judge how the little monster can withstand a shower, I took the bike out for a wet ride – through city first and then my favorite Mutha ghats.

With the black clouds drizzling, I decided to switch on the Californian-style daytime-running-lights where only one of the two headlights remains on. People who have seen Californian models of various bikes will be able to correlate. It an added safety feature as well, as the oncoming traffic can easily see you even under a heavy shower. What worries me though is the large nose section of the bike that tends to expose the headlight’s electricals. If over a period of time, the service men don’t maintain the concealed wiring, then the rain may play havoc on these. Coming back to the city ride, the bike’s visor will not essentially deflect the raindrop as on a bigger bike. But the large fairing will definitely keep the water from reaching your shoes and pants. So though you may get wet riding in the rain, at least lower end of your pants wont appear to have been tucked under large brown mud-soaked socks. The rear fender too is big enough to prevent a linear spray of water onto your pillion’s back – which is an added advantage if you have a cribbing girlfriend. The bikes rides on the wet city streets without any hassle at call and under braking the tyres don’t disappoint either. The front suspension though is quite soft as compared to Pulsars and hence accounts to a considerable amount of nose dive under braking. This will need a little getting-used-to before you are ready to ride the bike hard in wet conditions.

Without much drama then, I headed over to Mutha – a 5.8km ghat section on the outskirts of Pune. The R15 had never been here before – not to my knowledge at least. I did my first sprint of the Mutha at commuting speeds. Once I had made sure there were no dead cattle or humans, stranded vehicles and other adversaries like sand, oil etc. on the entire ghat section, I decided to go a tad faster. The tarmac was completely wet and the drizzle was still eh…drizzling? I set off by launching the R15 at 8,000 revs. The bike catapulted without the slightest amount of wheelspin. The first corner being a little slippery inherently, I steered with caution. After a short straight though, I decided to go faster through the second large left hander. The R15 still gripped the wet tar very well and inspired me to go faster. After about a minute, I had adapted to the entire setup and was able to push the R15 harder through the downhill section. Its not only about the grip that the tyres offer, but also about the sheer speed that the puny 150cc mill can carry through the corner. Even on the wet, the bike is so well sorted out, that a rider better than me will also be able to scrape his knee even under the wet conditions – and no, I ain’t exaggerating. There are couple of corners where you need to brake a little harder before the entry, and the R15 had absolutely no issues doing so. There was no hint of a wobble under hard braking at all. It inspired almost the same amount of confidence as it did on the rather dry race track.

The bike just won me over once again. The rain ride not only highlighted the R15’s superb handling and grip, but also brought along with it a truckload of fun. The R15 is undoubtedly one of the best package deals out there in the market right now, and no matter what the weather, the bike will not compromise a bit!