All about the new R15
How Does Version 2.0 Look?
It’s sharper and more aggressive in overall styling. This is the result of excellent implementation of the feedback received from the customers. The R15 now takes a number of cues from the R125 and a few from the R6. This basically applies to the new tail-piece that incorporates an LED tail-light and a split seat. There is a wider rear tyre, a radial one from MRF that measures 130/70-R17 and in front an upsized 90/80-R17. There is a new mid-cowl that is wider and suits the wide nose of the R15 better now. There is a new rear tyre hugger and a tinted visor too. As a whole, the bike looks more muscular and aggressive than before.
Anything More Than Styling?
Yes. An excellent aluminium swing-arm has replaced the basic steel one. The new swing-arm is 55 millimetres longer than the old one, increasing the wheelbase. The seat height has been raised from 790 mm to 800 mm, making the revised R15 a little taller than the original. The bike looks superb with its new tail-piece and split seat, which will attract more attention. But it also entails a lot of pain for the pillion rider, as he/she will sit much higher and on a narrower seat. Yamaha have incorporated a few changes into the R15’s ECU mapping too, and claim better response to the throttle input, making the power and torque delivery linear than before. However, do not expect this to reflect in the output figures, which remain the same at the same revs as the earlier R15.
How Does It Ride?
To start with, the 55mm longer wheelbase offers a little additional mid-corner stability in case you hang off the bike more. The elongated wheelbase has taken away the sharpness and high agility from the motorcycle while turning in, but, at the same time, added a little forgiveness in case your riding style is such that you hang off the seat excessively while cornering. Yamaha claims improved acceleration and top speed, but we have to wait for the complete road test to match the figures.
Yamaha have retained the power and torque output from the earlier version. We noticed a huge 47-tooth sprocket at the rear (as against a 42-tooth one in the earlier version), but then we also noticed that the overall gearing has been maintained as before. The new bigger sprocket has been used to compensate for the bigger tyres. Thus, there isn’t any noticeable change in the in-gear speeds of the R15 version 2.0.
Here are some of the highlights of the Yamaha R15 v2.0:
1. New styling
a. Middle cowl
b. Tail-piece and LED tail-light
c. Split seat
d. Wider tyre
e. New tyre hugger
f. Tinted visor
2. New parts
a. Aluminium swing-arm
b. Bigger rear disc
c. Bigger mounting for front disc
3. Internal changes
a. Modified ECU
b. Throttle body
Photography: Sanjay Raikar
TVS are all set to launch the RTR 180 with ABS. Is the new safety feature good enough? Adhish Alawani tries to find it out on a track especially devised to test brakes
To start with, the demonstrators from TVS rode two bikes – one without ABS and the other equipped with the unit – on various wet surfaces. The RTR without ABS had an out-rigger with four support wheels to keep the bike upright whenever it lost traction. Without doubt, the wheels of the one without ABS were bound to lock up and skid and so they did. However, the RTR equipped with the ABS unit showed immense road hold even when a fistful of brake was applied.
To test it myself, I hopped on to the bike with the out-rigger and went out on the various wet surfaces. First, with the ABS off, I slammed the brakes and experienced one of the most fearful things ever on two wheels – the front wheel got locked, the front end went down and there was no chance of recovery. This was on the regular wet tarmac. On the blue basalt it was bad and even worse on the ceramic. After getting a feel of what happens without ABS, I switched on the unit and went in again. To my extreme disbelief, the bike was amazingly composed and stable even with the brakes slammed. I even tried braking at the end of the wet patch and carrying the brakes on to the dry patch. What I found out then was that the wheels, of course, didn’t lock up on the wet. However, when they hit the dry patch, the ABS was still working, but now it knew that the bike was on dry patch and it immediately improved the braking and reduced the stopping distance. Mightily impressed by the ABS unit, I returned to the resting area admiring one of the best upgrades on an Indian bike I had seen. 
TVS say that the ABS system was developed and tested initially at the IDIADA testing facility in Spain under all possible road conditions before fine-tuning it for the Indian environment. Also, the company has stated that when the ABS system was tried on professional racers’ bikes at the Madras Motorsports Club racetrack, they were able to cut down their lap times by over one full second, which showed that not only was the ABS effective in day-to-day use for the average rider, but also boosted the performance riding of the skilled ones.
Yamaha have brought their street weapon to the showrooms in our country. We find out how this new entrant fits in the Indian scene
The long wait is finally over. Though the big bikes arrived in the country long time back, the affordable options were still absent. So, what Kawasaki and Bajaj do? They brought in the Ninja 650R – a pure sports tourer machine with a tag of Rs 4.57 lakh (Ex-Delhi). 
The long wait is finally over. Though the big bikes arrived in the country long time back, the affordable options were still absent. So, what Kawasaki and Bajaj do? They brought in the Ninja 650R – a pure sports tourer machine with a tag of Rs 4.57 lakh (Ex-Delhi).Now that is what we call as the smartest move one could have made in a market like ours. Here’re the first ride impressions of the Kawasaki Ninja 650R that has blown us off with its potential and price!
Put the bike around corners and the handling of the Ninja will continue to impress you. Though the softer suspension doesn’t give a solid feel when leaned over, it doesn’t make the bike nervous in any case. The monoshock is seven-step adjustable for preload giving you an option for a slightly stiffer ride too. Also, with the monoshock connected directly to the swingarm without any linkages, there is hardly any flex. 
Ducati’s Multistrada is supposed to be an all-rounder. Adhish Alawani swings his leg over one to find out how
At a first glance, this Ducati looks a little weird; difficult to suit my taste of styling. I love the way Ducati styles their bikes otherwise. In fact, why me, the whole world loves them. The 916 revolutionized motorcycle designing. And of course, we love the new age 1198 or the Monster or the Streetfighter. But the Multistrada is something whose styling has not been talked about much; and there are reasons for that. Being a dual-purpose machine, it definitely is tall with long suspension travel, raised handlebar and high seat – which is all perfectly fine. But look at the front end and the beak coming out from under the cross-eyed headlamps. It’s ugly. And weird. At the rear, is a sharp tail topped with grab-rails that double up as a base platform for your luggage. The twin slim exhaust pipes on the right hand side look a little small for the size of this bike. Actually, the Multistrada, as a whole, isn’t a bad looking bike. It’s good, but does not live up to the standards of art that Ducati has otherwise set and that’s mostly just because of that front end which reminds me vaguely of Uncle Scrooge from Duck Tales.
The Multistrada 1200 is powered with an 1198cc 90-degree v-twin engine borrowed from the 1198 superbike. The difference is that this one is detuned to 150PS from 170PS of the 1198 – now that’s not much of detuning and for a dual-purpose bike, it’s a lot of power too. With 150 horses available for unleashing at the twist of the right wrist, the Multistrada was getting to be a lot more fun than expected. Manoeuvrability through the city traffic was easy but the v-twin was irritating a bit with its jerky response every time the throttle was opened or shut. I knew about the electronics that govern this motorcycle and decided to play with them a bit to see if this issue can be addressed. Going through the big, white backlit digital instrumentation console, which displays a lot of data, I reached out to the ride mode setting. Toggling through the modes, I shifted from Sport to Urban and experienced something that I hadn’t imagined. I had read a lot about the greatness of the electronics on the Multistrada but experiencing is believing and it was really very hard to digest the kind of change these electronics had brought about. The throttle response got retarded and power came gradually enough to give a very smooth ride in the city traffic. The sudden engine braking on throttle roll-off disappeared.
The Multistrada had become way more sane and manageable now. So how does this work? Basically, the Multistrada has four riding modes – Sport, Touring, Urban, and Enduro. The ride-by-wire engine management offers four different mappings for these four different modes. The throttle response is quickest in the Sport setting and goes on decreasing gradually in the consecutive modes. To make it even more complicated, the maps vary the throttle response all the way through the rev range and also with the gear selection and engine load. The peak power output in Sport and Touring is the same at 150PS but it has been slashed down to as low as 100PS for Urban and Enduro modes. And it doesn’t end there. The Multistrada comes with DTC (Ducati Traction Control). Of course, there is an option to switch the DTC on or off. But the real fun is in the way the DTC synchronizes itself with the modes that we discussed 
earlier. For the first three modes, the DTC works on the same setting. However, in Enduro mode, the DTC modifies itself in a way so as to allow you the slides in the dirt to some extent without completely switching itself off. It’s like an optimum balance between letting you slide the bike without the electronics losing control over the bike. Impressive to the nth degree.
DTC senses the front wheel popping up in the air, it cuts off the power just enough to keep the bike planted on the ground. The DTC also senses rear wheelspins and manages power delivery to the rear wheel accordingly so as to make sure that you don’t lose traction. Switch off the DTC and you have all the access to the stunts you intend to do.
techno-polymer section that contributes to its strength. The suspension comprises 50mm USD Marzocchips up front and a multi-adjustable Sachs rear shock with a remote preload knob. The higher version of Multistrada, that is the 1200S, replaces these with Ohlins, which are completely electronically adjustable suspensions giving you an additional option of raising or decreasing the ride height as suited for the road and ride conditions. The Multistrada comes equipped with Pirelli Scorpion Trail tyres that have been developed specially for this bike and are suitable for road as well as dirt. However, they aren’t good enough for hardcore off-roading.
from the rider’s chest to a great extent. Off the road, the bike is brilliant too, with 170mm suspension travel and traction control that allows you slides but keeps the bike well under control. The 189 kilos of dry weight is on the lighter side on tarmac but is slightly heavier for Enduro riding. Maybe, that’s also because I am personally not used to doing a lot of off-roading.
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