Yamaha R15 V4 M: In-depth review including performance, service & more

Bash the engine as hard as you can but the fuel efficiency never drops below 42 kmpl.

BHPian KrishnaMohan recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Hi Teambhp members,

I would like to share my views on the Yamaha R15V4M. I am not a professional reviewer, and the opinions expressed here are only my own.

The Story

My first bike was the Bajaj Pulsar NS200 during my college days and it was just perfect for me in every sense. But due to some delightful memories turning sour, I thought of letting it go. The bike had clocked around 30,000 km by then.

I was always a corner junkie and had this itch inside me to get myself a Supersport. Had thoughts of exchanging my NS200 for a new RC390 but it was way out of my budget. An opportunity presented itself in the form of a barely used Yamaha R15V4M in silver and blue. The story goes that one of my mutual friends was leaving for the United States and had to let go of his 9-month-old, 7500 km run R15 V4. The first thing that crossed my mind was the lack of power of coming down from a 200 to a 155. Heedlessly, excited at the idea of a true blue supersport and the sour memories with the NS200, I pushed forward and sold my NS200 (Wolfie) at a knockdown price and bought the R15V4M.

Initial impressions

The machine is an absolute looker, that too with the silver and blue paint job resembling the elder R1M sibling making it look even sweeter. The M edition gets an additional quick-shifter (Up only), a special silver-blue color, and blue fork caps, and the rear seat has an embroidered R15V4M moniker over the standard model. It's good at turning the heads of college kids, but the sweet thing about it is how the school kids point out and shout superbike, superbike. It always makes the kid inside me glimmer with joy cause I was once that kid. The shift lights are cool and the driving position with a leaned body posture to the bars and rear set pegs is very supersport-esque. It handles brilliantly and the engine is always eager to be revved out, more on this in the views column.

Specification and features

• 155CC Liquid-cooled, 4-stroke, SOHC, 4-valve
• 18HP & 14NM Torque
• VVA
• Aluminium swing arm
• Quick shifter
• Traction control
• Slip & assist clutch
• Upside down forks
• Lap timer and two riding modes
• Dual channel ABS
• Bluetooth connectivity

Engine

This engine is an absolute gem, I have no complaints whatsoever. It's always ready to be revved out till the redline. You can hold the bike wherever in the rev band you want and it never complains. This engine has an ace up its sleeve in the form of VVA, abbreviated for Variable valve actuation. VVA allows for better top-end performance and greater breathability of the engine. The activation of VVA is displayed on the LCD screen post 7,000RPM. Bash the engine as hard as you can, but the Fuel efficiency never drops below 42kmpl. Drive the bike at a good pace and with proper gear shifts, you will be averaging around 50kmpl.

In terms of NVH, the engine never sounds brash but the vibrations are there and will leave your hands ringing if you spend a few hours on the saddle at 7-8,000 RPM. The tractibility of this little 155 is amazing, leave it in 3rd gear at 20kmph over a speed bump, it will gladly pull through. The engine is a screamer and screams away till it's 10,800-11,200 RPM redline. Yamaha, the pioneers behind the best-sounding LFA could have made it sound better but I admire how the decibels increase and reach a screaming crescendo at the redline.

Being a high-revving small single, the engine is dead below 4,000 RPM, the bike only gets moving post 5,500-6,000 RPM. Therefore, overtaking demand a downshift every single time. I am okay with this as it is a small displacement single.

The M edition is equipped with a quick-shifter for upshifts only. Upshifts can be done when the throttle is open. Quick shifts in 1,2 and 3 gears are a bit jerky and the 4,5 and 6th gear shifts are fine. It feels gimmicky but it's just a good-to-have add-on. The slipper clutch works like a charm and the rear wheel never locks up under the hardest of downshifts. The gearbox is your usual Japanese smooth but occasionally finds neutral while juggling between first and second gear on the move. The clutch is very light and can be operated with one finger, this is a boon as it reduces the strain on the wrist and fingers due to the committed riding position.

Handling/Suspension/Braking

This is one department where the bike shines. The seat height is low, so you are sitting inside the machine. It's a supersport to the tee. It's like a ballerina always on its tippy toes ready to turn in wherever you point it at. Not only that, it's also quite forgiving when you mess up your lines. All it needs is a small flinch on the foot pegs with your toes to change direction. The bike weighs in at merely 138-142 Kgs dry, making it very maneuverable and easy to push around in traffic. The handling is always predictable and the bike does exactly what you expect it to. The stock tires do not wow you but are up for the job. I advise changing to softer compounds before trying out sharper lean angles.

The perimeter frame dubbed deltabox, is stiff as you'd expect from a supersport and I have never noticed any flex in fast-flowing corners. The aluminum swingarm finished in silver for the M edition is delightful to look at and adds to the handling quotient. However, one drawback of this machine would be, that it WILL unsettle in the middle of a corner in case of any undulations on the road surface. So much so, it will throw you in the air midway of the corner if there's a bump on the road. I remember this very vividly because I was doing good speed over a corner and there was a sudden bump on the road while riding the NS, the NS took it like a champ and did not lose composure, but the R15 did. I somehow feel this has to do with the soft setup of the rear monoshock on the R15 which we will be talking about next.

The front suspension with upside-down forks in gold from KYB is pliant and comfortable. It has just the right balance between comfort and sport. The rear monoshock is a completely different story, it is a bit on the softer side and I feel it is tuned much towards the comfort side of things. God forbid if you face a mid-corner pothole at a good speed, the rear will bottom out and throw you around. Also, the rear mono shock doesn't inspire much confidence to carry sharper lean angles due to the soft setting. I advise bumping up the stiffness, but it will only make the saddle height come down on what is already a low-height seat.

I'm 175 cm and the bike does feel puny between my thighs. The very low kerb weight of the bike steals a bit from the confidence quotient. But the suspension is not without its merits, it's good for day-to-day city use and soaks bumps and potholes well. The ride is never jarring and the soft rear suspension supports your back, a sigh of relief due to the committed riding posture.

The bike can do much better with superior brakes. What's annoying is that the front brakes are from Bybre and the rear is from Nissin. Yamaha charges a premium for this baby 155cc and cuts corners like this, more on this later. The bite and feedback are never up to the mark and the bike could benefit from a bigger disc and better pads. The brakes are there to serve the purpose, nothing more. The ABS is on point and never too intrusive and only steps in when you need it and you expect it to.

Console

The console has many features:-

• Two trip meters and Reserve trip meter
• Avg. fuel economy
• Instantaneous fuel economy
• Engine coolant temperature
• Shift lights
• Traction control -On/Off
• Message and call indication via Bluetooth
• Engine overheating indicator
• Fuel gauge
• Tachometer
• Street/Track modes

One of the best things about the console is the shift lights, as the RPM crosses 7,000 RPM the first shift light comes on and other shift lights follow in an ascending fashion as revs build till the red line. On the red line, all the 5 shift lights blink in unison, and this is very exciting to look at.

Pros

• Absolutely pretty to look at, the silver-blue paint job is a personal favorite.
• The engine is downright perfect for a 155cc.
• The FE never drops below 42Kmpl, kudos to Yamaha engineering.
• Handling is very good despite the soft rear.
• Proper true blue supersport, no other true supersport in the market up until the 457cc Aprilia.Thanks to stupid reviewers who expect an apple to be an orange too. The KTM RC is now a sports tourer.
• VVA & Aluminium swingarm add to the performance quotient.
• 0 rattles from the fairing.

Cons

• Average brakes at best
• The motor is absolutely dead in lower RPMs.
• The dealerships/service centers are bad in Vizag, so bad might need to **insert cussword here**.
• Quality issues with the paint.
• Strictly inadequate headlamp both in terms of throw and spread.
• The turn indicators that keep breaking over and over.

Issues

A premium 155cc sportbike from a reputed Japanese brand with a track record for bulletproof reliability, you would expect 0 issues, right? Read on.

Rear seat cowl design issue

The seat cowls on the rear seat break when mounting/dismounting from the bike. Since the rear seat is high, only reasonably fit people can get on the bike, the cowls bulge outwards and these break under the weight of the pillion. The cowls cost 3600/- a pair. I have replaced them twice and since they keep breaking I'm currently managing with zip ties and discourage my friends from riding shotgun. This issue is not present in R15V3 and the design team should have put better thought into this.

Rear brake pump issue

The Yamaha R15 has rear brake pump issues where the rear brake pump fails after 15- 20,000 km or after a second rear brake pad replacement. My friend's V3 had it, my V4 has it too. The worst part, the pump only takes more than a month to arrive in stock, thanks to the sad state of service centers. In all my 3 years and 30,000 km with my NS there were absolutely 0 part failures. I took the NS to places where the R15 could only imagine going, through the roughest of terrains and the muckiest of dirt, but it never had any part failures. Something or the other keeps breaking on the R15V4M, it needs to be treated like that fragile hot girlfriend.

Battery drain due to Bluetooth module

If you are away from town for three days and return to start your bike, you are welcomed with a dead battery, the console doesn't light up, and the horn doesn't blow. You have to resort to a push start and keep the engine running until the battery is charged. The culprit, the advertised Bluetooth module with connectivity features, none of which are of much use. It is an inconvenience rather than a convenience. It takes a good 5 minutes to connect before you start the ride and all the app telemetry is available on the console itself. The service center's solution is to disconnect the Bluetooth module and continue using the bike. The irony of having to pay for a feature that you cannot use and also which cripples the bike if used. There are several videos on YouTube about this issue, I'm unaware if Yamaha has fixed this in the updated version of the bike. But Yamaha should have known better.

Fragile indicators

Take the bike along a rough patch of road and get it pressure-washed, there you have it, your indicators in your palms. This issue has been prevalent since V3 but Yamaha launched the V4 with the same indicators and later fixed it in the updated V4 model with LED indicators having bendable necks. I have replaced the rear indicators multiple times, finally opted for aftermarket indicators, and have had 0 issues to date. So much talk about 6-sigma yet a simple matter of indicators has been overlooked, corporate greed? Maybe.

Cutting corners

Yamaha offers BYBRE disc callipers at the front and NISSIN callipers at the back. The brake disc plate has visible signs of surface rust. Yamaha wanted to save 5/- and left the disc plate naked. I understand that by the time the disc rusts and crumbles to pieces, it would have served its intended purpose and need a replacement due to the minimum disc thickness requirement. But still, it is a sore eye on a pretty bike, and my NS which cost exactly half of the on-road price of R15 back when I bought it in 2017 had black paint on the disc plate to prevent this. The NS also had BYBRE callipers at the front and back.

The deep blue paint on the front rim is chipping away and chips even further off if pressure washed. I always prefer to wash my machines myself and rarely get them washed outside, and the paint on the wheels of my NS never came off. The V3 model had steel tubular footpegs, which are updated to aluminum ones on the V4, NS had aluminum ones since launch. The dark blue fork covers lost their lustre in the first year itself and are just pale blue now. The same is the case with other specimens of the bike, even with less age.

Pathetic state of dealerships/service centers

If you stay in Vizag and are planning to buy an R15, you just pay up and get the bike, there will be no test drive/demo of the vehicle. The salespeople are careless and you have to follow up on everything, it seems as though they are not interested in selling the bike, this is from my friend's R15V3 buying experience.

There are currently only two Dealerships/Service centers in the city limits, and the third one recently shut shop. The big service center near Dondaparthy has bikes racked up at the front like they are to be sold for scrap. If you are to give your bike for service, be prepared to allocate your complete day for the task, the service advisor is least concerned about your bike's troubles and talks to you as if you owe them money.

The other SC's staff are half decent. For the brake pump issue that I mentioned earlier, I had to drive to the SC to diagnose the issue first, and then an order for the said part was placed, which took more than one month and 10 days to arrive at the dealership. They do not provide a computerized bill for parts or labor. You just have to trust them when they say a part is 1500/- and pay up no questions asked. You have to be grateful that your bike got serviced rather than expecting a good service.

My front right fork oil seal was leaking and the oil was leaking over the disc, so the front disc was slipping. So essentially with a slipping front disc and failed back brake, the bike was unusable for the whole month. I suspected the oil seal would need a replacement and have asked them for the price for the same. Since these are KYB USD forks I did not want to get them done from a local mechanic. But as I am aware, most of the SC of different brands don't do the repairs of forks in-house and get the job outsourced. I also know the mechanic who does these fork jobs. It was a mistake on my part here and I should have asked them if it was done in-house.

When I returned to collect the bike, I have queried them regarding where the fork job was done, they simply mentioned they outsource it and they charge triple the amount that the mechanic would charge. I know this for a fact because I had my NS fork seal replacements done from both Bajaj SC and the local mechanic shed from where they get their forks done. What irked me here is that, remember the fork caps that I mentioned earlier, the letters R15V4M are etched on them, and when they refitted the fork, they missed the symmetry, and the right fork's etching misaligns with the left one. It's right in front of you and you notice it all the time. When confronted about the same, they mentioned it would be taken care of in the next service. Charging triple and doing a shabby job, are just Yamaha SC things in my town. I paid up and left with the bike. The service is not better at the other service centre too, well that's a story for another day. Yamaha, if you are reading this, please improve the state of your dealership and service centers.

Also, the rear brake pads cost 1000/- rupees and the front ones cost 500/- rupees. These are just your regular brake pads and are not sintered/advanced material pads. The latest model NS200 brake pads cost 500/-, both front and back. Yamaha should tear a page from Bajaj/RE service books and part costs.

Little things

The R15M 3D emblem on the tank is a nice touch. The embroidered R15V4M on the rear seat is nice to look at. The blue stripes stickers on the tank feel like an afterthought and look like they are done using insulation tape. When the bike crosses 7,000 RPM one bar stays where the last rev was during gear change and picks up when you cross the rev mark, like in those vintage sports cars with two needles on the tacho. The side stand engine cut off is cool, I just come to a standstill and put the stand down so the engine cuts off before I put my foot on the ground, Arriving in style.

Final thoughts

The R15V4M is a small, peppy and fun to drive sports bike. It is a must-have in every enthusiast's garage so you can have the fun of bashing and pushing a 155cc to its absolute limit. It has great sophistication and technology built in. It's a good weekend toy rather than a comfortable daily. It's only because Yamaha has a solid product in their hands that the bike sells in good numbers, given the state of their dealerships and service centers.

He is Mr.Sleek in silver, I named him INDRA. Did anyone notice that the number plate reads LU-Love You 15. (I know LU doesn't stand for Love you, but I'm not going to listen).

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