The official launch of the Yamaha MT-15, which is a naked version of the R15 V3.0, is just a couple weeks away, with the brand set to unveil the motorcycle at the Buddh International Circuit, Noida, on March 15. However, an undisguised bike has been spied and reveals one of the colour schemes the bike will be available in and a few more details
The India-spec MT-15 is seen in a matte blue and black colour scheme that is also available in international markets. However, the bike sold in Thailand comes with fully fluorescent-yellow wheels, while the one seen in India is sporting fully black ones with fluorescent-yellow rim tape instead. The MT-15 is also available in three other colour options – grey with fluorescent-orange wheels, blue with blue wheels and an all-black colour scheme. It’s likely that these colour schemes, if made available in India, will receive the same black wheel treatment as the bike spied in these pictures.
A leaked spec sheet of the MT-15 confirmed that the bike for India will be powered by the same 155cc, single-cylinder engine as on the R15 V3.0, which produces 19.3hp at 10,000rpm and 14.7Nm at 8,500rpm. To cut costs, Yamaha has made a few changes compared to the international-spec version. The most significant ones are the use of a conventional telescopic fork rather than a USD unit, and a box-section swingarm that replaces the cast aluminium unit on the international-spec bike.
We expect the Yamaha MT-15 to be priced around the Rs 1.2 lakh mark, a slight premium over the R15S (based on the V2.0) priced at Rs 1.17 lakh and well below the cost of its fully faired sibling, the R15 V3.0 priced at Rs 1.39 lakh. At this price, it goes up against the likes of the KTM 125 Duke that is priced at Rs 1.18 lakh.
All prices, ex-showroom, Delhi
Azaman Chothia
Vishal Venugopal
