THIS Is The Yamaha Off-road Bike India Needs!

Yamaha has launched the WR 155R dual-purpose motorcycle in Indonesia. This is the smallest bike under the WR range in the country and is priced at IDR 36,900,000 (around Rs 1.87 lakh), on-road Jakarta. This makes it IDR 825,000 (around Rs 4,200) dearer than the faired bike.

Patent images of the motorcycle leaked back in August this year and as expected, the production model shares its VVA-enabled heart with the Yamaha YZF-R15 Version 3.0. However, Yamaha has tweaked the engine as per the bike’s demeanour. The peak power is down from 19.3PS to 16.7PS but it makes its power at the same 10,000rpm mark as the faired motorcycle. Though the peak torque has slightly gone down from 14.7Nm to 14.3Nm, it arrives in 2000rpm earlier, at 6500rpm. Like the R15 V3.0, the WR 155R also uses a 6-speed transmission with assist and slipper clutch.

To handle all the terrain taming, Yamaha has built the bike on a semi-double cradle frame with a box-section swingarm instead of the R15’s Deltabox-aluminium swingarm combo. The frame is suspended on long-travel 41mm traditional fork and a linked gas-charged monoshock with adjustable preload at the rear.

Further assisting the offroad dynamics are the large 21-inch front and 18-inch rear spoke wheels shod with dual-purpose tyres on both ends. It also gets petal-type discs on both ends measuring 240mm up front and 220mm at the rear. There’s no ABS on offer, even as an option.

Other notable features of the motorcycle include a fully digital instrument cluster with average fuel consumption apart from the regular trove of information and a generous 245mm ground clearance. Consequently, the seat height is a little too tall, at 888mm. That’s 73mm taller than the R15 V3’s seat and 65mm taller than the Hero XPulse 200’s saddle. In pursuit of keeping the weight minimal for off-road dynamics, the fuel tank capacity is pretty small, at 8.1 litres.

Interestingly, the delta between the R15 V3 and this motorcycle isn’t that much in Indonesia. So in theory, if Yamaha launches it in India, it will command a similar pricing ballpark as the R15 V3.0, which retails at Rs 1.40 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). However, the chances of Yamaha bringing this motorcycle to India are pretty slim as the segment itself is pretty niche and Yamaha may not be able to price it competitively. This is especially considering the Indian market already has the bigger-engined Hero XPulse 200, which is priced at just Rs 1.05 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

That said, we think this could be a really promising bike for our market. It may not be as powerful as the Hero XPulse 200 on paper, but could be pretty fun to ride thanks to the featherlight 134kg kerb. In comparison, the Hero XPulse 200 tips the scales at 154kg kerb.