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Sunday, June 15, 2008

The R15 has arrived, now what?

The most awaited bike has finally come to the market. The bike was launched few days ago on the Chennai Race track. According to what the people who have ridden the bike, it seems that the bike is one fantastic bike. But many others are cribbing about many things such as the cost, tyres, bhp figures, crash guards and such innumerable stupid things.
The Indian customer has to now start thinking beyond these things. There are many factors to the bike. A bike should not be judged based on the bhp figures submitted by the company. The bhp figure submitted by a company is the peak power attained at the crank. The power that we actually utilise is the amount which is transmitted to the rear wheel. In transmission of power from crank to rear wheel, there are some losses. A bad gear box can account for some heavy loses of power. Plus, a wide rear tyre can eat up your power. So the figures of bhp at crank are way lesser than what are actually utilised. When we compare that the R15 has just 16.8bhp against 19 bhp of p220, are we actually making a fair comparison? With such a wide tyre on P220, it loses a lot of power. This also puts forward the reason why the R15 comes with a slimmer tyre. The bike, with a wider tyre, has a disadvantage on handling.
Talking about the absence of crash guards, how many sportsbikes have crash guards? Which track bike has crash guards? CBR1000rr?, R1? Which one? None! We can put frame sliders though.
And the price is one thing that everyone is complaining about. But the kind of technologies that are going into the bike, how can anyone expect it to be priced low? The bike has some of the best technologies in India. A proper 4 valve, liquid cooled engine, deltabox frame, front/rear disc brake, forged piston, awesome aerodynamics and so many more!
Anyways, lets get out of paper facts now. Its time, I personally ride the bike and get the first hand reports. I am hoping to ride the bike today. Lets see whats in my luck today :)

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