Project R15 V3: Trying Times At 16,000 RPM

Atul: Do you want to blow up your piston?

Me: Tu tension mat le, maar limiter (Don’t worry bro, nothing will happen, hit the limiter).

Atul: What is the point of it anyway? Hitting the limiter on a bike on the paddock stand.

Me: Yaar, video achcha banega. Trust me (It’s for the video, dude. Do it).

Atul: Fine by me. Just don’t let me tell you “I told you so” (if the engine blows up).

Me: Wait, let me get the camera rolling.

And that is your opening sequence of the video, ladies and gentlemen.

Makes sense now?

There is one thing that this Yamaha R15 V3 build series has taught me: Do not expect everything to go as per plan and do not, definitely, do not expect things to go smooth.

It’s been a week since we installed a BRT high-lift camshaft along with a Juken ECU, a SKA performance air filter, Kawahara racing coil and an aRacer laser iridium (Are these all marketing terms?) spark plug onto this humble 155cc motorcycle.

Audience: 25 BHP? Tell me it makes that. You wrote it as the video title the last time, damn it!

Me: No, not quite. Maybe 21 or 22 now. Maybe not even that.

Audience: Why bother spending so much money on it then? RC390 lena chahiye tha (Should have bought a KTM RC390, fool)

Me: It’s still a quick bike. And it handles well, and it…. ahhhh….

Me: It puts a smile on my face, and that is priceless.

But it also gets me to scratch my head, with the current state of tune the bike is in.

The tuning is a little off right now. The low-end has greatly reduced, the mid-range is still explosive though, and the bike loves to pull clean to the top of the rev range. Mind you, I could not stretch her legs beyond the fourth gear. But I can tell the fuelling is not up to the mark.

What did not help was we were using some terrible fuel which we had to take out from a Kawasaki Ninja 1000 that got it from some random gas station on a remote highway.

The ECU (BRT Juken) comes with a map that is calibrated to the new BRT camshaft. Great. However, since we have changed other parts: full system Daytona exhaust, bigger fuel injector, racing coil etc etc, the map requires fine tuning.

To combat the lack of low-end grunt, we are reinstalling the baffle, that will help retain a bit of back pressure this bike is currently losing due to a full system exhaust.

The stock grips are going back on it too, as the aftermarket ones from Ali Express have too much play in them.

Atul is trying to sort out the tuning niggles, whenever he gets some time. Speedmonks also works on other bikes, after all.

It will take its time, but we shall get there. I have a feeling, this bike even without the big bore kit (should be here in a month or two), can be an eight-second 0-100 kmph bike that touches 165 kmph on the speedo as well.

I did not get to spend much time with the bike this Sunday; it was a hurried trip to Speedmonks, and so the sloppy video.

I hope the bike is ready by Friday, so that I can pick it up and test it a bit this Sunday morning.

The build video can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYvuOjwv3rM

If you want further updates on this bike, you can check out my Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/abhinavbhatt19/ (It gets updated daily, unlike YouTube)

I am waiting to test this bike properly as much as you are to see it roar (This statement is for those who watched the video and made it this far down the description - man, you are awesome).

One last thing: I am in awe of all the love, support and adulation you have shown me for this build. Not just India, all of South Asia has come together to help me find parts, give suggestions and cheer me on as I try to build up my bike. People from Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Nepal and Vietnam have extended support. I cannot thank you enough, and trying to put my gratitude down in words will reduce its value.

Goes on to show that biking is one of the strongest brotherhoods in the world.

Oh, and I mentioned a top speed run towards the end of the video. You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B98clECC3mY

Until next time, keep riding, keep smiling.

Over and out.

Видео Project R15 V3: Trying Times At 16,000 RPM канала Abhinav Bhatt