Yamaha XSR155

The Yamaha XSR 155 looks quite raw when it comes to its overall design, but by no means it looks dated or old school. Yamaha has beautifully executed the retro design of the XSR 155, along with incorporating some of the cool new-age features to ensure that it is a motorcycle from the modern era.

Starting from the front, the Yamaha XSR 155 has got a simple-looking round headlight, however, the headlight looks super cool with its all-LED illumination, which also includes the presence of daytime running LEDs. The clear lens turn indicators flanking this round headlamp are mounted on a triangular silver-finished clamp placed on the sides of the headlamp. There are additional silver-finished clamps on the sides of the front mudguard.

When you move towards the sides, the Yamaha XSR 155 impresses one with its straightforward design which looks quite minimalist. The lean and curvy fuel tank with rounded knee recesses is placed at the top of a modern delta box frame finished in black, below which sits the engine finished entirely in a theme of black. The presence of a tough-looking sump guard ahead of the engine ensures that this is a motorcycle meant to take on the rough stuff with ease. There are diamond-shaped side cowls on either side of the motorcycle just below the seat, which go well with the overall theme of the motorcycle.

The Yamaha XSR 155 gets a beautifully designed single-piece long seat finished in a theme of tan brown. At the back, the motorcycle gets a simple slim fender devoid of any proper rear side body panels. A round LED tail lamp as well as clear lens turn indicators are mounted on this very fender only.

The round theme is further executed for the all-digital instrument console as well, which has a cool blue illumination and provides readouts for speedometer, tachometer, fuel gauge, odometer, trip meters, and gear indicator. An array of tell-tale lamps is placed just below this digital panel. The fonts of this digital instrument console are slightly small and difficult to read while on the go.

Armed with the same hardware as that of the Yamaha MT 15, including upside-down hydraulic telescopic forks at the front and linked monoshock at the rear, the Yamaha XSR 155 feels very agile and nimble to ride, only helped by a lower overall kerb weight. The XSR 155 is equipped with 17-inch alloy wheels with tubeless tires as well as a single disc brake setup at both ends.

The Yamaha XSR 155 shares its four-stroke, single-cylinder, liquid-cooled, fuel-injected, 155cc engine with its other stablemates like the YZF R15 and MT 15. While here on the XSR 155 too, the engine is coupled to a 6-speed gearbox, the engine has been slightly retuned to offer a better and more usable bottom end grunt. The engine in the Yamaha XSR 155 produces 19.3 PS of power and 14.7 Nm of torque.

Apart from the compulsory inclusion of ABS, the Yamaha XSR 155 doesn’t get any other major safety equipment to boast of, considering the entry-level segment to which it caters.

With its good amalgamation of retro-themed design and modern features, the Yamaha XSR 155 feels like a balanced equation of the best of both the worlds. Thankfully, it is not an all show and no go motorcycle, as it gets the potent soul of an MT-15 as well as YZF-R15 in the way it has been engineered under the skin.