2017 Yamaha R15/300: Factory boss confirms new upgraded version of the bike is on the way

We’ve  been telling you about the new, racier version of the Yamaha YZF-R15 for some time bit now, finally, some top boss at Yamaha has confirmed our story.

Yamaha Motor research and development Managing Director Yasao Ishihara said: “The R15 will become better in its next iteration, however, no details can be shared as to what would exactly the specifications be like, but we can assure that it will be a step-up from the current generation in all aspects of performance and safety. We also want to extract as much as possible from a motorcycle to give maximum value-for-money for our products.”

So Yamaha is officially staying away from the details of the bike, but we’ve already brought you the spec we’ve found out from sources inside the factory. The bike is getting better suspension (upside down forks and a more progressive rear shock) the dash is being upgraded to a full LCD unit and along with a boost to mid-rang and top-end power will come dual channel ABS.

In short, the hew R15 is getting more sporty and sharper for 2017. And this bike will also spawn serious updates across the smaller Yamaha sportbike range which will mean that we will also get the same improvements on the firm’s R3 in order for it to take on the upcoming CBR250RR/300 and the new bikes from the Kawasaki Ninja 300 and BMW/TVS S300RR.