Hi y’all,
Couldn’t find a motorcycle thread so a few questions here (asking in other places as well). Just curious if anyone here has had a v1 or V2 mt-15 – or, even better, both. Just curious about how suitable they are for longer distance rides. Fwiw, I’m 175 cm / 5’9" and weigh in at 56 kg /125lbs.
For the past few months I’ve had a 2009 wolf 150 with probably 30-40K km on the Odo. But after a Convo with a mechanic, I have some concerns about the FI system. While I really love this lil bike, it kinda feels like a hot potato to me rn. This is a problem that might never happen – god knows these things can run for ages – but it also might go off in my hands. As such, I’m kinda wanting to pass along this potato to someone else. Ofc I’ll inform them about this and price it accordingly. I’m no asshole.
im mostly looking at the mt15 bc of lack of other really appealing options… I don’t particularly want to get a post 2016 Wolf because paying more for less power and otherwise the same bike feels wrong, pre 2016 gen is what I have and while a newer one of that gen would work, it’s already getting a bit older… Otherwise, it’s just eurobikes (not interested bc the maintainence supply chain issues here), really sporty uncomfortable looking japanese bikes (R15, gixxers, etc), or a few more classic styled but ultimately shitty or grey market Japanese bikes (YXS or whatever is embarrassingly underpowered for the price, w175 grey market). So just at a bit of an impasse.
All that said back to the Mt15.
First question: how much of a lean angle do you have to sit at to ride this? It looks a bit leany but I’m not entirely sure, and I’m not sure how much I really want to have to put tonnes of stress on my wrists.
I assume I am correct in assuming that the pillion seat isn’t great, so when I’m carrying a passenger the issue of lean will become more relevant. And just generally, how much discomfort would the average Taiwanese (rather thin and somewhat shorter) be feeling on this?
Third, suspension. My main complaint with the wolf is that even with suspension set for me, it’s pretty bouncy sometimes and stiff other times which can be frustrating. Might be due to my thin build. How does the suspension handle on these? And I know there’s a diff between v1 and 2, so any input on both is appreciated. I mostly stick to good roads so hopefully not too big a problem, but how does it handle on (unobstructed) shit roads?
Abs. Does it work well? Not too many abs false positives or what have you, but also when shit hits the fan will it activate? This is a primary motivation for the upgrade as I’d rather like to have it. As for the v1/V2, if anyone can weigh into the value of the extra cash for the rear abs on the mt-15v2, that’d be cool.
Moving on, manoeuvrability & speed – how well does it do in city traffic? It seems like it ought to be fairly nimble, and I think that the small wheelbase will help there. Speaking of wheelbase, speed: I don’t like to drive super fast here because it feels dumb, but I do sometimes take the larger roads and will get up to 70 something on the wolf and it just starts getting squirrelly. I’m assuming this bike can probably do 70-80 with relative ease?
Lastly, build quality. I know a lot of these are built in non-Japanese Yamaha factories. Is it generally thought that those produce bikes of good quality and reliability? I’m assuming a 1-2 year old used bike shouldn’t have too many major concerns, or?
Thanks for any and all help. I know it’s not the most focused, but I’m just trying to figure out it’s compatibility with my driving style – I’m no road warrior – but also want to confirm that it’s a good step up from where I was on the old Wolf in terms of reliability and, hopefully, comfort.
Lastly and this is purely opinion what color schemes do y’all like on it the best? I’m going between the light grey and red, there’s the dark grey and red, the rather expensive 2023 model year dark grey n cyan, and lastly the plain black. Not too interested in the blue tbh. I kinda am leaning towards the matte light grey and red, always liked that, but the pure black and the dark grey cyan are also pretty cool. The cyan is definitely rather bold 
One last thought: has anyone bought new? If so, are there comfort related customization options and if so, what are they? And do you know if they’re any good?
it’s gonna be a decent bit of my savings but that’s kinda expected.