Yamaha WR 155R Road

Who is the Yamaha WR 155 for?

The damage waiver is included free with the rental price on this model!

There is nothing wrong with our Honda XR 150L fleet. Tigit thrives off the XR 150, and we have hundreds of positive reviews about its reliability. But, it is no secret (to experienced riders) that the Yamaha WR 155 is a vastly better machine.

The Yamaha WR 155 comes equipped with proper suspension, a proper frame and proper brakes. The XR 150 is a toy, an amazing toy at that, but there is no denying that it is a spongy, wobbly motobike. Absolutely perfect for the average tourist.

If you have enough hours under your belt on serious motorbikes, then you will be much happier on the Yamaha WR 155.
It is a bit like upgrading your TV to the next level. Black and white to colour, 1080p to 4k, and 4k to 8k. 

Once you have upgraded, it is very difficult to go back again. But if you have never experienced the next level, you don't really need to. Ignorance is bliss!

Comfort

The Yamaha WR 155 has a narrow seat when compared to the Honda XR 150L I wouldn’t call it uncomfortable, but it leaves a lot to be desired. I certainly wouldn’t go putting a pillion rider on the back. For that, please keep to the Honda XR 150L

We can attach an extension rack to the motorbike so it can carry a fair amount of luggage, but again it is not as good as the Honda XR 150 in this department.
Look at the Honda XR 150 as the long distance ADV motorbike for the average tourist, and the Yamaha WR 155 for a rider on a mission who is packing light.

A true dual sport for most terrain

The road variant of the WR 155 at Tigit has dual sport tires on that I would consider to be 70% road and 30% offroad. They are more offroad setup than our Honda XR 150L motorbikes.

If you are the kind of person who sees a back ally, or a trail off into the rice paddies and you want to find the pot of gold at the end of it, then the WR 155 is the motorbike for you.
Anything bigger than a 155cc for example a CB 500x, then you are likely get stuck alot in Vietnam.  The XR 150L can do it all as well, but if the terrain gets difficult the cheap suspension and frame actually reduce traction. Regardless of the tires, the WR 155 will always have more grip than a motorbike like the XR 150L.

Having said all that, this setup does not have offroad tires, and you should not be following our offroad routes. Clay is a very real thing in Vietnam, and extremely hard to drive on. For this you need offroad tires and a tubliss system, which can be seen over on our offroad variant of the WR 155.

Don't talk to me about power

If you are asking about power, it probably means you don't have much experience on serious machines. Power is about the driver not the motorbike. When clients come up to me and say "it doesn't have much power", all they are doing is revealing their lack of experience. Get some offroad lessons if you are not understanding this.

When comparing to a motorbike like the Honda CRF 300L which is the most common competitor here, the answer is, that for a decent driver the WR 155 motorbike has more power than the CRF 300L. This is because it has the potential to unleash power if you know how to use it.
But yes, for an initial test drive around the office, I suppose you could argue the CRF 300L has more power. Either way they are very similar power-to-weight-ratios.

Long story short, yes the WR 155 has power, and yes it will get you across any terrain you can throw at it.

It is no Suzuki DRZ 400 though!

Let’s talk about reliability

To clear something up, I don’t believe the Yamaha WR 155 is more reliable than our Honda XR 150 fleet. Regardless of age or number of kilometers on the bike, the WR 155 is a liquid-cooled bike, and the XR 150 is an air-cooled bike. Years of experience running a motorbike rental business have taught me how important this small distinction is when it comes to reliability. There are so many things that can go wrong with liquid-cooled motorbikes. A lot of these are actually the fault of the client.

Our Honda CRF 250L fleet was primarily sold off as an unreliable and useless motorbike by Tigit because of the liquid-cooled system. In reality, the engine failures regularly occurring could have been avoided if the drivers had been more experienced and clued up better on how to deal with liquid-cooled systems and overheating motorbikes.

The WR 155 has a small engine and should be more resilient than the Honda CRF 250L, but the point stands: if you are not an experienced rider, then this motorbike can fail on you quickly. You probably won’t understand why, but we will!

To further clarify, the Honda XR 150L shares a lot of the same parts as the locally made scooters. Big and important parts, like the clutch plates, can be replaced anywhere in Vietnam. Unfortunately, the Yamaha WR 155 doesn’t have a standard clutch for Vietnam, so getting parts will be impossible.

Finally, the XR 150 is a carburetor bike, and the Yamaha WR is a fuel-injection bike. Carburettors are fiddly things and often work “badly”, but they basically never break! Fuel injection systems, on the other hand, generally work perfectly. But when they fail, it is tough to fix!

So you still reading after all my negative comments on the WR?

With all the above out the way, I am so happy that Tigit is getting emails about renting this motorbike from people who seem to understand exactly what it is and how good it is. I thought the target market of “experienced riders” was lost when I threw in the towel and sold off the Honda CRF 250L series at Tigit. Much to my surprise, the demand for these WRs as road motorbikes has been higher than the CRF 250L back in the day, and it shows me that not everyone on the internet is shopping for the largest capacity motorbike on offer.

I talk about how much I love the Yamaha WR 155 in my offroad videos when Tigit first invested in this motorbike.

I truly believe that whether you want an offroad WR 155 or a road WR 155, this is, without question, the best motorbike for traveling across Vietnam (providing you have some experience).