Hello guys, welcome to PowerDrift.
About a year ago if you remember, we got you an exclusive review of the Yamaha R25 from
Indonesia.
And today here I am at Buddh International Circuit for, as you can guess, the launch
of the Yamaha R3. Yes, Yamaha has gone one up and launched the more powerful variant
of the R25, which is the R3, and that's the reason I'm smiling ear to ear.
The biggest difference between the R25 and the R3 is obviously the engine, this one has
a much bigger bore, in the fact the bore to stroke ratio is very similar to that on the
R6, which gives it a cubic capacity of 321. Good enough to churn a power of 42Ps and 29Nm of torque.
Then you have other really high-quality components, like forged pistons, direct drive camshafts,
Offset Cylinders. Technology which you have usually seen on higher capacity motorcycles
like the R1. Talking about the R1 this one also has the same swing-arm to wheelbase ratio
like the R1. So a lot of research has gone into making the R3 and that's why it's such
an impressive motorcycle to ride here on the race track. The engine is beautiful, it just
works relentlessly, it has a really nice mid-range and it goes strongly all the way up, right
up to its 12,500 rev limiter. There are hardly any vibrations and that's why it cannot mask
how quickly you are going because the bike is so silent and the engine is so smooth that it is really effortless to ride.
The second thing you notice is the gearbox,
the gearbox is slick, I mean you go down the gear, you go up the gears, it's so beautiful.
Brakes could've had a little more bite, a little more feel for a bike which has the
potential to go really fast, because this was me just slotting into the 6th gear with
a lot many RPM's left, with the right gearing we could've gone even higher.
The ergonomics are also a lot more relaxed, there is a lot of leg room. The seat height
is really low which is really great for new riders, they'll feel comfortable on the bike.
The clip-ons are nice and high up. The bike is really agile it only weighs about 169 Kg's
if I'm not mistaken. The suspension is still on the softer side and the foot-pegs are a
little front-set. I mean they're not overly front, you can still carry a decent lean angle,
but again the purpose of this machine was not an all out supersport machine. They wanted to make a really good all rounder.
The thing which I would've wished for is ABS!
At the price at which it comes at right now which is 3.25Laks (ex-showroom Delhi) it is
about Rs. 80,000 more expensive than the RC390 but it's a good Rs.40,000-50,000 cheaper than
the Ninja 300 which gets a slipper clutch but doesn't get ABS. In that way, it slots
right in the middle and the price from that point of view is pretty good.
But we are told that Yamaha are considering the option of getting the ABS version here,
at least as an option and I think that would be a no-brainer because with a bike this good,
also having ABS, it would make a much much stronger case.
So, those are pretty much our first impressions from the race track. I hope, I hope and pray
that we get the bike as soon as possible so we can do a comprehensive test and yeah, that's
about it from our end guys.
Hit us up with those questions I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Until then Ciao.