Yamaha R3: 5,000km Long Term Review Report

With the onset of monsoons I must concede that my riding has reduced considerably. It is not that I don’t like to ride in the rains, but, trust me, sitting in office for eight hours with wets shoes and the AC blasting down isn’t a good feeling. This meant that my daily commute on the Yamaha R3 has reduced drastically. But on the few occasions that I took the new Yamaha motorcycle to office it was fun. The bike feels nimble in traffic and cutting your way through the chaotic Mumbai traffic is easy once you get a hang of the bike’s width. Power is available no matter what gear you are riding in; just opening the throttle gently is enough for overtaking, and I must admit the commute times have been drastically lesser aboard the R3. The 6-speed transmission also performed its job with precision while the clutch, I feel, is properly weighed. 

Although the riding posture is sporty, it is not aggressive as the clip-on handlebars are raised, which means one doesn’t feel fatigued after riding the bike in traffic. The suspension setup is on the stiffer side but over broken roads and potholes it isn’t back breaking if you ride over them carefully. The 160mm ground clearance means that one has to be cautious while riding over large speed breakers. Despite the employment of liquid-cooling, heat dissipation of the motorcycle isn’t impressive and it would have been better if the heat was exhausted away from the rider. 

On wet roads, the Yamaha R3 does feel jittery as the MRF tyres aren’t able to maintain pace with the power delivery and the rear tends to slide when you open the throttle aggressively. This also meant that the bike didn’t offer much confidence while cornering in rain and, as we’ve mentioned in previous long term reports, owners should dump the MRF rubber for stickier Pirelli or Metzeler tyres. Talking about mileage, the Yamaha R3 returned us between 25 and 30kmpl during my runs to office. Commute cost has gone up but the moment you open the throttle on the highway a wide grin is pasted on my face and I feel that’s worth the extra moolah for commuting. 

Date Acquired: December 2015 

Total Km till Date: 5,558km

Fuel Efficiency: 25-30kmpl 

Cheers: Performance, Engineering finesse

Sneers: Poor heat dissipation, Low grip on wet surface