Yamaha YZF-R3: 15,000km Long Term Review

It is said that those who do not ride in the rain, do not ride, at all. I might have taken this old adage a tad too close to heart because I’ve been religiously using the R3 for commuting to work every day, even now when the monsoons are out in full force.

But then, can you really blame me for making full use of the most powerful and desirable bike in the ZigWheels long term garage, inclement weather or not?

To recap a bit, in my previous 11k long term report of the R3, I bemoaned the lack of time to take the bike out on one of the twisty hill roads that dot Pune’s countryside, and give it the full beans. Well, with the weather turning, I reckoned it was now or never and, one slightly soggy morning, went for a ride with some biker friends to the local mecca of motorcycling roads, Lavasa.

There are many motorcycles that are great at one job -- say commuting, touring or sporty riding -- but suck at others. Fully faired sportbikes with decently powerful twin-cylinder engines are supposed to be like that.

This Yammie isn’t. In the last few months of commuting to work in rush hour traffic, the R3’s powertrain has been so at home in the city and her ergonomics so reasonable for a fully faired bike that I was afraid Yamaha has gone a bit too soft on her.

Not a chance. The R3 is a proper blast on highways, reaching well over 180kmph given a straight enough stretch of road. And then, when you veer off the highway and on to the twisty stuff, that’s where she comes into her element. Even without Yamaha’s legendary Deltabox frame that even the smaller R15 gets, it is a hoot to wrangle around corners. The suspension, adjustable only for preload at the rear, is lithe enough to absorb small pockmarks on the road but also poised enough to impart confidence when you’re pushing hard into the corners. And push I did, trying to keep up with the bunch of RC390s in our riding group, piloted by far more skilled friends with bigger cojones.

They also had better tyres, something R3 owners just can’t seem to stop moaning about. Having done 15k-odd kilometres with us, the MRF Zappers on the R3 are nearing the end of their lifetime, and they never did justice to the bike’s capabilities even when they were new anyway.

Fuel efficiency still hovers around the 22 kmpl mark, which is a perfectly reasonable price to pay in my book for all the performance she so easily delivers.

Nothing has gone into maintaining the R3 since my last report but it is becoming harder to keep her spick and span in this weather. The good old wash and wipe routine with just a rag and a bucket of tap water doesn’t quite do it anymore and I need to take her to the neighbourhood car and bike wash at least once every week. 

But then, when she comes out of that pressurized shower all clean and her ebony black skin, err… fairing, catches the slightest glint of sun peeking out behind those clouds, it is all worth the trouble.

Log

Date Acquired: December 2015

Total km to date: 15,093km

Efficiency: 22.4kmpl

Costs Incurred: Nil

Cheers: All-round performance, Comfort, Looks

Sneers: Fuel efficiency, Not BS IV-compliant