Long-term review: Yamaha R3 after 5,000 kilometres

Despite my love for riding bikes in the rains, with the beginning of the monsoon, I must admit that my Yamaha R3 rides have reduced significantly.  However, I am thankful for the few occasions when I did manage to take the R3 out for a ride. The bike can move quickly through the chaotic Mumbai traffic. Enough power is available on the bike to do the overtakes, no matter what gear you are riding in. The six-speed transmission performs its job well, and it feels as if the clutch 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

Source: Zigwheels.com