Yamaha YZF-R3

Yamaha knows a thing or two when it comes to designing its motorcycles, and the YZF-R3 is a fine example of it. Inspired by the mighty YZF-R1, this entry-level sports bike looks stylish and has a significant road presence, making it look like a proper scaled-down big bike.

The front profile looks heavily inspired by the YZF-R1, which itself looks like a road-going version of the MotoGP bike YZR-M1. The aerodynamic front fairing of the Yamaha YZF-R3 has a small arrowhead-shaped air duct in the middle, which comes with all-LED headlamps on either side. These headlamps also come with pilot lamp like daytime running LEDs on their outer corners. Like a proper sportsbike, the Yamaha YZF-R3 also has a curved upper fairing which comes with an integrated windscreen.

The Yamaha YZF-R3 has sizable side fairing panels in dual-tone treatment, which also has a large engine cowl hiding the black-themed engine. The fuel tank also looks like a scaled-down version of that of the R1. The side panels of the motorcycle below the fuel tank have a busy design with lots of cuts and creases and faux carbon fibre, which make the motorcycle look even sportier. 

The tail section of the Yamaha YZF-R3 has been retained from its previous-generation model, which has a pointy design while flowing upwards. This tail section has a high-raised pillion seat above it and a compact Y-shaped LED tail lamp behind it.

The rider console of the Yamaha YZF-R3 has a nicely-shaped and informative full-LCD instrument console, which has been shared with the smaller YZF-R15. While this unit is pretty informative with all the information in place, many motorcycles even in its segment are switching up to full-TFT units, making this LCD unit look a bit dated. Another old-school element is the clear lens turn indicators, which could have been LED units on the Yamaha YZF-R3.

Apart from the engine, the new Yamaha YZF-R3 has also carried forward the rest of the tried-and-tested mechanical setup from the previous-generation model of the motorcycle. The motorcycle sits on a diamond frame, and comes with a suspension combination of upside-down telescopic forks at the front and aluminium swingarm with mono-shock at the rear. This suspension setup feels neither too hardcore stiff, nor too cruiser-like soft, and it is this fine balance, which makes it at home on both usual roads and tracks. The Yamaha YZF-R3 also comes with a fine braking setup of single disc brakes at front and rear, with it riding on 110/70 R17 front and 140/70 R17 rear tubeless radial tyres.

The gem of a thing which the new Yamaha YZF-R3 has retained from the earlier iteration of it is the four-stroke, parallel-twin, liquid-cooled, 321cc engine, which is one of the bests when it comes to refinement, reliability and performance on offer. This engine features variable valve actuation and was retuned a bit to comply with Euro-5 emission norms. And after the changes, it produces 42 PS of maximum power and 29.6 Nm of maximum torque.

This is where the Yamaha YZF-R3 could have surprised by raising the bars even higher, as the motorcycle feels conventional with only basics in place. The R3 gets a dual-channel ABS setup and traction control as the only riding aids on offer. 

The Yamaha YZF-R3 is a great example of how a finely-engineered product is able to mask the lack of a crucial modern-day features. While it misses on a couple of fancy design bits and electronic riding aids, the sheer excellence of the engine and chassis overpower the absence of the former elements.