There’re quite a few bikes around in the race replica and fully faired ‘300cc’ department, right? If you’re scratching your chin at the moment let me help you with the best of what’s out there. There’s the Kawasaki Ninja 300, Honda CBR300R, KTM RC390 and, of course, this very pretty Yamaha YZF-R3. If you lined up all three, er sorry, all four, and had to choose one on looks alone, which one would you go for? Myself, no competition, it’d be this YZF-R3, so there, and mass apologies if I’ve offended dudes who have the others.
This cute little motorbike certainly looks the closest to its big brother, the previous R1 with twin headlights and deserves the ‘R’ label for sure. And it feels like quite a big bike to ride even though it only displaces 321cc from its technology-derived engine from MotoGP and, yes, you’ve read that correctly.
The parallel twin with DOHC and four valves per cylinder is nothing new but the offset cylinders are. They are placed forward of the crank that makes the pistons act directly down in the power stroke instead of sitting centrally to the crank like most other engines in this form. Clever, eh, just like Lorenzo’s ride, well sort of. 
This fancy fuel-injected engine claims a 42hp power output at 10,750rpm and 30Nm at 9,000rpm, enough to push the R3 to around 180km/h, not bad at all. But the most impressive attribute, compared to its competitors, is the smooth delivery and decent mid-range torque, making the R3 surprisingly easy to ride without revving it to extinction to get a move on, nice!
Handling is also impressive due to its strong steel frame with a ‘diamond type’ structure and beefy swing-arm. Just think and it’ll go where you want it to without any complaints and remains as stable an Olympic swimmer in a straight line. It’s comfortable too with relatively high handlebars that keep you away from spinal nightmares, if you know what I mean?
The suspension, from specialists KYB, will take care of your torso too. Nice and plush for the road, but I’d imagine a little too soft for severe track use, but that’s easy to change with a few mods if your heart desires a brisk lap or two at a track day. Actually, this 169kg YZF-R3 would be the ideal ‘learner’ bike in that scenario, or a lot of mental fun if you and your seasoned mates all had them at the same time.
Brakes are good but not superbike good, because it only has one 298mm disc at the nose and I would have preferred two, but that lifts the costs. Akebono, which sounds like some bastard child from the lead singer of U2 after a night in Japan with a litre of Sake, if you catch my drift, so it says, makes the callipers? But they never faded on me after some abrupt braking manoeuvres, so they’re not too bad really.
Without doubt the R3 has the best clocks in its class and wouldn’t look out of place on Yamaha’s flagship R1, they even have a shift light to fiddle with, and the combination of analogue rev-counter and digital other bits suits the ‘R’ badge once again.
I did notice that the fairing the clocks sit in is very efficient at displacing the windblast and cruising at motorway speeds is never an irritating issue. In fact I really enjoyed my week with the R3 and never became irritated at all but there’s one thing that might, the price. R72,900 isn’t that cheap because Honda are presently firing out some ridiculously low prices for their CBR300R, which means you’ll see a lot of them on our roads, and the R3 you won’t, adding a bit of an exclusive factor, if that’s your thing. But if price isn’t an issue I know which one I’d have in my garage in this competitive class and you’ve just read about it.
Go to www.centurionyamaha.co.za to book a test ride and also have a visit to www.yamaha.co.za 
