Gadgetory

sails with a small sport bike category have more than doubled over the past five years thanks largely to the successes of bikes like Kawasaki Ninja 250 and Ninja 300 Yamaha is finally getting in the game for the release of this the Yamaha r3 it's built around a brand new 320 cc engine that gives you the slight displacement advantage over the competition Yamaha is not quoting a power figure for the bike but figure is going to be a little bit higher than that of the Kawasaki or the Honda competition somewhere around 30 horsepower no that's not a lot of power but certainly it's more fun to ride a slope bike fast and a fast bike slow the most impressive thing about this motor is how smooth it is doesn't bog when it's down low and it doesn't get all buzzy up high with the 12,500 rpm rev limit that's an important thing you have a high rate sit at 56 miles per gallon we saw 52 and some spirited track riding ultimately you can probably do considerably better than that if you're a little bit more judicious with your right wrist we had a lot of fun out in the street let's take on the track and see how it does all right let's take you for a lap around the west course here at Thunderhill Raceway Park really tight twisty circuit which is perfect for this little Yamaha r3 we're just breaking through 80 miles an hour in the front straight about all you can expect out of a bike this size it's not very quick but this course is not about top speed it's all about handling and despite the budget suspension on this thing actually does a pretty good job the brakes are also budget units just a 2 piston caliper with a single disc upfront the feel is not very good but the performance is more than adequate haven't noticed any brake fade on this and I've been riding on this guy for a while now very nimble as we go through these s's very quick to shooting direction that's coming from a bigger bike it feels almost too quick took me a while to get used to how quickly this thing drops into the turn it wants to turn tighter and tighter you almost have to stand it back up again but it's a lot of fun all right tricky part is course you think you want to go straight but you actually have to go right two more hairpins Oh me down and the second one and we're back in the front straight I'm going to say well you won't be breaking any lap records with this thing it's a pretty good track toy the suspension is non adjustable in pretty basic but does an alright job out there and it's pretty compliant on the street to the dashboard is quite comprehensive see we've got a fuel gauge on there overall it's not as quick as this big brother the are one of course but at four thousand nine hundred ninety dollars it's pretty good value for money I'm Tim Stevens with CNET and this is the brand new Yamaha r3