2015 Yamaha YZF-R3 Review at RevZilla.com
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00:30Alright, we are here at Thunder Hill Raceway in Willows, California to test this, the 2015
00:42Yamaha R3.
00:43We're going to be riding it on the street, we're going to be riding it on the track.
00:46I'm Sean from RevZilla, can't wait to see how these things do.
00:52The 2015 Yamaha YZF-R3.
01:01This is an all new bike for 2015, comes alongside the R6, the 600cc Supersport, and the R1,
01:07the 1000cc.
01:09It's powered by a 326cc parallel twin engine, which is also all new for this year, and it
01:14does use fuel injection, it's a closed loop design.
01:21The frame they used on this is a steel diamond type unit.
01:31The suspension they used, it's a KYB 41mm front fork set, which is non-adjustable, and
01:37the rear shock is also KYB, which is 7-step adjustable for preload only.
01:43In terms of braking, the R3 uses an Akabono 2-piston caliper, which bites a 298mm floating
01:49rotor up front.
01:50It is interesting to note that they did not include ABS, it's not an option, it's not
01:55available, not happening.
01:57The rubber on it is actually a Michelin Pilot street tire that's been specifically designed
02:01for this bike.
02:02It is a bias ply tire, which is one of the areas I'm definitely curious to get on.
02:07Yamaha said that they did it for budget purposes, they wanted to kind of get more life out of
02:12those tires.
02:13But in my mind, I mean when you have a bike that's this capable of being sporty, there's
02:17just no reason not to go with a nicer tire on this.
02:20Ergonomically, the R3 has a seat height of 30.7".
02:24The seat is actually really well designed, it's pretty flat front to back slope, and
02:29it's pretty narrow, which means that it's a really easy reach to the ground.
02:32But also, you know, given the seat height, guys like myself with a 32 inch seam, or even
02:36some of the staff here from Yamaha who are in the 6'4 range, have had no problem being
02:40on this bike and not being too cramped.
03:18Alright, we're off, morning ride, ready to keep getting to know this bike.
03:23So far, I have to say, I'm pretty impressed.
03:24I've spent a lot of time on some of the other 300s, singles lately, or parallel twins, between
03:29the Kawasaki Ninja and the Honda CBR300, and there really is nothing you can't say about
03:33appreciating kind of the quality of some of these Japanese bikes.
03:35And this bike really, from the ground up, the fit, the finish, gearing, the brakes,
03:39the feel, I mean everything has that polished feel, you can tell this company's been doing
03:43bikes forever.
03:45Here we are coming up on the rest of the gang.
03:47We've got this van, this is the van with all the Yamaha guys in it.
03:52Let's pass them, see what we can do.
03:54Get a little aerodynamic here.
03:57Piece of cake.
03:58You know, one of the worries you have on one of these small bikes is, sure, you don't need
04:02that much power, but when you need to get out of a situation, or you need to get up
04:06and move, is that power going to be there?
04:08And you can see it wasn't that long before I was up at a pretty solid passing speed.
04:14This has been a really comfortable bike so far today.
04:17I'm surprised, actually, a lot of these smaller bikes, they don't fit so well on it.
04:20A little over 6 feet tall, I have a 32 inch inseam, a lot of times I just feel a bit of
04:23cramp, but this bike, doing these above the clamp clip-ons and everything, it's been really
04:28nice.
04:29The other thing too is this instrument panel.
04:31This, I mean, this thing is honestly, it blows my mind for a bike at this price.
04:35To have a fuel gauge, to have an oil change trip meter, speedometer, tach, time, fuel consumption,
04:42think about, you know, a new rider getting on this bike, what tools do they need, what
04:45information do they need, it's really, really helpful to have.
04:49A lot of this section so far has been pretty, pretty wide open riding, but word is that
04:54there's a section up ahead that's got some really, really nice twist stuff that this
04:57thing is just going to be absolutely perfect for.
05:00There are a few things more fun to me than trying to just squeeze every ounce, every
05:04mile per hour of a bike this size.
05:06Oh, pothole, pothole, pothole.
05:09Yeah, see, pothole, pothole.
05:12These roads, man, they're a good test for, you can see even as I bounce on it right now,
05:17they're a really good test for that suspension.
05:19And this thing, I mean, it's only just for preload, but the damping is fine, it's really
05:24comfortable.
05:25It's actually, you know, they've done a really, really good job at creating a suspension that
05:30just works.
05:31Yeah, I mean, poking around in this thing, all the controls in this thing are really,
05:34really nice.
05:35The friction zone's really easy to actuate.
05:38You get a good feel out of the brakes.
05:40Instrument panel's really easy to read.
05:42I love the position of these bars, they're perfect.
05:44You know, you can kind of hunker in and get real sporty, but sitting here cruising real
05:47comfortably, I mean, you know, I might as well be on an upright bike.
05:50It's really, really incredibly comfortable.
05:53All right, let's see what kind of top speed we can hit here.
05:57Trying to catch up with the group here.
06:00104, 105, 106.
06:05Does he hit 107?
06:06Does he hit 107?
06:07Does he hit 107?
06:09He didn't hit 107.
06:13That's okay.
06:14Something to shoot for later, right?
06:17Hey, now.
06:18We're getting some turns here.
06:20We're finally getting some turns.
06:23Let me tell you, I am not mad about it.
06:27The tires seem to be okay.
06:29Bias ply maybe wouldn't have been my choice, but for bias ply tires, these things aren't
06:36that bad.
06:37There is some grip.
06:38They do feel nice.
06:39You can see we're all starting to lean a little bit, starting to have a little fun, starting
06:42to see how this thing does sportily.
06:44One of the things I was talking about last night was how they changed the feeling to
06:50really provide a very nice and linear and very smooth throttle feel.
06:54So it's not going to be intimidating to any riders.
06:56It's not going to catch anybody off guard.
06:59And man, this thing is so nimble.
07:04Oh, and I think I see the photographer ahead, which means fun time over.
07:12I wonder if they'll believe me if I just pass them.
07:15Oh, I didn't see you guys.
07:16I just rode an extra 30 miles on accident of this perfect road.
07:22I don't want to stop.
07:34So I just finished 100 of some of the best miles I've ridden in a long time.
07:54We're here outside of Willows on Highway 162.
07:57Just really been impressed with this bike so far.
07:59Excited to see how it does.
08:01Luckily for me, the second part of the day, we're taking it to the track.
08:04So excited to see how it does there.
08:06And hopefully it's as impressive.
08:08Hopefully it keeps up and really is able to kind of be the track toy they hope it is also.
08:31Alright, so we spent the better part of a day riding the 2015 Yamaha R3.
08:58And I gotta tell you, man, it's been a great day.
09:02I can honestly say I wasn't a huge fan of the Kawasaki.
09:05I thought maybe I just like riding singles better.
09:07The CBR is a great bike.
09:09I thought maybe that was just it.
09:11This thing has been such a ton of fun.
09:16It's great in the streets.
09:18It's been great for this racetrack.
09:21A lot of positives with this bike.
09:23I mean, the engine, that 320cc parallel twin is such a good time.
09:28It revs all the way up to 12, 12.5 RPM and all of that is usable.
09:33Brakes are a little on the soft side, but once you get on them, the stopping power is definitely there.
09:38Suspension is absolutely budget.
09:41But for a budget suspension, they kind of have pulled the old Honda trick of even though it's budget, it still works better than it should.
09:48Just overall, it's been an absolutely fantastic bike.
09:51In terms of negatives, there are really only two big downsides for me.
09:55One is the tires they use on these things.
09:57They're really hard.
09:59We just took a little break from the track and I went to look at kind of the wear.
10:03While they're worn to the edges, you can just tell you don't nearly have the grip.
10:07They aren't worn nearly the way that the Hondas were when I rode that last week on the racetrack.
10:11The second is the gearing.
10:13Mostly with the gearing between second and third, when you drop down into third, a lot of these turns on this track, the back kicks out.
10:20I mean, really, really easily.
10:22There's no slippage.
10:24The ratios of those gears make it really tough.
10:26You really have to match those well.
10:28But it's a $5,000 motorcycle.
10:31It's meant for beginners.
10:32It's really, really a good time.
10:39They've waved the checkered flag.
10:41My day riding the 2015 Yamaha R3 is officially done.
10:46The staff over there has told me I have to go home.
10:48But I still have daylight, a racetrack, a wonderful motorcycle that's full of gasoline.
10:54The only thing I want to do is keep riding, but I guess not for today.
10:58I'm Sean from RevZilla. Thanks for watching.