Focus on the entry-level market has reached fever pitch this year, with Honda updating and enlarging its smallest CBR, Kawasaki just two years from making the Ninja 250 and much more potent 300, and KTM threatening from the sidelines with the Indian-built RC390.
Bring on the YZF-R3, Yamaha’s first small sportbike in more years than we can remember. It starts with a 320cc parallel-twin engine with a DOHC, four-valve-per-cylinder head, and fuel injection. It has forged pistons, offset cylinders, and a counterbalancer for smoothness. Going big is an important tactic for Yamaha, giving the R3 a 26cc advantage over the Ninja and a 34cc head start on Honda’s single-cylinder CBR300R. Yamaha doesn’t list power, but says it has the “most in class.”