Yamaha R3

 

 

Superbikes are the pinnacle of motorcycle engineering; they are the pinnacle of riding pleasure and experience; they are sensory overload in all departments. But they are not for everyone, especially if you’re a teenager and some boring commuter bike or scooter just won’t cut it in the cool stakes as you are starting your riding career.
So, if a sports bike is the only way to go, there are other options and this is one of them; Yamaha’s R3. As the name suggests, it is a superbike in miniature, with a 321cc parallel-twin engine developing a respectable 41bhp and 29.6Nm. So, not only does it have respectable performance, it looks the part too; from a distance, you could be forgiven that this is a full-fat litre-superbike so it has all the cool factor without the need to rein in your offspring’s desire to go very fast everywhere.
One would expect a small engine capacity to equate to a physically small bike but, again, the R3 belies this impression by feeling like a big bike whilst at the same time being light and narrow; perfect for threading through congested traffic. Wheels and tyres are on the skinny side but the brakes are well up to the performance.
It’s not cheap at R72,000 but as a stylish way of getting Junior into motorcycling, it’s hard to beat.