Yamaha r3

[james250ninja]

Today I actually came across an R3
On YouTube.
Had any one seen on around town
And what at your thoughts on the r3. Is it better than ninja 300

[taz]

rode a few, they sit a little more aggressively. smaller gas tank (and not feel, it feels taller) actual fuel available when full is less. if you can't see which one you are riding they don't seem different after that.

[james250ninja]

I had an r6 traded it for ninja 300.
The ninja 300 was a good bike little bit faster than 250.
Now I have a 2012 ninja 250.
Really not much different from 300 to 250.
In my opinion..

[Yakaru]

I haven't ridden one, but I did a 'sit on' a while back and liked some aspects, but definitely need seat time. I also know someone who chose the R3 over the Ninja for racing, but I'm not sure if that's due to actual performance delta or just the racer's preference.

[csmith12]

I have been around my fair share of;
250's
300's
cbr250's
r3's
ktm 390s;

I will put them in order of fastest to slowest as seen on track by talented riders.

390
300's
r3's
250's
cbr250's

Since the rider makes such a difference in the performance on track, the racers of r3's will sometimes win over 300 riders. However... the 300's pull on them in the straight.

This experience comes from production class lightweight racing. Sorry, I haven't had the chance to ride one yet.

Hope that helps!

[CaliGrrl]

I'm starting to see a lot more smaller bikes around here, R3, R6, baby Ninjas, etc. I got to test ride an R3 and it's a neat bike. I'm still considering it if and when I want a newer bike.

I felt absolutely locked into that seat, very solid. Digital dash, which I'm a little on the fence about. It's ok when they work, but probably expensive if it fails. It had a gear indicator, which I initially thought I wanted, but in riding the Ninja (without one, of course) I am finding it's not as big an issue as I thought.

See if you can find a Yamaha demo day, or a shop that will let you test ride one.

[cbinker]

I rode the decked out Graves R3 from Yamaha Champions school, lots of fun!

[Sirref]

Originally Posted by csmith12

I will put them in order of fastest to slowest as seen on track by talented riders.

390
300's
r3's
250's
cbr250's

Since the rider makes such a difference in the performance on track, the racers of r3's will sometimes win over 300 riders. However... the 300's pull on them in the straight.

This experience comes from production class lightweight racing. Sorry, I haven't had the chance to ride one yet.

Hope that helps!

Interestingly enough my experience actually has the order being fairly different, With that said that's including a very wide range of skill between riders.

Fastest to slowest:
R3 ridden by WSS 300 rider
390 ridden by ktm rc cup riders
300s/r3s ridden by amateur/expert club racers
390 ridden by club racers
250 ridden by club racers (I've seen 2 exceptions where the right riders can make a 250 very, very fast)
cbr250/300...don't really see these at the race weekends

You'll note that the 300s and R3s were scored equally, this is because they have totally different strengths that equal out to roughly the same lap times in the end. The 300s have more top end and do better on point and shoot tracks with long straights while the R3s are more mid-range torque and eat the 300s up in more flowing tracks

Both are great options, I'm not sure which way I'd go if I had to start a new ultra-light build

Originally Posted by cbinker

I rode the decked out Graves R3 from Yamaha Champions school, lots of fun!

That thing is one of the coolest bikes I have ever seen, I'm jealous as hell you got to ride it! We called Josh Hayes out and tried to get him to race us on that bike but his manager nipped it in the bud. Apparently you get a lot of respect when you tell a 4x national champ you're gonna smoke him so it wasn't a total loss

[Sirref]

here's a relevant race video featuring a wss 300 R3 rider along with some club 300 riders and a few rc390s

There's even a 450 supermoto involved

Link to original page on YouTube.