Went into Del Amo in Costa Mesa today and picked up the blue R3. I am a newbie and found the bike quite easy to ride. When I say newbie I'm talking about I jumped on a bike 10 years ago and rode it down 1 block and got off. That's all the experience I had. Overall, the bike is more than enough power for me since I'm a beginner. Throttle is smooth and linear. Anyways, I picked up the bike for $5850 OTD. So far best price I got quoted from surrounding dealers.