[RayRay3866]

Hey everyone, i'm a newbie rider! I'm 28 and I've only ridden Dirt Bikes over last summer so i feel like i'm a little late to the game. so, i went to the local powersport dealer and fell in love with the R3. proplem is, i wen't to work all excited telling the guys (who have lots of experience riding) what i was going to buy and they all said the same thing...."Do NOT buy a 300 class bike"... "you'll get tired of it after a few months and want to upgrade" "don't waste your money, start on a 650" so after that i was deflated and bummed. i keep watching youtube videos of guys on their R3 and they seem to love it. there's one guy in particular "Chaseontwowheels" did a 'first ride' on the R3 and he loved it... thats coming from a guy who rides an R6 as his everyday bike. i'm just looking for something to tool around town with and take for rides on back county roads. i don't need anything that will break speed records but i hear torque is pretty addictive. so i'm just looking for honest opinions.... is the R3 a bike that you could live with long term (til its paid off )

thanks everyone!

 

[Stirz]

First of all, welcome. You've already tilted the playing field by posting on an R3 forum - so most here have been entirely happy with it.

The R3 will NOT: 1) do 150+, at least no one's claimed it so far. 2) cost as much as a bigger bike to buy, maintain or insure, and 3) disappoint

Some of the members have extensive experience on a wide variety of bikes and have really enjoyed the R3. At the end of the day, buy the bike best suited for your budget and what you want to do with it.

 

[Kojiiro]

Welcome to the forum!

I went from bigger bikes to the R3, as have quite a few other riders/forum members, and do not regret it one bit. Every bike has its place, there is no end all be all bike, but for right now, until I can get really good with a smaller bike ( I measure this by maybe going from group C on the track, to group B), I think I will stay with the smaller lighweight class.

If you plan on only commuting and never going out to the canyons, or better yet, the race track, then yeah I see someone getting bored or tired of the R3 quickly because to them, fun is going fast in a straight line. For me though, and I think I speak for the majority of the riders, the real fun is in the twisties or on the race track. I am not saying the bigger bikes are not fun there, but the smaller bikes really are loads of fun in canyons or on the track, without having to deal with things that bigger bikes bring, such as higher cost to operate, own, and insure, slower learning (smaller bikes typically teach you proper riding technique at a faster rate, since they are more forgiving in some places, and force you to be perfect in other places, like carrying speed through a corner )

Ask your friends who have told you that you will get bored on your little 300 if they are bored yet doing this, or maybe they are bored because they cannot get to that level yet?
https://youtu.be/GKDN3okg4ko

FWIW I went from a 650 to a 600 SS to the R3. The 600 supersport was more fun than the 650, but the R3 truly is a fun bike to ride in the canyons and race track. I learned more on the R3 in a shorter amount of time than the other bikes. I was literally dragging knee within a week of owning the bike, something I have been striving to do with my previous bikes but could not do. Some people will say dragging knee isnt recommended on the street, it isnt a measure of skill, but to me it was an accomplishment I have been striving for.

For me, there are people at race tracks that do faster lap times on their R3/N300/RC390s than people on 600s and even liter bikes. Why is that? Because those are probably the guys that love riding so much, they didnt care what their friends thought of the little bikes and strove to ride better and gain more and more skill. All that skill can carry over when you think you truly are ready for the 600/650/liter bike/whatever.

 

[Capitalview]

If you want to go really fast in a straight line, then a 600 super sport is for you. If you want to learn how to ride and corner then the R3 is the way to go.

The SV650 is a good bike. I raced one for a couple years. If you want info on the SV check out http://www.svrider.com/forum/. There is a lot of good info there.

I prefer the R3 to the SV though. I have really improved my riding since I have been racing the R3. I really see where I was lacking in skill while riding the SV. I was relying on HP over skill.

 

[Braunbear66]

R6 16,000 +tax+freight+lic+extended warranty + lots of gas. adds up quick. I just paid off my bike this week. It took me 5 months I own it. It's all mine. Ive spent $8300 on the bike and all my upgrades including Shoei rf-1200 helmet+ Yoshimura full exhaust and PCV with bock off. Daniele leather pants + jacket+boots+gloves and a back up helmet the day I purchased bike and a summer outfit textile Pants and jacket/warm weather. New Bridgestone S20 tires coming this week. I'm glad I have this bike. Ive had bigger in the 600 class heavy bike and aggressive position not so comfortable as the R3. I ride this bike for fun and take it to work once and a while to save gas. My everyday ride is a GMC Danalli Yukon vortex 6.2liter gas guzzling AWD. Ive had people with bigger bikes show interest in my bike and they have heard good things like they even know what it is. I took my bike to a bike shop to see how much there going to charge me to put my new tires on this week. The guy at the shop is that your R3 over there and he asked me how I liked it. I said its great little bike I love it. I took it to my Yamaha dealer( the owner took it for a ride after my first oil change. He came back from his ride it took a little while. and said " this is a really fun bike to ride it's so nimble and light". I was thinking if I had gone bigger it would have been a mistake for me. I would have spent $20,000+ with the bike and all my upgrades and gear. I feel like a much better rider in 5 months of owning this bike and it's fun to ride Mulholland and Hollywood Hills and up the street is Angeles Crest Highway I'm surround with hills and twisties everywhere thats all I ride and it really fun on this bike. If you want a really really fast bike the Fz-09 is a really nice looking naked bike. and it has push button mapping three modes and you can pull wheelies like crazy person. My next bike is going to be a Yamaha dirt/street for my house up in Mammoth.

 

[Tal]

Welcome from England.Have a read of the Motor Cycle Monthly write up on the R3 that i've just posted on another part of this forum
here it is again.Go to pages 18 and 19.
http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/launch.aspx?pbid=cc038fbd-76ff-4c3a-9fad-02c2028b9ba8

 

[allyjones13]

Get yourself an R3 and don't worry about your work mates. With the long and bitterly cold Wisconsin winters you would have, I imagine a short riding season, so I personally couldn't justify the expense of a bigger bike. I moved to my R3 from a ZZR 600. Even for a an older bike it was super fast but not the most manoeuvrable because of the weight (I am only a 5ft 6, and not so strong lady). The R3 would be absolutely perfect. I am from England myself but my sister lives in River Falls and I have spent a couple of summers over there. I would love to ride my R3 on those roads. This English Cheesehead says R3 all the way. Enjoy

 

[Mike-the-Bike]

Get the R3! You have to do what's right for you, not please your co-workers. I have both an '04 GSX-R750 and the R3. The GSXR feels a bit overweight and way to powerful after riding the R3. I ride in the country a few times a month, and the R3 is more "fun" to ride than my supersport. Lower insurance, smaller monthly payments, better gas mileage, and less chance of going to jail or the hospital all favor the R3 over a bigger bike. When I ride the GSXR, I have to hold back too much and can't really enjoy the bike, but with the R3, I can really thrash it and feel like I'm a MotoGP Star at 45MPH!

 

[Jason C.]

Hey RayRay, I am in a very similar situation in terms of age and riding experience. I also received quite a bit of flak for choosing the R3, but after a few days I am happy with my choice. On my first ride I did an accidental rev bomb + clutch slip that surly would have sent me flying off the back of a 600. I'm not sure if the tire even left the ground on the R3 and I didn't wreck it...that alone left me feeling reassured I made the correct decision. There is certainly enough power to have fun, although I do wish the gears were a bit taller for highway speeds. The R3 is cheap enough and I think will hold its resale, so if I decide to upgrade in 6 months to a year so be it. The bike looks similar enough to an R6 the wife won't even notice

 

[Kojiiro]

Hey RayRay, I am in a very similar situation in terms of age and riding experience. I also received quite a bit of flak for choosing the R3, but after a few days I am happy with my choice. On my first ride I did an accidental rev bomb + clutch slip that surly would have sent me flying off the back of a 600. I'm not sure if the tire even left the ground on the R3 and I didn't wreck it...that alone left me feeling reassured I made the correct decision. There is certainly enough power to have fun, although I do wish the gears were a bit taller for highway speeds. The R3 is cheap enough and I think will hold its resale, so if I decide to upgrade in 6 months to a year so be it. The bike looks similar enough to an R6 the wife won't even notice

The gearing isnt that bad. I used to cruise on that bike 80ish (SoCal traffic) with no problems.

Upgrading in 6 months? At least get some track time first, lean that thing over, explore its true strength as a Lightweight, small displacement bike (/ Hint: Cornering).

Good tactic on getting the R3 out of the garage and replacing with the R6 though. She wont even know!

 

[Capitalview]

Absolutely get some track time, even if you get the SV.

Since you are in Wisconsin, check out WiRiders.com or Midwest Sport Riders for info on track, or just regular riding that is local to you.

 

[Jason C.]

The gearing isnt that bad. I used to cruise on that bike 80ish (SoCal traffic) with no problems.

Upgrading in 6 months? At least get some track time first, lean that thing over, explore its true strength as a Lightweight, small displacement bike (/ Hint: Cornering).

Good tactic on getting the R3 out of the garage and replacing with the R6 though. She wont even know!

Good to hear it can handle a constant 80 with no problem. My bike is still in the break in period so I'm not trying to rev it out yet. I'm not saying I'm going to upgrade in 6 months, but it is an option. Actually I will almost certainly keep it longer because I spend the majority of the summer traveling around for work and I am less worried about the R3 on a hitch carrier than a heavier bike.

 

[Kojiiro]

Good to hear it can handle a constant 80 with no problem. My bike is still in the break in period so I'm not trying to rev it out yet. I'm not saying I'm going to upgrade in 6 months, but it is an option. Actually I will almost certainly keep it longer because I spend the majority of the summer traveling around for work and I am less worried about the R3 on a hitch carrier than a heavier bike.

Not telling you how to break in your bike, but that whole break in recommendation is IMO to get the rider used to the new bike, not to break in the engine. have done a hard break in on 2 brand new bikes, and the same on my R3, which I bought with 94 miles on it.

A few members have done hard break ins to their bikes.

 

[RayRay3866]

Thanks everyone for all the words of encouragement! It's so cool to have a community like this to lean on. I also kind of want to show the guys at work that the game has changed as far as the 300 class goes. Also, I've always had smaller displacement engines in 'sports cars' my first car in high school was a 1990 camaro with a 350.... after that i had a 96 camaro with the v6 and now i have a 2013 charger with the v6. I've heard it said with bikes and i can relate it to cars.... riding a slow bike fast is more fun than riding a fast bike slow. I've always tried to squeez whatever i could out of smaller displacement engines. I can't wait to buy an R3 ... in the mean time I'm going to be learning on an 86' suzuki savage 650. Saving up for the R3 while working on buying a house will be tough haha