[Doo_Dev]

Originally Posted by camitesh

First of all congratulations on this beauty.
On most bikes I've ridden, ABS light remains on at the ignition check. It goes away after certain speed is achieved, in CBR250 the ABS light goes off at 10kmph.

Try and get the tyres swapped if possible or bargain for some other freebies. I've personally used new tyres in car and bike which were over 1 year old without any issues whatsoever so don't worry. Unless the tyres are heavily exposed to environmental elements, it's not a big concern. Since R3 is not a mass market bike, i would like to believe it would have been stored indoors safely. Anyway what is manufacturing year and month for bike?

Thanks for the ABS clarification.
The manufacturing year is 2019 . I thought we can decipher only year and not month from Chassis number .

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

On the ABS Light - - Link (Yamaha YZF-R3 : Ownership Review)

On the tires, Metzelers are decently grippy until the 5 to 6000 km mark. Post that the feedback from the tire is average. I am looking to swap it to Pirelli Diablo Rosso 2 shortly. Mind you it will easily set you back by close to 14000 for the stock size.

He will get none from the dealership make no mistake. If he gets, it is as good as winning a jackpot. All bikes currently that Yamaha has is 2019 make. Swapping the new tires at a tire shop should save him a couple of 1000s if you are lucky.

I don't think swapping would be possible as the dealership would not be stocking up tyres for R3. The bike was ordered by the showroom after i placed an order. So i assume that it would have been stored properly in the factory. Anyway worrying about this is bit too much.
So i talked to the manager and got a 3k discount for the tyres .


I have been using Pilot street on my CBR250 and very happy with the grip and so would opt for Michelin again on first change .

[camitesh]

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

He will get none from the dealership make no mistake. If he gets, it is as good as winning a jackpot. All bikes currently that Yamaha has is 2019 make. Swapping the new tires at a tire shop should save him a couple of 1000s if you are lucky.

Right, though no harm in asking. My experience with Yamaha dealerships in Mumbai has been nothing but fantastic. I've always found them accommodating to reasonable requests be it buying new bikes or servicing my 10+ year old FZ16.

Originally Posted by Doo_Dev

I thought we can decipher only year and not month from Chassis number .

I don't think swapping would be possible as the dealership would not be stocking up tyres for R3. The bike was ordered by the showroom after i placed an order. So i assume that it would have been stored properly in the factory. Anyway worrying about this is bit too much.
So i talked to the manager and got a 3k discount for the tyres .


I have been using Pilot street on my CBR250 and very happy with the grip and so would opt for Michelin again on first change .

The month should be identifiable as well. Check this https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attac...review-vin.pdf

Right, don't worry much about the tyre age as long as you have done a thorough inspection for cracks or unusual wear on the tyres. Also 3K off for the old tyres is not a jackpot but not bad as well. Just put some more money and get a new tyre swap deal for complete peace of mind if that is really bothering you. I am on the second set of Michelin PSRs on my CBR250 and have no complaints whatsoever (I went with almost 1.5 year old new tyres at the time of buying since I had an urgent trip to Himalayas and just couldn't find newer batch of PSRs in Mumbai for CBR250. Also got them at a good discount).

I recently noted somewhere that michelin has come out with extended warranty for tyres in India at a nominal cost, so do check out for it.

Safe riding and do share the pics.

[Doo_Dev]

Originally Posted by camitesh

Right, though no harm in asking. My experience with Yamaha dealerships in Mumbai has been nothing but fantastic. I've always found them accommodating to reasonable requests be it buying new bikes or servicing my 10+ year old FZ16.



The month should be identifiable as well. Check this https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attac...review-vin.pdf

Right, don't worry much about the tyre age as long as you have done a thorough inspection for cracks or unusual wear on the tyres. Also 3K off for the old tyres is not a jackpot but not bad as well. Just put some more money and get a new tyre swap deal for complete peace of mind if that is really bothering you. I am on the second set of Michelin PSRs on my CBR250 and have no complaints whatsoever (I went with almost 1.5 year old new tyres at the time of buying since I had an urgent trip to Himalayas and just couldn't find newer batch of PSRs in Mumbai for CBR250. Also got them at a good discount).

I recently noted somewhere that michelin has come out with extended warranty for tyres in India at a nominal cost, so do check out for it.

Safe riding and do share the pics.

Thanks for sharing the document. Manufacturing month is November 2019 .
The discount of 3K is not high but I was happy they did not ignore my request. Moreover, the showroom had already given a 6 k discount on the price.

[RX135]

Originally Posted by nkrishnap

Got this in one of the group rides. Never been able to ride like this with the sole intent of getting such mileage again.

Trust me, I know what you mean. For last couple of tankfuls, I am extracting 27.5 - 28.5 kmpl for my daily commute, which otherwise hovers around 24-25 kmpl or so. But, then there is *no* fun in riding the bike cautiously for mileage. One should get a splendor for that.

[nkrishnap]

Note - Long Post

Been quite tied up with work, so the updates took its own sweet time to be documented. So here we go.

Milestones 9000 and 10000 kms







I had earlier mentioned about the grip Metzelers tires dropping off significantly post the 6000 kms mark. I decided to get the Pirelli Diablo Rosso 2 tires in the same size. It cost me 14600 for the set. I will document the tire buying experience in a separate post.





With milestones out of the way, the mileage numbers are up next.



It took me 508 days to complete the 10000 kms which roughly translates 19.7 kms a day. The past 14 months post the purchase of the bike has been hectic and having minimal chances to ride the bike out. However, still managed to ride on work and a couple of R3 owners get together events. The odo was slowly creeping up and now decided to use the bike for daily commute to work which will translate 10 kms a day. I have made a constant decision to ride a bit more to ensure the biker in me does not disappear.

Now I would like to Document the observations into three categories

Likes

• Smooth Twin Cylinder Engine
• Stock Exhaust Note
• Balanced ride, neither too stiff nor too soft. Neutral nature makes it a very forgiving bike.
• Bright headlights
• Analog and Digital instrumentation combo
• Non-Intrusive ABS
• Decent Heat Management
• Brakes with the Spiegler steel braided lines
• Engine Braking – More on this in a separate post

What could be better

• Yamaha ought to give the brake the steel braided lines at the asking price. I hope they bring this with the facelift at the least.
• Slipper Clutch would make this more complete package.
• Seats are a bit harder side for my liking. A softer one would have made long rides in a day much more comfortable especially in the hotter conditions
• Fuelling when the engine is not up to full operating temperature is a bit choppy. Can be better

Dislikes

• Small Fuel Tank
• No Grab handles whatsoever! – Fixed this with a custom steel bracket to at least hold the bike.
• Metzelers grip dropping off post 6000 kms. Front tires barely had any feedback post the 7500 kms mark.
• Useless Horn. Fixed this with a dual pitch horn, picked it up from the RTR series.

Issues faced

Fork Oil Seal – Documented here (Yamaha YZF-R3 : Ownership Review).

Mild vibrations around 7000 rpm mark. Chain adjustment does the trick most times. But this can be better.

Engine Oil Used until now

• Yamalube – Only the first oil change
• Motul 7100 10W-40 – at 1100 kms, 2500 kms, 5100 kms
• Switched over to AMSOIL MC4 at 8500 kms, the next change will be the same make and grade but MCF.

Time for some STATS

The bike has covered 10390 kms as this post is written and the odo at the last refuel point is 10,300 kms. A total of INR 32,250/- has been incurred to date which works out to approximately INR 3.13 per km as fuel cost. And the maintenance cost is about 1.75 bucks per km, including the voluntary coolant replacement twice and oil filter replacement (5 oil filters) and one air filter. Would have been much lower if I had stuck to 6,000 km service interval. The overall cost is working out to INR 5 per km approximately.

Odometer Reading Share



Distance between refuels



Fuel Price



Fuel Price Trend - During the ownership period. The exceptions are the 97 octane fuel and V power fuel.



Mileage - Overall





Mileage – Best vs Worst – City



Mileage – Best vs Worst – Mixed Conditions (City 40% and Highway 60%



Mileage – Best vs Worst – Highway



Rode on this route last week - Bangalore - Salem - Dindigul - Natham - Pillaripatti - Natham - Dindigul - Dharapuram - Coimbatore - Ooty - Masinagudi - Gundlupet - Mysore - Bangalore

A few random pics

Pirelli Tyre Usage





A Few Pics enroute











During one of the night rides

[gururajrv]

I felt like reading a professional presentation rather than reading a bike’s ownership report.

Wonderfully written review. Keep riding sir

[nkrishnap]

A Small update.

Spark Plugs Changed to NGK Iridium Plugs

The spark plugs were to be replaced at 12,000 km, however, I went ahead and changed at 10,846 kms which is earlier than recommended. A friend from the R3 owner's group sourced these plugs for me and it cost me INR 650/- each.

Old Plugs



Old vs New Iridium Plugs





Plug Details





I decided to give the slip-on exhaust a try and swapped the OE one. All it took was 20 kms to shift back to OE one.





Gave the bike a thorough wash as it had become dusty. Since the lockdown, there was barely any running and it deserved a bathe.

End Result post wash



Swapped back to OE one.

[nkrishnap]

The running has been really slow with the odometer barely moving. Took a long time to cross the 11,000 km mark.

Milestone



Last Saturday joined a friend who wanted to do a photoshoot of his car. Shot a few pics of the bike too along with the car ones.





















PS: all precations of social distancing and masks were taken.

[KarthikK]

Fantastic writeup and review covering all aspects of the R3's ownership details over a long term with period updates and great pictures to boot. Great thread Krishna, rated a well deserved 5 stars.

Its always great to see a bike put to good use and pile on the miles.

This pandemic has annoyingly brought all mile munching and even regular usage to a halt . Even my bike had clocked 10k km in ~1.5 years and for the last 6 months it is just parked there with me paying EMIs on it and managed to add only another 200-300 km

[ManasN95]

Lovely review Sir, especially for prospective buyers!

I own a pre-owned 2017 Honda CBR250R right now, got her in a good deal in 2018 December.

We never stop dreaming about the next purchase immediately, do we?

As GTO and others have put across the importance of linear upgrades, I am looking at R3 as my next possible motorcycle, in an year or two.

As long as the 2020 update is concerned, if at all it comes, I didn't quite like the design.

So, let me ask you, would the R3 be a good upgrade for the CBR250R? I think the service and maintenance parts would be quite similar between the two?

[nkrishnap]

Completed two years with the bike on the 12th of October 2020. I had about 150 kms to go to complete 12000 km on the odo. Took this opportunity to take it for a short ride. Rode through Doddaballapur and continued towards Tumkur toll Via Dobaspet with the total ride taking about 100 odd mins.



Will be switching to Amsoil Metric MCF oil in another 1500 kms as currently 3500 kms done on the MC4 oil.

Hoping to ride more in the coming days.

[Paavan Shetty]

Firstly, the blue colour attracts a lot of scratches, so PPF and Paint protection was a must at least on the tank. Got the 3M PPF stuff done for the tank and side panels. Installation was nothing to write home about and the quality of film is not good either. I will have these replaced with better ones soon. Cost of the 3M PPF was 3200 bucks for the protection on the tank and side panels.

Hi, Nkrishnap, u mentioned that the 3M PPF coating was not good and you would be changing it. Did u change it? If yes please let me know to which brand did you change it to. Also I want some suggestion over this PPF coating stuff, since I have zero experience in that regard.

One of my friends has purchased Aprilla SR160
2020 BS6 model black colour. She wanted to know about the advantages of PPF coating and whether it would be worth for her to get her scooter coated? The panels are all plastic and most surfaces are MATT in texture. She too lives in Bangalore, so would need some coating dealer suggestions from you. Please let me know your comments. Thanks in advance.

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by Paavan Shetty

Hi, Nkrishnap, u mentioned that the 3M PPF coating was not good and you would be changing it. Did u change it? If yes please let me know to which brand did you change it to. Also, I want some suggestion over this PPF coating stuff, since I have zero experience in that regard.

3M PPF is nothing to write home about the quality or the price. There are way better ones in the market like Hexis, Xpel, Stek, LLumar, etc. However with any of these please check the installer is using genuine film, as the market is flooded with cheap films from China and the installers lie that these top brands like Hexis, Llumar, Xpel. If you use genuine ones the cost should be around 800 bucks per sq ft +- 50 bucks per sq ft.

Again, ceramic coating over the PPF is absolute crap some installers are practicing. This will destroy the self-healing capability of the film. Avoid doing any kind of coating on the PPF.

One of my friends has purchased Aprilla SR160
2020 BS6 model black color. She wanted to know about the advantages of PPF coating and whether it would be worth it for her to get her scooter coated? The panels are all plastic and most surfaces are MATT in texture. She too lives in Bangalore, so would need some coating dealer suggestions from you. Please let me know your comments. Thanks in advance.

PPF will prevent minor scratches and take the daily abuse of washing/wiping in a better way. Hexis, LLumar, Stek, Xpel all of them have matte PPF, so you get to retain the same Matte finish originality of the bike.

PM me if you need further help.

[nkrishnap]

Changed the engine oil on the bike a couple of days back. Amsoil MCF Metric Fully synthetic oil 10W-40 was used. Previous oil used was Amsoil 10W-40.
The bike had done about 4,100 odd kms on the MC4. The bike was running as expected with smooth gear shifts as well. However, I did not want to stretch till the recommended 6,000 kms oil change interval and moreover the urge to try the Metric MCF oil was getting too much to resist

Changed the oil filter along with the oil. Poured in 2.1 litres including priming the oil filter





Condition of the engine oil post 4,100 odd kms.

[TheHelix0202]

Have you thought of adding aftermarket hazards for your R3, if it doesn't have those already?