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First service of my 2024 Yamaha R3: Why it was a mixed experience

25th February 2025, 10:03 by Deepankar Sadekar

After riding for a while in heavy traffic thanks to returning commute of people from office in evening, I could definitely feel the engine starting to feel slightly more smoother.

BHPian R15M_Rider recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

First Service Impressions, A bone-chilling scare due to a rather silly mistake, Welcome Kit

So, under a month of ownership, with 22 days into the ownership, I had nearly reached the 1000 km mark today morning. Before starting from home for the service center, my odometer read around 982 km. For first service I had chosen the same Shanti Motors, Pallikarnai from where I had taken delivery. The service center is roughly 9.1 km from my place. I reached the service center at 9.15. I also enquired about what oil they will be using for the R3. I wanted them to use the higher grade RS4GP oil. The person filling the details for service wasn't aware of it. Later I enquired on call with a person on call whom I had interacted with during bike delivery. Clarified that RS4GP was indeed used. As per usual circumstances, I was informed that, bike can be collected in evening around 5PM. They also mentioned that this was the first 2024 R3 to come to their service station. It made me a bit nervous but they did mention they had serviced the previous generation R3s in the past.

Reached the service center at 5.15 PM. They told me to wait for 20 mins with the DB entry of service records and stuff. 20 mins eventually became 45-50 mins eventually. But I had expected this considering my previous service experiences with the R15 in other Yamaha service centers. Bill service came at Rs 3585/-. Majority of the cost due to two cans of RS4GP. I came to know R3 requires 2.3 liters of engine oil and each can of RS4GP comes at Rs 1500/-. Expensive for sure, but I wanted the best for my bike. Rest was mostly chain cleaning and lubing. My goldfish memory forgot totally about the "complimentary RS4GP oil replacement" which is part of the welcome kit.

Having filled up the sheet, I paid the amount and then inspected the bike for a bit before starting. It was indeed nicely polished and cleaned. Until this point, everything seemed Okay.

After riding for a while in heavy traffic thanks to returning commute of people from office in evening, I could definitely feel the engine starting to feel slightly more smoother and also most noticeable was the heat which has reduced quite significantly when compared to before. By significant, I mean, for what I experienced before from first since delivery.

The scare:

After riding for sometime in traffic, suddenly the engine starting to cut off and turn on whenever I pulled the clutch. The headlight was also blinking with the LCD console, behavior seen when you turn off and turn on the bike. This was occurring in middle of traffic on a busy road. It scared the living daylights out of me . I was in shock and panic, every-time I had that mentally scarring noise of the engine shutting and starting itself even now as I type this. At that time I didn't know what could be the cause with already my stressed up mind. Thankfully I was near my home and made up my mind to put of up with this and think about the cause after reaching home. Each time, I pulled the clutch during this period, I was praying that this won't lead to a huge issue.

Upon reaching home, I shut down the engine with the kill switch. Then shut off the rest after moving the key to the off position in the ignition. That is when I noticed something by accident. They didn't seem to be in the "full on" position. It was in between off and on! Like it wasn't twisted fully to the right. Once again, twisted the key in the ignition to on fully this time, then started the bike. Went for a round around the area to test my theory. And voila! The issue had vanished. I think thanks to the lubricants/oil added around the ignition and clutch, I think it became a bit sticky and ignition might not have been at full on position and some speed humps on the way home would have caused it to move into a position where the ignition system was confused, whether the bike is on or off. Lesson learnt, need to ensure, the key in ignition is fully on from now onwards.

The peculiar additional 7km on the Odo:

Upon reaching home, I checked the odometer. It was set at trip in the service center. Odo was reading 1015 km. Now hang on a minute, I left the bike at service center at 993 km (KMR seen in service sheet also). While returning, I overshot a u turn exit by mistake which added another 5 km to my return trip to home from service center. That means, it should read a maximum of 993 + 15 = 1008 km. Where did the extra 7 km come from? Did someone at service tamper the odo a bit(highly unlikely). Did someone go for a joyride/testride(quite likely). They did say this was the first 2024 R3 at their service center so did some fellow joyride it as its quite rare? Whatever it maybe, it did leave a sour taste in my mouth of what otherwise has been quite a decent service as far as mechanical stuff and cosmetics are concerned. The fact that there is a possibility of a guy joyriding/someone offering the bike you bought with your hard earned money, as a test-ride to someone, without knowing of what the consequences might be if something happens, how that person is riding/revving the bike, no matter how reliable the Yamaha engine is, it hurts deeply for sure. I only hope whoever rode it, didn’t do so rashly. Lets say even if it’s a service center person ride for 7 km to make it 1000 km if there is some policy mandated that odo reading must be 1000 or above, then atleast they could’ve told me/hinted me. If only I had taken a picture before service and noticed the odometer reading before leaving. Another lesson learnt I guess, need to be super careful and need take images of the odometer reading before and after service to cross-verify. Fellow R3 owners, is this something that has happened to you as well? Please do share.

Well, that wraps up the first service experience. What should've been a typical and decent service, just spoilt with the additional odometer reading and of course a very scary experience thanks to my own silly error. Lessons learnt in the end though!

Welcome Kit:

Last, but not least the welcome kit, I had received last week from Yamaha. I guess amongst the 2024 R3 BHPians I know, I got it earliest from delivery date, in 3rd week or so. I won't go into detail, but it contained stickers, a Yamaha MotoGP jersey, Oakley sunglasses, a PVR Cinema Gift card worth 3K. The Oakley sunglasses are worth 10k being the most valuable item here.