Yamaha is all set to start rolling its big bikes back into the country tomorrow as we will be getting the R3 and MT-03 to start with. However, if your memory serves you right, the R3 wasn’t exactly priced well, arriving a cut above the competition when it used to be on sale in the country. And that was a CKD product.
Now, it is arriving via the CBU route. Hence, it could be even more expensive than what we’ve envisaged. While all of it would be made clear by 3pm tomorrow, we think the R3 could be positioned above the recently-launched Aprilia RS457, at around Rs 4.50 lakh (ex-showroom). The naked could very well be around Rs 20,000 cheaper. Even at Rs 4.30 lakh, the MT-03’s main rival from Austria is a whole lakh of rupees more affordable.
There’s nothing quite like the 321 cc motor that we have sampled in this space before. It is surely not the most powerful or the torquiest, but the sheer creamy driving force leaves you spellbound. And the chassis is sublime. Hopefully, the new front end suspension reinforcements will make it the able handler that it should have been right from the start.
We are riding the bikes tomorrow and will have our say on both over the weekend.
