Yamaha MT-03
A perfect combination of lively performance, sweet handling and competitive price is necessary for a low-budget fun bike. Yamaha have hit the nail on the head with the new MT-03. We rode it in Spain
Stripped-down naked street-bike surprises Roland with its capability and agility
EVEN WHEN glimpsed from the seat of a fastmoving MT-03 in the nearby hills, Benidorm’s mass of concrete skyscrapers is a depressing sight. Evidence of what happens when the Spanish coast’s perfect combination of sand, sea and sun is sacrificed in a scramble to provide low-budget pleasure with minimal thought for design.
Thankfully, Yamaha’s search for lowbudget fun has been much better thought out. When you’re designing an entry-level motorbike, the perfect combination is lively performance, sweet handling and a competitive price. Up here on the twisty, smooth-surfaced roads of southern Spain the MT-03 is working well enough to suggest that the first two, at least, have been comprehensively nailed.
This was not exactly a surprise, given that the MT-03 is closely related to the YZF-R3 sportster that has earned plenty of praise and sales since its launch last year. It’s not often that a naked bike can truly be described as a sports machine with its fairing removed, but that’s almost literally the case with Yamaha’s duo although, inevitably, in this age of platform engineering, they were designed together and released independently for marketing reasons.
There’s absolutely no change in the 321-cc, parallel-twin engine, which is shared with the R3 even down to its fuelinjection system and exhaust. The DOHC, eight-valve unit has offset cylinders, over-square dimensions of 68 x 44.1 millimetres, and a balancer shaft to control the vibration as it revs to its 13,500RPM limit, passing the power peak of 42 PS at 10,750 revs on the way.
The chassis is also identical, and based on a tubular steel frame that uses the engine as a stressed member. Front forks are nonadjustable KYB; the long steel swing-arm works a near vertical, preload-adjustable
shock from the same firm. Wheels, brakes and tyres also remain unchanged, meaning the MT-03 wears Michelin Pilot Sport rubber on its 17-inch cast wheels, each of which holds a single brake disc.
Where the MT differs, apart from the vestigial fly-screen instead of the R-bike’s fairing, is in its new top yoke, whose barrisers hold the one-piece handlebar that replaces the sports bike’s clip-ons. This gives a slightly more upright riding position than the R3’s, with grips set four centimetres higher and wider, and two centimetres nearer the rider. Even so, the naked twin felt quite sporty as I set off with my feet on its fairly high and rear-set foot-rests.
The MT-03 is also very light, just a kilo down on the R3, at 168 kg with fuel. It immediately felt very manageable, helped by a slim seat which, at 780 mm, is low enough to let most riders get both feet on the ground. The light-action clutch also helped the Yamaha deal effortlessly with the traffic, though the handlebar was close enough to tangle with my knees when making full use of the generous steering lock.
That light weight also contributed to the MT’s straight-line performance, which was good enough to make it fun to ride. Yamaha’s engine wasn’t purposebuilt for Europe’s A2 licence class, like bikes such as Honda’s CB500F, but was designed to be produced in both 321- and 249-cc capacities, the latter (which has a smaller bore) for the Asian and South American markets where most of the production will be sold.
Not that I was worrying about that, as I held the throttle open and flicked through the sweet-shifting six-speed box to keep the motor spinning. The little twin didn’t object to low revs, pulling cleanly from as low as 3,000 RPM in a way that will help the bike feel utterly unthreatening to novice riders. But making use of its performance meant keeping the small instrument panel’s tacho bar flicking towards the red zone, and plenty of leftfoot work with the sweet-shifting sixspeed box, ideally to keep the revs above about 7,000 RPM.
That wasn’t remotely a problem as we followed the CV-70 that wound south through the hills from Benifato, where the need to rev the Yam to get the best from it just added to the slightly manic sense of fun. In many ways this light, quick and entertaining small-bore Yamaha felt like a modern version of the RD250LC that captivated so many learners in the early 1980s, albeit without the screaming twostroke exhaust note or mid-range power surge. The four-stroke’s response strengthened much more gradually as it revved harder, with no big step in the output, and with a fairly muted rumble from the stubby silencer.
On one relatively short straight the Yam just reached an indicated 160 km/h, with slightly more to come, and with its rider’s helmet chin-piece nudging the handlebar in a vain attempt to beat the wind. It would cruise at 120 km/h without trouble, though you wouldn’t want to do so for very long. The R3 would provide more protection but on a warm February day in southern Spain the naked twin was respectably comfortable, emitting minimal vibration however hard it was revved. Its seat is thin and there’s not a huge amount of room for a pillion, who does at least get solid hand-holds rather than the sports model’s simple strap.
Given the similarity between the two bikes it’s no surprise that the MT-03’s chassis performance was pretty much identical to that of the R3, which was fine because the faired bike set a high standard with its blend of light weight and simple but effective cycle parts. Perhaps, the naked twin’s slightly wider bars gave an even more agile feel as it carved through the hairpins of the hills north of Benidorm, where the lightest of touches was enough to have it taking a new line.
Equally impressively, the Yam steered with a very neutral feel and stayed reassuringly stable even at pretty enthusiastic cornering speeds. Its suspension was compliant enough to give a fairly smooth ride, and even to negotiate the village speed humps without too much discomfort. Both ends occasionally felt slightly soft and vague when the pace picked up in the hills, but the Yam was sufficiently taut and responsive to make it plenty of fun.
The rest of its chassis was well up to standard, too. There’s nothing remotely fancy about the brake specification of single 280-mm disc and twin-pot calliper, and for hard stopping the MT required a fairly firm squeeze of the lever, especially for riders who use only one or two fingers. But for this class of bike the available stopping power was probably about right. And novice riders, especially, are likely to appreciate the ABS system, which cut in slightly earlier than the best set-ups but added a level of safety that would be especially welcome in the wet.
Talking of low-friction road surfaces,
Michelin’s Pilot Sport tyres also did a very respectable job, although a couple of riders reported slides on roads that in places were dusty and more slippery than they looked. Inevitably, the rubber is pretty slim, with a 110 up front and a 140 at the rear, which contributed to the bike’s manoeuvrability. Yet they gripped well enough even on a few occasions when the bike was cranked over far enough to get a boot-toe or footrest feeler scraping.
Despite its ground-clearance-enhancing highish pegs the Yamaha also managed to avoid seeming particularly cramped, even though I’ve got long legs. It did enough to suggest that it would make a useful bike for everyday use, at least for most likely riders. The mirrors give a pretty good view, and the compact digital instrument console is informative and easily used, although the info can’t be toggled from the bars.
The display includes a fuel-gauge and a consumption reading that showed the twin averaging 20.41 km/l despite reasonably hard use; impressively economical and sufficient for a range of about 250 km from the 14-litre tank. The Indonesian-produced MT’s build quality seemed perfectly acceptable, too, although, inevitably, a few savings have been made with features including non-adjustable levers, and simple stickers for the graphics.
Even so, as I headed back through Benidorm — past the skyscrapers, fastfood joints and English-themed pubs — after a very entertaining afternoon’s ride, the MT’s simple specification seemed perfectly acceptable. Especially when my thoughts returned to that entrylevel motorcycle’s holy grail: the combination of engine performance, handling and competitive price. Because having provided the first two through some clever engineering, Yamaha have also nailed the third by making the MT-03 very competitive.
In most markets it roughly matches KTM’s 390 Duke single, its closest rival, and undercuts the freshly revamped CB500F by a useful amount. It’s also not all that much more expensive than the successful MT-125 from which a good number of riders are likely to graduate.
The MT-03 certainly seems like good value whichever way you look at it, because this bike is far from the twowheeled equivalent of a cut-price package holiday in a Benidorm tower block. It’s a neatly styled, sweet-running, fine-handling, respectably versatile machine that looks set to continue the success of Yamaha’s MT family — and to deliver its brand of simple naked performance to a new generation of riders.
In many ways, this light, quick and entertaining small-bore Yamaha felt like a modern version of the RD250LC