‘That first ride blew me away’
‘Icould be Yamaha’s dream customer,” says enthusiastic R3 owner Alex Candy as he describes his ambition to one day own a sporty R6. “None of my family ride bikes. They’re all into cars and F1, but I was always a bike racing fan. So after starting out on scooters, I got my first taste of a proper bike with a YZF-R125 and haven’t looked back.”
After a brief spell on a Honda CBF125, which got written off when a car pulled out on him during his commute, Alex thought the time was right to upgrade. “I’d served my time on 125s so thought it’d be a waste of time to get another. I had my heart set on an R6, but I didn’t realise that I had to sit another test in order to upgrade my licence to a full category A, so that put the R6 on hold.” After seeing the R3 online, Alex called up local dealer Flitwick Yamaha. “The salesman told me they had a new one in stock which was ready to go, so my girlfriend drove me over about an hour before closing time. I saw the bike, loved it, then the salesman gave me a few finance options and that was that. The whole process was really quick and easy. “I always knew I was going to progress to a 600 and I had my eye on a Kawasaki ZX-6R. But since owning the R3 I’ve become a huge Yamaha fan so I’m just counting down the days until I turn 24 so I can take my full test and buy an YZF-R6.”
miles 50
My first ride on the R3 blew me away. The difference between it and my old YZF-R125 was unbelievable. Obviously there’s much more power and torque, but the most standout thing
was the handling. I could throw it about a bit more and the chassis and suspension made everything feel more composed. After that, I found a long stretch of dual carriageway and just let it rip. I was very impressed, especially as my 125 could only just manage 70mph, downhill with the wind behind it.
miles 600
The servicing is quite cheap. The first service was just oil and filter and it cost around £80. It didn’t take me long to reach the running-in mileage; just a couple of weeks. The services intervals are every 6000 miles so it’s quite lowcost to maintain.
miles 1000
Back when it was very new, the gearbox sometimes jumped out of gear. I don’t know if this was just a bedding-in issue or maybe more a case of me getting used to the gearbox, but it was a bit annoying. It doesn’t happen now so it was probably just a teething problem because the gearbox is nice and smooth these days.
miles 1500
I was finding that I was having to adjust my grip in order to open the throttle fully. So I went online and discovered that other owners replace the stock throttle tube with one from an R6. It’s a brilliant mod and really livens up the acceleration too. It only costs £21 and comes complete with the grip. Well worth doing.
miles 2500
I ride every day and I fill it up roughly every ten days, so I reckon it must be doing 160 miles between fill-ups. That said, the parallel-twin gives me the option of riding it really smoothly to make a tank of fuel last two weeks, or going a bit crazy and making a tank last two days! The mirrors are excellent without any vibrations.
miles 3500
It comes on Michelin Pilot Street as standard and I replaced the original rear back in the summer and now that’s pretty square too. I’m not a fan of the stock Michelins because they’re pretty horrible in damp conditions. I’ll probably upgrade to some Pirelli Diablo IIIs in the springtime.
miles 5000
The R3’s a really easy bike to work on and has given me the confidence to tackle jobs myself. I fitted paddock stand bobbins and bought a stand to help with cleaning and maintenance. The only trouble was that I didn’t know how to balance the bike to put it on the stand. I called Flitwick Yamaha for advice and they showed me a technique so that I could do it on my own.
miles 7500
The chain and sprockets are still going strong. I make sure I keep them clean and lubed, and the chain only needs adjusting every 2000 miles or so. I’m happy with the build quality and I think it’s holding up really well, considering that it’s used every day and it lives outside under a cover. But it is only a matter of time now before I upgrade to my R6 dream bike.