With a proven race history, the

revised 2019 R3 should be a great

bike on the track or the street

PRESS LAUNCH 2019 YAMAHA YZF-R

Story by: Costa Mouzouris

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ot that long ago, if you were just getting into motorcycling

and were looking for the affordability and easy operation

of a small-displacement motorcycle, you had to settle for

diminutive cruisers such as the Honda Rebel 250 or the

Yamaha V-Star 250. Those were tiny bikes, and if you were looking for

a sportier option of more adult-sized proportions, there really wasn’t

much out there. Fortunately, there is a renewed interest in small-

displacement bikes these days (notice we’re not calling them small bikes),

and now a much wider selection of normal-sized sport bikes displacing

less than 400 cc is available.

Honda has the CBR300R; Kawasaki, the Ninja 400; KTM, the RC390;

Yamaha, the R3; and Suzuki – at least, for 2018 – had the GSX250R

(which isn’t in the 2019 lineup). Even BMW jumped into the mix with its

G310 series singles, as did Husqvarna with its Svartpilen and Vitpilen

401. These are all normal-sized motorcycles that offer respectable perfor-

mance, even when measured by an experienced rider’s standards. Aside

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threshold are also insurance-friendly in most provinces. There’s even a

18 MOTORCYCLE MOJO SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019

BIG

Brother

Little