The Motorbike Archives

A couple of years ago, Yamaha had the audacity to enter four 350 cc two-stroke twins against the field of 750 and 500 cc adversaries. Everybody (except Yamaha) sat back and smiled. Most of them, and this included a number of so-called experts, felt this would be an interesting exercise but nothing that would really concern them, and at the end of the 200mile event, three of the 35 б were still running, and running strong. As a matter of fact, Mike Duff qualified at over 147 miles an hour and shook up a lot of individuals, more than a little.

Those of you who have never been to Daytona have no idea of the devastating effect this racetrack has on all machinery, regardless of the size or displacement. The bankings are as rough as a plowed cornfield (or so they feel anyway) and of course the faster you go, the worse it feels. Two hundred miles of riding flat out on this type of pavement has destructive qualities that would be difficult to simulate anywhere else. So what happens? Immediately after Daytona, Yamaha 350 gets a big play in the press and at the dealers. Then slowly they started to fade out. The 350 popularity waned. In fairness to all concerned, we must state that the earlier model 350s were a long cry from the machine you can buy today. The earlier model, YR-1 vibrated more than a bit and did some strange things when trying to corner hard. Yamaha's forte had always been the 250 and under displacement motorcycles.

The earlier model 350 Yamahas did have their problems, and about that time, several other manufacturers released models of equal displacement, and motorcyclists, fickle as they are, strayed away from the Yamaha 350 camp to try something a little newer and perhaps a little different. The new Yamaha YR-3 is about as far removed from its early predecessor as one can get. It has a much wider power range, handles much better, and vibrates far less, but this is only just part of the story.

The styling is vastly improved also. The earlier machines, although they were attractive, were not exactly what you would call breathtaking. Appearance is matter of personal taste, and frankly, we like the 350 Yamaha far better than we have some of the other offerings by a number of other manufacturers. The lines are crisp, clean, with very little gingerbread. Yamaha has also gone to the bother of polishing some of the cases and aluminum castings, a very nice touch, that will not go unnoticed by any potential customer.

The Yamaha 350 is definitely designed toward the street rider, with all the flash and dash one would normally want with a road burner. The overall finish quality is far superior to earlier efforts. The attention to small detail is vastly improved. Up to a short time ago it was quite obvious that the Japanese motorcycle manufacturers approached the final finishing process with an air of casualness. Thank heavens things are now a lot different.

Chassis-wise, the YR-3 is not that much different than its predecessors. The only noticeable thing is the fact that the motorcycle feels better at high speed. We did find that the R-3 is perfectly at home whether you are riding one or two up. Creature comforts have been looked after with nicely placed handlebars, foot-pegs, and a very comfortable seat, which we might add, is more than ample for two people. The handlebars, by the way, are a new bend for Yamaha. They resemble very much the items used by a number of dirt racers in the Southwestern part of the United States who use their motorcycles for cross country competition. What's more, they even feel the same.

Immediately facing the rider is a very large speedometer and tachometer in matching cases. Both seem quite accurate and very easily read, regardless of time of day or night, and regardless of the speed at which the rider is moving.

Aside from a few of the chassis changes, and some of the niceties, the biggest change lies in the power train. What with all the advertising Yamaha has done extolling the virtues of five port power, we won't go into any great detail here. It will suffice to say that what Yamaha did was to add the additional booster ports in the rear, not so much to increase the power output at the top end, but primarily to widen the power range. This is one area where the earlier models fell on their face. While the machines did put out a pretty fair amount of power, it was done through a very narrow power band. The result was that the machine would accelerate up to a point, then come up on the pipe and all of a sudden the rider would find himself rocketing down the road. This is all right, providing the rider is going in a straight line, but very often this would take place with the motorcycle leaned over at a very precarious angle, when hustling around a corner. When these conditions presented themselves, and all of a sudden the engine put forth a mighty blast of power, the rider would very possibly find himself skating sideways. With the advent of the five port cylinders, a lot of this was done away with.

The engine has a rather racy feel to it. That is to say there is still a point where you can definitely feel the power coming in with a rush. But it does not come in at so high an RPM that the rider must be constantly shifting back and forth through the various gears to keep the engine on the boil. It is interesting to note that the brake horsepower output of the YR-3 as compared with the YR-2 is virtually the same. The biggest difference is in the torque curve. We found the R-3 power curve definitely better than the earlier models. This gives the rider far greater peace of mind when accelerating through a corner. Yamaha informed us that it would be wise to use 8000 RPM for a rev limit. However, we found that shifting at 7200 was far more desirable since the power fell off drastically right after that point. The needle would swing on up to the 8 mark, but the torque had long since disappeared, and we would be losing time by waiting till we hit 8000 to shift. Dragstrip performance also proved that the power range of the new Yamaha was considerably wider than the older model.

Although the gearbox doesn't have a very closely spaced set of ratios, we had no trouble keeping the engine percolating when shifting to the next higher cog. This was not true with the YR-1, or even some of the earlier YR-2s.

Our e.t.'s averaged 15 seconds flat, and the trap speeds were in the 87 to 89 mph range. Top speed on our model, by the way, was 99 mph.

There was one thing about the R-3 that compared to all other models Yamaha now produces and that was easy starting. Although the R-3 does not have an electric starter, you don't really need it. Two kicks was the most ever needed to get the fire stirred up and get moving.

As might be expected, fuel consumption was quite high. On the average, fuel consumption was a rousing 37 miles to the gallon. This, of course, represents all types of riding; heavy traffic, freeway use, and this also includes several top speed runs for approximately half a mile in two directions.

Another thing we liked about the R-3 was the cleanliness factor. There are no leaks or weeping of any kind around the case joints. The machine stayed absolutely spotless during the entire time we had the motorcycle. Here again, this is a reflection that Yamaha is paying more attention to those little details before the motorcycle is finally put into the crate to be shipped over here.

One thing we didn't like was the way the ignition key vibrated in the lock. This was quite annoying. It made a loud buzzing sound that could be heard at any speed. Also the kickstarter would fold inward at the bottom of the kicking stroke, and the first time this happened it caught us unaware. A bit of discomfort in the ankle area resulted from this.

The new Yamaha YR-3 is about as dependable a mount as you could ever ask for. Chances are you could climb aboard, ride clear across the country, and probably not even have to remove the spark plugs to replace them. For a guy that wants to buy a motorcycle for just ordinary cruising around, impressing the girl next door, or going down to the local drive in at night, the R-3 is a natural. It's big, it's fast, and it's flashy. And it sounds pretty neat too. ■