Ride

I clocked 80 km in a single ride on my R3 a couple of days ago. I had forgotten how it felt - the wind in your face, the smooth revving engine, and the handle bars communicating every line in the surface of the road through your palm grips. They say (actually Jeremy Clarkson does) that among cars only Alfa Romeo makes the kind of steering wheels which chatter away to your fingers, telling you if the line on the road is painted in gloss or matt paint. Bikes just do it so naturally. And the fact that you are sitting on the engine lets your butt-dyno feel the surge of power as you rocket to 100 kmph before you can count 6 Mississippis. That is Porsche Boxster or Nissan 370Z territory.

Getting astride the bike, thumbing the starter, and feeling that engine fire up into a smooth hum was bliss. The engine on the R3 and is a rev-happy silky smooth motor, red-banding at a rather high 13500 RPM. Peak power is developed at 10500 and peak torque considerably lower in the rev range.

Ergonomics are perfect: everything falls nicely to hand; the clutch and brake levers, the pass flasher. Release the clutch lever and it moves from standstill with an urgency that is as smooth as it is vicious. I was at a traffic light with a BMW 3 series and he made the mistake of revving his engine as he glanced at me. The light turned green and the R3 smoked him. I can almost imagine him trying to explain to his companion why he was trying to accelerate so hard, "There was a motorcycle there I promise - but it's gone."

The Japanese have this so figured out.