A weekend with a Yamaha MT03!

If you want literally the most reliable bike you can get and one of the lowest seat heights you can get in this cc range and you want a versatile bike but you don't need to be the fastest on the highway that you can use around town while commuting maybe up to the mountains but you don't need to be the fastest on the highway then you're probably really gonna like this bike. I am out here in Cumming, Georgia doing some glamping in a van test riding this MT-03 through some beautiful country road. So this is a 2020 MT-03. It is the same seat height and cc as the YZF-R3. So same engine pretty much the major difference at a glance is that the MT-03 does not have fairings and the handlebars are a little wider and more upright. So the whole bike is supposed to feel a little more upright than the YZF-R3. So basically the YZF-R3 is like the low engine version of a slightly racier bike. You have the fairings and the slightly more aggressive seating position although I say aggressive with uh hesitation because both of the bikes feel very upright to me. I've been wanting to do a lot more reviews on this channel. I wanted to take a step back and see what it was like to be shopping for bikes again because I remember when I was looking for my next bike and I would go to YouTube. I would look up reviews on bikes and I didn't realize it until much later that my favorite reviewers were guys who were obviously stronger than me and they were also much taller than me so their opinion on the ergonomics of a bike was a little different than what worked for me. So hopefully my 5'3.75 inch tall body and a 31 inch inseam crushed the floor yes that is accurate ladies have longer legs than guys oh that's a pretty view hopefully you find that helpful. So probably the closest thing that I've ridden most recently that can compare to this is the KTM Duke 390. So this is 321cc that is 390 maybe 393 or something I forget exactly actually the KTM Duke 390cc is 373. I don't understand why they call it 390 then. I really don't notice the 70cc degree difference. The major difference between the two is that the KTM Duke 390 seat height is a lot taller. I am definitely tiptoeing on that bike and with this bike I'm almost flat foot not quite but almost so it's going to feel a lot more stable if you're doing two feet but I highly highly highly recommend if you haven't been doing this already to quit doing that crap do one foot down only. I'm telling you if you just start doing that just practice in your parking lot for like 15 minutes until you're comfortable with it. Height of bikes is going to be a lot less important. My quick kind of favorite things about it are the adjustable mirrors. I love that Yamaha has adjustable mirrors. I think these are the stock ones I'm actually not sure. I'm borrowing this from a girl off of Ridershare. You know the Airbnb for motorcycles basically? Twisted Road is another one just like that. If you want to sign up for that so that you can rent other bikes when you're traveling or if you want to put your own bike up for rent get some passive income I'll link to that down below. So the ergonomics of this bike for me is really comfortable like I sit in this bike and I feel like it just fits like a pocket and my husband he is 5'9 and 5'10. He had the R3 for like I don't know six nine months while he was a street rider not anymore and for him it's kind of the same thing as he said it just felt really comfortable and nimble sitting in it. I think this bike starts feeling too small when you start getting into six foot and taller. If you have that height and you want a lower cc engine bike I would recommend going with the KTM Duke 390 or a Suzuki just because Suzuki's are usually longer than other bikes. If you are an everyday rider such as myself I am not a professional racer or an iron butt challenge winner. I commute on my bike I ride in the Atlanta traffic on my bike my absolute favorite riding is mountain riding. So I really like a bike to be very nimble and just want to lean in the curves that's what I go for. So I own a Triumph Street Triple R 675. Obviously this feels much lighter than my 675. Let's test the brakes. I'm gonna pull over in a second so we can walk around and you can look at the bike and someone usually asks to the question is 300 cc going to be enough power am I just going to get sick of it and that really is dependent on the person. I think instructors will tell people to get a lower cc bike if you're newer just because of things like this like this little bit of movement in my wrist doesn't change a whole lot to the bike but on my Triumph that does any little movement just makes a big difference. Are you going to be doing a lot of quick speed changes when you're not very experienced and if you make a mistake when you're accelerating quickly versus you're accelerating slowly that's a big difference between the mistake being a little problem or a big problem. So if you're just a disciplined enough rider that you're not going to ride outside of your skill level until you've increased your skill then it's probably okay for you to have a higher cc bike and if you're a bit of a speed demon and maybe you've got a rebel heart you're gonna want that higher cc. Let's go straight just kidding because now I want to walk around the bike and show you how it looks. The MT-03 no fairings like the R3 has also this tank everything here just feels a lot wider to me it doesn't look like a 300 cc bike. I think I read that the looks are kind of modeled more after the MT-09 but I love the red wheels and you have an oil sight glass rear brake fluid exposed these side panels so pretty. This must be how it deflects wind so well because at highway speeds I don't feel like I'm being pushed back by the wind like I do on my own bike even though I have a windscreen. Actually maybe it's because of the wind my windscreen. For a naked bike this deflects wind surprisingly well and of course I love the adjustable mirrors. Thanks Yamaha and I'll show you what the dash looks like on. So the thing about this dash I'm sure this is really good for budget though but the thing about this dash versus like the color ones that you'd see on like Indian FTR or the KTM Duke 390 or I think the newer Triumph is that if the sun is behind you hitting this dash you can't see anything that's probably my biggest problem with that but I thought this was interesting I haven't seen this in a long time is a how the ignition starts it's like well whatever you call it you hold it down and then lift up to turn it off this horn placement I kept kept hitting the horn whenever I was trying to hit the turn signal but look how pretty that face is I'll show you what under the seat looks like I have my Montemoto GPS system in there since I was this bike is going to be out while I'm uh glamping oh that's what that is that's the GPS system uh oh I probably shouldn't have told everyone where I put it oh well but anyway so you can fit I don't know probably the manual I don't know where it is I'm sure the owner has it not a water bottle obviously but yeah you can't fit much you probably put a wallet too if you want oh that actually went on quick when I was actually recording that's convenient so I'm just going to cruise you a little bit around the country roads after this I just want to make sure I'm back at the campgrounds before dark next bike I'll be test riding is the Yamaha MT-07 and I got that from Yamaha they're shipping it to me I'm so excited click this video over here if you want to see other review videos and I will see you in the next one oh look at these string lights I should have just stayed in one of these tents