Yamaha has released the pictures of MT-03 in August and the vehicle got its public unveiling at the 2015 EICMA show in Milan which began on 17 November. The new Yamaha MT-03 is basically a stripped-down version of Yamaha YZF-R3 supersport motorcycle which is currently sold in India and many reports already claims its India entry is certain.
The MT-03 will remove the front fairing from the YZF-R3 and will come with a single-pod headlight over the twin in faired version. The motorcycle opts for a more conventional single piece and wide handlebar and dumps the clip-on handle bars. The design of Yamaha MT-03 is be true to the street bikes with a muscular tank, small tail lamp and exposed frame.
The motorcycle has been powered by a 321cc, parallel-twin, liquid-cooled motor churning out 41.6bhp at 10,750rpm and peak torque of 29.6Nm at 9,000rpm. The mill is mated to a six-speed constant mesh gearbox.
The MT-03 weights just 165kg, about four kilograms less than the YZF-R3, which should give the naked street fighter a slight power-to-weight advantage over the faired version. The MT-03 runs on a 120/70 and 140/70 section tyres at the front and rear respectively on 17-inch alloy wheels. The motorcycle will feature disc brakes for both wheels 298mm at front and 220mm at rear while dual-channel Anti-lock Braking system is expected as standard in India.
The MT-03 will assembled in India to keep the pricing competitively. Following the trend of pricing the naked version lower to its faired version, Yamaha MT-03 is expected to be affordable than the YZF R3, which is priced at Rs 3.25 lakh, ex-showroom Delhi.