Yamaha MT-03 Vs Competition In India

The Yamaha MT-03 will compete with the likes of the Kawasaki Z250, Benelli TNT 300, KTM 390 Duke and the upcoming BMW G310 R.

While people in India will be preparing to light the lamps on Diwali, Yamaha will be preparing itself to fire up the streetfighter motorcycle segment in the country. The company is planning to launch the naked version of its YZF-R3, the MT-03, in the country during this festive season. The bike will arrive via the CKD (Completely Knocked Down) route and is expected to be priced around Rs 2.75 lakh (ex-showroom).

Talking about the competition, the new Yamaha MT-03 will rival other streetfighters like the Benelli TNT 300, KTM 390 Duke and the Kawasaki Z250. The BMW G 310 R, which is likely to be launched by early-2017, will also be a threat to the Yamaha.  So, let's check out a quick comparison of all these entry-level performance streetfighters.

Features:

Besides the aggressive styling, the upcoming Yamaha MT-03 gets similar features as the competition. These features include stylish alloy wheels, wide tyres, front and rear disc brakes, front telescopic forks, rear monoshock and others. The Kawasaki Z250 also follows the trend with the MT-03 in the terms of features. Still, both the bikes get a big advantage from their super refined parallel-twin engine.

On the other hand, the Benelli TNT 300, the KTM 390 Duke and the upcoming BMW G 310 R get the advantage of USD (Up-Side Down) forks at the front. Moreover, the Benelli offers an easily adjustable preload rebound, off-set rear shock absorber and dual disc brakes at the front. While KTM and BMW offer ABS as standard. The KTM 390 Duke impresses with a slipper clutch and a race-spec instrument cluster which is the most informative in the segment. 

Talking about the tyres, like its sibling, the MT-03 too will get soft compound MRF tyres. On the other hand, the Kawasaki Z250 comes with the IRC rubber on its wheels which aren’t that good in performance. The BMW will come with the better Michelin tyres while the KTM offers super sticky Metzelers as standard with the 390 Duke. Benelli also comes with the soft compound MRF tyres as standard, however, one can opt for the sticky Pirelli rubber for an additional cost. So, the KTM 390 Duke seems like a clear winner in the battle of features.

Engine: 

All the bikes are powered by liquid-cooled, DOHC engines and get a 6-speed gearbox. However, performance and configurations are different. Where the Yamaha MT-03, Benelli TNT 300 and the Kawasaki Z250 are powered by parallel-twin motors, the KTM 390 Duke and the BMW G 310 R get single-cylinder motors..

Powering the MT-03 is a 321cc engine that churns out 42PS at 10,750rpm and delivers a peak torque of 29.6Nm at 9,000rpm. The Z250 takes power from a 249cc motor that delivers 10PS lesser than the Yamaha at 11,000rpm and the peak torque stands at just 21Nm coming in at 10,000rpm. The Benelli TNT 300 is powered by a 300cc engine which has been tuned to produce 38.3PS of power at 11,500rpm and deliver a peak torque of 26.5Nm at 10,000rpm.

Now coming to the single-cylinder bikes here, the existing KTM 390 Duke offers an impressive power output of 43.5Nm at 9,500rpm and 35Nm of torque at 7,250rpm. The 313cc motor of the BMW G 310 R is tuned to deliver 34PS at 9,500rpm and a peak torque of 28Nm at 7,500rpm. Now, if we talk about the power and torque figures, the 390 Duke is a clear winner here. However, we have ridden the faired sibling of the MT-03 and we can say that the Yamaha’s twin is much refined than the KTM’s single.

Suspension and Chassis:

All the bikes have different types of chassis, where the KTM and BMW use a trellis frame, the Yamaha and the Kawasaki are built on a diamond type frame. The Benelli on the other hand gets a semi-trellis structure. Talking about the front forks, the Z250 comes with a slim 37mm telescopic forks, while the MT-03 gets beefier 41mm units. On the other hand, the remaining three get USD forks at the front. The TNT 300 and the G 310 R get 41mm units while the 390 Duke comes with 43mm WP inverted forks which also offers a better travel of 150mm. All the bikes get a monoshock at the rear and as we mentioned above, the Benelli's unit is a little better.

Braking duties are handled on the MT-03 by 298mm front and 220mm rear disc brakes. The Z250 gets a slightly smaller 290mm front disc, but both the front and rear discs in the Kawasaki are petal type. Both the 390 Duke and the G 310 R features a 300mm disc up front, while at the rear, KTM provides a 230mm disc and the BMW comes with a slightly bigger 240mm disc. The Benelli, however, gets dual 240mm discs at the front and a single 240mm disc at the rear.

Price:

Let's not talk about the fuel efficiency here as two of the bikes haven't launched in the country yet. Also, the segment we are talking about is surely not for the mileage-conscious riders. We expect that Yamaha will launch the Yamaha MT-03 with a price tag of around Rs 2.75 lakh while the expected price of the BMW G 310 R is around Rs 2.50 lakh. The Benelli TNT 300 and the Kawasaki Z250 both cross the Rs 3 lakh mark with ex-showroom price tags of Rs 3.03 lakh and Rs 3.11 lakh respectively. Now here comes the most affordable, most powerful and feature-loaded among all the rivals, the KTM 390 Duke, which clearly wins the battle with an ex-showroom price tag of Rs 1.95 lakh.