Smaller A2 sports bikes are great fun, and can also be the ideal machines to help you hone your riding skills on both road and track.
Two of the biggest sellers are the Yamaha YZF-R3 and KTM RC390 – yet despite elements of Moto3 pedigree inbuilt into the little KTM for example, owners are still more than a little hesitant to take them on a track day, for fear that they will be swallowed up by much bigger machines.
With that in mind, in their October 2015 edition Fast Bikes sent Carl Steven’s to Brands Hatch Indy circuit with one clear goal; to see which of these two bikes can stick with the big guys in an intermediate track day group.
With some prior experience of thrashing a 30bhp Kawasaki 250 Ninja in a race series, Carl knew just how much fun there was to be had out there, and first of all headed out on the Yamaha. Straight away the difference in power was evident, as the big bikes passed the YZF-R3 with ease, but in the corners the bike shone. Whilst everyone else seemed to be slamming on the brakes way too early, the Yamaha was flying, carrying much more corner speed. The only thing holding it back were the pegs, which touched the ground before Carl felt he’d found the edge of the Michelin Pilot Street tyres. So easy to throw about around the track, the Yamaha wasn’t black flagged, and put up a pretty good show overall.
Next out was the slightly more powerful KTM, with it’s racier riding position – and Carl admits that it felt much more at home in the intermediate group than the Yamaha, despite still losing out on the straights. The KTM picked up a lot faster, and was even pulling off a few overtakes on bigger bikes!
One big difference between the two bikes is that the RC390 uses sporty radial rubber – the Sportec M5 Interact from Metzeler. The Michelin Pilot Street is a lightweight motorcycle tyre, ideal for commuters and even small capacity supersports like the YZF-R3, but the engineers at Michelin probably never considered the odd track day as part of their design brief. The Sportec M5 Interact however is Metzeler’s 2nd line hypersport tyre, more than capable of the odd track day as well as fast road riding, and this made all the difference as Carl explains:
“They give an honest amount of feeling for what is essentially a road going profile and compound. It never felt like they were struggling and handled being pushed with only a few little moments on the front tyre at full lean, but still offering great feedback.”
After a day of thrashing the two bikes around the track, Carl came away impressed. Not only are they great fun, but they can also highlight how power is often wasted when riding a bigger bike – as was evident at times when hanging on to the back of other riders on much larger machines which in theory should be pulling off into the distance.
They also consume less fuel, and with less power at the back wheel, you won’t burn through a set of tyres in a single day, which means you can use it for the commute to work on Monday morning!
Find out more about the Sportec M5 Interact here.
