2021 Lightweight Naked Bike Shootout Smackdown Comparo Review

BMW G310R vs Husqvarna Svartpilen 401 vs Kawasaki Z400 vs KTM Duke 390 vs Yamaha MT-03

You know what they say: It’s more fun to ride a slow motorcycle fast than a fast motorcycle slow. Yet another example of conventional wisdom baloney. It’s actually more fun to ride a fast bike fast, or even a medium-fast one. I’m pretty sure that’s why they keep building faster motorcycles all the time. Heck, you could argue faster bikes are also safer, because power can get you out of trouble just as easily as it can get you into it (once you’ve learned to ride, that is). And power can launch you out of corners, instead of incentivizing you to cling to every mph when you’re diving into them the way slow bikes do when ridden in packs of MOrons. Have you seen a Moto3 race? They’re faster mid-corner than the Moto2 or MotoGP bikes.

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2021 MO Middleweight Naked Bike Shootout – Six Bikes!

Then again, you can probably trust that front tire since all these bikes weigh well under 400 pounds. And you’re definitely not braking into those corners from triple-digit speeds, so how bad could it be? Well. It takes a certain lack of imagination, like the famous race car driver said, to ride these quickly on the street.

But these aren’t just motorcycles for sport riding. Little bikes are a blast in urban areas where space is at a premium, and with what you save in gas and tires, they probably pencil out not bad against public transportation.

It turns out only having $6k to spend on a new motorcycle doesn’t have to be a bad thing, especially when you’ve got us to help separate the wheat from the chaff. No, no need to thank us: Just hit the Like button on the video.

And even if you do have a bigger budget, we learn once again via the scientific process that all inexpensive little motorcycles are not created equal, and you can definitely have big fun on a small one while sinking the rest in Bitcoin or GameStop. Once again, the crack Motorcycle.com staff swings into action (complete with part-time MOrons Tom Roderick and Thai Long Ly), riding the top five tiny tadgers repeatedly round our SoCal test circuit, bombing them up and down the LA freeway system, and all parts in between to get to the bottom of it all. It beats working.

5th place: BMW G310 R

It’s all relative, and when we reviewed BMW’s new mini roadster three years ago, we had mostly nice things to say about it – though we did mention the KTM 390 Duke makes about 8 hp more than the BM’s 31, a figure that’s way more insignificant on paper than it is on the road. That hasn’t changed. It pretty much appears that BMW was attempting to replicate the Duke in building its 310: Both pack counterbalanced Singles in steel trellis frames very close in specification, both with simple, non-linkage suspension out back.

2017 BMW G310R Review

In most of the subjective categories on the Official MO Scorecard, the BMW is right there in the fray. Sadly, the category it got left behind in was Engine, with a last-place 67.5% rating. When you’re talking motorcycles in the 30 to 40 horsepower range, every horse matters, and though the BMW’s 313 cc Single is perfectly adequate ridden in isolation, it’s a 750 among 1000s when ridden in a hurry. “Stretching the throttle cable” is the old adage that comes to mind as you strain to keep up with the pack, though the Euro 5 BMW probably doesn’t have one. Running along a straight on a backroad WFO in 5th gear, the Svartpilen and then the MT-03 just motored past me on the BMW. Which is a shame, because the rest of the bike’s not so bad at all. Then again, slow bikes seem to always feel more secure than fast ones.

Road Test Editor Troy Siahaan says: “You expect bikes in this class to have no power, but other than the BMW, the group surprises with how much get-up they have. Not the BMW. There’s not enough power to get out of its own way or take evasive maneuvers in traffic. According to the dyno, it makes peak power 500 rpm before redline… and it’s still the least amount of power here.”

Tom Roderick has learned diplomacy since he left the motojourno business: “Unintimidating by way of its low seat height, smooth power delivery, and comfy egros, the BMW is the novice’s best friend among this group of two-wheelers. The 310R is attractive with nicely styled wheels that color match the equally attractive red-painted trellis frame.”

At least it’s not uncool; the 310 scored ahead of the Z400 in Cool Factor! But the little BMW scored one of the worst Grin Factor ratings in memory: 32%. It lacks excitement. Excitement and power. They’re not quite the same thing but they’re very close.

Thai Long Ly can’t hold back, thank God: “I had so much hope for this bike as it looks good parked, with price-appropriate fit and finish and an attractive color scheme. With a low seat height and puny engine, this bike couldn’t frighten a skittish stray cat no matter how many vacuum cleaners you bolted to it. The biking equivalent of a mouthful of Xanax with all the excitement of a flavored toothpick, the bike does promise excellence upon first twisting the grip, with a nice smooth pull all the way up to about 28 mph. I know it’s the weakest of all the motors in the test, but I’m quite certain my cat’s water fountain has more power and is verifiably smoother. Basically, the engine [censored]. As for the actual ride, it’s quite comfortable on the motorways and has great ergonomics and a comfortable seat. However, front end feedback at speed is like [CENSORED!]… you can’t feel a thing. Good luck finding neutral at a stoplight. Although it sounds like I didn’t like the BMW, you’d be right.

At least Ryan Adams feels bad:

I feel bad for the BMW coming in last. It was quickly apparent that it would be at the bottom of the pack, though. Despite it’s open cockpit and comfy ergos, its adequate suspension and decent brakes, not even its solid shifts and quality fit and finish could keep its motor performance – or lack thereof – from grenading the entire experience. It delivers a healthy cuppa torque just off idle, but then begins to skyrocket into the rpm range with little forward momentum gained along the way.”

Ouch.

2021 BMW G 310 R

4th Place: Yamaha MT-03

Surprise. The bike with the next-smallest engine – 321 cc – finishes next to last, pretty much for the same reason as the BMW. The Yamaha Twin gets to within 7 hp of the most powerful Kawasaki Z400’s 43, if you don’t mind winding it up to nearly 11,000 rpm. But this Master of Torque has none, making barely more lb-ft than the BMW – 20.1 – and not until 9100 rpm.

We admit it: Part of the problem is tester bias. We always wind up chasing each other through Sand Canyon, and the MT impressed me off the bat as more the sport-tourer of the group, with slightly softer suspension, and I wanted to write “some of the best ergonomics here” but I see the poor MT finished next-to-last in that category also (though Thai and I gave it high marks).

2020 Yamaha MT-03 Review – First Ride

“Slow but refined,” is how Troy sums up the MT-03. “Well, as refined as a cheap 321cc bike can be. Wet noodle frame and the suspension gets stressed when pushing on choppy roads. The shock feels like it’s bottoming when going fast and you hit a decent bump. You sit in the bike, not on top.

Low seat height is kinda cramped and narrow bars. The Transformer headlight thing can take some getting used to, but I dig it, and maybe younger, newer riders will too.”

Tom says: “As much of a fan as I am of the MT-09 and MT-07, the MT-03 just doesn’t swing my excitement meter. Landing somewhere between the BMW and the Kawasaki on the scorecard the Yamaha didn’t excel at anything but didn’t disappoint in a remarkable way either.”

Thai Long Ly: “The Yamaha is a nice little ride. You sit ‘in’ the bike with a comfortable reach to the narrow bars, with a friendly low seat height for us donkey-legged humans. With only 36 hp, this bike packs all the thrills of ornithology with the rush of backgammon in the park. But what a difference a couple ponies can make, as the MT feels far more enticing than the tragically anemic BMW. Though the MT moniker here is less ‘Master of Torque’ and more ‘Miniature Thighs,’ I like the way the motor smoothly revs up to the limiter, which is where you’ll spend most of your tachometer time if you’re in any sort of rush. The brakes are grippy and the bike handles the canyon roads well enough for government work, though the suspension is far from supple. Choose only freshly paved roads to travel, and you’ll be fine: Wear a mouthguard to prevent concussions everywhere else. If you take one home, you’ll be rewarded with a drama-free ownership experience. Which will last exactly three months before you realize you should’ve purchased one of the next three bikes instead.”

Ryan thinks: “The Yamaha feels the most like a beginner bike out of this group to me. Maybe it’s the lowest seat and the compact seating position which places you firmly within the motorcycle, or, despite its duo of cylinders, the fact they combine to make the second-lowest displacement here. The motor is fairly smooth and revs out high into the rpm range where it makes most of its power, but unlike the BMW, you don’t feel like you’re being unkind to the machine while you’re there. The brakes work, though the front one could be used as the definition of wooden. The larger -07 and -09 are befitting of the title Master of Torque, the -03, not so much.”

Sadly there is still no replacement for displacement, short of a supercharger, and the MT-03 no gots. What it does have is the lowest price tag – $4,599.

2021 Yamaha MT-03

3rd Place: Kawasaki Z400

The jump from #4 to the Kawasaki is 78 small steps in cubic centimeters – but a giant leap in terms of performance. Stepping up from the MT’s 321 cc parallel Twin to the Z’s 399 cc unit gets us the most power of the five bikes here – 43 hp. And 24.5 lb-ft of torque is but one short of the torquiest engine here. Give it a big handful of gas, and while the Z might not feel quite as fast off the line as the Austrian Singles, it’s very close. And top-speed testing in the carpool lane on the way home has the Z’s digital speedo claiming 112 mph. (The Austrian sisters are both tapped out at 100; it’s hard to tell if there’s a governor or the jig is just up?)