The first-gear challenge is an internet sensation for gearheads. To perform the first-gear challenge, you need to simply put your bike in the first gear and take off. You need to keep the throttle at full twist until you reach its limit. Your end speed will determine your result. Sounds simple, right? Recently a YouTube video has surfaced, which pits five of the most popular sportbikes in India – the TVS Apache RR 310, the KTM Duke RC 390, the Kawasaki Ninja 300 and the Yamaha R3 to the test. You can watch the video below:
The bikes and their respective speed is as follows:
TVS Apache RR 310: 58 km/h
KTM RC 390: 56 Km/h
KTM DUKE 390: 56 Km/h
Yamaha R3: 66 Km/h
Ninja 300: 60 Km/h
The Yamaha R3 has the most speed thus it is clearly the winner.
The Yamaha R3 had achieved the maximum speed against all of its competitors. It is because of several factors. The 321-cc liquid-cooled parallel twin cylinder has small 44-mm strokes, which allow them to rev higher. Also, the twin-cylinder nature of the engine reduces torque in the down low to increase power at the top end. Combine these with a super long 1st gear and you have a smooth running motor.
The Ninja 300 came second because it is also a twin-cylinder bike but with a smaller engine. That’s why its pistons had to work extra to get to the same speed as Yamaha R3. All the other single-cylinder bikes make more torque down low and less power up high. As a result, their top speed in 1st gear is almost similar.
Having moderately short gear ratios makes riding in bumper-to-bumper traffic effortless. On the other hand, having really tall ratios will leave you stalling every now and then. The opposite is true if you want to tour on the highway because single-cylinder bikes have a lot of vibrations in the top end while twin-cylinder ones are super smooth.
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