• The Yamaha YZF-R25/R3 has been unchanged since 2015.

• Pictures have surfaced in Indonesia pertaining to be the “new YZF-R3” for 2019.

• If Yamaha goes ahead with the plans, expect to see updated components and styling.

The ever-popular Yamaha YZF-R3 (YZF-R25 in Malaysia) has been around for a few years and may well see a facelift for 2019, as photos have surfaced in Indonesia.

If Yamaha does adhere to the design the picture, the new bike’s styling brings it closer to the manufacturer’s other supersport models, namely the YZF-R6 and YZF-R1 besides the YZR-M1 in MotoGP.

Additionally, taking a cue from current industry standards, it may well feature full-LED lighting. Will it also have an updated instrument console? Perhaps. How about an upgraded chassis? Who knows.

But the biggest question would be regarding its displacement, of course.

The 250- to 400cc category is hotly contested, with Yamaha’s rivals Kawasaki now offering both the Ninja 250 and Ninja 400, while KTM has the 390 Duke and RC 390. Even Modenas has the Dominar D400. Hence, there has been much speculation that we may well see a sub-400cc R4 because how else could one compete if the others have higher capacities?

But there’s a problem if it goes 400. While Yamaha offers the R3 or the speculated R4 in other countries, we will be inadvertantly stuck with the 250cc version. This is the same with other manufacturers as well, except for KTM. It’s such a disaster that we won’t get to experience the bikes’ full potential due to riders who are resistant to upgrade their license to “full-B” hence small capacity bikes are stuck at the 250cc ceiling. But the silly thing is that these are the very same cretins who complain about not having bigger capacity bikes in Malaysia compared to our neighbours.

The new R3/R4 should break covers at the AIM Expo in Las Vegas, so stay tuned.