Ray, Yamaha hasn't merely filled up a few blank spaces in its two-wheeler

With the launch of the new Ray, Yamaha hasn't merely filled up a few blank spaces in its two-wheeler arsenal for the Indian market, but rather engineered a product that despite its primary motive of catering to the country's growing female rider population, should immediately evoke mass appeal. On a recent test ride in Hyderabad, Rahul Basu got thinking while craftily circling cones on this purple pastel scooter

    For those who have already begun comparing this new face with the current generation Honda Dio, it's seriously time to stop. Yamaha may be among the late comers in the Indian scooter segment, but isn't exactly new to the small moped/scooter business globally. A quick glance at its Mio Ultimo and the family of commuters selling across south-east Asia for almost a decade now will better explain the inspiration behind the V-shaped headlights that we absolutely adore on the new Yamaha Ray.
    Unlike larger bodied scooter models now present in significant numbers, Yamaha has settled for a rather lean and well sculpted body frame (1835x675x1075mm) that isn't necessarily feminine in its overall demeanour.
    The rider display is lavishly laid out with a bright white speedometer dominating the central part of the triangular shaped console flanked by turn indicators and the high beam signal lamp.
    A highlight for me on this bike are the compact leg shields that offer protection to the rider's feet in the advent of an unsavoury fender bender.
    That apart, the inclusion of a telescopic front suspension, sizeable grab bars and a hip stopper for pillion riders, not to mention the rather unconventional yet stylish tail lamp assembly with clearlens indicators are all very neat touches to this very female focused scooter architecture.
    Unlike many scooters built for a more relaxed city ride, the Ray has a much narrower footboard. This leaves little place for added baggage, especially for riders with generous feet, but should give enough room to dainty footed women on the fly.
    The seat height from the footboard and the comfortable positioning of the handlebars means that riders even with varying proportions are well planted on the vehicle. Taking the backseat on this city scooter is also a rather comfortable affair.
    Weighing a shade over 100kg the Ray is an ergonomic work of art justified by a unique seat design which despite the bike's 128mm ground clearance makes it easy to flat-foot the bike. Much to everyone's surprise, Yamaha has gone with a displacement of 113cc for the air-cooled 4-stroke motor in the Ray, instead of the expected 125cc. It produces a healthy output of 7.1PS @ 7,500rpm and 8.1Nm of torque @ 5,000rpm.
    Turning the throttle on this single-cylinder Japanese scooter for the very first time didn't exactly throw me off balance but had my feet up on the footboard a lot quicker than I could have anticipated.
    Our media exclusive test ride wasn't a particularly nomadic one; an artificially created test track put together with a dozen cones and barrier tapes behind the Novotel Convention Centre in Hyderabad was arranged more so to get a feel of the Ray's peerless manoeuvring prowess which a few laps down got me doing the sort of figures of eight on a Yamaha scooter that I'd otherwise have abstained myself from attempting even on a prepped up BMX bicycle.
    This is where the Ray will completely outclass the competition. Any two-wheeler with such easy leg reach to the ground, comfortable ergonomic seating and such low speed cornering balance and on pace agility would be any city commuter's most prized possession.
    This is the first time in India that a company has developed scooters for women assembled by women. Yamaha has also developed a program called Yamaha Female Riding Training Program for female customers, an on road assistance service and furthermore an entire range of Ray branded goodies exclusively for its customers.
    Yamaha seems to have found an interesting balance between power, proportions, efficiency and handling with the Ray. That being said a single-minded focus on marketing such a capable machine solely to its female customers would be an ill advised decision for the Japanese bike maker in the long term.

Centre and side stands are offered as standard and take little effort to operate.

The rider display is lavishly laid out with a bright white speedometer dominating the central part of the triangular shaped console.

The telescopic front suspension set-up is perfectly suited for city riding conditions.