[Chris_Xtreme]

Originally Posted by yikes6633

I wanted to share this experience as it may be useful for other Ray owners. Yesterday when I returned from work, I had to step out to buy some groceries for the weekend. I took the Ray and noticed a very weird rattling sound coming from the front of the scooter.

At times it sounded like clanging of metals, like rattling of the plastics/fiber, like a loose jingle of metals. I was just not sure what it was. On returning home, I calmly asked my wife if she had mistakenly ridden into a huge pothole, or dropped the bike anywhere or by chance.

She replied with an upset look on her face "NO". I then told her that there is a horrible rattling sound coming from the front of the bike on rough patches/roads. She said that she was unaware of it and did not realize it. (I had not ridden the Ray for 2 whole days and my wifey was using it).

I thought, that I would figure out what was wrong. I started stripping the entire front portion of the scooter. I got the front cowling (shield) off, I stripped off the plastics under the speedo, then I removed the entire rear front plastic shield. I kept banging the plastics with my fist and the sound could be distinctly/clearly heard.

I tried my best to strip that portion of the scooter from where the sound was coming and that is one of the most trickiest and difficult parts to get to in the Ray. To remove this part, one will have to strip off all the panels and cowlings in the front, the battery and the headlamp, turn lights have to be removed. Not only that, the entire fuse box assembly, wirings, the speedo cable and brake cables have to be removed.

I thought that I should not touch any of these and left it, thinking that I would take it to the service center today. So I assembled back all of the panels, cowlings and screws and went back up to my house.

I started doing all this at 8pm and by the time I went back up it was 11pm. I skipped dinner in the anxiety as it was too late and my wifey was bugged that I'm so hung up about the bike and have upset the entire schedule of the house.

I can't explain my feelings to her about all the cars and bikes I own, but I sure do get obsessed about them from time to time and in turns .

I got up early and was chatting with my wife. I asked her casually where she had been to yesterday in the Ray. She replied that she went out to buy vegetables and stuff like that. I then asked her if she kept anything in the cubby holes of the Ray and she confirmed that she kept some change after buying the vegetables. She said that there were two Rs. 2.00 coins and one Re. 1.00 coin. She also said that she had not taken them from there. I ran down to see if there was anything in the cubby holes and there was nothing. I was sure that the coins had slipped into the panel pockets just below the front hook and the noise was similar to that of clanging of the coins in a piggy box.

My wife laughed and said, "Christmas is round the corner and the Ray has started jingling all the way". It was not funny at all. I had coins that had slipped into the Ray and the only way to get the coins out was by having the service center strip the whole front out. I somehow did not want to take the Ray to the service center to remove the coins or having them strip the entire front of the scooter.

I then went for bath and "Eureka, Eureka, Eureka" I thought of using magnets to get the coins out of the pocket, if the coins were magnetic. I came out and using a small magnet checked all types of coins of Re. 1 and 2 to see if they are magnetic and yes they all are except the new Rs. 5.00 coins.

I poured a few glasses of water into the cubby holes to identify the exact location of the coins, which I successfully did.

I got ready and went to the market and bought myself a powerful industrial magnet, costed me Rs.80.00, then I tried sliding the coins out with the magnet against the plastic/fiber body of the Ray. I could feel and hear the coins move each time I moved the magnet around that place, however it took me more than 45 mins and more than 70 attempts to slide the 3 coins out of the cubby hole.

Lessons learnt, that I was unaware of until now:

1) Most currency coins are magnetic
2) Rs. 5 new coins are not magnetic
3) Cubby holes in the Ray lead to a pocket within the body panels that is very difficult to strip open and access. Will require a complete strip down of the scooter panels and more.
4) Never keep coins or very small items in the right side cubby hole of the Ray, however the left side cubby hole can handle these small items without them slipping through.

Issue resolved.

That was really an amazing idea and this piece of discovery will definetely help the Ray owners to be cautious! Good job buddy!

[audioholic]

You haven't got tubeless tyres? I got it on my Dio. You seem to have known in and out of the ray by now with all your research on the vehicle! How much distance have you covered? What is the brand and grade of engine oil that yamaha uses?

[Chris_Xtreme]

Originally Posted by audioholic

You haven't got tubeless tyres? I got it on my Dio. You seem to have known in and out of the ray by now with all your research on the vehicle! How much distance have you covered? What is the brand and grade of engine oil that yamaha uses?

Sorry for the off topic. Which brand of tubless tyres have u got for your dio. Planning one for my wifey's activa.

[audioholic]

Got the normal MRF zappers. However, they are tubeless. Also being tubeless, they are softer and I think the lack of telescopic forks has been partially compensated here. There is a CEAT branded tyre(tubeless) on the Dio in my native. It has a different tread pattern. The exact make of the tubeless tyres are:
MRF nylogrip zapper, TVS Conta 350M.

[yikes6633]

Originally Posted by audioholic

You haven't got tubeless tyres? I got it on my Dio. You seem to have known in and out of the ray by now with all your research on the vehicle! How much distance have you covered? What is the brand and grade of engine oil that yamaha uses?

The Ray comes with the MRF Zapper tyres, however they are not the tubeless ones.

In the first 30 days we covered exactly 1000kms. The next 15 days after that, we've covered 432kms. So a total of 1432 kms as on 15th Dec 12 end of day.

I have been so into the scooter and have now almost understood its fit, build and dynamics

The engine oil recommended for the Ray is Yamalube by Yamaha, it is of 10W 30 grade.

I've been enjoying every moment with the Ray and I sure love my stupid obsession with it

[yikes6633]

Last night a friend of mine and I met up and decided to go to a nearby paan shop. He owns a Suzuki Access and I was on my Ray. We were riding next to each other and chatting casually when we came across a speed breaker. This one was a little more rounded, short and like a big bump on an otherwise smooth road (bigger than the usual speed breakers that are usually around otherwise).

We both slowed down and went over the speed breaker. To my surprise my friends Access bottomed out. I was shocked! I may have reduced my speed to about 10kms/hr and my friend would have been at 15kms/hr over this speed breaker. I was expecting the Ray to bottom out on this one for sure, however it didn't.

The access has a GC of 160mm and the Ray of 128mm how then was it possible for the Access to bottom out? May be I should attribute it to the softer suspension of the Access and the difference in speed of 5kms/hr in comparison to the stiffer suspension of the Ray and my slower speed, however I'm still puzzled.

After spending 10-15 minutes at the paan shop we bid each other good night and went our ways. I went straight back to the big speed breaker and rode over it at a speed of 7-10kms/hr several times with different approach angles to check if it does bottom out and didn't even once.

I returned home satisfied and had a good nights sleep

I am still thinking about why and how did the Access bottom out on the speed breaker. My friends access may be about 6 months old and is in excellent condition, it must be the speed and the softer suspension, for sure then.

[audioholic]

128mm will be the minimum GC of the ray. That is, maybe due to the exhaust downpipe, catalytic con or the center stand mostly. Even though 128mm will be the lowest point, being close to the rear tyre, it can travel along with the tyre up and down, with a bump. When I test drove the ray, we were two well built people on it and yet it did not scrape two nasty speed breakers. So, I think that 128mm will not be the reference point to know whether it will scrape or not. Will check with my dios GC and update. On the other hand, as you say, the access has a soft suspension setup. However, you must check out where the 160mm comes into reference.

[yikes6633]

Originally Posted by rki2007

Hi all I have got a Yamaha Ray for my sis yesterday . I will soon post the ownership thread .

Congrats! rki2007. I am sure you will love this scooter. Happy riding.

[yikes6633]

Originally Posted by audioholic

128mm will be the minimum GC of the ray. That is, maybe due to the exhaust downpipe, catalytic con or the center stand mostly. Even though 128mm will be the lowest point, being close to the rear tyre, it can travel along with the tyre up and down, with a bump. When I test drove the ray, we were two well built people on it and yet it did not scrape two nasty speed breakers. So, I think that 128mm will not be the reference point to know whether it will scrape or not. Will check with my dios GC and update. On the other hand, as you say, the access has a soft suspension setup. However, you must check out where the 160mm comes into reference.

Did check out the Ray specs again and it does mention minimum ground clearance as 128mm.

For the Access the specs mention Ground Clearance - 160mm and on the Dio - 154mm on some web pages and 160mm on others.

@audioholic - you are absolutely right with the explanation of the lowest point and the travel up or down along the surface of the road. Thanks its all crystal clear now. I always took reference of the GC to be the minimum height from the surface to bottom out rather than from the surface to travel up and down. Thanks

[yikes6633]

It's good to know that the Yamaha Ray has been awarded the Scooter of the year for 2013 by ndtv car and bike awards.

Here is the link: http://cnb.awards.ndtv.com/twowheelers.aspx

Great going Yamaha.

[yikes6633]

Over the last 4 to 5 days, my Ray does not fire up with a single kick in the mornings. I have to crank it (kick start it) a couple of times and then it fires up, really strange, never faced this issue earlier. Could it be because of some residue on the spark plug? or is it the quality of the fuel?

I've also noticed that the mileage has dropped from the time I'm having trouble firing it up in a single kick, are these two related?

The mileage has gone down from 41kms/ltr to 39kms/ltr

I'm suspecting the quality of the fuel to be one of the reasons and the other reason being some residue on the spark plug or may be a clogged airfilter.

Anyone with any insights that could advise me on trying to resolve the drop in mileage and the firing up of the cold engine with a single kick.

I face the issue only in the morning or if the scooter has been left idle for more than 4-5 hours. The mileage issue is also over the last 2 refills.

Happy 2013!

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by yikes6633

Over the last 4 to 5 days, my Ray does not fire up with a single kick in the mornings. I have to crank it (kick start it) a couple of times and then it fires up, really strange, never faced this issue earlier. Could it be because of some residue on the spark plug? or is it the quality of the fuel?

I've also noticed that the mileage has dropped from the time I'm having trouble firing it up in a single kick, are these two related?

The mileage has gone down from 41kms/ltr to 39kms/ltr

@Yikes
Is the first start in the morning always with the choke on? Try that. IMO always start the scooter with manual kick in the mornings, using battery puts lot of strain on the battery esp in the present context of cold mornings.
Reg mileage when was the Ray last serviced? If the normal service was done and still mileage has dropped then as you said fuel could be one the problem. Do you run the Yamaha with load (pillion rider, goods etc)

[yikes6633]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

@Yikes
Is the first start in the morning always with the choke on? Try that. IMO always start the scooter with manual kick in the mornings, using battery puts lot of strain on the battery esp in the present context of cold mornings.
Reg mileage when was the Ray last serviced? If the normal service was done and still mileage has dropped then as you said fuel could be one the problem. Do you run the Yamaha with load (pillion rider, goods etc)

The first start is always with the choke on. Over the past 6 days I've been struggling to start the manual kick. Before it was just one kick and now its anywhere between 7 to 11 kicks to bring the engine to life.
The Ray was serviced on the 29th of Nov 2012 as per the specified schedule. The Ray is used with a pillion rider 35% of the times and never to carry any goods/load.

[rki2007]

Guys I have a question . I purchased Ray two weeks back. . I had taken a temporary registration by paying 500 Rs . The TR expires on 12th Jan and I want the bike to be registered only on 16th . What do I do . The dealer says that I have to say 500Rs again for another TR.

[Oxy]

Originally Posted by AltoLXI

We then wanted to book White but were told we had to pay 5000/- extra. Is this the case with all dealers?

Originally Posted by yikes6633

Just so that you are aware, yamaha does not offer white color, however the white available at Pacer is customized by the dealer and thus an additional charge of Rs. 5000/-

The official Yamaha Ray website says "Presenting All New STARRY WHITE", which means that the white colour has been launched by the company itself and is no longer customised.

Here's the link: http://www.yamaharay.com/

However, on enquiring with a few dealers here, they are still charging an extra 3500 INR for the white colour saying it's customised. This is seriously putting me off. I really want to go for this scoot but why should I pay extra for the colour I want? Looks like Yamaha is going to lose out on one customer atleast.