[isiv]

@yikes
Yes, oil and consumables have always been charged, as far back as I can recollect. BTW, how does the vehicle feel after 1st service?

[yikes6633]

Originally Posted by isiv

@yikes
Yes, oil and consumables have always been charged, as far back as I can recollect. BTW, how does the vehicle feel after 1st service?

The Scooter feels exactly the same after the service. The engine sounds like it did before.

The only difference is that the idling is much higher than what it previously was and that was making me feel uncomfortable.

I read through the owners manual on "Adjusting the idling" and just completed lowering it myself.

I have actually set the idling much lower than it previously was and I like it that way.

I actually am not very convinced on the charges for wax polish and consumables and will ensure that during the following services I mention to the service supervisor that he should not charge me for cleaning/polishing/consumables except the oil, if it is a free service

[prajwalkashyap]

Consumables and oil are always charged. Consumables include grease, lubricants, electricity, water, etc. during the servicing. Whether they include waxing/polishing is debatable. I always tell them not to wax coz I am not sure of the quality of the wax nor of their work.

Prajwal

[yikes6633]

This morning, I was sitting pillion on the Ray as my wife had to drop me off to my office. I could hear some kind of a noise, it sounded more like some kind of vibration and kept recurring at speeds between 27kms/hr and 33kms/hr.

I did keep asking my wife if she could hear or feel it and she said nothing at all. I requested her if I could ride until my office and I did check it several times, there is some kind of a vibration that sounds like a drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr between the specified speeds.

I do understand that the Ray's body is completely made of fiber and there is something that hasn't been fixed back or tightened properly during the free service.

The vibration is making the engine sound stressed and the engine beat sounds like its lost its peppiness. There is no drop in the pick up or the way it responds to the throttle, but the continuous buzzing (drrrrrrrr) sound is bugging and has caught my concern.

At the specified speeds, with the continuous sound (vibration) the scooter feels like its highly stressed and feels like its struggling to move, until I open the throttle further and the sound smoothens out and the zippiness in the mid range returns.

Will check this in depth once I get back home this evening at 5.30. The good thing is that the Yamaha Service station is open upto 7.00pm and I did call the service supervisor and told him about the sound. He has asked me to bring it over.

I shall first try to check and fix it myself and if I am unable to will take it to the Service Center today.

[yikes6633]

On returning from office I checked all that I could and the vibration still persists so I took the Ray to the service center and the service supervisor took a ride on my scooter. He said that it is just fine and there isn't any vibration whatsoever.

I then took the Service supervisor for a ride and tried to explain to him and demonstrate the vibration between the speeds of 27 and 33 kms/hr. He told me that the sound is normal and there are no loose parts of vibrations.

I wasn't convinced, so he told me that I could test ride the demo vehicle so that I am satisfied with the way the engine sounds and feels. I then rode the test ride scooter, there was a very diminished sound unlike the one on my bike. He also then requested me to ride a brand new scooter and this one sounded absolutely smooth with not the slightest vibration.

The service supervisor said that the engine beat on the Ray sounds like that and there isn't anything wrong neither are there any vibrations. I took the scooter and returned home.

Being concerned about the vibration I took the Ray out for a ride later in the night and on a quiet road where I could prominently and clearly hear the vibration.

Today being a Saturday, I got up early pulled out the owners manual and following it I removed all of the panels from the Ray one by one (until it was reduced to a bare frame with engine and minimal panels) and rode it to try and nail down the vibrations and the sickening noise.

After 9 hrs of stripping each of the panels and test riding it and then mounting each of the panels back and testing it again, I haven't been able to nail down the cause of the vibrations. I guess that the Service Supervisor might be right, the engine beat of the Ray may be the way its sounding as it matures, now I have made up my mind and have accepted that there are no vibrations, however between the speeds of 27 and 33kms/hr the bike will have some kind of enhanced sound from the engine that sounds like vibrations and makes the bike feel stressed.

[yikes6633]

The irritation of the vibration has been on my mind so much so that I have constantly been thinking about it all through the past night.

Sunday morning I took the bike out on a long ride with my tool kit. I went riding towards nandi hills. I turned into a quiet stretch and went up and down that stretch trying to clearly hear the engine beat and differentiate the irritating sound that was emanating from the engine bay from that of the engine beat.

After twisting and turning myself and stretching my ear as far back and low as possible I identified the sound to be from a vibrating fiber panel or the plastic body panels. I stopped the bike and started using the flick of my fingers to identify the plastic/fiber panel that resembled the irritating sound between the speeds of 27-33kms/hr.

After spending almost 90 mins I could distinctly identify a sound with the flick of my fingers on the plastic panel of the inner mudguard of the Ray. I was hoping that it was the root cause of the vibrations and then using my tool kit stripped my bike of it. Then I rode it at varying speeds and Voila!!! I did it. There was no irritating drrrrrrr sound anymore.

Boy! I was happy that I found the source of the sound and it had nothing to do with the beat of the engine. The engine again sounded as peppy as ever.

I assembled back all of the panels except the rear mudguard and rode to the nearest hardware store and bought a couple of rubber washers. Then off I went into the quiet road and assembled the rear mudguard with the rubber washers.

The sound has disappeared and the scooter sounds as smooth as ever again. I just knew it that there was something loose and I just did not want to give up. I'm happy again!

No more laggardness, no more vibrations, no more stress or strainful sounding engine just back to the happy peppy vrrooooommmmm of the Ray again!

[jnpai]

yikes6633. Hats off for the perseverance. It does indicate that you are in genuine love with the machine. So , no more irritating sound.Happy riding .

I am looking for a gear-less scooter myself and almost in favor of the Ray, no doubt thanks to your positive review.

One aspect that hold me back from committing myself is the fixed focus headlamps. I will appreciate your comments on the same , specifically around the corners in dimly lit road conditions. I hope you can throw in some light on this. (pun intended)

[yikes6633]

Originally Posted by jnpai

yikes6633. Hats off for the perseverance. It does indicate that you are in genuine love with the machine. So , no more irritating sound.Happy riding .

I am looking for a gear-less scooter myself and almost in favor of the Ray, no doubt thanks to your positive review.

One aspect that hold me back from committing myself is the fixed focus headlamps. I will appreciate your comments on the same , specifically around the corners in dimly lit road conditions. I hope you can throw in some light on this. (pun intended)

@jnpai, Thanks! I have commented on the headlight of the Ray in post number 24.

Just to elaborate the fixed headlight should be the least of your concerns. The throw of the headlight is widespread and this scooter is a pleasure to ride. Its light, nimble, simple, fuel efficient and compact

[jnpai]

Thanks yikes6633.
I read your post #24. Its my lack of memory of having read the same that prompted my query.

Your prompt reply has been re assuring and will aid in finalising on the Ray.

[yikes6633]

Last night I was happy to note that the Yamaha Ray has been awarded the "Scooter of the Year" by Top Gear. My wife and I are very happy with the decision of buying the Ray over many a tried and tested models of scooters available in the Indian market http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=180916492049526&set=a.1427299325348 49.31987.135445716596604&type=1&theaterhttp://

[yikes6633]

Today, I dressed up the Ray with some accessories. Actually I wasn't very keen on fitting any, besides the foot board mat and the side step (already fitted after a week of my taking the delivery of the Ray).

After about a month and a half today, I felt the need of fitting the crash guard on the front mudguard and also at the rear, only because other bikes are parked too close to each other and one of the motorbikes parked beside my scooter left a scratch on the side panel.

The guards will help keep a distance of atleast 2 inches when parked in crowded places.

Whilst these accessories were being fixed, I picked up some hand grips too.

I don't intend fitting the front shield crash guard as yet, will do if I feel there is a need.

The Ray returned a fuel efficiency of 40kms/ltr even after the first service. So all said and done I did not see any increase in the FE after the 1st Service.

[audioholic]

Us being car owners, a small rattle is always bound to rattle us! The same episode happened to my Dio. I have here a super smooth scoot, that has a very melodious engine note, and I ride it at moderate speeds, and I start getting an annoying metal rattling sound. Tried looking around for clues. Did not find anything loose. It was like a loose washer vibrating. Then at last got a friend to ride her, with me sitting back to back, facing the rear. Then I started bending everywhere to check where exactly the sound came. Then figured it out to be from a loose side step. The side step was an accessory and was not fitted properly. Tightened the nuts and it is gone!

I did not get any crash guard fitted as I thought it wont match up with the design of the vehicle. That has led to finding very good parking spaces now I got the same mileage, of 40kmpl. The scoot covered 160kms in 4 liters of fuel.

[yikes6633]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Us being car owners, a small rattle is always bound to rattle us! The same episode happened to my Dio. I have here a super smooth scoot, that has a very melodious engine note, and I ride it at moderate speeds, and I start getting an annoying metal rattling sound. Tried looking around for clues. Did not find anything loose. It was like a loose washer vibrating. Then at last got a friend to ride her, with me sitting back to back, facing the rear. Then I started bending everywhere to check where exactly the sound came. Then figured it out to be from a loose side step. The side step was an accessory and was not fitted properly. Tightened the nuts and it is gone!

I did not get any crash guard fitted as I thought it wont match up with the design of the vehicle. That has led to finding very good parking spaces now I got the same mileage, of 40kmpl. The scoot covered 160kms in 4 liters of fuel.

Absolutely! The slightest vibrations and any kind of abnormal sounds sure gets to us car owners.

I just got the rear crash guard (Thanks to Bangalore traffic/parking conditions), initially I had no intentions of fitting any accessories besides the side step, floor mat and the seat cover.

Just wanted to share with all of you that when I got a seat cover fitted, the first thing I noticed was that the seat which locked easily needed a slight push each time as the strings of the seat cover were obstructing the free movement of it to the lock position. I just shirked this aside and carried on. However I was sure that this will result in some rattling noise (from my earlier experience of owning a Kinetic Honda).

Over the past 2 or 3 days there was the rattling sound over bumps, humps and at speeds of 20kms/hr. This time around I did not have to struggle to locate the vibrations/rattling sound as I knew it was from the seat hook/seat lock.

I resolved it quickly by pasting an insulation tape on the hook so that it sits tightly against the seat lock. No vibrations/rattling sounds

Happy Riding!

[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.

[rki2007]

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