What is it?
Yamaha’s Cygnus Ray Z was meant to compete with the Activa. The later Alpha was to appeal to the fairer sex. Now, it’s all out swag with the new Cygnus Ray ZR.
All-new?
Although based on the Ray Z, the ZR’s front end is chunkier, endowing it with more presence and making it an attention grabber. Also, the headlamp cluster is now spearated from the indicators. Yamaha has also added more practicality with a pair of cubby holes on either side of the stem cover. However they are much too deep and narrow to be convenient.
What else?
Cosmetics aside there aren’t any changes to the basic scooter. It has the same underpinnings and mechanicals as the Ray Z. So the experience of riding a Ray ZR is no different.
On the handling front, the Ray ZR will tip in quite easily and hold its line confidently through a turn. Unfortunately, a series of quick direction changes isn’t something up the Ray ZR’s alley. In real world terms, it’s not as flickable through traffic as some of its brethren.
The ride is fairly pliant with the telescopic forks up front doing a neat job of tackling the road undulations. Although, a bit more bite from the disc brake upfront would help in panic braking situations.
Powerful?
The engine remains unchanged as the 113cc motor produces 7.1bhp and 8.1Nm of torque. In its ZR avatar, the scooter is also a kilo lighter than the Z but it doesn’t feel any quicker off the line. Power delivery however is linear.
Efficient?
Although we didn’t test fuel economy, with Yamaha’s Blue Core tech at work, you should be able to get 45kmpl in real world conditions. So expect a range of 225km on a tankful of gas.
Value?
This limited edition of the Ray ZR is priced at Rs 54,500 two and a half thousand more than a regular Ray ZR. At that price you get a fairly good scooter like Ray Z with the added elements of style and swagger.