Yamaha Alpha Preview: A worthy Buy

Yamaha, the world famous Japanese two-wheeler manufacturer launched a new 110cc scooter named as Alpha at Rs. 49,518, while showcasing its state-of-the-art products at the 12th Indian Auto Expo. Unlike Ray and Ray-Z, it is a unisex scooter targeting men and women, both. Although the company has used the Ray series' engine to run it, which has made it highly fuel efficient and quite likable in terms of power. Design of Yamaha Alpha is also very elegant and is made available in five attractive color schemes: Grey, White, Black, Purple and Red.

Yamaha Alpha is a lightweight scooter that weighs only 104kg. The fine overall dimensions of the scoot are 1795mm x 675mm x 1124mm (lxwxh). Seat height of 775mm is low so that women also feel confident over their ride. Its minimum ground clearance and the wheelbase is 128mm and 1270mm respectively. Underbone type chassis is used for the machine to be low in weight as well as to increase the stability and performance of the scoot. The tyres inscribed are 90/100-10 53J (tube type) ones for the both the ends and are loaded with the 130mm drum brakes brakes too. Telescopic front forks are working at the front and Unit Swing suspension at the rear for extreme stability and control over the scooter.

Yamaha has used engine of Ray to empower Alpha, it is an air-cooled, single-cylinder, SOHC, 2-valve mill that displaces 113cc. The engine is mated with the V-belt automatic transmission. The mill generates a maximum power of 7.1PS at an acceleration rate of 7500rpm and simultaneously generates a peak torque of 8.1Nm at 5000rpm. The fine outputs of the engine helps it return a best-in-class mileage of 62kmpl that is assisted with a 5.2 liter fuel tank capacity.

Yamaha Alpha is an extremely comfortable scooter as it provides you ample of space to adjust your feet and about 21-liter of under seat storage that will carry a full size helmet and a few other articles with utter ease. The analog instrumentation displaying speedometer, fuel gauge and odometer seems pretty outdated but is easy to read and helps the manufacturer to keep the price low for the customers.

With low price and appreciable performance and appearance, Alpha will be competing against the current 110cc scooters like Honda Activa, Hero Motocorp Maestro and a few others that are of the same price range and receiving a healthy response in the market. The scooter will also be in a healthy competition with the TVS' latest introduction, Jupiter, which is also a 110cc scooter. TVS Jupiter is multi-feature scooter that boasts equal mileage to Alpha (62kmpl), largest tubeless tyres, low fuel indicator, retractable bag hooks, external fuel fill, least turning radius, twin city lamps, brightest headlamp, LED tail lamp, accessible kick start, parking brake, etc.. The engine of Jupiter churns out the maximum power of 7.88bhp at 7500rpm, which is more than that of Alpha. Being a value for money product by Yamaha, Alpha is expected to do a good job in the Indian market.