jackcorbett

Sorry, but I have a little different take on "these Ruskies". Sure I satirized their boorish behavior in my Russian Walking Dead video I did on my you tube channel. In my condo where I'm chairman, I must say that we have fewer problems with Russians as a group than we do with any other national group. Guess we are lucky with the Russians we have. I agree that many Russians appear unfriendly. But I have met a lot of utterly charming Russians. I get to deal with them a lot, both here at my condo and while exercising at the fitness center. Here I met a tall very affable German, who told me he never goes with Thai women. Only Russian women. So one day I ran across him walking down the street with his Russian girlfriend and I picked them up in my car. They had time to spare and so did I so I took them back to my condo to show them around, and guess what does Anna do, right after walking into my living room? She walks straight to my bookcase where she finds several books about Russian leaders such as Peter the Great, Lenin, and Stalin, and she comments to me, "These books are all written by American writers. You should read the ones written by Russian."

What Anna was saying is "we judge Russians by our own lenses that have been oftentimes been warped by our own prejudices and propaganda". But let me ask everyone---how many Thai women peruse a man's book collection as soon as they walk into a man's condo, the way Anna did?" Think about it--these people produced writers such as Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Pushkin, Lermontov, Solzhenitsyn, Gogol, and Turgenev, and classical composers such as Rachmaninoff, Rimsky Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, and Stravinsky.

I've met quite a few Russians lately who do have a sense of humor and who are actually pretty cool. My guess is some of them saw my movie on You Tube, "The Walking Russian Dead of Pattaya", had a sense of humor and ran with it. Look the movie up on You Tube and tell me what you think.

http://www.topeak.com/products/pumps/joeblowsport I think this is the ideal solution. I bought my pump at a high end bicycle shop in the U.S. before moving to Thailand. Cost me around forty bucks but I even use it to fill up the tires on my Honda Civic and I use it weekly to check the tires on three motorbikes and to air up the tires. Saves me a trip that's out of my way. People at my condo are constantly borrowing it from me, and believe me, I make sure they return it immediately after they use it because it might be difficult to find a good replacement for this gem.

I get my insurance for all three motorbikes (including my Yamaha SR 400) and my car from a German broker. I have also managed to get the rest of our condo management team to switch coverage to him from the old provider when Rainer discovered that our previous coverage did not include liability for personal injury. Needless to say, I think very highly of Rainer. And one more thing, he owns a big Harley.

DELETED - PM for info

Still not seen any NMAX's so that I could rent one and do a road test. However, I will report here that I often hang out at Mr. Greg's here in Naklua (formerly called Greg's Kitchen) and one of Greg's steady customers is an Iranian who rents motorbikes out. Ali's personal choice for getting around had been a PCX 150, but I recently learned that he has just acquired a Yamaha NMax. It belongs to a close friend or relative. Therefore I cannot rent it from Ali. But I did look him up at this shop. Ali told me emphatically: "The Yamaha NMAX totally outclasses the Honda PCX in nearly every aspect. THen he enumerated some of the reasons why the Yamaha is so superior such as 1. Anti lock brakes, 2. Superior handling, 3. Superior acceleration, and 4. Greater overall smoothness.

And looks better!

Absolutely although beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. In my opinion the Nmax is a much more compact appearing bike than the PCX. Moreover, it appears to be noticeably narrower in the front end which I feel is the ugliest feature of the PCX. which other than that is in my opinion a much better styled machine than most of its detractors want the rest of us to believe. I think it's the same width though, it's just that Yamaha has been more successful at camouflaging the bulbous front end look. The NMAX is a very pretty bike in my opinion.

As for Forzas and Taiwanese Sym 300's and 400's the PCX looks absolutely svelte in comparison. To me those bikes are way overweight and wide for the kind of driving most of us do here. I have a buddy who just bought a Kawaski 800 and I'd believe he'd get through tight traffic situations here a lot easier than the Sym or Forza ever could. Someone in here mentioned that the Forza is "a bit bigger than the likes of an Nmax or PCX. Nothing could be more untrue. Bit heavier? Come on, the PCX and the Nmax both weigh around 290 pounds. The Forza weighs around 426 pounds. We are talking elephantine proportions here. Why my Yamaha SR 400 probably weighs around 60 to 70 pounds less than that. I think one of the new model Triumph Bonnevilles weighs about that and the Bonneville has a 900 c.c. engine.

Still not seen any NMAX's so that I could rent one and do a road test. However, I will report here that I often hang out at Mr. Greg's here in Naklua (formerly called Greg's Kitchen) and one of Greg's steady customers is an Iranian who rents motorbikes out. Ali's personal choice for getting around had been a PCX 150, but I recently learned that he has just acquired a Yamaha NMax. It belongs to a close friend or relative. Therefore I cannot rent it from Ali. But I did look him up at this shop. Ali told me emphatically: "The Yamaha NMAX totally outclasses the Honda PCX in nearly every aspect. THen he enumerated some of the reasons why the Yamaha is so superior such as 1. Anti lock brakes, 2. Superior handling, 3. Superior acceleration, and 4. Greater overall smoothness.

I have two powered housings that were supplied with my Garmin. The first one uses the cigarette lighter in my Civic. The 2nd works on AC which I was using in my condo after plugging it in to the wall. I have the first housing attached to the dash of my Honda Civic. The second housing I've attached to my SR400 and this one runs off the battery, but first the power needs to be transformed. Right now I have inserted the Garmin unit into the housing in my Civic, but yesterday I had slipped it out of this housing and inserted it into the 2nd a.c. powered housing on my SR400.

Hi Jack. Always enjoy your bike reviews. Im surprised your battery was completely discharged after just 40 minutes - maybe it was more to do with the inverter rather than the GPS. Can your mechanic wire it to an "ignition live " wire. Sounds like you received good service , something that some dealers need to improve. Im not too sure if many people could tell the difference to easy between the well respected SR and the Stallion , except the price ticket. Enjoy the riding.

I should be able to get someone to tap into a live wire. I sure don't want to make this mistake again.

THat's one thing about my Nouvo Elegance. Got electric start and a kick starter as well and it's never ever left me stranded, and once when I had a complete battery failure I was able to kick start it and drive it right down the street for a new battery, and was back home in a half an hour or so. That carburetor nearly croaks when I leave Pattaya for several weeks but I always get the engine to come alive on its last legs using only the electric start. In fact it's a bit of a rough go when I don't use the Elegance even for a few days. But it's bullet proof.

Not always, but much of the time one gets what one pays for. And this goes definitely for the Yamaha SR400 which I've now owned for one year and four months. It is what it is. All 24 horsepower of it, at 265,000 baht (although it's a bit less now), 100 percent made in Japan, kick start only, and now as of today I learned that if you drain the battery entirely you won't even be able to kick start it. So let me tell you about today, and the fine job Watchara Marine did bailing me out when I stupidly caused my battery to be sucked entirely out of juice.

Last week I met a new owner who had just bought a Yamaha SR400 at Watchara Marine. HIs is black and mine is white so one thing led to another so we lined up a short trip together to the Silver Lake area, for today. I've got a Garmin GPS which I can now use for both my Honda Civic and my Yamaha SR400. To change from car to motorbike I simply snap the Garmin out of one of the housings that came with it and insert it to a similar mounting unit in the other vehicle. But to get it to work with the motorcycle I had a mechanic mount a special transformer which he attached to my bike's battery that converts the electricity from DC to AC. But I've been strongly warned to always turn off the switch in the transformer when I've finished using the GPS.

We left the dealership this morning for Silver lake. Since it's Saturday on the weekend after New Year's the traffic got a bit heavy, but no matter. these SR400's negotiate the small gaps between the cars nearly as well as a small scooter. My first thoughts were, "These SR 400's are much faster through traffic than much larger bikes which cannot get through the small gaps we are going through. On the way a Thai car driver behind me at a red light started praising my bike. He knew exactly what it was and had I been driving a Stallon 400 I'm sure he would have kept his salivating mouth shut.

It was at the Silver Lake winery that I made my big mistake. I left the GPS unit still in the bracket and my new friend and I left our two SR 400's in the parking lot. After 15-20 minutes drinking coffee together and having a couple of small cakes, I suddenly remembered that I had left my GPS on the bike as a prime target for theft, but after considering the matter I concluded that it probably would not be stolen because there were a lot of people in the parking lot, it was broad daylight and there were a couple of security guys around. About 30-40 minutes later, we went back to our bikes. My GPS was still there but my bike would not start. I had left the transformer switch on. The bike's turn signals would not work and neither would the horn. Even the green neutral indicator light stopped working. Both of us kicked the bike to start it. We kicked it over and over again. Then we tried to push start it with me guessing if I got it in 2nd or 3rd gear or not and I'd pop the clutch, all to no avail. Then two Thai guys approached us with their girlfriends and offered to help. So they kicked it and they kicked it, again and again to no avail. By this time I had removed the seat which required removing two longish bolts with a special wrench I had in my SR400's tool kit. I wonder if the Stallon 400 even has a tool kit. And even if it has one, it took a fair amount of force to get these bolts out and the wrench I had was barely up to the task. The two THai guys appeared to have a fair amount of mechanical ability, and they started checking the battery connections and the fuses to see if any of the fuses had blown. I'm still wondering if they would have been as helpful if I had a Stallon 400 or even something as unclassical as a Honda CBR 300 for that matter.

Anyway, that bike of mine was not about to start for anyone of us so I got on my friend's Yamaha SR400, this time as passenger. It took 20 minutes for us to get to Watchara Marine. It's Saturday and it's right after New Year's so they were running a skeleton crew at the dealership, but Paul was there. Paul's from Singapore, and it so happens he's the service manager. The overall general manager is there too. Paul and another employee grab my keys, get directions from me for where I had left my bike and they take a pickup to Silver Lake. I offer to go with them, but there's not a lot of room in the pickup so I wind up in the air conditioned showroom. I spend a fair amount of time talking with the dealership's GM. By this time the GM and I have both diagnosed what's ailing my SR400. One would think that even with a dead battery it should start because it's a kick start bike only. But even before my new friend and I arrive on his bike back at the dealership I'm telling him, "I think it's the fuel injection. If this SR400 had a carburetor we'd be fine battery or no battery. But this fuel pump needs electricity to get fuel to the system, and that transformer has drained all the juice out of the SR400's small battery. When we arrive back at the dealership the GM tells us this is a certainly. About an hour or hour and a half later the pickup comes back to the dealership with my SR400 in back. Not much later, Paul and the employee who had accompanied him have my bike going after juicing up my battery with a much larger battery. My new friend and new proud owner of the black Yamaha SR400 has figured a 2000 baht bill. I'm thinking it will be at least that. But the dealership winds up charging me just 300 baht. I'm wondering if I'd be getting such top notch service if I had bought a Stallon 400 there. But on second thought, Watchara Marine handles some pretty top notch bikes such as KTM, the latest big bikes from Yamaha (small ones too), and Triumph. Speaking of Triumph just do an internet search on the latest 2016 models to come out such as the Bonneville Speed Twin

Perhaps I will just have to have a Speed Twin later in my future here. But after over a year with this SR400, I'm still loving every minute that I'm on it. And as for my being on the back of an SR400 for the first time, there's that beautiful chrome bar right behind my back that keeps me from wanting to fall off the back of the seat and I could grab onto it without having to hold onto the driver for dear life. The bike seemed to have plenty of grunt driving two up down Sukamvit Road. John was getting it up to 90 kph or so, in traffic. (Again, this is in the middle of a Saturday afternoon the day after New Year's day) And yeah, I could definitely feel some vibration from my seating position as passenger. But that's all part of the personality of this classic and so is the sound of that 400 c.c. single cylinder.

Now all the winkers know where you live!!

But I never called them, Winkers. PlOne did. (I now see what's behind his continued unwillingness to stay out of all pictures and video). And they haven't the slightest clue where he lives.

Yea that is true, and off course they don't know where he lives, not something I would have said inside a motorbike dealers shop, so is he saying that all who ride a big bike in a busy city are winkers? have a drive of the NMax it's awesome!

Look forward to your NMax review.

I am not sure where PlONe draws the line between Winkers and non-Winkers. Perhaps he secretly thinks I am a Winker for driving the SR400. But perhaps he draws his line at the 650 level. That is those who drive bikes up to 650 cc's are okay and those who choose larger bikes are Winkers. I know he has a low opinion of PCX's and those who drive them, an opinion I do not share with him. But he does some terrific camera work and he does come up with some really great off the wall comments.

Now all the winkers know where you live!!

But I never called them, Winkers. PlOne did. (I now see what's behind his continued unwillingness to stay out of all pictures and video). And they haven't the slightest clue where he lives.

So far I've been unable to find a rental N-Max I could road test, so this will have to do, for now.

Where are you located? In Pattaya I could tell you a place where you can rent the NMAX.

I'm in Naklua on Soi 16

Now all the winkers know where you live!!

So far I've been unable to find a rental N-Max I could road test, so this will have to do, for now.

Where are you located? In Pattaya I could tell you a place where you can rent the NMAX.

I'm in Naklua on Soi 16

New You tube video we just shot at Watchara Marine which should show everyone some really good views of the new Yamaha Nmax (and our comments of this bike versus the PCX). https://youtu.be/EeQv1OWsnuo

In this video we discuss and show several Triumph models as well as the KTM 200 Duke, KTM 390, the Yamaha Bolt, the Yamaha R-3, Yamaha MT-3, Yamaha SR 400, and the new Yamaha MT-7. So far I've been unable to find a rental N-Max I could road test, so this will have to do, for now.

Atrocious radiator.

Is this a Street bike., or crossover dirt bike , retro, mainly manly...not sure.

Front fender looks tight for dirt bike, same as Ben's adventure bike.

Otherwise, cool.

Guys over 30 don't ride dirt much, do they?

Just another papa theory.

Only on Koh Samet, when you have no other choice.

Our condo needs to have a year end 2014 audit done by a "professional" auditor, and obviously with the 2015 year end coming right up we will need one for 2015 soon afterwards. Knowledge of QuickBooks is a huge plus for the successful candidate as our condo has been using QuickBooks Enterprise since 2008. We had retained an auditor to handle the 2014 year end audit in February. Five days ago, our condo office was surprised to find out that he was either unwilling or unable to fulfill his agreement with us.

Got the Click today. Happy so far, except for the seat latch isn't great.

Two out of two rentals, one in Pattaya and one on Koh Larne Island had very inferior seat latches. Both rentals were of the latest model Click and both were very low mileage.

One thing I've noticed about the new Yamaha N-Max, and that is the seat latch is very great. I will have to do a video review on this bike soon, even if I can't find a rental right now.

Papa Al---I bought my girlfriend a Yamaha Filano, which is a great bike for what it is (not much). I almost told her, "You can have a selection of just one bike...the Yamaha Nouvo 125 SX in whatever color you want," but after considering that 1. She's deathly afraid of motorbikes and 2. That therefore she'd probably never end up driving whatever bike she has more than 2 km from home, it wouldn't make much difference if the bike was roadworthy or not because even a pedal bike would do. Upon taking delivery of the new bike I noticed that the handling was much worse than even I suspected and that it bottomed out on any speed bump regardless of size. Well it turned out that Mityan had done the setup of the bike too quickly and never put air in the tires. They looked okay but were running only about 3 pounds of pressure or so. Putting air in the tires almost solved the handling and speed bump problems, but there were still two speed bumps we would oftentimes encounter which we'd bottom out on (but only if I drove two up) even if I drove the bike 2 miles an hour across them.

To be fair, the Filano is a decent scooter for what it is. It starts and runs well. It has ample storage under the seat, which is something the Fino never had. It is nicely finished and such controls as the horn and turn indicators are well placed (this is not true with the Honda Click. Altogether it's a more nicely put together machine than a Honda Click, two of which I rented (both practically brand new). I had problems with latching the seats of both Honda Clicks and had to resort to using bailing wire to get them to latch correctly. Once in awhile my girlfriend must drive my Nouvo Elegance and when she does she comments "It is very fast." She means both its acceleration and handling. Nevertheless, it's a very appealing little scooter and works out just fine for driving together down to the gym to work out. Its main problem is it cost only 8000 baht or so less than a Yamaha Nouvo SX would have cost me and it's only half the bike the Nouvo SX is. Trouble is it's got a floorboard and small wheels which makes it perfect for attracting those who don't know better.

Cig lighter vs dual disc anti lock brakes, no question which one I choose

What about the smaller wheels then?

How big is the fuel tank on the NMax?

The N-Max has a 6.6 liter tank. Got a brochure in front of me. Since it's in Thai I might make a mistake but here goes. From Memory though, the 125 c.c. first generation PCX had a 6.2 liter fuel tank, but when the first 150's came out the fuel tank was reduced to just 5.9 liters. I felt the 6.2 liter tank gave the PCX plenty of range. When I roadtested my Yamaha 135 Elegance against the 125 c.c. PCX fuel mileage was identical but the fuel gauge had gone down a lot by the time I hit Rayong on my Elegance. When the 2nd generation 150 PCX came out I learned that the 5.9 liter fuel tank had increased to 8 liters. It was this huge differential in fuel capacity that led one of my neighbors to get the newest generation PCX and that caused him to pass on the much more limited 4.3 liter tank capacity of the Yamaha Nouvo 125 SX. I am of the same mindset as Richard.....I feel much more comfortable with a bike that has ample range.

So.....to my way of thinking the 6.6 liter capacity of the NMax although not as good as the new PCX 150 model still achieves a slightly better figure than the 6.2 liter PCX 125.

The NMax according to this spec sheet weights 127 kilos to the PCX's 132. Appearance wise when you sit on the NMax then sit on the PCX you get the impression that the front end of the NMax is narrower. For me the biggest negative with the appearance of the PCX is that the front end is too wide for the overall size of the bike. I wish I had brought a tape with me to Mityan the other day because I kept running back and forth between the Nmax and the PCX trying to get a fix on which bike had a narrower cowling in front. The spec sheet I'm holding shows that the two bikes are nearly identical in width across the fairing with a very slight edge to the Honda. Neverthless, cosmetically Yamaha is doing a better job here by making the NMAX appear narrower and therefore more attractive.

The NMax rides on 110/70/13 M front tires. The rear tires are 130/70/13 M. The PCX uses a 90/90/14 MC front tire with a 100/90/14 MC on the back. I don't care for the idea of 13 inch diameter tires. As a matter of fact I prefer the idea of 16's such as my Elegance has due to the gyroscopic stability that's intrinsic in larger diameter wheels. Plus one can go over larger curbs with larger diameter tires and go through deeper water. Several weeks ago when we had that big flood here in Pattaya the floor of my Honda Civic got flooded..that water was that high. In such circumstances larger diameter wheels provide an edge.

As far as ABS is concerned, I now have a shoulder that will never ever be the same again due to that roadtest I performed on a Honda CBR 250 rental from Pattaya to Rayong. Had this particular CBR 250 had the optional ABS I wouldn't be sitting here right now with a titannium brace in my clavicle due to the CBR going down because of a little sand I didn't see in the road. So....I'd have to go with the Yamaha over the PCX. And as far as quality, I understand most Thais think the Honda's are more reliable but I firmly believe that the Yamahas are on the whole better built than Hondas.

This is why Yamaha Nouvo Elegances, Nouvo SX's, Honda Airblades, Honda PCX's or even a Honda Wave or Yamaha Spark is infinitely superior to this new floorboarded Yamaha scooter or this luscious apple in so many eyes and main topic here, the Honda Click not to mention Yamaha Finos, Filanos, Honda Scoopy's and so on ad nauseum. Or for that matter even a 1969 Honda Super Cub. Just use your common sense. Note the picture above. What's better, the now nearly ancient Yamaha Nouvo MX or all these floor board model scooters many of you constantly rave about? Which design offers more stability in handling and precise steering? It amazes me how companies such as Honda and Yamaha can resurrect an old obsolete design dating to prior 1968, repackage it and sell millions of these dinosaurs to millions of people worldwide who just haven't got a clue.

And if you don't get it after analyzing this picture read this Wikipedia article. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underbone Especially note under the Heading, "Design" paragraph 4 which notes the great superiority of "underbones" to scooters in handling and braking.

First off....Papa al is absolutely correct. The handling of a Click 125 is absolutely terrible compared to a Yamaha Nouvo Elegance or Nouvo SX, But let me go one step further.

Although the Honda PCX 150 is an excellent bike, in my opinion a Yamaha Nouvo Elegance 135 is absolutely the finest all around motorbike for the Pattaya area, and to even compare a Honda Click 125 to it is like comparing a cheap $20.00 pair of running shoes to a top of the line American made New Balance running shoe that costs $150.00.

I have the road tests, the stats, and the in depth analysis to back up what I am saying here. First off, the Yamaha Elegance 135 is fast--significantly faster than the Nouvo 125 SX that replaced it. Second, on the highway it will get fuel consumption that is equal to what the lower performance fuel injected 125 Nouvo SX will get. And provided one backs off the throttle and drives it the same way one would a 125 Nouvo SX it will almost equal it in city fuel economy. The Honda Click 125 is virtually as fast as the 135 Elegance but at higher speeds it's downright scary in comparison.

Want to talk handling now? I have one size larger Pirelli tires on my 135 Elegance now whereas I used to have one size larger Michelins. The feel of driving this setup in the type of driving one does almost all the time in this area is absolutely exquisite. These Pirellis are low profile and this a little harsher ride than I was getting with the Michelin Pilots but the feel from the handlebars is very light and precise. THis is a very quick handling and extremely responsive bike.

There is virtually zero maintenance to this bike. I have two friends who have over 40,000 kilometers on their Nouvo's and they haven't even touched the belts in their automatics. Mine is now 7 years old. This bike has never failed me. Everything is placed logically on this bike and all works correctly. For example the turn indicators. The seat still latches as nicely as it did when the bike was new, unlike two almost brand new Honda Click 125's I rented. I also have a Yamaha SR400, which is a gorgeous motorcycle, but it's got a lot of chrome on it and in this humid climate one must keep after all that chrome to avoid the formation of rust. But with this Elegance there is very little on it that can go sour.

Lastly..it's got a kickstarter along with electric start so when the battery goes bad you can still drive the bike to where you will get the battery replaced. It has good storage under the seat, which most motorcycles and many scooters don't have and a good assortment of anchor points for bungee cords which are useful for carting home all kinds of stuff that you cannot begin to deal with if you are driving a PCX. It offers extreme reliability, versatility and design that requires very little care along with unbeatable handling for the kind of day to day driving most of us encounter with more than ample power to get the job done for what we need a motorbike for.

These bikes have a single shock on the rear versus the two shocks for the Elegance or Nouvo SX.

Yamaha TMAX has only 1 shock and this is the best sxooter in the world

Not the same thing at all. Bikes like the Click use a single shock, about the same size as those used by Honda Waves, Yamaha Elegances and so on. The difference is a Honda Wave, Elegance, etc has two of them because the engineers think it takes two of equal size shocks to get the job done. Also.....the shocks on these inferior bikes are off to the side, which might not seem to make a difference to many but to someone such as myself who's been around a lot of machinery farming it becomes evident that it can make a big difference. The load is simply not equalized with such an arrangement. Tell you what....Go do a test for yourself. Take a Honda Scoopy and put a 250 pound guy on the back, drive around a few miles, then repeat said performance with a Yamaha Elegance or Nouvo SX. Then come back and tell us which came out best. IF you tell us the Scoopy or Honda Click did better you are lying.

The 125 Yamaha Nouvo SX is at its greatest disadvantage versus the Click 125 I in acceleration at slow speeds. At high speeds there's from what I can determine not nearly as much difference between Nouvo SX versus either a Nouvo Elegance or Click. But the stability of the Nouvo SX is incomparably better at higher speeds than the Click and I'm sure the same thing will be equally true for a Honda Scoopy, Fino, etc. These bikes have a single shock on the rear versus the two shocks for the Elegance or Nouvo SX. Such bikes are cheap cheap cheap and not up to something on the order of a Nouvo. Then when you look at a Nouvo that's been taken apart to expose the upper bracing and how all that bracing is linked to the back section of the bike, you realize....hey.....all of that costs money. You can therefore see how both Yamaha and Honda can significantly reduce production costs at the expense of their buyers who will get substandard performance as a result. Yamaha does need to put a bigger fuel tank in that Nouvo SX however.