jackcorbett

No way. We got a guy living in the condo building four hundred meters down the street from us. He's got a Harley Road King and that thing makes so much noise when he roars down the street that everyone cannot help but notice him. A Phantom F-4 just won't cut it. But that Harley makes such a racket the buildings all up and down the street here shake as if hit by an earthquake, so trust me, this guy makes his mark as in "That jerk is once again challenging all those unmuffled large construction trucks full of dirt for dominance of the decibel waves in this neighborhood."

All that theory about torque and BHP to the ground. I have had a Honda AB for about a year and in that time I have never been overtaken in accelleration by a Wave. Generally when we start off of a traffic light the Waves fall behind every time they have to change gear while the AB just keeps going on. The AB loses on top speed though, on my meter around 86 km/h tops.

Same same here. The Airblade is great (except for fuel economy, but that"s same for all automatics).

For my purpose (in city riding, dense traffic, changing lanes quickly, suddenly crossing pedestrians and cars / motorcycles there is really no other choice than automatic. As much as I liked my CBR, the Airblade is much better in town!

Rgds

Moo9

This Swede living in my condo has 900 cc. Honda. He can go fast and he can brake going downhill. But now he has trouble walking. Yep, I encountered him at Pattaya Bangkok just two weeks ago. Didn't even hit anything. Just fell down in the rain. I suppose he used the power of the engine to negotiate the waves.

As they often say, a fool and his bike are often parted.

Semi-automatic like the Honda Wave 125i is twice as much more powerful then the automatics and you save huge on fuel. The Honda Wave 125i is my best buy advice. You never look back and say wrong deal....never

Let's see. The 115 cc. Nouvo is rated at 8.9 horsepower. It is likely the new 135 cc. Nouvo produces 20 % more power. Let's all it 11 horsepower or so. This means the Wave produces around 21 horsepower if it produces twice the power of the Nouvo. I also want to mention as I have so often here that when you ru a Nouvo side by side with a Honda Wave the Nouvo will often outperform the Wave.

As far as fuel savings, I'd put the Wave on top. One main reason for this is the Wave is often loafing due to its often running so low in the power band. The Nouvo's got the acceleration on tap as in right now and I suspect one reason for this it's running higher up in the rpm range in normal driving.

Several more things to consider it the Wave has a much skinnier less comfortable seat than the Nouvo. The Wave lacks the storage space that the Nouvo has (and the Airblade as well). So the Wave must employ a basket over the front of the machine which is right over the front tire whereas the Nouvo has its storage space underneath the seat which is an almost perfectly central location on the bike. The Honda Wave has substantially skinnier tires than the Nouvo which makes it less road worthy.

Consider now the handling of sports cars. The Porshe 911 with its rear engine has often been considered one of the finest sports cars in the world. A very accomplished driver can push one to its limits and accomplish wonders. However, this same car has killed a lot of drivers because less experienced drivers when they push this fine car to anywhere near its limits finds that the rear engine which gives the Porshe a one sided weight distribution tends to do all kinds of wicked unforeseen things that cause the driver to completely lose control of the car. Along comes Mazda which produces the Miata. From the very start Mazda engineers studied the Porche and other sports car designs and concluded that the best sports car design for someone who's driving skills falls short of a skilled race car driver is one that has a perfect 50-50 weight distribution. And so came into being the Mazda Miata. Through the years this fine design has undergone steady improvement which includes vastly improved power, more creature comforts, but it still has a perfect 50-50 weight distribution.

The same thing is true with motorbikes employing front baskets where a substantial amount of weight is put right over the front tire. Bottom line is the Nouvo is a far superior design to the Wave and so is the Airblade. It's got far superior handling, it's far more comfortable due to its far superior seat design and its got a superior tire design which makes it more stable at greater speeds. As far as fuel economy if the Wave has better fuel economy I'm sure that most of us here can afford to pay for the difference. It's not like we are all having to pay for the high fuel prices for a four wheel drive pickup truck. And here in Pattaya the Nouvo is going to be easier to accelerate fast than a Honda Wave.

Many thanks for your cordial reply and idea that I should be writing a book. Actually I did write, typesetted and had printed up 2000 copies of a book in the U.S. which I called "Death on the Wild Side". This is about strip clubs in the U.S. focusing on the St. Louis East side and I have started on a book here focusing upon Pattaya. But so far just 40 to 50 pages depending upon formatting. Difficult (so far) to remain focused on it, but there are two ex girlfriends in it, the first being a girl I renamed Spicy. This is not the ex I mentioned earlier but Spicy girl certainly deserved the rename and actually got to enjoy being called Spicy.

But back to the Air Blade. That's an excellent choice. Although I have a Nouvo and enjoy it very much, I could be equally happy with the Air Blade. (but I'd like the 135 cc. Nouvo even better than either if its color schemes were more attractive). I personally don't like the smaller automatics because I feel they aren't really up to the standard set by both the Nouvo and the Air Blade and in this dangerous world of driving in Thailand, particularly in places such as Pattaya nothing but the best (at a reasonable price level that is) is sufficient. I did not mention this about the Waves, but I feel their tires are too spindly. I like the fatter tires of the Air Blade. Good work on your gas mileage projections by the way. I would have thought the Nouvo was doing around 60 miles per gallon in this traffic here, but this opinion was just by the seat of my pants.

Fuel tanks for all these scooters are on the small side being around 4 liters for Mios and Finos to a bit more for Nouvos. I would like to see larger tanks and felt the new Nouvo might incorporate a bigger tanks. As to how long between fill ups, this depends on how you drive, where you drive and how much you drive. I put 10,000 kilometers on my Nouvo in two years. I average around 5 days between fill ups. The Airblade and Nouvo are decidedly superior to Finos and Mios and Clicks for all the reasons given in many posts here.

I wanted to buy my ex girlfriend an Air Blade for this reason. She wanted a Fino. I put it in her name. Turned out she was married to a Thai guy. She wound up with the motoribike which as I said was in her name. She also stole a laptop from this condo on her way out believing since I had a bigger and better laptop she helped convince me to buy, the lesser powered laptop was hers although I had clearly told her it was only hers to use. But that's another story. My present girlfriend says she does not want a motorbike as she views them as being dangerous. This can be a very lengthy discussion, a book in fact. But at this point I'd never buy ANY Thai girlfriend a bike. NOT EVER.

On the girlfriends, I only have this to say, BEWARE. I've seen Thai women stay with men for 7 years only to steal a house, bar, etc from him and turn him out like used garbage. By the way, EVERYONE who ever met the old girlfriend thought she was as good as gold and the exception to the rule.

That link (which I think is a word for word the same as the wiki one posted recently also) neglects the biggest drawback which is a massive power loss to the drivetrain.. I had read as much as >20% !!

As to a Nuovo out accelerating waves.. Depends if the rider keeps the wave in band..

Which is a huge point of mine. Gus who is normally a pretty gutsy driver is apparently afraid of blowing his engine.

Take a given engine that develops say 116 horsepower at 7000 rpms. That's at redline on a tach. At just 6000 rpms, it develops just 70. That is much more than a 20 % power loss. So one has to keep that engine on the boil to get the horsepower.

Also, remember my statements about my Dodge automatic pickup truck. It had the small block V-8, not the much larger and more powerful engines many of the boys were driving down at the farm. I had it up to 110 miles an hour and it had more left. Keep in mind it was a four wheel drive which means hundreds of pounds of extra weight and it also had the extended cab so it would seat four people. I'm sure if I had the same setup with a manual transmission it would get even better fuel economy and the manual would outrun it. But probably not by much. Truth is automatic transmissions have undergone a constant state of improvement through the years. THat pickup of mine had a four speed transmission with overdrive giving a 5th gear whereas the old Chevys in the sixties had two speed powerglide transmissions. Chrysler had a better transmission back then, having three speeds on tap But when I read all these articles on CVT transmissions they are even more efficient than the best "normal" autos out there. Does this mean I'm hoping and praying that Honda comes out with a manual for their 150 cc. CBR's? Of course not. Would I buy a new Mazda Miata sports car with an automatic? No way. My last Miata was a special edition with a six speed manual and I loved it.

Can give a huge thumbs up to the Honda AirBlade, there is a post recently on the bike and all the details. Have one, love it!!

Read all the posts here, particularly those on the Yamaha Nouvo which also discusses Air Blade and other bikes, manual and auto. No need to start a new thread. Your questions will be answered in those other threads.

This might explain a lot. advantages and disadvantages of the CVT transmission

I don't agree with the assessment of the CVT offering superior fuel economy but I think this will explain why an 8.9 horsepower Nouvo will out accelerate Honda Waves and the like. Also the noises coming from CVT transmissions, why an automatic motorbike might not seem as fast as it really is, etc. This article explains what I am saying about how these automatics get on the power right now when you need it, and why more horsepower at peak rpm is not as meaningful as it seems.

I'm enjoying the comments from some of you guys about your trouble free machines. Like I've said before they are magic carpets that do the job for most of us better than anything else out there. I think somewhere in the future we will be looking at all this like we now see digital photography. I remember my using digital cameras when I was about the only guy in town using one when all the film camera professionals would scoff at me. I'd be the guy bringing a laptop into all those U.S. topless clubs and my digital camera and everybody loved it. Meanwhile the so called pros laughed at my toys. Well, they either went out of business a long time ago or they made the switch.

As to these automatics requiring a lot of expensive maintenance note the comments about 250 horsepower cars now using CVT. If such cars can do it I doubt if a 10 horsepower bike is going to not handle this new technology.

The figure I've seen most often is 8.9 horsepower for the newer model 115 cc. Nouvo. Here's an article I've found interesting on infinitely variable transmissions. CVT transmissions

The hill up Ko Larn Island is pretty steep. I've rented Nouvos and finally an Airblade and had no problem getting up this baby on any of these bikes, riding two up. Now I am not about to suggest that a Nouvo or Airblade can go up any hill or that it will do what a manual will on a hill that is one step removed from a cliff. (I'd never drive my BMW street bikes up the farm drainage ditch sides I'd go up on my dirt bikes). But et me give you an example. For 23 years I lived on a farm. One of the pickup trucks I had was a four wheel drive 300 cubic inch six cylinder (the old Ford straight six). That truck would not go over 90 miles an hour. The 318 Dodge V-8 automatic I replaced it with would do 110 to 115 miles an hour. However, that old Ford straight six with a manual transmission had a low range and a high range and when you dropped it into low range, you could pull two wagons loaded with corn out of the field. Let's see....that was say over 600 bushels of corn at 56 pounds to the bushel . That's 33,600 pounds and that's without even fully loading the two wagons or adding in the weight of the wagons themselves. That old straight six coupled to a manual transmission could really do it in the field. But for all around use...that Dodge with that V-8 auto was a terrific all around machine back in those days. Mine was four wheel drive and it could still quite easily pull one wagon out of the field. I could drive it in the mountains of the American West, put the cruise control at 80 miles an hour, average 19 miles per gallon and have lots of power still on tap. I'd hate to still have it with today's high gasoline prices but that Dodge was a do it all machine. Its bucket seats, large interior, view of the road from up high, made it a much more comfortable vehicle than even say a BMW or Mercedes, it could handle deep snows, snow storms, large payloads such as hauling wagons out of the field. etc. May I suggest that bikes such as the Nouvo in driving conditions such as we experience here in Pattaya is the Dodge automatic all around machine for most of us considering what to buy in a bike?

I read an article on the new model 115 cc. Nouvo. This is not the new model 135 c.c. bike. And this is the model I have. Since the old Nouvo 115 c.c. model, Yamaha did a lot of tweaking of this engine to develop more usable power in the low to medium spectrum of the power band. They also eliminated the basket in front and added other changes to the bike.

As I've said many times in here before, if I lived in other areas of Thailand, where the driving conditions are unlike those I experience in Pattaya I would strongly consider other bikes.

It is possible that bikes differ with some being lemons and others exceeding the average. I've had mine up to 100 kph on Sukamvit...once. And I backed off in a hurry out of fear, fear of all the stupid drivers around me. But I had a lot left. My Nouvo flies. Now granted on a U.S. superhighway it's going to feel pretty deficient but even on Sukamvit I feel like I can accelerate around all the cars, even the fast moving ones. Also....I have over 10,000 kilometers on my machine without even a hint of overdo noise in the drive train or other problems and I've never encountered anyone who does not like his Nouvo or Air Blade. Or a single soul who's had problems with either one. Now, no one's I've talked to has gone close to 100,000 kilometers for instance and that might be another thing. But looking at my situation, say I get 20,000 kilometers out of it and then turn around and sell it for peanuts. I can still buy a new one for 53,000 baht and I will have gotten four years out of mine. That is just 13250 baht per year. I don't expect much in repair costs either. That's around $400 dollars per year or what a single visit to a dealership might cost for say a 30,000 mile checkup on a Mazda Miata sports car for instance.

Now, a Honda Wave might have 11 horsepower or whatever. But at what rpm level? I would expect that as you back off of redline or that point close to redline, that this power is going to drop off fast. And most drivers don't drive anywhere close to redline.

Just took a trip down Sukamvit Road on my 115 cc. Nouvo with two of my buddies driving their 125 cc. Honda Waves. I noticed them lagging behind me. Later on one of my friends and I drove back to Naklua together, once again on Sukamvit. The Nouvo felt pretty strong, and I have no doubt it could keep up with traffic in the fast lane. Anyway, I'd keep asking Gus to race, to see which bike could accelerate faster and I kept pulling away from him. Later on he said, the Honda Wave would ultimately catch me but that the Nouvo was faster in acceleration to a certain point. Also that he would have to really rev the Wave up, but with no tach, he might be overreving. Normally through city traffic Gus is an excellent driver and he will zip in and out of it more adroitly than I will. But when it came to running along Sukamvit Road yesterday, that Nouvo of mine was a much better performer than his Wave.

My personal feeling is the Nouvo has been tweaked by Yamaha to give it a lot of power on tap at all times but compared to the Wave it would suffer in fuel economy accordingly. Sure, if you punch a Wave out to red line all the time, it might offer more power, but once again in real world driving conditions it is quite easy to find the power in a Nouvo

I think the Nouvo is a good bike. but I find the design of the Elegance just horrible (color composition etc.).

I have now the Airblade Phoenix Edition in dark grey/black. And it drives just great!

Yep....the Airblades do that. They do drive great. At first I did not care for the color compositions of the Airblades when they first came out and they were not up to the Nouvos, but now there's some great attractive color combinations for the Airblade. I like the dark red models for example. The new Nouvos don't have their colors down. Knowing Yamaha this will change and knowing Honda they will have a bigger Airblade to compete with the 135 cc. Nouvo. As it is the Airblades, the 115 c.c. Nouvos and of course the new 135 cc. models all have the power necessary for driving in places such as Pattaya so it's all a matter of personal preference.

But just two hours ago, I drove a big Norwegian pal of mine to Dophin Circle so he could pick up a baht taxi to take him to a place to pick up his Nouvo rental. Guy's about 215 pounds now. The Nouvo handled it just fine. It in situations like this where the Mios, Finos, and Clicks are going to fall short.

For me, it's now between the Yamaha 'Mio MX' and the 'Nouvo MX'. Decisions, decisions...

You pay for what you get so much of the time. The Mio and the Fino are the same size. I really like the retro styling of the Fino. But when we compare the old model Nouvo against the Mio and the Fino, you get substantially more power even though both seem to use the same 115 c.c. engine. (I think Yamaha's done some special tweaking to the engines in the Nouvos). You get A LOT MORE STORAGE under the seat. That is you can't put much more than a pair of gloves under the Fino or Mio's seat whereas you can put a whole bag of groceries under the Nouvo's seat. You get automatic choke with the Nouvo whereas the two smaller Yamaha offerings employ a manual choke. You get sustantially larger wheels and tires with the Nouvo (16 inch versus 14 inch) which translates out to greater stability. And here's the best one yet.....you get twin shocks in the rear on the Nouvo versus a single shock on the Mio, Fino, and for that matter the Honda Click. Think about it........there's a single shock on just one side of the rear of the bike on the Fino, Mio and Click to save production costs so that both Honda and Yamaha can come into the market with lower cost automatic bikes. Now that's just not good enough, I say. If you don't believe me put one 200 pound plus Western guy on the back of these bikes and your 100 pound Thai girlfriend and just see how well the Mio, Fino, and Click come out. Not that this is something I recommend but I've done it for short runs when absolutely necessary. Do this and you will appreciate the larger tired and twin shocked Nouvo's and Airblades.

And to those who might quibble about cost differences, rounding the numbers off we are talking about a 40,000 baht bike here versus a 50,000 baht bike. That's just 10,000 baht difference. Say you ride your bike to 4 years. That's just 2500 baht a year difference or the price you will pay for one bar fine in a go-go club plus what you might pay the girl for one night. Now think about what you pay in the U.S. per year for driving a car. Say you buy a new car for $25,000 and after 4 years you get $12000 for this car. That's $13,000 over the 4 years. Divide that by four and you wind up depreciating your car by $3250 or 100,750 baht per year just to drive that car. So we are talking about driving a car that depreciates 100,750 baht per year versus having to pay just 2500 baht per year for a Nouvo over a Mio, Click, or Fino. That's a factor of 40 to 1.

This one's a no brainer. What is your life worth? And as long as you are stuck with just two wheels what is your comfort level worth and general all around utility of the bike? Bikes such as the Nouvo and Air Blade give you a huge margin in all categories over the lesser automatics. As for me, I'd take 135 cc's over 110 (the Air Blades displacement) anytime. Snap up the new model Nouvo (which is 135 cc's and liquid cooled versus the 115 cc. airl cooled engine in older models such as mine) or wait until what you see Honda's going to be coming out with to counter the new Nouvo because once again Honda's going to have to play catch up because once again Honda finds itself seriously outgunned. But if you simply prefer the Air Blade and feel that in the real world of day to day driving such as you encounter in Pattaya where you will never drive very fast anyway, it's still an excellent selection being far better than the Click, Fino or Mio.

I've driven all three. The Suzuki is a dead ringer for the Nouvo although it offers 125 cc's. Compared to my 115 cc. Nouvo I could tell no difference in the power and the handling of my Nouvo was just a bit sharper. For that matter though the handling of my Nouvo, the old model, is also a bit better than the new model. But the new model Nouvo at 135 cc's is decidedly better than mine, the Air Blade and the Suzuki.

100% dissagree (and we have many many bikes, both auto and manual).

I have (among the bikes) a Kawasaki Cheer.. god knows how old.. its got nearly 60k kms on its clock !! When you get an auto to 60,000 kms come back and tell me.

Chain drive v belt drive being more expensive.. Again totally not true.. Have a belt problem (whining very common on the Nuovo MX) and your looking at 4.5k for a rebuild.. My missus rents bikes and has some nuovos this has been done a couple of times. I fail to understand whats expensive about a chain, they last for years and cost what 600 baht for a chain ??? Maybe 1500 for chain and sprokets name branded.

So you had a bad dealer experience.. OK so that one shops a pain.. Basic Kawasaki parts are easy to obtain and can be serviced by every tin shack mechanic I have ever dropped it off at, here on Phuket.. And still how would that effect a Honda wave ??

As to tuning.. You probably wont need it with an manual as you would an auto.. My basic geared bike flies up hills over taking every auto, the auto box steals 10 - 15% of the power output of the engine. On the hill to my house my mates GF had to get of his bike and get on the back of mine as it wouldnt go up the (very steep I admit) hill 2 up.

The autos drink fuel.. I was having to put in 100 baht every other day (on my regular daily route) into a nuovo where the cheer would do the same kind of miles and be 4 or 5 days between a 100 baht fill. OK so its 100 baht here or there but that still means a grand a month. Auto have more complexity so more work. Less power.

If the autos are more economical ??? Why is it that EVERY MB taxi has a manual ??

As my old girlfriend put it, many Thais buy manuals because they can't afford to buy the autos. She went onto say that if they could afford autos, this is what they'd have.

I am trying to get a realistic assessment for salaries here in Pattaya for management and accounting personnel as I am on the committee in charge of representing the owners' interests in my building. Okay.....the manager would be in charge of a small condo building, say 60 units. He would be working an eight hour day, and no more. Pressure is minimal. He would be in charge of making sure that repairs are done on a timely basis, overseeing the books while being assisted by a secretary with a reasonable amount of accounting skills. His duties would consist of lining up contracts with several small companies providing security, cleaning the swimming pool, making sure the building and outside common areas are cleaned properly and so on.

Obviously when I mentioned in the subject heading "accounting personnel" I have in mind the secretary in charge of receiving payments from the residents, recording accounting entries into her computer using Quickbooks, making sure the condo community's bills are paid, typing letters, doing faxes, etc. One could for instance hire for either the secretarial job or manager a recent college graduate with a four year college degree. This would be an option. The person could be male or female and fairly aharp. Any ideas on what these kind of people make? Although we have people in place already, I need to keep informed about what market rates are for such people.

I think I mentioned this before but I rented an Air Blade in Krabi soon after the Air Blades first came onto the Thai market. Among other things I drove from Ao Nang Beach to Krabi City and back. The road was not crowded at all and my tilak back then kept asking me to slow down. I wanted to get an Air Blade and trade off my Nouvo at that time but didn't. Since then I've done a lot of thinking about the two bikes, and have concluded that on that very good road I would probably have enjoyed driving my Nouvo just as much as the Air Blade. It's my buddy Ross who's rented a Nouvo for a month, then turned around and rented an Air Blade for a month who's commented he finds the Nouvo to be the more stable of the two. David, another American friend of mine, who used to often rent Nouvos wound up buying an Air Blade when I strongly recommended he try one out so he could compare the two before making a decision. He rates the two bikes as a complete tossup.

I have noticed as well the glued to the ground feeling one gets driving an Air Blade because of its lower center of gravity. (because of this it also grounds out when you drive one over obstacles such as concrete curbs). The Nouvo definitely gives the feeling it likes to travel in straight lines. The Air Blade makes one feel like Stirling Moss at the wheel of a Grand Prix car and you want to "turn, turn, turn." The Nouvo wants you to just sit back and relax and enjoy the ride. As for the brakes......again, I do agree they are better on the Air Blade.

One other thing I want to mention is that machinery with longer wheel bases tend to offer a better ride all other things being equal. The Nouvo has a noticeably longer wheel base than the Air Blade. To give you an example of what I am talking about here, when I used to farm in the U.S. I wound up owning two John Deere tractors. The larger was a 4650, a two wheel drive that had 165 horsepower stock. My neighbor had a number of tractors but one was a 1566 International tractor. It was also rated around 165 horsepower stock. The International had a much shorter wheel base and it was a much more compact machine. My neighbor's father kept commenting that my John Deere just didn't produce the horsepower a tractor its size warranted and stated that it was as large as many four wheel drives that got more power to the ground, thus outperforming my John Deere by a substantial margin.

All of which was very true, but when it came to the end of those long days on a tractor seat, some of which went for 36 hours straight traversing very rough fields that would give a man both a hernia and a hemorhoid at the same time if he was driving that International 1566, that John Deere was the cat's meow. It had a wonderful ride and a lot of it was due to its larger frame and its much longer wheelbase.

Once again it's going to be up to Honda to play catch up.

Thanks for the report update!

IMO the new Nouvo hasn't surpassed the Air Blade except in engine capacity.

The features I've come to appreciate on the Air Blade are still not on the new Nouvo and made me decide on a near new Air Blade instead.

1. Kick stand engine cutout.

2. Integrated front and rear brakes which are exceptional.

3. Front raised foot rest area. The new Nouvo doesn't have this. I use it often, so it put me off purchasing the Nouvo.

4. Hand brake.

5. Fuel tank accessed without lifting the seat with a functional realease button on the key console.

6. Meatier tyres. Never had a puncture on an Air Blade - had many on the Nouvo.

Some benefits on the Nouvo:

1. Front hook for shopping.

2. Cup holders on the front console.

3. A little more space under the seat.

IMO the design of the new Yamaha Nouvo Elegance doesn't hold a candle to the new Air Blade design and IMO worse than the Nouvo MX 115cc model.

Where are those alloy wheels? Haven't seen any in Pattaya!

Overall they're all great bikes (Nouvos and Air Blades).

Agreed. Both are excellent bikes and either one has ample power and speed for driving in and around Pattaya. I'd be quite happy with an Air Blade. As for my 2 year old 115 c.c. Nouvo, it drives like it's brand new and as I've mentioned before it is so perfectly balanced that I can easily drive it no hands, which admittedly is not a good idea. The new model is not quite as well balanced, not that this is critical. I also prefer the paint scheme of my black and silver Nouvo over the new model offerings.

As for the kick stand cutout---nice feature to be sure but I cannot begin to tell you how many times I've accidentally driven off with the kickstand down on my Nouvo let alone many other bikes I've owned back in the U.S. with no ill effects. Brakes are important and I used to feel this alone would be enough reason to buy the Air Blade over the Nouvo. However, when Ross and I both rented Air Blades on Koh Larn island and drove up and down that big steep hill I didn't feel the stopping power of the Air Blades was up to what it was cracked up to be. Granted, the idea is to equalize the front and rear brakes, a great idea, but I'm not so sure this is going to make that big a difference here in Pattaya compared to 1. Luck, 2. Good judgement while driving, 3. Keeping all one's senses alert to the idiot drivers within a 360 degree circle of one's motorbike.

As to your comment about the meatier tires on the Air Blade, I've oftentimes considered the relative merits of the wider tires on the Air Blade, both front and rear, (they are 11-14 % wider) to the larger diameter tires on the Nouvo. That is the Air Blade has 14 inch diameter wheels to the 16 inch diameter tires of the Nouvo. Larger diameter wheels provide a greater gyroscopic effect providing more stability.

Putting all this in perspective, most motor scooters still being sold in the U.S. have Mickey Mouse sized tires. Take for instance Honda's Helix selling for $5349 (from the Honda web site). Keep in mind this is for a 250 cc. scooter. The front tire is just 12 inches in diameter while the rear tire is only 10 inches in diameter. Smaller models have 10 inch diameter tires front and rear. The same is true for similar Yamaha offerings with the exception for much bigger machines from both Honda and Yamaha such as Yamaha's 400 cc. Majesty and Honda's even larger Silver Wing.

I personally think the matter of tire size is critical with most scooters being sold in the U.S not nearly being up to the likes of either the Air Blade or Nouvo (unless one considers superhighway offerings such as the Majesty and Silver Wing which also cost a great deal more money). Personally I would have liked to have seen the Nouvo come out with a 16 inch wheel such as it now has with tires as wide as those on the Air Blade with a slightly larger gas tank. But currently I prefer 135 cc's to 110 so I think Yamaha has once again upped Honda---for now.

Well, it's mid-April already and I see many of the new nouvos on the streets around Pattaya. Surprisingly I haven't seen a single alloy wheel version yet here in Pattaya.

Any reports on how good this new model is, or isn't?

Ross now has over 900 km on his new Nouvo. Its engine which was very quiet has gotten a bit noisier with getting broken in, developing a bit of a growl in it, although it's still not as loud as my 115 cc. model. He liked the sound of mine. It also seems noticeably more powerful now. Truth is, my 115 c.c. model easily has enough power for driving anywhere in Pattaya. It's Songkran now, and yesterday I absolutely had to drive to South Pattaya to pay my motorcyle insurance premium, which couldn't wait so my girlfirend and I took a route down Naklua's back streets to North Pattaya Road, to Sukumvit Road, then South to Pattaya Thai to AA Insurance, my thinking we would probably not get wet by taking these major streets as opposed to 2nd Road, Beach Rd, etc. Took Sukamvit Road riding double and we stayed dry the whole trip. I'd say we were clipping along at 40 to 45 miles per hour on Sukamit,with the engine loafing and we got from South Pattaya Road to North Pattaya Road in very quickly. One really could not ask for anything more out of a piece of machinery.

I figure the new Nouvo has about 20 % more displacement, 20 % more torque, and 20 % more horsepower. It's liquid cooled whereas mine is air cooled so the engine will probably outlast mine and hold up better when driving at sustained speeds of 55 to 60 miles an hour for example. I've got over 10,000 km on my 115 cc. model now and with the exception of oil changes all I've done to it is to put in a new headlight bulb and spark plug and had to wait just 10 minutes total for both jobs to be done---at a Honda dealer no less (remember the Nouvo is a Yamaha).

I'd rate the old 115 c.c. Nouvo model as a marvelous machine that is the epitomy of perfection for day to day driving in and around Pattaya, and it's very versatile as it has comfortable seating for two that is far superior to say a Honda Wave's with ample storage space for groceries under its large seat along with hooks on several points on the bike for hangling all sorts of things. I'd rate the Honda Air Blade as roughly equivalent although most of my friends and I feel the Nouvo is slightly superior but this is a matter of personal preference. Both the Yamaha Click and the Yamaha Mio and Fino are substantially inferior. Just for starters they have a single rear shock, and it you really think that's enough just try putting a large Western male behind you with your Thai girlfriend riding behind him thus riding three up for a short distance. I don't recommend it, but on occasion I've done it for short distances and here I'm talking about myself at 170 pounds, plus a pal who weighs 250 plus my girlfriend who weighs about 100 pounds.

Now, as for the new Nouvo, I believe it's simply King of the Hill when it comes to what the average guy really needs here in Pattaya. The automatics I've mentioned represent the utmost in reliability, parts availability, etc. The new 135 cc. engine that puts the new Nouvo over the top really isn't new as its been employed in the Spark and thoroughy tested. Once again it's going to be up to Honda to play catch up. What really upsets me is someday, perhaps in about 2 years (if I haven't replaced my Nouvo with something newer) I'm going to have to have something major to it such as replacing the drive belt, and that's going to cost me something like 500 baht.

I believe you are thinking about something like the Yamaha Majesty, which is what it is called in the States.

I haven't looked into the local market of maxi-scooters, but there are now a large number of them getting around Pattaya now...especially for rentals.

As far as Yamahas what I have seen here in Thailand are the Trimax models, which are I believe 500 c.c's. I recall reading that the Trimax had been replaced, at least in the U.S. market by the somewhat smaller Majestry which displaces 400 c.c's. From what I have read the Trimax was viewed by Yamaha as being a little too expensive to produce for its market niche and that it was a little too heavy. From what I have seen the Majesty is a more compact machine and its reviews from bike magazines rate it as an excellent machine.

Hi All! For me, the Air Blade seems to be a good choice, I wonder if someone knows where the best place is to buy Air Blade (best price with mag wheels)?

Do some of you have any tip/links regarding tuning parts, to make Air Blade go a bit faster?

Thanks.

I'm sure there are many good places to buy an Air Blade at a decent price. Up here in Naklua I will usually get my Yamaha Nouvo serviced at a Honda dealer on Naklua Road near but not at Soi 16 on the West side of Naklua Road. I get very fast and good service here and I think their pricing is fair.

If you want to go faster get the new 135 cc. Honda Nouvo. It's going to be noticeably quicker than the 110 cc. Honda Airblade with a higher top end. But I'll say one thing about the Air Blade. I rented one in Krabi where the roads were excellent and uncrowded. Had my girl on the back with me and found the Air Blade to be very enjoyable driving on those roads. Drove from Ao Nang Beach to Krabi City on that Air Blade, enjoyed the scenery on the way and felt no need for pushing the bike as it covered the distance just fine.

If you want something to do and aren't busy enough go out and get those parts to soup up whatever bike you buy. You will most likely break down more often and maybe, just maybe you will notice the increase in power. If Yamaha and Honda wanted their Nouvos and Air Blades to go faster they would have put on the parts you will be seeking in the first place. For some reason I feel Yamaha and Honda have better engineers than we are.

I believe you are thinking about something like the Yamaha Majesty, which is what it is called in the States. Here you will see used Tri Maxes. Honda has its entry too. But I think the best of the lot is the Majesty which is 400 cc's. (the Tri Max is 500). From what i've read Yamaha discontinued the Tri Max so the Majesty currently represents the Yamaha vision of state of the art. It weighs about 430 pounds to the Nouvo's 230 and will do 95 to 100 mph. From what I've head it is pretty competent on U.S. highways. Has two, not one drive belt, bigger storage area under the seat, and most definitely represents on the U.S. market a logical alternative to "real motorcycles". I think Honda's Silver Wing is 600 cc's. I think it looks simply too large and ungainly compared to the Yamaha Majesty. Also, if you look up various bike reviews you will find the Majesty gets rave reviews while the Silver Wing garners reviews that are just so so. All these bikes are much larger than Nouvo's, Air Blades, etc and they aen't going to be as maneuverable in Pattaya traffic, but out of all these machines the Majesty in my opinion has the best design and seems to be best out of the lot for slicing and dicing through tight traffic. But here in THailand I would think one would wind up paying double for such machines and is likely to end up looking on the used market for one. I personally want to buy only new.

A CBR costs just 60,000 baht while the Phantoms go for 80,000 baht. Parts for both are readily available. That's a huge difference between what one would expect to pay for the large scooters we are talking about here. A German who owns a condo on the top floor of my building just bought his 3rd Phantom. Would he prefer a BMW? Certainly, and so would I. But Germans tend to be very practical and this guy certainly is. He admits that Waves and Nouvos have virtually the same top end as the Phantom. Yet he obviously prefers the Phantom because of its feel and other attributes as compared to those of much smaller bikes. Each to his own.

I think I have been pretty consistent with my posts that in a place such as Pattaya the best automatics are the way to go as 1. There really isn't much opportunity to go fast here (without being suicidal), 2. These machines are well balanced with their main luggage area being under their seats while providing ample carrying capabilities for shopping bars, etc, 3. The automatic transmissions are reliable while providing such an easy driving experience that a driver's focus is the driving hazards around him instead of shifting. The manual transmission motor bikes such as the Honda Waves and Yamaha Sparks pretty much require a front mounted basket in order to come close to a Nouvo's carrying capabilities and this detracts from the machine's handling. Get a Phantom or a CBR and you are going to need saddle bags and /or an after market luggage carrier which in my opinion detracts from the overall lines of the bike. So at this point, for overall driving around this area the new Nouvo would be my number one choice. Nevertheless, especially for those living in such areas in Thailand that offer move highway driving, a Phantom or CBR will come into its own a lot more than here. Both have their charms. I would imagine eitther one offers superior braking to what the smaller motorbikes offer. Also their tire size is signicantly larger making such bikes more roadworthy at higher speeds. And in the more outerlying areas where opportunities to fuel up come fewer and more far between I would think the small capacity gas tanks on the small motorbikes put them at a disadvantage to machines such as the Phantom and CBR which offer gas tanks containing at least double the amount of fuel.

Now that Ross's new 135 cc. Nouvo is gettting broken in I wanted to do another test spin on it. Once again, we raced although we did not take the two bikes (mine is 115 cc air cooled 2 year old Nouvo) onto roads where we could really get them up to speed. Ross rode mine and I drove his. Ross said we hit a terminal speed of over 70 kilometers per hour. This time the new Nouvo was noticeably quicker. I was well out in front. Then we went the opposite direction, this time slightly uphill. I got up to over 70 km/her but Ross backed out well before then. Still, in pretty short order I got a couple of bike lengths ahead of him. Also subjectively I felt there was a very noticeable increase in power and the engine did not seem to be working as hard. All in all the new Nouvo is incredibly smooth and feels much quicker than the Air Blade. And it is VERY QUIET, as quiet as an Air Blade. Brakes seem to be smoother as well. I then decided that at close to 10,000 kilometers on the clock it was time for a new spark plug for me so I took the bike up to the Honda shop up the street from me and had an oil change done to it plus a spark plug change. Definitely idles much smoother now although while running the bike it is not in the same class as the new Nouvo for quietness. I'd say 11 horsepower is pretty much on target for the new model compared to the old model's 8.9 horsepower. This new Nouvo is very impressive.

But at the Honda shop both Ross and I tooked at a new CBR 150, sat on it, etc. Also at Ross's lodgings there's a new CBR which we were both admiring. Then the owner walked down from his lodging to take his CBR out for a spin.

Have to say that I'm right with the guys here who keep raving about their CBR's. It is small, it looks terrific. It has a very narrow front, and I'll bet it's one helluva fun machine to drive. If one had one, it would be easy and cheap to get serviced. I'll just have to see if I can rent one in good conditon down on Beach Road just to test run for the helluva it. Just looking at it, reading the comments here and sitting on one reminds me of one of the first bikes I ever drove. My brother in law had gotten a twin cylinder 650 Yamaha back in 1969 which was quite a bit like a twin cylinder Triumph. But I went to a dealer and drove the 2 stroke Yamaha 350, I think it was an RD model. It was a very small feeling bike yet very quick. I loved that bike, its light weight feeling, quick acceleration and great handling. Within a year or so I bought a 350 Honda however. But I have the impression the CBR 150 feels a lot like that 350 Yamaha even though it's basically an 80 mile per hour machine whereas the old Yamaha 2 stroke was good for 100 miles an hour plus. It seems a neat neat bike, and it's no doubt all one needs here in Thailand.

Then I went back to the condo and saw in our parking lot a Yamaha R-1. It's really cool and I'm sure it would be a blast to drive on little trafficked roads out in the American West, but, in the real world here of congested traffic in Thailand, serviceability problems, high initial cost, I have to think, who needs all that power? The CBR probably offers more fun and for a lot less baht.

First review of the new Nouvo. Within a couple of hours of Ross's picking up his new Nouvo the two of us ran them side to side along the back streets up here in Naklua. First off, Ross's machine is similar to mine in color being black and silver. What appears incongrous with the new model are the twin rear springs which are red and in my opinion do not look good. I'd have the dealership swap in either a pair of black colored springs or chromium to make the appearance of the rear shocks not clash so vividly against the other colors of the bike. Ross did not see this as a problem so he never bothered to ask the dealer to swap in a different colored pair of springs.

Keeping in mind that Ross's new 135 cc. machine is not broken in one iota we nevertheless raced them side by side several times up to 45 or 50 kilometers per hour. There wasn't a lot of difference but I'd say that by the time we hit 45 to 50 Ross came on stronger at the end and got a bike length or two ahead of me.

When I got on the new 135 cc. bike, I felt that it didn't work as hard to get good acceleration up to 40 kilometers per hour. It seemed torque played a key role here and that the engine did not rev as much to get the same acceleration from the new machine. The bike was also substantially quieter especially during acceleration than my 115 cc. Nouvo. The sound of the machine and the bike's overall smoothness driving off from a dead stop reminded me of the Honda Airblade. Acceleration of the new Nouvo because of the overall smoothness and quietness of the bike seemed effortless as if the bike is not straining at all Someone earlier posted that this engine quietness was due to the fact that the Airblade is liquid cooled whereas the 115 c.c. Nouvo is air cooled. I'd agree that the difference in the cooling systems is the reason why both the Airblade and the new 135 c.c. Nouvo are both much quieter than the old model Nouvo. However, Ross liked the sound of my 115 c.c. machine as it sounded more businesslike and faster.

I am curious what the fuel economy is going to be of the new Nouvo versus the 115 c.c. model. Both bikes have the same sized fuel tanks. It is possible that the new 135 c.c. model might get a little better gas mileage due to the engine not seeming to rev so hard but we'll know later on this one.

I might have mentioned in a much earlier post that my brakes would squeek when I'd first start driving my bike but that they would improve vastly after the first couple of minute's driving. For awhile I thought the culprit was the brake cable and putting WD-40 on the cable and inside the brake lever seemed to help but after awhile the oiling of this area no longer worked. Later I cleaned the brake rotor up extensively and this did the trick. Although I'd give a slight nod to the Honda Airbalde's brakes over the Nouvo's, both Ross and I agreed that there was not that great a difference between the two machines to warrent choosing one over the other. Driving Ross's new 135 cc. bike, I'd venture to say that the brakes are a bit smoother than mine. For that matter upon raising or lowering the kickstand of the new Nouvo I found the new machine to be a bit smoother and more precise. So overall, the new model is simply more refined.

But back to the bike's cosmetics. Viewing my machine side by side with Ross's I'd have to give the nod to Ross's machine. The inside of the front cowling is black on mine. Because of the way the new model's silver and black colors are painted when you sit on the new machine you see a silver rim outlining the overall black area of the inside of the machine's cowling. This provides a richer appearance. There's a few differences in the cosmetics of the two machines, but overall the new silver and black machine looks just a little more elegant (Is that why it's called the Nouvo Elegance) than the 115 cc. model. Also the odometer is digital in the new model and there's also a water temperature guage, which is a necessity in my opinion for all machines having liquid cooled engines.

The handling of the 115 cc and new 135 cc. models is identical. All in all I feel the new model represents a worthwhile upgrade in terms of overall smoothness, quietness of the engine, possible slight improvement in braking, improved cosmetics (except for those bright red rear springs), and the engine not having to work as hard. If I didn't already have a bike that does just about everything well for day to day driving conditions in my area I'd definitely buy the new Nouvo and I'd definitely prefer it to the Air Blade. But more later as Ross's new 135 cc. Nouvo gets broken in after which we will run the two machines side by side on faster roads.

Looks like I'll just have to do a report on the new Nouvo. My Pal Ross has been thinking about buying a bike for nearly three weeks now. We have both been anxiously waiting for reports here on how the new Nouvo drives. Nothing.

So tomorrow Ross will be picking up his new 135 cc. Nouvo. He's been renting the old model such as I have and he's already rented an Air Blade in the past for about a month. So expect some comparisons here soon.