Buying A New Small Motorbike, Any Advice ?

[micksterbs]

Yeah, the Spark's an intriguing bike. Plus, you don't see many of them around which is a point in its favour, in my book. It could be argued that they're thin on the ground for a good reason but I just think it's the Thai "me too" mentality at work here. If it had a manual clutch, I think I'd be sorely tempted. But the missus wouldn't want a bike with no basket on the front: HORROR!

Anyway, I reckon I'll look-out for a nearly-new CBR150 for myself and she can pedal the Wave around to her heart's content.

[jackcorbett]

Yeah, the Spark's an intriguing bike. Plus, you don't see many of them around which is a point in its favour, in my book. It could be argued that they're thin on the ground for a good reason but I just think it's the Thai "me too" mentality at work here. If it had a manual clutch, I think I'd be sorely tempted. But the missus wouldn't want a bike with no basket on the front: HORROR!

Anyway, I reckon I'll look-out for a nearly-new CBR150 for myself and she can pedal the Wave around to her heart's content.

Yep..Me too attitude as in other Thais think the Honda is better so it must be. But when you compare the two bikes, the Yamaha wins hands down performance wise. More rubber on the ground, a larger more powerful engine, disk brakes front and rear, liquid cookling. It is also significantly higher priced. Also Waves come at bare basement prices so they are more affordable than Yamaha Sparks. You pay almost as much for a Spark as you do for a fully automatic Nouvo and around 8000 baht more than you will for an automatic Fino or Mio. So I'd say it's a premium product at a premium price.

[nolifer]

Just thought i´d throw in a picture of the spark since it´s kinda rare, atleast outside bkk

Autoclutch(4gears), totally happy with this bike, still remains a mystery why it´s so rare, maybe the thais knows something i don´t

[micksterbs]

Hang-on Nolifer, is that a couple of bolts/screws I see on the front fairing? Not mountings for a basket, are they? Mmm, that's got me thinking...