New Honda Airblade Model

[jbeck]

Dave is absolutely correct. Let's take a one horsepower transportation method and change the power ever so slightly. In one corner is a plow horse. It can do everything around the farm. In the other corner is the finest thoroughbred ever to have trod a track. The difference is between night and day. But to compare either to a 1000 c.c. super bike producing 150 horsepower? And does this mean that I wouldn't enjoy riding the likes of a Sectretariat? And to feel the exhilaration?

To compare an Air Blade to a Nouvo or the new model Nouvo to the old is comparing apples to oranges. The Nouvo sits tall. It has larger diameter wheels than the Air Blade. It wants to drive in straight lines, yet, it is quite agile compared to larger bikes. The Air Blade has squatter tires. Appearance wise the Air Blade resembles a small motorcyle. It is a unified whole with tires in relationship to the size and weight of the bike much more in proportion to that of say an old 350 cc. Honda twin which it reminds me of on a much smaller scale. In fact, driving the two lane highways near Ao Nang Beach in Krabi when I rented the Air Blade I loved it. I was reminded of those many times driving the backroads in the Missouri Ozarks when I road my 350 Honda just for enjoyment, and I often got lost in the process. I wanted to drive that Air Blade faster and to take the turns much more aggressively but my now ex girlfiend sitting behind me wanted no part of it. I felt I could enjoy driving that Air Blade all over Thailand and it would do it easily (but not at 70 miles an hour).

In comparison the Nouvo looks gangly. But it's a bigger machine. It too drives quite well. And which is more stable at high speeds? I'll never really know because I live in Pattaya (unless I do side by side comparisons back in Krabi or someplace similar) and I don't care to drive a bike very far from here. My 113 c.c. Nouvo is more than fast enough to get me into trouble right away. If I want to go to the River Kwai, I'll go on a mini-bus. If I want to go to Bangkok it will be by taxi or bus. I like living. But back in the U.S. I've driven BMW's at 140 miles an hour and I've driven dirt bikes straight up eight foot tall nearly perpendicular embankments. If I open up my Nouvo around here just put me in the loony bin because I'll never see the idiot who comes out of nowhere going the wrong way who will make a paraplegic out of me.

But I sure like the feel of a nice bike beneath me. I even enjoyed my ex girlfriend's Fino that had the same engine as my Nouvo. But the engine was just a bit different under the hood and it just didn't have the get up and go of the Nouvo. I've had 300 pound men behind me on my Nouvo and I've had a big man and my girlfiend behind me for short distances, and I shudder to think how that would have felt on a Honda Click or Yamaha Mio.

The Airblade short on power...well, my Norwegian friend thinks the old Airblade doesn't compare at higher speeds to the old Nouvo even but I've rented old model Air Blades often on Ko Larn Island and they went up that big hill quite nicely. How much power do I need around Pattaya? Well......I've not found the old model Air Blade to be lacking for my needs and with that extra 15 % power, gas mileage, and range with the new model, I'd by the seat of my pants have to rate it powerwise as splitting the difference between my 113 c.c. Yamaha Nouvo (that my Norwegian friend thought was quite adequate for going up and down the hills all the way to Rayon) and the new 135 cc. 11.2 horsepower Nouvo Elegance. Let's just say you increased the cc's and torque of the old model Nouvo in the same relationship as going from 113 c.c. to 125 cc's and I think we'd be about spot on.

To those who care to laugh at the new automatics, I look at it this way. They are the cutting edge of modern technology and the king of the crop are the Nouvos and the Air Blades. Take your pick. I'd be happy with either. But they don't drive the same. But they both drive very well.

so what are you saying, really? Sorry - Youre wrong about apples and oranges. I dont agree with you - they drive very similar. They are very similar in pratically every way including intended use, price, etc...Anyone buying either bike would immediately consider the other and have to choose. Your idea that the new airblade has 15% more power is a guess - I think you made it up Most people dont live in pattaya and probably do care about higher speeds and longer trips.

I have some useful questions - is either the airblade or nuovo known to be better when it comes to longevity? Do they break? One more than the other?

Do either have (different) warranties or mandatory dealer service to keep the warranty in effect?

Both fast enough to get hurt real bad, but no one wears a decent 'real' helmet, or shoes!

I didnt understand about the laughing..was someone in this thread caught laughing?

:D

jeff

[Richard-BKK]

Honest compare

Yamaha 115cc (Mio, Fino and Nouvo) vs New Honda AirBlade i = for Honda on power and fuel consumption, with a small exception that the Yamaha Nouvo is for some people "better" to ride on longer stretches of road, possible due to the larger wheels.

Yamaha 135cc (Nouvo) vs new Honda AirBlade i = a win for the Yamaha, with the exception that the Honda is using considerable less fuel (if I needed to guess I would say about 70% more). On the power level the advantages of the 25cc more is not as much as you would except, in some situations the 110cc Honda has no problems keeping up, and with very moist weather conditions the Honda beats the living h.ll out of the Yamaha. When the Yamaha is still trying to start the Honda is probably already home giving the rider time to make coffee and sandwiches for the Yamaha rider.

Comparing a Honda AirBlade i vs Ducati 1098S = On the open road the Ducati rider would probably not even see the Honda AirBlade i, other then thinking it is a dangerous unpredictable object sharing the same road. But on a Sunday, going from Rama II road to Chakuchak market the seemingly endless power of the Ducati is useless and the much smaller and seriously less powerful Honda Airblade arrives at Chakuchak market about 30 minutes earlier then the big bike with his big mouth.....

Edited November 27, 2008 by Richard-BKK

[jbeck]

Honest compare

Yamaha 115cc (Mio, Fino and Nouvo) vs New Honda AirBlade i = for Honda on power and fuel consumption, with a small exception that the Yamaha Nouvo is for some people "better" to ride on longer stretches of road, possible due to the larger wheels.

Yamaha 135cc (Nouvo) vs new Honda AirBlade i = a win for the Yamaha, with the exception that the Honda is using considerable less fuel (if I needed to guess I would say about 70% more). On the power level the advantages of the 25cc more is not as much as you would except, in some situations the 110cc Honda has no problems keeping up, and with very moist weather conditions the Honda beats the living h.ll out of the Yamaha. When the Yamaha is still trying to start the Honda is probably already home giving the rider time to make coffee and sandwiches for the Yamaha rider.

Comparing a Honda AirBlade i vs Ducati 1098S = On the open road the Ducati rider would probably not even see the Honda AirBlade i, other then thinking it is a dangerous unpredictable object sharing the same road. But on a Sunday, going from Rama II road to Chakuchak market the seemingly endless power of the Ducati is useless and the much smaller and seriously less powerful Honda Airblade arrives at Chakuchak market about 30 minutes earlier then the big bike with his big mouth.....

[jbeck]

Honest compare

Yamaha 115cc (Mio, Fino and Nouvo) vs New Honda AirBlade i = for Honda on power and fuel consumption, with a small exception that the Yamaha Nouvo is for some people "better" to ride on longer stretches of road, possible due to the larger wheels.

Yamaha 135cc (Nouvo) vs new Honda AirBlade i = a win for the Yamaha, with the exception that the Honda is using considerable less fuel (if I needed to guess I would say about 70% more). On the power level the advantages of the 25cc more is not as much as you would except, in some situations the 110cc Honda has no problems keeping up, and with very moist weather conditions the Honda beats the living h.ll out of the Yamaha. When the Yamaha is still trying to start the Honda is probably already home giving the rider time to make coffee and sandwiches for the Yamaha rider.

Comparing a Honda AirBlade i vs Ducati 1098S = On the open road the Ducati rider would probably not even see the Honda AirBlade i, other then thinking it is a dangerous unpredictable object sharing the same road. But on a Sunday, going from Rama II road to Chakuchak market the seemingly endless power of the Ducati is useless and the much smaller and seriously less powerful Honda Airblade arrives at Chakuchak market about 30 minutes earlier then the big bike with his big mouth.....

So you can't start your nuovo elegance when it rains? I didn't know about that - definitely a minus.

And since it uses almost twice the fuel (sorry I meant 1.7 liter to every 1 liter) to get to the same place - how did you figure this out - another minus especially if you dont get there any faster or have any more fun. It does cost more, too.

Is insurance the same cost for all of them?

I'd pick the ducati, especially if it's red.

Jeff

[Richard-BKK]

It was more heavy mist... But rain or higher altitude would serious tip the 135cc Yamaha engine off

[jackcorbett]

Do you mean as in going through the Eisenhower tunnel in the Colorado Rockies which is nearly 11,000 feet up?

Let's see.....15 % more power and fuel economy for the fuel injected Air Blade? Got it from doing an Internet search.

What's the difference between the 250 Ninja in European form (fuel injected) versus the American version that has been cheapened for the American market? Thailand gets the European form of the beast.

Reliability of the Nouvo and Air Blade. Don't know about the Air Blade as I don't own one but my pal King David does and he says maintenance on his Air Blade has been about nil. As for my Nouvo, I have 13,000 kilometers on it. Replaced one head lamp bulb, one rear brake pad for about 200 baht, replaced one spark plug because I like having new spark plugs and put new tires on it for about forty bucks U.S.---for both tires. It's always started for me although if it sits for a week or so it takes awhile to get it going. It's got a kickstarter if the battery fails. In February it will be 3 years old. Yamaha recommends a drive belt change at 20,000 kilometers, Honda 25,000 kilometers for its Air Blade so I should be getting another year or so out of it before I should have to worry about that. No chain adjustments. No need to put lube on the chain. Honda tells me the chains on the manual transmission models I need to be replaced at least twice as often as belts need to be replaced for the automatics. One question is how much does it cost to replace the cowling if I have an accident.

So in rides Saint Thomas to the rescue to answer the big question. Now I call this American who used to rent a condo in my building for one year St. Thomas because he could be any real thinking man's patron Saint because he's entirely incorruptable. We all know that bar fining two bar girls from the same bar is not good---just ask any bar girl and she will tell you this is not proper etiquette. But Saint Thomas wound up barfining 17 girls all from the same bar and they still love him for his money. Anyway, Saint Thomas came back from the U.S. for a visit about one month ago and he called me for advice on what he should pay to rent a bike. Then I thought about how Saint Thomas likes his beer mak mak and tried to stop him from renting a bike one hour later, but I was fifteen minutes too late. He rented a Yamaha Nouvo about half a mile from my condo building and got about three hundred meters down the street when he dumped the bike. I found him on the floor of the massage place one block from the condo all covered with blood. Got a baht taxi and managed to get Saint Thomas to Pattaya Bangkok Hospital's emergency room. He wasn't seriously injured but there he was with blood all over him and there was this gorgeous female Thai doctor hovering over him. Now Saint Thomas is not a pretty sight even when he's looking his best but he was in his usual rare form delivering his lines just as he would to any bar girl to the pretty female doctor as he tried to get a date with her. Unsuccessful, as soon as the doctor left he started to ask one of the RN"s what she was doing that night. Sorry to get off subject, but in the end Saint Thomas kept the bike parked for the next week and he returned it to the rental shop and settled on having a new cowling put on for 2000 baht. Had he not had other more important plans (he had a lot of beer to drink that afternoon) he would have taken the bike in to a dealer which would have replaced the cowling for 1600 baht and other damaged parts. But time is money for Saint Thomas.

Back in the U.S. if I got so much as a single dent in a car that would cost $1000. Let's see......annual average maintenance costs and insurance, gas, depreciation for the vehicle, etc............I just hate those high maintenance automatic Air Blades and Nouvos.

Edited November 28, 2008 by jackcorbett

[alexth]

Does anyone has any pics of this Honda NEW Air Blade?

[moo9]

Honda has to come up with a new model Airblade to continue competing against Yamaha because right now as good as it is, it is seriously outgunned.

I seriously diagree. The new Nouvo only beats the Air Blade in CC's. The Air Blade is better than the Nouvo in every other aspect including styling which IMO is the most disappointing aspect of the new Nouvo and one of the main reasons I didn't buy one.

Fully agree! I am very happy with my Airblade even it is not Fuel injected. Great City Bike. Stable, fast, never any problem!

[jackcorbett]

Honda has to come up with a new model Airblade to continue competing against Yamaha because right now as good as it is, it is seriously outgunned.

I seriously diagree. The new Nouvo only beats the Air Blade in CC's. The Air Blade is better than the Nouvo in every other aspect including styling which IMO is the most disappointing aspect of the new Nouvo and one of the main reasons I didn't buy one.

Fully agree! I am very happy with my Airblade even it is not Fuel injected. Great City Bike. Stable, fast, never any problem!

I agree that the Airblade is a great bike. I now have around 700 kilometers on my new Nouvo and as good as the Airblade is, the new Nouvo either equals it or trumps it. Others here have stated the Airblade has better brakes than the old model 115 c.c. Nouvo. True but from what I've seen out of my new Nouvo the brakes are flawless and definitely the equal of the Airblade's. I've mentioned before that the Airblade seems more agile than the old 115 c.c. Nouvo in that it turns more easily and quickly while still being stable. The new Nouvo now turns more quickly than before, yet it feels just as stable. The new Nouvo is a very precise handling piece of equipment. that feels so so right. People here have criticized the colors of the Nouvo 135 c.c. Elegance. However, just recently Yamaha introduced new colors on its new models and in my opinion Yamaha came up with stable of winners this time. In the engine department the new 135 cc. water cooled Yamaha engine is every bit as quiet as the Airblades. And lastly that 135 c.c. liquid cooled engine of Yamaha's will seriously outrun either the old Yamaha 115 c.c. air cooled model or the 110 c.c. Airblade. I used to like my old 115 c.c. Yamaha Nouvo a great deal and I liked the Airblades about as much. But the new 135 c.c. Nouvo, I don't just like. I love it. It's the new king of the hill of all motorbikes in my book (I am distinguishing here motorcyles from what is refered to here as a motorbike since motorbikes resemble a scooter in many ways)