Nouvo 135 Yamaha But Love The Cbr 150r

[sendbaht]

We retired to CM 2 months ago. Been renting bikes but it's time to purchase. Really wanted a CBR 150R, but the wife thought a "family" vehicle might work better for us in the short run. Looked at all sorts of little cruisers for around town and trips to Tesco and I believe the Yamaha 135 Nouvo fits the bill. Really like the red color but the tubeless tire ones come in Black or Blue. So will get a black one.

Also, Yamaha is running a promotion this month where you purchase a bike and get a B3000 gas voucher. You may use the B3000 gasoline voucher for a B3000 discount on the bike which is they way I would go.

Then I will start saving up for a CBR 150R , unless the Kawi 250 starts calling.

Even though the 135 Yamaha Nouvo only has been out this year I did a search and found folks happy with it and the 115cc one also.

Now, after some seat time under your belt are you still happy with the 135 Nouvo or wish you would have bought a Air Blade or something else?

Thanks, Sendbaht

[jamesbowen]

We retired to CM 2 months ago. Been renting bikes but it's time to purchase. Really wanted a CBR 150R, but the wife thought a "family" vehicle might work better for us in the short run. Looked at all sorts of little cruisers for around town and trips to Tesco and I believe the Yamaha 135 Nouvo fits the bill. Really like the red color but the tubeless tire ones come in Black or Blue. So will get a black one.

Also, Yamaha is running a promotion this month where you purchase a bike and get a B3000 gas voucher. You may use the B3000 gasoline voucher for a B3000 discount on the bike which is they way I would go.

Then I will start saving up for a CBR 150R , unless the Kawi 250 starts calling.

Even though the 135 Yamaha Nouvo only has been out this year I did a search and found folks happy with it and the 115cc one also.

Now, after some seat time under your belt are you still happy with the 135 Nouvo or wish you would have bought a Air Blade or something else?

Thanks, Sendbaht

I've put 12,000 kilometers on my black 115 c.c. Yamaha Nouvo. The only problems I've had is 1. I replaced one headlamp bulb, 2. I've replaced a sparkplug even though the bike was still running well, and 3. I've just replaced the rear brake drums which set me back 200 baht, and 4. a new set of tires at very modest cost.

An American friend of mine just bought the 135 cc. Nouvo which I feel is a substantial improvement due to its having over 20 % more power and liquid cooling. It's engine is smoother and it has noticeably more torque.

Another American friend of mine has an Airblade which he is quite happy with. I have two neighbors next door to me, an Englishman and a Swiss. Both have Honda Wave 125's and both plan on running them until they wear out.

In February I will have had my Nouvo for 3 years. I have no time schedule for replacing it as it drives as if it's brand new. I enjoy the Airblades immensely when I rent them. As I've mentioned here before, I think it's a tossup between the Airblade and the Nouvo as they are that close. I feel the Yamaha Mio and its sibling the Fino as well as the Honda Click are all too small for we Westerners and that the larger tires of the Airblade or Nouvo, their larger storage capacity beneath their seats, their additional features as well as better handling and ride make them easily worth the extra money one has to pay for them.

As for the Honda Waves, I think they are fine for Thais who if you asked them would actually prefer owning a Nouvo or Air Blade who have purchased the Waves simply because they really can't afford to spend the extra money. But the Nouvo and Airblade have their storage under their seats which gives you much better weight distribution and much better handling than you would have if you stored things in a basket over your front tire. Their variable speed transmissions and drive belt instead of a chain require virtually no maintenance and are truly state of the art. They might not get quite the fuel economy but when you buy gas at only a gallon at a time, who cares. But they do offer instant acceleration as they seem to be in the power band all the time.

Yamaha started serving up the automatics long before Honda got into this market so I'd say that Yamaha is the more progressive company and right now I think the Nouvo 135 cc. you are getting represents the best machine you can get for the city. The Airblades are very nice but they are still having to play catch up. The Airblade has just 110 cc's to the Yamaha's 135. Moreover the Nouvo with its taller tires, and its larger seat, is more of a real grownup's bike for Western men. Your bike will trounce my 115 cc. model, but here in Pattaya I don't dare open my bike anywhere near what it's capable of. It's the ideal machine for the conditions I'm driving under and if I had a lot more power I'd be wanting to tap into it, just this once, or the next week, "I gotta feel that power for a few seconds," and then some moron is going to suddenly appear right in front of me driving the wrong way after getting tired of using the sidewalk. I've driven BMW motorcycles 135 miles an hour and skydived from 10,000 feet but these people scare me shitless.

[JetsetBkk]

I've put 12,000 kilometers on my black 115 c.c. Yamaha Nouvo. The only problems I've had is 1. I replaced one headlamp bulb, 2. I've replaced a sparkplug even though the bike was still running well, and 3. I've just replaced the rear brake drums which set me back 200 baht, and 4. a new set of tires at very modest cost...

Unlike James, I've had my black 135cc Nouvo for about 5 months and have done less than 600 km. (It's used for short, local trips - the pick-up is used for longer trips).

The problems I have had are:

1. Cold starting - if not used for a few days it takes a while to warm up. It starts OK, but I can't rev it - even a little bit - until its being running a while (1 or 2 minutes).

2. Low fuel - it starts to cough and splutter when there's still a noticeable (by shaking and listening) amount of fuel left in the tank. Maybe the opening of the pipe that the fuel goes down is set fairly high up in the tank?

On the plus side: good power, good brakes, good storage under the seat and behind the handle bars. And it has a hook!

Edited October 19, 2008 by JetsetBkk

[thaicbr]

Jetset are you using gasohol in your bike. if so this could be the problem. i've heard from a few people that gasohol is fine if used a lot. but dont leave it in the tank for extended periods. try filling up with standard91 and see if that solves the small problem. give us feedback if it does.

Allan

[dave_boo]

I bought an Airblade for the family. Fuel consumption seems kinda high, especially compared to the Wave-i and CBR 150. Also, the molded floorboards are extremely small, at least for my size 13 (48 Euro) feet. Pickup is about what I expect from a carb'd 110 (?) cc engine driving an automatic transmission; i.e. not as snappy as the clutch-free Wave (which has at least a 15cc advantage on it).

In other words, not something I'd buy for personal usage, but the family likes it and it does in my opinion look better than the Nouvo but that's subjective. I'm also a bit of a Honda whore, so I automatically assume their bikes are better than the competitors, regardless of the fact that isn't necessarily true.

[anthrosciguy]

How's the tubeless work out when it comes to flats? We've rented each winter when we get there and flats happened each time, and any local shop can do a fix fast and cheap. Is this a bigger problem with tubeless?

[LivinLOS]

As for the Honda Waves, I think they are fine for Thais who if you asked them would actually prefer owning a Nouvo or Air Blade who have purchased the Waves simply because they really can't afford to spend the extra money. But the Nouvo and Airblade have their storage under their seats which gives you much better weight distribution and much better handling than you would have if you stored things in a basket over your front tire. Their variable speed transmissions and drive belt instead of a chain require virtually no maintenance and are truly state of the art. They might not get quite the fuel economy but when you buy gas at only a gallon at a time, who cares. But they do offer instant acceleration as they seem to be in the power band all the time.

What extra money.. Last 2 nuovos I bought cost 16k and 18k respectively (113cc models both) ?? I just pick up the deals for the missus rentals.

The waves also have underseat.. I have been informed not all are big sized.. I assumed they were all large as the 125i that we have one of here.. That can take a full face helmet.

The auto boxes on the nuovos are thier weak link.. They go and when they do are quite expensive to replace.. 4 - 5k last time we did one just to put new centrifuge weights in there from what I understood. We have had a few of these go and another one is whining.

My personal daily use bike among all of them is a old cheer.. 60k kms on it !! Once that one bites the dust then a wave 125i will replace it tho if I was only riding in a flat urban environment I would also consider the 135cc nuovo.

[Richard-BKK]

Personally I would not buy a automatic if I was living near mountains. But that is me, also a automatic is, especially in mountains regions, more demanding on the fuel.

Riding around in mountains can mean more environmental differences and therefore I would advice that you look for a fuel injection motorcycle, if you want to stick with a automatic I would say take a look at the Honda Click-i or the brand new Suzuki Skydive 125

[sendbaht]

Thanks guys for all the input. Plan going to the dealer tomorrow and purchase the Yamaha 135 Nouvo in black. It's for the wife, wink wink..

The bike will be used for the flat streets and traffic in CM. For the mountain I'll buy something else. Even thouth I belive one up, up the mountain will be just fine.

I do perfer a non automatic for the mountains, specially going down hill.

[sendbaht]

Richard, that was a interesting read.... Maybe I will look at one of those too. Thanks....

I like the fuel injection part...

"The New Suzuki Skydive 125 with Fuel Injection"

[JetsetBkk]

Jetset are you using gasohol in your bike. if so this could be the problem. i've heard from a few people that gasohol is fine if used a lot. but dont leave it in the tank for extended periods. try filling up with standard91 and see if that solves the small problem. give us feedback if it does.

Allan

I did use gasohol, but have changed back to normal 91 benzene. I've filled up only 3 or 4 times - the first one was with the gasohol. I haven't really ridden it enough - or taken enough notice - to have a definite view on the different fuels, but I'm fairly sure that most of my problems were when I had filled up with gasohol. If I find the problems recurring with 91 benzene, I'll let you know.

The bike hasn't has it's first service yet, so I'm also hoping that there may be an adjustment to the fuel flow that may help the cold-start problem. I don't know how technically qualified the people in the Yamaha garages are or what diagnostic equipment they have, but my hopes are not high. It may simply be an adjustment to the automatic choke that is needed - I presume there is one. I'm hoping that after it's had the 1,000 km service, it'll start "revving up when cold" better.

[jamesbowen]

I suspect that Honda will put fuel injection in the Air Blade soon as it does not make sense not to have the best goodies in the flag ship model, and that the Nouvo will soon follow. I've read there's a rather significant fuel economy increase with this setup and possibly as much as 15 % more power.

[PeaceBlondie]

On tubeless tires. I have now ridden almost 60K km on tubeless tires in the CBR's, and have had only one flat, coming into a provincial town from the superhighway. I drove it maybe 2 km to nearest Honda dealership, who dismounted the tire from the rim and walked it across the street to the auto tire shop to get a plug. No problem, replaced the tire about 3K km later. At the border of Texas and the Mexican desert, I had a flat on a tubeless tire. Once it got plugged correctly on the Mexican side, I crossed the desert, rode through the mountains, and back - maybe 3K km, before replacing it. Two flats in about 300K km.

[Familyonthemove]

Jetset are you using gasohol in your bike. if so this could be the problem. i've heard from a few people that gasohol is fine if used a lot. but dont leave it in the tank for extended periods. try filling up with standard91 and see if that solves the small problem. give us feedback if it does.

Allan

I did use gasohol, but have changed back to normal 91 benzene. I've filled up only 3 or 4 times - the first one was with the gasohol. I haven't really ridden it enough - or taken enough notice - to have a definite view on the different fuels, but I'm fairly sure that most of my problems were when I had filled up with gasohol. If I find the problems recurring with 91 benzene, I'll let you know.

The bike hasn't has it's first service yet, so I'm also hoping that there may be an adjustment to the fuel flow that may help the cold-start problem. I don't know how technically qualified the people in the Yamaha garages are or what diagnostic equipment they have, but my hopes are not high. It may simply be an adjustment to the automatic choke that is needed - I presume there is one. I'm hoping that after it's had the 1,000 km service, it'll start "revving up when cold" better.

Still very pleased with my Nouvo 135, but had the same cold start problem ..... I put it down to using 95 but even after refilling it was reluctant to start after being left for a few days. Took it back and dealer adjusted something ... now starts and warms up much quicker. May have been the auto-choke?

[JetsetBkk]

Still very pleased with my Nouvo 135, but had the same cold start problem ..... I put it down to using 95 but even after refilling it was reluctant to start after being left for a few days. Took it back and dealer adjusted something ... now starts and warms up much quicker. May have been the auto-choke?

Yes, the symptoms certainly fit. I much prefer manual chokes. I wonder if it can be changed?