Is A Cbr 150 A Pain In The @ss In Bkk Traffic

[rack201]

G'day - been reading how all the folks in Chian Mai etc love the CBR and I agree it looks great. Im wondering if it is going to be a bit of a pain the in the bumper to bumper traffic as I live in downtown Bkk.

Am I better off going for a Nouvo or Air Blade for squirting through the traffic?

Cheers

[thaicbr]

if you are only going to be in Bangkok or the occasinal trip then The new Nouvo (135cc) would be much easier. i have ridden in Bangkok and it wasn't to bad but if i did it every day then an auto would be easier.

Allan

[PeaceBlondie]

The width is probably the same. The six speed manual clutch might be a bit for a lazy sod. I have no trouble even with a bad hand. But my longest traffic jam was 55 minutes in Chiang Mai, and I never stopped moving.

[dotcom]

CBR 150 perfect for BKK traffic.

In fact my CB400 is great too.

Make sure your tires are in good shape. Never know when the next thunderstorm is coming. Soft rubber is cheap insurance.

[jtp]

G'day - been reading how all the folks in Chian Mai etc love the CBR and I agree it looks great. Im wondering if it is going to be a bit of a pain the in the bumper to bumper traffic as I live in downtown Bkk.

Am I better off going for a Nouvo or Air Blade for squirting through the traffic?

Cheers

My friend has a CBR150,but yeah,it is a pain when your in tight traffic with the clutch and all,but if you are used to big bore animals,you will find it real nice to get through traffic.My mate claims 160 km/h + on his stock bike,so it's a heck of a lot faster then the Airblade...!But if you are interested in ease of handling and a comfy riding position,the Airblades real nice to ride.Besides,i think most farangs would have a longer life span if they opted out of fast road bikes,and just took it easy.I think you will be pleased with the acceleration on the Airblade.For the record i have a couple of Airblades and a Honda VTX 1800.But you cannot deny that the CBR is a great looking bike!

Edited January 15, 2009 by tritexengineering

[JimmyTheMook]

CBR is a road bike not a traffic bike.

The little step thru's are 1000% more comfortable to be on when dealing/weaving in and out of city traffic.

[rack201]

Thanks for the replies. I wasn't thinking so much of manual vs auto (but I guess its a consideration). More in regards to the riding position and the ability to weave between and around stationary cars. I watch some of the messengers on CBR 150's and I swear it looks like they have a harder time than the auto step throughs..

On topic.. Any thoughts re airblade vs nouvo? Which is quicker/better? I believe the new Airblade is a 125 right?

[PeaceBlondie]

After five full years of slicing and dicing through some fairly dense urban traffic, I swear the CBR150 cuts between lanes and cars like a hot knife through butter. Great road bike up to 140 kph, too. If you are only 155 cm tall, get a stepthrough.

[dotcom]

If you are 65 kg get the Yamaha Nuovo MX.

[dave_boo]

The CBR 150R will go anywhere the auto will go, but faster. Slipping through traffic; getting the jump on ALL the other bikes at the light, and having the ability to decide what gear you should be in is much better than the lazier travel you get on the other modes of transport you're considering.

[jtp]

The CBR 150R will go anywhere the auto will go, but faster. Slipping through traffic; getting the jump on ALL the other bikes at the light, and having the ability to decide what gear you should be in is much better than the lazier travel you get on the other modes of transport you're considering.

I would have thought that after all that time in Sawan,you would know it's a bad idea to get a jump from others at the lights...KAAAASPLAT!!! The very first day i set foot in Nakhon Sawan,i watched some lads try to beat the lights on a cbr 150,needless to say,they didn't survive the impact at the speed they were travelling...I remember the wife telling me"Don't touch them,not your business"?I pulled the bike off one of them,the other was clearly dead,but i got abused by the driver of the car...He wanted the police to see it was not his fault...I couldn't understand the lack of compassion,but i do now,what with the laws punishing the person in the right!! TIT

[t.s]

The CBR 150R will go anywhere the auto will go, but faster. Slipping through traffic; getting the jump on ALL the other bikes at the light, and having the ability to decide what gear you should be in is much better than the lazier travel you get on the other modes of transport you're considering.

dont see how it would get the jump on either my vfr 400 or by nsr 250rr, but it is likely quicker than a hair dryer

[thaicbr]

T.s you have an NSR250. Do you want to sell it?

Allan

[dave_boo]

The CBR 150R will go anywhere the auto will go, but faster. Slipping through traffic; getting the jump on ALL the other bikes at the light, and having the ability to decide what gear you should be in is much better than the lazier travel you get on the other modes of transport you're considering.

I would have thought that after all that time in Sawan,you would know it's a bad idea to get a jump from others at the lights...KAAAASPLAT!!! The very first day i set foot in Nakhon Sawan,i watched some lads try to beat the lights on a cbr 150,needless to say,they didn't survive the impact at the speed they were travelling...I remember the wife telling me"Don't touch them,not your business"?I pulled the bike off one of them,the other was clearly dead,but i got abused by the driver of the car...He wanted the police to see it was not his fault...I couldn't understand the lack of compassion,but i do now,what with the laws punishing the person in the right!! TIT

Well, I stay out of Nakhon Sawan proper, mostly.  I'll ride it in for some junk Western food at Big C and maybe do a quick loop, but I can't really tell you the lay out of the city....

But, yeah the whole accident response thing is quite a joke; luckily I've never been in a situation where I was forced to do things the 'Thai Way'.

QUOTE (dave_boo @ 2009-01-16 12:49:33)

The CBR 150R will go anywhere the auto will go, but faster. Slipping through traffic; getting the jump on ALL the other bikes at the light, and having the ability to decide what gear you should be in is much better than the lazier travel you get on the other modes of transport you're considering.

dont see how it would get the jump on either my vfr 400 or by nsr 250rr, but it is likely quicker than a hair dryer

I've gotten the jump on a few bikes that should have shamed my little 150cc overgrown scooter; perhaps the riders were simply older and reactions not as good as they once were?  I don't have any disillusions, but the CBR is geared just about perfectly for that take off...keeping the lead was a problem one or two times though.  And nice bikes by the way.

[wjmark]

I have put 20,000km on my Honda Wave, and 10,000km on my CBR.

There is a difference in traffic.

Firstly, the CBR is certainly quick enough to leave anything behind, and then you are alone on the road - always a nice feeling!

But it is longer than the Wave by a couple of inches, and that makes a difference in bumper-to-bumper traffic. The CBR does not weave as easily as the Wave.

Sometimes, on tight little squeezes and turns, you have to finagle (sp?) around a car - ie; inch forward, back up a little, inch forward, backup a little - just to get through the really tight stuff. And also, the CBR can be a little unwieldy on sharp U-turns. A touch of rear brake, and a touch of throttle, and no problem....

But the CBR is very nice in that it feels very very stable cruising between cars at 1-2km/hr. Can go slower than my Wave comfortably.

So it is pretty rare that I find a place where the Wave would have made it and the CBR can't. Handle bars are the same width...

p.s. - my dick is pretty small, and I don't care. And I don't mind driving a 150cc - don't need a big bike to prove my manhood!

[PeaceBlondie]

I do think the unfortunate example of the CBR150 rider who jumped into the intersection too soon has nothing to do with CBR's; a grandmother with four kids on board can do that on a Dream 100.

But as the ladies and men say, sometimes an inch makes a big difference....

[wjmark]

But as the ladies and men say, sometimes an inch makes a big difference....

A whole inch? How I dream of a whole inch!

But I did hit 151km/hr on the CBR a couple of days ago...

[jackcorbett]

Thanks for the replies. I wasn't thinking so much of manual vs auto (but I guess its a consideration). More in regards to the riding position and the ability to weave between and around stationary cars. I watch some of the messengers on CBR 150's and I swear it looks like they have a harder time than the auto step throughs..

On topic.. Any thoughts re airblade vs nouvo? Which is quicker/better? I believe the new Airblade is a 125 right?

[/quote

I find they are a complete tossup depending on what you prefer. The new Airblades are pretty much the same as the old Airblades being 110 c.c's. However, they are fuel injected and reputedly good for 15 % better fuel economy. As I've said before this means you are going to get 15 % more range so if you are getting say 100 miles to the tank with the old model you will get 115 miles on the new models. They are reputedly more powerful and faster than the old models.

I have the old model Yamaha 115 c.c. Nouvo and I think it's a great bike. Much better than the smaller automatics such as the Yamaha Fino, Mio and the Honda Clicks. But I will oftentimes rent an Air Blade when I'm away from Pattaya and find it to be a great bike too.

Yesterday I once again drove my buddy's Yamaha 135 c.c. Nouvo Elegance. The engine is water cooled whereas mine is air cooled. The new model seems smoother and it's quieter than mine. However, Ross's 135 c.c. had a tad of vibration in the grips. I've driven Ross's bike before but now its engine is fully broken in. It's got a lot of power. I worked out the math and concluded its got around 15 % more power than the old model, but yesterday while riding Ross's 135 c.c. model I felt it had even more than 25 % more power than mine and mine will slightly outrun the old model Airblades so there's nothing wrong with the performance of my Nouvo. The new model just definitely has the guts. It's overkill for Pattaya driving conditions but that extra power still feels very nice. I think any Airblade has all the power one needs here in Pattaya so the new fuel injected models would really be the berries. But i think the 135 cc's of the new Nouvo make it an entirely different kettle of worms. It's fast.

Edited January 18, 2009 by jackcorbett

[sendbaht]

They other day I weaved though traffic on my wife's Yamaha Nouvo 135 thinking, this sure is nice to be able to cut though the cars and be up front.

Sitting waiting for the light to change I looked to my left, there he was the world famous PeaceBlondie with his ponytail CBR 150 and his extra inch.

We waved, said hello and the signal changed to green. Last thing I saw was his ponytail flying in the breeze. See he made it to the front of the line on his CBR150, so, I think whatever you choose of the 3 bikes you mentioned will be fine. The 135 Yamaha Nouvo is extra nice though with the tons of storage under the seat. The bike is like a magic carpet, smooth and fun to ride.

[PeaceBlondie]

Aw, shucks....

[mussen]

It really depends on what you will be using it for, and where in BKK you are. If you live in outer BKK, and will be using it in outer BKK then a CBR would be nice, and the clutch would be no problem.

If you live in the middle of BKK, and will be running around busy areas then an auto would be better. Thieves like a nice CBR also, get a plain auto and nobody will pay attention to it, don't get a Fino, thieves love them.

I have a wave 125, the wave 100 are shit, I like being able to choose the gear, you can hold a gear if need be, and play with the gears if you get bored. I often carry parcels, bags of shopping and have occasionally picked up timber from the hardware, all of which I used one hand to carry, so the wave is great in that you can ride it single handed, even talk on you're mobile if you're really cool (I'm not that cool though). The benefit of the click etc (fully automatic bike), you can stash bags, boxes in the step through area, hang a couple of shopping bags on the front hook, and ride 1 handed while your feet support your parcels, very easy. Riding a CBR with bags or boxes means strapping them in first, or hanging them from the handle bars which is a pain and will hit cars when lane splitting.

I've never seen the attraction of a CBR150, get a DRZ400SM if cash is no problem, nice and thin, and tall enough to see over the traffic, otherwise a nice simple step through, uses hardly any fuel, cheap to buy, and if you don't wash it, it will look plain and won't get stolen.

[engrin]

Just curious how a CBR150 is over long distances. Touring Thailand type things. A few hundred KMs at a time with rests here and there. What speed can it cruise at. Recommended for touring or not?

Edited January 29, 2009 by engrin

[thaicbr]

Depends on what you call touring. if you were just going 3-400 km a day then no real problem. with a little work they will go about 140-50kmh and cruise at about 110-20 kmh all day. but ya bum will get a bit sore after about an hour and a half. if you have the funds then a Ninja 250 would make a better reasonably priced ride. going for about 100,000 baht 2nd hand.

Allan

[JimsKnight]

G'day - been reading how all the folks in Chian Mai etc love the CBR and I agree it looks great. Im wondering if it is going to be a bit of a pain the in the bumper to bumper traffic as I live in downtown Bkk.

Am I better off going for a Nouvo or Air Blade for squirting through the traffic?

Cheers

Rack,

CBR 150s rock and roll in Bangkok traffic, they are light and can cut it even with the piddly scooter brigade.

Crucially they can keep pace with fast moving rush-hour traffic near the airport as well.

Here's my old CBR 150 in Bangkok traffic to reinforce my point:

Enjoy Bangkok Rack

Now I have a CBR 400 I'll be giving that a dance in Bangkok soon! Cutting through the traffic will be a blast in that too I expect.

Edited January 29, 2009 by JimsKnight

[Isee]

Just curious how a CBR150 is over long distances. Touring Thailand type things. A few hundred KMs at a time with rests here and there. What speed can it cruise at. Recommended for touring or not?

Just my experience, for any distance riding (ie not city riding) the bigger the bike, the easier it is to ride and the more times you do it, the more reasons for having a bigger cc bike. For example, I would look at buying a 2nd hand 400 or something instead of a new 150.