New Colors For Yamaha Nouvo Elegance

[jackcorbett]

Here's the four new color schemes for the new Yamaha 135 c.c. Nouvo Elegance models. four new color schemes for the Yamaha Nouvo Elegance

I stopped into the dealer I had bought my Yamaha Nouvo at three years ago and inquired about new color schemes. All the Nouvo Elegance on the showroom floor were in the old colors but my pal who had bought a Nouvo Elegance a few months ago told me there was a new color out now. I think the old color schemes for the Nouvo Elegance were terrible. There was even a black and silver model that had bright red springs in the back for shocks. Talk about bad taste. Had I bought one in those colors I would certainly had the dealer swap out those goddawful red springs for chrome colored ones or black. Also.....the Yamaha Elegances simply had in my opnion too much writing towards the rear of the bikes. The bikes were identified as Nouvo Elegances. Too much clutter and busyworks spoiling the paint schemes. I've noticed that the new Nouvo Elegances have replaced all of that with just one word. "Nouvo."

I've said before, after riding Ross's Nouvo Elegance, I was amazed at how much more power his bike has now that it's broken in over my 115 c.c.model. I've also said many times that the difference in power between the new Airblades and the Yamaha Nouvo is a moot point here in Pattaya. However, today on my way to immigration I decided to pass a slow poke in front of me. Another bike was coming head on at me. It was no big deal as I think the other driver was alert and as it was my 115 c.c Nouvo had enough guts to get around the slow poke car and still give me enough time to tuck back into my lane. However, the new 135 c.c. Nouvo Elegance would have much more easily handled that little bit of acceleration thus giving me an extra margin of safety.

Edited January 27, 2009 by jackcorbett

[thaicbr]

Well that's what Malaysia or Indonesia are getting i wonder if we will get the same. the whites quite nice, not sure about the 2 tone seat.

Allan

[jackcorbett]

Here's a picture of the red model. I have the brochure with all four new models pictured on it. Dealership on Sukamvit Road on Pattaya Klang told me I could have one in two weeks.

[moo9]

Sorry, still looking kind of ugly. I am still happy with my anthrazit Airblade Phoenix edition :-)

[jackcorbett]

I will have to look at it to decide if it's still ugly or not as the picture doesn't tell the whole tale. However from what I can see, and from another picture I've seen as well, I like the deep shade of red and again, the omission of the excess wording on the previous models. As I posted a few months ago about the ugliness of the first 135 cc. Elegance models, they were obviously ugly so I then stated that we can be fairly sure Yamaha will drastically improve the appearance before long. After all, whether we prefer Honda or Yamaha, it was Yamaha and not Honda that came to the market first with the new automatics. It took Honda a long time to wake up and to shake the cobwebs out of its eyes. So I think we will be seeing a race between these two companies with first one coming out in front, then the other matching and surpassing it, only to be outdone the next time its rival upgrades its models. But I expect for the most part that Yamaha will continue to lead in this market segment. I think when I see the new paint schemes up close and personal that I will be well pleased, especially with red colored model. If it's as pretty as the red and black Airblade, it will be hard for me to resist trading in my 115 c.c. model for one.

[submaniac]

Can't really tell the difference between this and the old model. Of course, I can't really get myself all hot and bothered over a scooter.

[sendbaht]

Ugly? far from it, I find them beautiful. Oh ya I own one.

You know my Harley friends thought my 1150 RT BMW was ugly.

I do like the rear springs in sliver/chrome instead of red.

My wife wanted her Yamaha 135 Nouvo Elegance in red but the red last year did not come with the "cool" wheels and tubeless tires, so we got black/silver.

It has been a flawless bike and really great in traffic. The huge storage under the seat is nice for Tesco.

Edited January 28, 2009 by sendbaht

[prepress]

Last saturday I bought the Yamaha 135 Nouvo Elegance with 3 colors, which comes with the "cool" wheels. It has a powerful but quite engine. Good for the Bkk. traffic. Good for tall people. It rides soft, storage is great. So far, I'm very happy with it.

Helmut

[anothertorres]

hmm, call me crazy but, i actually like the first model pictured. what's the damage on the new models?

[jackcorbett]

The new models are still 53000 baht with the spoked wheels. Out the door with insurance and registration they are close to 56,000 baht however.

[prepress]

The new models are still 53000 baht with the spoked wheels. Out the door with insurance and registration they are close to 56,000 baht however.

I paid 57,000 Baht. Incl. mag wheels, registration, helmet, jacket, home delivery, english manual and other excellent services

Helmut

[jackcorbett]

The new models are still 53000 baht with the spoked wheels. Out the door with insurance and registration they are close to 56,000 baht however.

I paid 57,000 Baht. Incl. mag wheels, registration, helmet, jacket, home delivery, english manual and other excellent services

Helmut

Helmut, if you have the chance can you post a picture of your new bike. Right now I'm about 50-50 on trading my three year old Nouvo in on a new one. But I haven't seen any of the new ones yet, only the pictures. This is the best I've found as of yet of the new red model.

[jackcorbett]

Well, I just had to get one. Here's five pictures of my new Yamaha Nouvo 135 cc. To view the five pictures click here which I just put in my web site's showcase directory. This is the black color scheme and the first Nouvo Elegance I've actually seen with the new colors. There's a sister dealership the salesman and I went to where we set the price and there they had the new white model which actually looks better than it does in the picture in the new Yamaha brochure. I think the new red color scheme will be possibly the most attractive of the lot but I was torn between the black and the red, and not wanting to attract too much attention to myself I went for this one.

As I mentioned here before my buddy Ross's Elegance goes like a bat out of hel_l now that it's broken in. I'm just babying this one--so far. But it runs very quiet. And although the specs seem the seem except the engine size and type, this one seems to drive differently than my old Nouvo 115 cc. aircooled model. When I sit on it it feels more compact, more like an Airblade. It also drives like a more compact machine compared to my old one I'm selling to my neighbor. It also seems quicker to turn. All in all it's a very smooth and refined machine that I think I'm going to like very much.

[jackcorbett]

Update on my new Nouvo 135 c.c. Elegance. First off, I don't think anybody here has commented on this including myself as I just noticed it around 10 days ago. The 135 c.c. Nouvo's most definitely handles more quickly than the old 115 c.c. air cooled models such as the one I've owned for three years. My new machine is noticeably quicker steering and is more Air Blade like. I was wondering why. One thing I noticed is I seemed to be sitting closer to my speedometer and my knees would often nearly jam into the back of the little faring in front of me. So I got a measuring tape. The Nouvo Elegance is 2 inches taller than the 115 c.c. model. That is the seat is 2 inches higher. The seat is also two inches closer to the cowling. So sitting closer and higher over the instrument panel not to mention the front wheel of the bike adds quickness to the steering and makes the bike more agile without making it less stable. The Nouvo Elegance doubtlessly has the same wheel base as the old model and it has the same tire size and wheel diameter of 16 inches as compared to the Air Blades 14 inches.

Which I think is an interesting comparison....that is how does the new 135 c.c. stack up against its main competitor the Air Blade and the 115 c.c. Nouvo? Being water cooled the 135 c.c. Elegance is much more quiet than the 115 c.c. air cooled model. It also seems to be smoother on takeoff and my brakes seem to be substantually better than on my 115 c.c. Nouvo. Brakes are so far very smooth and they seem to be more powerful as well. The engine doesn't seem to rev up nearly as high either so I don't think it has to work nearly as hard which could well translate out to better fuel economy even though we are talking about a signficant power increase of close to 25 % due to its watercooling and appreciably larger displacement. Much of the time you are simply not very high up in the rpms and yet you still get plenty of power. Twist the throttle up and the bike has excellent acceleration. All in all this is one very refined piece of machinery that is utterly smooth in all departments.

Appearance wise in my opinion the new color schemes of the most recently introduced Nouvo Elegance are vastly more attractive than the first series of Elegances that came out. My pal Ross has the black model but it came with bright red springs in the back on the shocks which looks awful in my opinion. I nearly bought one but I had gotten the dealer to agree to swap out the red colored springs that came with the bike for the chrome colored ones that are used on the other colored machines. Also on this first series of Nouvo Elegance there is in my opinion too much writing across the machine below the seat. This clutters up the appearance of the bike while tending to make it look too long.

And speaking of the Nouvo's longish appearance, I think this first series of Elegance models is also 2 inches higher than the 115 cc models with its seat positioned 2 inches farther forward just like mine which I would categorize as the 2nd generation 135 cc Elegance. I think the mechanics are the same and that it's only in the color schemes that the two generations differ although there might be a small mechanical improvement here and there. When you think about it, if you increase the height of a motorcycle while keeping its wheel base the same length the bike is now going to appear chunkier or more squat. That's the appearance of the Air Blade. It most definitely has a shorter wheelbase than the Nouvo and its got fatter tires as well which gives it more of a motorcycle appearance and more balanced look. But I think when Yamaha first came out with its new 135 c.c. Elegance models changing the seat height while moving it forward did not make the bike appear more motorcycle like due to its paint schemes and overuse of writing which by the way, I think is overdone on the majority of the motorbikes models regardless of manufacturer. For instance Honda was pretty guilty here with its earlier Click models but I think Honda has recently reduced all that clutter with its latest version of the Click which is now fuel injected as well. The current edition of the Click is a nice looking machine in my opinion.

My Nouvo is black but its got an off white colored fairing. Its seat and the inside of its console or fairing is tan colored and I think this two colored scheme where the colors sharply contrast with each other makes the bike appear to be shorter than it actually is. So the new color schemes of the latest Elegance models work in tandem with the 2 inch raising of the seat to make the overall appearance of the bike to seem less lengthy and more balanced. This makes sense when you consider that warships have often been painted certain colors and in certain patterns to change their overall appearance. For example battleships could be painted in a certain manner to make them appear to be much smaller than they actually were or a Cruiser could be made to appear much larger --- as a battle ship just to confuse the enemy.

I do want to emphasize that all of this is subjective of course. Some might find a longish looking bike to be more elegant than one that appears shorter and more closely coupled. All in all, I do think that Yamaha's now once again at the top of the heap and at the very cutting edge of the current crop of automatics. The difference between 110 or 115 cc bike such as the air cooled Nouvo and non fuel injected Air Blade compared to the 135 cc. new water cooled Nouvo Elegance is very pronounced. As far as Honda's fuel injecting its Click and Air Blade models, I think that was a good idea and the prospect of 15 % more fuel economy which means 15 more miles before one has to fill the machine up was pretty appealing to me. How much more power the fuel injected models produce is only a guess. Perhaps there's hardly any although I got it from Dave here that he feels there's a noticeable power difference. I'll know more later on as I start to break in my new Nouvo more and get a better feel for its fuel economy but on preliminary fuel economy checks with the bike still not broken in, I'd say that is probably getting the same kind of fuel economy improvements Honda's getting on its fuel injection models (around 15 %) by using a carburator simply because the engine doesn't have to work very hard. To sum up the new Nouvo 135 c.c. models I feel it is excellent in all departments and that it represents notable improvements over the 115 c.c. air cooled models in overall smoothness, engine quietness, braking, power, and knock on wood (because I'm not sure yet) fuel economy.

Edited February 19, 2009 by jackcorbett

[GungaDin]

To Jack & Helmut.

My local dealer was going to take the 'mag' wheels off a 2008 model & put them on the LC I want to order.

They are silver.

On the 2009 LC, are they white or silver?

"Elegance" kinda sticks in my craw.

[prepress]

Hi GungaDin,

on my model, which is a special edition, the wheels are silver.

to Jack,

sorry to reply late. I don't look each day in this forum. I will enclose a picture, which I took at the dealer (before buying it).

After 3 weeks now, I like it very much. It has enough power to quickly slip through the traffic. I like the seat and the large storage compartment. The engine is very quite due liquid cooling, I think.

What I dislike is the small digital milage and thermometer display. It is very difficult to read.

Helmut

[PeaceBlondie]

The boyfriend had to replace the XR-1 that his sister got. He got spoiled by the Honda 110 automatic. So his new "sport bike"(his words, not mine) is an Elegance, black and silver, with neat red threads on the pillion. Mag wheels, really well detailed. I think about 55.5K is a lot for a step-through scooter without fuel injection, but he loves it.

[GungaDin]

Hi GungaDin,

on my model, which is a special edition, the wheels are silver.

What I dislike is the small digital milage and thermometer display. It is very difficult to read.

Helmut

Thanks Helmut.

The wheels in your pic are a very different design to the wheels in the brochure,

Hmmm!

[jackcorbett]

Hi GungaDin,

on my model, which is a special edition, the wheels are silver.

to Jack,

sorry to reply late. I don't look each day in this forum. I will enclose a picture, which I took at the dealer (before buying it).

After 3 weeks now, I like it very much. It has enough power to quickly slip through the traffic. I like the seat and the large storage compartment. The engine is very quite due liquid cooling, I think.

What I dislike is the small digital milage and thermometer display. It is very difficult to read.

Helmut

[jackcorbett]

Hi GungaDin,

on my model, which is a special edition, the wheels are silver.

to Jack,

sorry to reply late. I don't look each day in this forum. I will enclose a picture, which I took at the dealer (before buying it).

After 3 weeks now, I like it very much. It has enough power to quickly slip through the traffic. I like the seat and the large storage compartment. The engine is very quite due liquid cooling, I think.

What I dislike is the small digital milage and thermometer display. It is very difficult to read.

Helmut

Actually I like the new instruments, especially the blue color of their lighting.

So what kind of fuel economy are you getting? My new Nouvo Elegance is not broken in yet. Ross tells me his gained a fair amount of power as well as better fuel economy once he had his well broken in. I think I'm getting around 35 kilometers/liter here in Pattaya which is mostly stop and go miles and that it's doing substantially better than my 115 c.c. bike I'm about to pass onto my neighbor. I need to keep an eye on this as time gets on but my initial thought is Yamaha came up with one helluva engine in the 135 c.c. watercooled Elegance and felt that fuel injection was not necessary. Ross rented the 115 c.c. Nouvo for a month, then the Airblade. He preferred the Nouvo and then he bought the 135 c.c. model soon after it came out. He keeps on saying, "I love it. I love it."

Edited February 22, 2009 by jackcorbett

[TCA]

Here's the four new color schemes for the new Yamaha 135 c.c. Nouvo Elegance models. four new color schemes for the Yamaha Nouvo Elegance

I stopped into the dealer I had bought my Yamaha Nouvo at three years ago and inquired about new color schemes. All the Nouvo Elegance on the showroom floor were in the old colors but my pal who had bought a Nouvo Elegance a few months ago told me there was a new color out now. I think the old color schemes for the Nouvo Elegance were terrible. There was even a black and silver model that had bright red springs in the back for shocks. Talk about bad taste. Had I bought one in those colors I would certainly had the dealer swap out those goddawful red springs for chrome colored ones or black. Also.....the Yamaha Elegances simply had in my opnion too much writing towards the rear of the bikes. The bikes were identified as Nouvo Elegances. Too much clutter and busyworks spoiling the paint schemes. I've noticed that the new Nouvo Elegances have replaced all of that with just one word. "Nouvo."

I have to agree re the old black Nouvo with the rear red springs but I'm still drawn to it despite that as I'm not overwhelmed with the new colour offerings. Have to say though that when looking in person, the old version does appear bulkier at the front than the newer models, but you wouldn't gauge that from these images below. Is it my imagination? I'm also unsure as to whether it's worth forking out another 2,000 baht for alloys - no pun intended. What's the benefits?

[jackcorbett]

Here's a picture of my Nouvo 135 c.c. Elegance. Are the alloys worth the extra 2000 baht? I got wire wheels so apparently I did not feel they were, but I can't blame you as the alloys are attractive.

[TCA]

Thanks for the photo Jack. I think the spokes look pretty good too. Other than cosmetically, I don't know if the alloys offer any other benefits, other than perhaps from a cleaning viewpoint. And as I'm a lazy sod, I'd probably pay 50 baht and get the bike cleaned for me anyway.

Can I ask you if you know whether the physical design of the front of the bikes has changed with the issue of the new colours this year? I've looked at both "old" and "new" Elegances (in different shops) and come away thinking that the older version is definitely bulkier at the front. Looking at the images I posted above, they look very similar but other pictures (like below), make the front fairings appear more cumbersome. Likewise the older model looks longer. Is this an optical illusion?

[submaniac]

Other than cosmetically, I don't know if the alloys offer any other benefits, other than perhaps from a cleaning viewpoint.

Actually alloy rims allow for a tubeless tire. The wire spoke requires an inner tube (which may or may not be more susceptible to flats). However, I think the spokes look better.

[jackcorbett]

I've read it both ways--first, that the alloy wheels are not as tough and the wheel is going to break more easily with hard use, and then that they are tougher and less prone to breakage.

On the older model Nouvo Elegances you will note the huge lettering over and to the right of where Nouvo is painted just underneath the seat. For me, it's just too much. Just clutters up the look of the machine and makes it look longer and bulkier. As for the red shock absorbers with the black and silver older model 135 c.c. Elegance, in my opinion Yamaha just slapped the final finish work together, then realized when the Elegance was not selling like it should that it had screwed up. But Yamaha's not alone. When I go to the bike parking area of my condo and look at a lot of the step through bikes, the color schemes on the whole are simply god awful. In my opinion when Honda first came out with the Air Blade, the colors were not very attractive. Then it came out with that beautiful Phoenix red (is it Phoenix Red?) color scheme and several other much more attractive color schemes. From the get go Yamaha had it right with its Finos or at least some of them. The first productions models of the Click were pretty awful but in the last few months about the time Honda introduced fuel injection on the Click, Honda got the color schemes right on with the Click.

But I do think that other than the color schemes the old model 135 c.c. Yamaha Nouvo Elegance and the new one are identical. I've taken a tape out to measure the two machines. Wheel base is the same. Seat height is the same. Distance from the front of the seat to the little cowling in front of one's legs is identical. I'm not 100 percent sure about the mechanical specifics of the engine, the brakes, etc, but if I were to bet they are the same.

[moo9]

Here's the four new color schemes for the new Yamaha 135 c.c. Nouvo Elegance models. four new color schemes for the Yamaha Nouvo Elegance

I stopped into the dealer I had bought my Yamaha Nouvo at three years ago and inquired about new color schemes. All the Nouvo Elegance on the showroom floor were in the old colors but my pal who had bought a Nouvo Elegance a few months ago told me there was a new color out now. I think the old color schemes for the Nouvo Elegance were terrible. There was even a black and silver model that had bright red springs in the back for shocks. Talk about bad taste. Had I bought one in those colors I would certainly had the dealer swap out those goddawful red springs for chrome colored ones or black. Also.....the Yamaha Elegances simply had in my opnion too much writing towards the rear of the bikes. The bikes were identified as Nouvo Elegances. Too much clutter and busyworks spoiling the paint schemes. I've noticed that the new Nouvo Elegances have replaced all of that with just one word. "Nouvo."

I've said before, after riding Ross's Nouvo Elegance, I was amazed at how much more power his bike has now that it's broken in over my 115 c.c.model. I've also said many times that the difference in power between the new Airblades and the Yamaha Nouvo is a moot point here in Pattaya. However, today on my way to immigration I decided to pass a slow poke in front of me. Another bike was coming head on at me. It was no big deal as I think the other driver was alert and as it was my 115 c.c Nouvo had enough guts to get around the slow poke car and still give me enough time to tuck back into my lane. However, the new 135 c.c. Nouvo Elegance would have much more easily handled that little bit of acceleration thus giving me an extra margin of safety.

Still quite ugly to me....sorry

[TCA]

But I do think that other than the color schemes the old model 135 c.c. Yamaha Nouvo Elegance and the new one are identical. I've taken a tape out to measure the two machines. Wheel base is the same. Seat height is the same. Distance from the front of the seat to the little cowling in front of one's legs is identical. I'm not 100 percent sure about the mechanical specifics of the engine, the brakes, etc, but if I were to bet they are the same.

Thanks Jack. I'm sure the mechanics of the two models are the same. I guess the new colour schemes somehow remove the bulkiness I seem to be seeing in the old model's front fairing. More likely I just need my eyes tested.

Does anybody else see this or am I going to the opticians alone next week?

[tavarich]

Still quite ugly to me....sorry

They might be ugly to some but this little scoot gets up and goes. It is the perfect street ride for BKK. The automatic shifting takes one less thing to think about while watching traffic. I am extremely pleased with mine. I can't wait until its broken in. Then look out.

[jackcorbett]

From what I have seen the Honda SH 150 i being introduced into the U.S. and the 125 px as well as the Honda SH 300 i are all good looking machines with good color schemes in those I've seen in pictures on the Internet and the SH 150 i I saw in Vietnam. Most Air Blades color are nice looking. And so is the Nouvo Elegance 135 c.c. in the new colors, my own favorite being red, although I bought mine in tan and black. The Elegance has a much wider and more substantial seat than a 135 c.c. Yamaha Spark for instance or a 125 c.c. Honda Wave neither of which compare for under the seat storage. I think it might initially seem tall and a bit bulky compared to such machines but is is far more comfortable. But what you get is the most versatile, and practical and comfortable machine for little money.

Got on Sukamvit Road today which is about the fourth time recently. Now....unless you need to accelerate past thick traffic to get into the far right lane to make a turn, you need to drive only 60 kilometers per hour. That doesn't seem like much but it's enough to keep up with most traffic on Sukamvit Road and that's about the fastest driving you will be doing in Pattaya. Get up to 70 kilometers per hour and except for the far right lane you will be outrunning the traffic most of the time. Today I accelerated up to close to 70 kilometers per hour on my Nouvo Elegance while I was trying to make a seat of the pants estimate of how many seconds it took to do it. I didn't time it but I'd say it took about six seconds or so to this speed. So what I'm saying is with the 135 c.c. Elegance you have the acceleration to meet all your needs in and around Pattaya.

A few days ago, my girlfriend and I went grocery shopping at Lotus. We got 8 bags of groceries. Put two bags in the under the seat storage, three bags on the hook in front of the driver (me) and my gf carried the last three bags. We had so many groceries in so many bags that it looked like we were going to load a car and the Nouvo handles that. Then just four nights ago, one of my buddies, my girlfriend and I went bar hopping together. Paul weighs about 85 kilos, I weigh 76 kilos and my gf weighs 42 kilos. We took the back streets to the main road where we hit a couple of bars or took baht taxis to other areas in Pattaya. The Nouvo Elegance handled the three of us very well. The next day I took my gf and Paul to a favorite restaurant which is a bit far to walk to from the condo...again on the back streets and no problems.

My neighbor, Gus, bought a Mio several months ago. Paul, Gus and I looked at his Mio in the parking lot, my Nouvo Elegance, a couple of Honda Clicks and a couple of Finos and we all agreed that the only bike I just mentioned that would handle this three up driving is the Nouvo Elegance. Those single shocks off to one side of the back wheel of the Finos, Mios, and Clicks simply aren't up to it. The beauty of the Elegance is it's a very practical machine for this area. It will do everything you need it to do, even things you never thought of before.

[ttakata]

Other than cosmetically, I don't know if the alloys offer any other benefits, other than perhaps from a cleaning viewpoint.

Actually alloy rims allow for a tubeless tire. The wire spoke requires an inner tube (which may or may not be more susceptible to flats). However, I think the spokes look better.

I like the aftermarket spoked rims appearance better than the alloys, but went for the tubeless tires.

Tubeless tires don't seem to lose air as fast as tubes and probably resist flats better.

I've had my bike since Sept 24th and only topped off my tires twice to get to the recommended 33psi.

My bike takes over a month before it loses a visibly noticeable 10psi of pressure.

How often do you fill up the tires on your spoked bikes?

I'm curious as to the difference in air loss.

Edited December 1, 2009 by ttakata