Fuel Injection For Nouvo Elegance

[jackcorbett]

There is a new place renting motorbikes just 50 meters up the street from my condo here in Naklua. I went in there this afternoon to c heck rental prices for both a PCX and Nouvo Elegance for a friend of mine who is arrving on April 28th. The place is owned by the German owner of Nunn Massage who has recently branched out into motorbike rentals at his massage establishment on Soi 33 here in Naklua. One of the man's rentals is a PCX with the variator hop up kit. At his new rental shop he even has a glass picture window and miniature showroom floor to showcase a bike or two. He has a Thai guy running it for him and during the long winded conversation I had with the Thai I started to ask the man which bike her personally preferred, the PCX or the Nouvo Elegance. That's when he unloaded the news on me....that next month Yamaha is coming out with fuel injection on the Elegance. When I asked him if he was sure he said he was sure and when I asked him why he was sure, he told me that his boss has already ordered one or two new fuel injected Elegances. I then asked him if it was a bigger model (envisioning an X Max sized scooter coming in from Yamaha) and he told me No....that it was an Elegance that was about to be fuel injected.

We will see how credible this report is. I will say this about the owner, however. He must be into the latest and greatest in small scoots because he already has one souped up PCX for rent. And this new shop of his that's only been open for a couple of weeks now has four or five PCX's for rent and two or three good looking Nouvo late model Elegances. His equipment line he's renting out is none too shabby.

[CMX]

Gilding the lily. Assuming the price will go up, one might be v. happy to purchase the "carb" model.

[HDRIDER]

Still think they need more if they wanna get up where the PCX is, i have had Novo since they came to Phuket,,,,, but now,,,, Honda PCX is the best,i cant understand the problem that its a little bigger than the Nouvo, it took me about half a day to get used to the PCX, i dont think i will look back

[CMX]

Still think they need more if they wanna get up where the PCX is, i have had Novo since they came to Phuket,,,,, but now,,,, Honda PCX is the best,i cant understand the problem that its a little bigger than the Nouvo, it took me about half a day to get used to the PCX, i dont think i will look back

Sure. On Phuket, even in town generally. But in CM, at some 220 second traffic lights with stopped cars running up to 200 meters, width makes a difference. Parking sometimes too. Driving conditions differ as to density and frequency; I give you BKK. Only the driver knows if it's worth 20-25,000K baht (depends how much Honda dealers are adding to "suggested" retail price and the new - if it will arrive - Fi Elegance). I admire the PCX a lot, but conclude that it should have been built with at least a 150cc engine to justify bulky and heavy compromises. (Of course, 125cc has great sales advantage in much of Europe, so I see the present strategy - good for fuel as well).

For myself, I have to guard against "owner's blindness" - where owners love virtues so much that they don't see or admit to themselves faults, small or big. Something like young love or any other passion born of some degree of lust, or investment (commitment). Other owners too, maybe - sometimes I think that it fuels half the entries or more on this forum. Love is blind.

[guzzi850m2]

Still think they need more if they wanna get up where the PCX is, i have had Novo since they came to Phuket,,,,, but now,,,, Honda PCX is the best,i cant understand the problem that its a little bigger than the Nouvo, it took me about half a day to get used to the PCX, i dont think i will look back

Well maybe the PCX is the best for Phuket, but Pattaya I am not so sure with the at times very heavy traffic. I find our Fino estremly good for that and my wife loves it. The PCX price tag also keeps me off I must admit.

[jackcorbett]

Still think they need more if they wanna get up where the PCX is, i have had Novo since they came to Phuket,,,,, but now,,,, Honda PCX is the best,i cant understand the problem that its a little bigger than the Nouvo, it took me about half a day to get used to the PCX, i dont think i will look back

Well maybe the PCX is the best for Phuket, but Pattaya I am not so sure with the at times very heavy traffic. I find our Fino estremly good for that and my wife loves it. The PCX price tag also keeps me off I must admit.

I think at some point logic might enter into the decision process as to what is the best bike for Thailand, the U.S., Europe, etc and for each person the process will be different according to what features of a given bike is more important to him. I have a friend, call him Eddy just to protect the guilty because Eddy is an idiot. Eddy keeps talking up the Yamaha TMax and he's absolutely correct, it's a wonderful machine for U.S. interstates. But what do they cost here in Thailand--something like 600,000 baht? An Elegance is 52,000. Eddie also has a pickup truck so long haul cruising on a bike simply isn't going to happen for him. I doubt if Eddie has ever taken his Airblade more than 80 kph. Furthermore I'm dead certain that if Eddie had to drive a T Max everyday in Pattaya traffic he would be whistling a different tune because there is simply no way a T Max will keep up with its much smaller sibling, a Yamaha Elegance, in heavy Pattaya traffic. But if Eddie actually had bought a T Max he'd never admit he had made a mistake simply because Eddie is a master at denial.

If we were to compare say five bikes for driving in Pattaya conditions--say the Yamaha Fino, the Yamaha Elegance, the Honda PCX, the Yamaha XMax 125 and the Yamaha T Max we'd arrive at five different conclusions for which might be the best bike. The smallest and lightest would be the Fino. It would be the easiest to park for example and the least stable of the five at high speeds. But put yourselves in this situation. You are driving along North Pattaya Road and suddenly you realize that Songkran has arrived one month early. The traffic is impossibly backed up all up and down the East bound lanes of North Pattaya Road. So you decide to take a chance on the police not seeing you or if they did not getting to you through the traffic. Fortunately you are driving a Yamaha Fino. So you pick your bike up and you carry it over the curb, walk your bike over the divider, set it down and zoom off to the West in the direction you came from. That shouldn't be too difficult. Now...change bikes. YOu have the Elegance. I'd say carrying the Elegance over the curb would be more difficult than managing the Fino but most of us could still do it. Change bikes again to the PCX which comes in at 280 pounds. Some of us can still manage to get the PCX over the divider but those of us who do all wind up at Bangkok Pattaya Hospital with hernias. Try this maneuver with a 450 pound T Max and we'd all shake our heads and not even try, resigning ourselves to keeping in line with all the cars and wait two hours to finally inch through the traffic. Now for the X Max. First off there aren't any in Pattaya. But they are 360 pounds in Europe. I think we'd be mired down in traffic just as we would had we been driving the T Max or a car if we were driving an X Max.

My point might be that Yamaha has thought this all through and decided not to bring the X Max over to Thailand simply because although it might be a great match for European driving conditions it does not offer the most rationale choice for Thailand either from a manufacturers viewpoint or the consumer's. First off, Yamaha might figure it's too heavy just like the T Max is. Secondly Yamaha might decide it's too expensive and most potential buyers won't buy it. Then again---perhaps we might see an X Max in Yamaha's future for Thailand and find it being offered here at an affordable price say next year and in the meantime Yamaha is coming out with the fuel injected Nouvo Elegance as a stop gap measure due to the possible mindset that fuel injection is a magic wand and that if you don't have it you might as well be driving a bicycle.

Truth is both Yamaha and Honda have motorbikes under wraps that they already have introduced in other markets across the globe that most people here have never seen or driven before. From what I've read the 125 c.c. X Max will outperform a Honda PCX by a significant margin, but at what cost to us for one if Yamaha should ever decide to produce it in Thailand? And if that's not big enough or powerful enough there's also the 250 c.c. X Max, but it probably weighs 400 pounds. Simply because the XMAX exists somewhere else might make many of us think that Yamaha enjoys a significant technological edge over Honda when it comes to building small displacement scooters. But then there's the Honda 300 SHI and it's been available in certain European countries for something like 4 years already. It's got about 285 c.c's and it will do about 85 miles an hour, is appreciably smaller than Yamaha's T MAX and is no doubt an all around stellar performer. My point is there are some people here who seem to feel that Honda is some kind of magical genie who can wave his magic wand and produce bikes that Yamaha is not competent to manufacture, but the reality is both manufacturers are capable of offering more technology than most of us can even begin to appreciate.

Edited April 23, 2011 by jackcorbett

[HDRIDER]

Guys i get your point, but we do have traffic in Phuket as well, as for more HP or bigger engine buy a bigger bike if 125CC is not enough, i will put the wariator, exhaust and air filter on mine, just for the fun i don't do long runs on mine, my Nouvo has done 12.000 km in 5 years, i have other bikes if i wanna go fast or if i go off Phuket

[Garry]

Guys i get your point, but we do have traffic in Phuket as well, as for more HP or bigger engine buy a bigger bike if 125CC is not enough, i will put the wariator, exhaust and air filter on mine, just for the fun i don't do long runs on mine, my Nouvo has done 12.000 km in 5 years, i have other bikes if i wanna go fast or if i go off Phuket

A true MOD man after my own heart. It can't hurt to carry out extra mods. As long as you're happy

[MaiChai]

The Thais don't want expensive bikes. Thats why the Fino and Wave sells in large quantities and the Nouvo Elegance and PCX doesn't. They know a bike only lasts so long and they want something affordable that is good enough. Three years down the road the finance is paid off and they trade in and buy a new model.

Nouvo Elegance is much liked by larger farangs but we arn't the target market. Ever wondered why the Yamaha TZR/TZM/VRR is so low down? Because they are designed for Asians. Same with the NSR, Sonic and CBR150. Designed for smaller Asians not big farangs.

Mio 125 is selling well at the moment. Why? Small, powerful and affordable.

Good to hear Yamaha is rolling out FI. I would say its about economics than technology. I mean the long wait for them to roll it out.

Edited April 23, 2011 by MaiChai

[guzzi850m2]

The Thais don't want expensive bikes. Thats why the Fino and Wave sells in large quantities and the Nouvo Elegance and PCX doesn't. They know a bike only lasts so long and they want something affordable that is good enough. Three years down the road the finance is paid off and they trade in and buy a new model.

Nouvo Elegance is much liked by larger farangs but we arn't the target market. Ever wondered why the Yamaha TZR/TZM/VRR is so low down? Because they are designed for Asians. Same with the NSR, Sonic and CBR150. Designed for smaller Asians not big farangs.

Mio 125 is selling well at the moment. Why? Small, powerful and affordable.

Good to hear Yamaha is rolling out FI. I would say its about economics than technology. I mean the long wait for them to roll it out.

You are very correct MaiChai, when I see a Elegance or PCX here in Pattaya they are ridden by Farangs in 90% of the cases, no way the Thais are spending + 70k bath on a small bike if they can get a good one for say 45 k bath unless they are very well off.

All the resent test here on the forum of the "top" bikes have made me change my plans for the replacment of the Fino in app. 2 years time. I don't do touring on Thai bikes anymore but only use the Fino for runabout in Pattaya area, so the next bike will be something similar.

[HDRIDER]

A lot of the Thais i know would love to own a PCX or Nouvo,, but they just cant afford one, thats what they tell me

or have a look at PCX club thailand you will see a lot of Thais on some nice PCX

[guzzi850m2]

A lot of the Thais i know would love to own a PCX or Nouvo,, but they just cant afford one, thats what they tell me

or have a look at PCX club thailand you will see a lot of Thais on some nice PCX

Yes and I would like to have a Ferrari out in the garage instead of the Honda City

I go to Phuket 3 - 4 times a year to see my daughter (previous marriage) and I started to rent PCX's down there and it is a lovely bike but I still find the trafic in Pattaya very heavy during weekends and my Fino is better for that. My house is located 3.5 km away from Beach road so I don't need a PCX to get there.

[CMX]

Dealer here in Chiang Mai asks (as is usual up here) 1500 more for the Elegance, bringing the alloy wheel model to 59,500 - though locals usually give 1,000 back for cash and that would include green book and basic ins. for one year.

Their designated speaker of English denied all knowledge of Fi, let alone a price.

Thom. Gray may well have first heard "where ignorance is bliss, tis folly to be wise" from trade ships returning from Siam.

Edited April 25, 2011 by CMX

[ttakata]

Here in BKK, plenty of Thais are rolling the PCX and NE135.

I often see Thais riding BMWs, Ducatis, and other big bikes too.

There's even some Thai cop near me riding around on a new GSXR.

Maybe a police repossession, or he's just making so much in bribes he can afford a bike like that.

So I don't think its so much the size of the bike/car, it's about the money.

I often see the NE135 used as a taxi bike too, but never the PCX.

Edited April 26, 2011 by ttakata

[jackcorbett]

Here in BKK, plenty of Thais are rolling the PCX and NE135.

I often see Thais riding BMWs, Ducatis, and other big bikes too.

There's even some Thai cop near me riding around on a new GSXR.

Maybe a police repossession, or he's just making so much in bribes he can afford a bike like that.

So I don't think its so much the size of the bike/car, it's about the money.

I often see the NE135 used as a taxi bike too, but never the PCX.

The Thai working at bike rental shop just down the street from me just backed off his statements about Nouvo Elegance coming out with fuel injection in the next month or so. I saw the German owner going into the shop so I immediately stopped my motorbike and went inside to talk to the man for clarification on "his ordering one or two bikes equipped with fuel injection." My question did not ring a bell with the man. The Thai employee was standing next to him and he was very quick to say, "Yamaha not have fuel injection until December". Then he said Yamaha was having trouble with the Elegance getting quick smooth acceleration with fuel injection. I now think this all was so much blue smoke. If Yamaha wanted a smooth operating fuel injection setup on a Nojvo Elegance it could have it tomorrow. As I've mentioned for years it's had it on the XMAX bikes in Europe and elsewhere.

I had bad info on Yamaha's being about to offer fuel injection on the Yamaha Elegance. However-----I will still recommend this rental shop as its rentals seem to be all relatively new bikes and are well maintained plus every bike getting rented out of there is insured.

[manarak]

Here in BKK, plenty of Thais are rolling the PCX and NE135.

I often see Thais riding BMWs, Ducatis, and other big bikes too.

There's even some Thai cop near me riding around on a new GSXR.

Maybe a police repossession, or he's just making so much in bribes he can afford a bike like that.

So I don't think its so much the size of the bike/car, it's about the money.

I often see the NE135 used as a taxi bike too, but never the PCX.

The Thai working at bike rental shop just down the street from me just backed off his statements about Nouvo Elegance coming out with fuel injection in the next month or so. I saw the German owner going into the shop so I immediately stopped my motorbike and went inside to talk to the man for clarification on "his ordering one or two bikes equipped with fuel injection." My question did not ring a bell with the man. The Thai employee was standing next to him and he was very quick to say, "Yamaha not have fuel injection until December". Then he said Yamaha was having trouble with the Elegance getting quick smooth acceleration with fuel injection. I now think this all was so much blue smoke. If Yamaha wanted a smooth operating fuel injection setup on a Nojvo Elegance it could have it tomorrow. As I've mentioned for years it's had it on the XMAX bikes in Europe and elsewhere.

I had bad info on Yamaha's being about to offer fuel injection on the Yamaha Elegance. However-----I will still recommend this rental shop as its rentals seem to be all relatively new bikes and are well maintained plus every bike getting rented out of there is insured.

What about prices for the rentals?