You Tube Review of Yamaha Nouvo SX 125

[jackcorbett]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6GD5Yfsp8Y&feature=share&list=UUsQWLu5RRSRhBXNRFo7iVAA

Even though I have a Yamaha Nouvo 135 c.c. Elegance, I decided once again to rent Yamaha's newer model, the 125 c.c. Nouvo SX to see how it compares in fuel economy (over a city loop), acceleration 0-50 kph and 0-80 kph. I rented the 125 SX for four days and finished my testing in a driving rainstorm. I've gotten a lot of bogus information on various motorbikes..the latest being from a rental place up the street from me whose owner said the Honda Click 125 i was the better bike and that it got 100 km out of 2 liters of fuel whereas it takes 3 liters to get the same 100 km out of the Elegance and 2.5 liters for the new Yamaha SX. That didn't make sense so I had to find out first hand. The only numbers I'd trust would be my own. Also, I noticed that the Honda Click 125 i I rented recently accelerated very quickly and one of my friends suggested it accelerated faster than a 135 c.c. Elegance. Again, I had to find it. Some of my stop watched times I did several times over on route 36. The results for both fuel economy and acceleration proved to be very interesting.

I am also finding out some interesting things about these outmoded fuel delivery devices called carburetors. A buddy of mine just returned from a one month visit to the U.S. and found that his one year old Yamaha Nouvo 125 SX would not start. His battery had gone bad. He tried to kick start it and he had no success. So he had to get a new battery for it and that turned the trick. One month or two ago another friend of mine could not start his PCX due to battery failure. He had to walk to my condo to join me for lunch. I would have thought my Nouvo SX owner friend would have been able to start his bike with the kickstarter. I don't know....perhaps he didn't try hard enough. But I'm thinking he has to have electrical current to inject fuel into the cylinder and he just didn't have enough current. I will say this about the Nouvo Elegance, and that is it always starts one way or the other even though after just three days of sitting it takes a bit of time due to the gasoline sitting in the carburetor. Any ideas as to my friend not being able to successfully kick start his Nouvo 125 SX?

[ktm jeff]

Think your right - no battery to "power - up " the ECU ,various sensors , and the injection system. Seems daft fitting a kick-starter if thats the case. How did the fuel used compare with your old bike - which is how old , by the way ? I Fancy a Yamaha Spark or Suzuki Raider.

[BaldPlumber]

If only there was someone who really knew about the tiny, weeny differences between all of these 125cc-150cc scooters, that would be a very, very interesting read. Very interesting indeed.

[koo]

You can not "jump start" (pushing or running downhill with gear 2 and clutch, then releasing the clutch) modern motorbikes if there is no electricity, because both the electronic fuel injection and electronic ignition need to be running for the bike to start.

However, also needed to start is mechanical movement to rotate the engine. If no electric starter is present, then a kick starter is needed.

[jackcorbett]

Think your right - no battery to "power - up " the ECU ,various sensors , and the injection system. Seems daft fitting a kick-starter if thats the case. How did the fuel used compare with your old bike - which is how old , by the way ? I Fancy a Yamaha Spark or Suzuki Raider.

It's good to know that my thinking is on the right track here. I really couldn't think of any other possible reasons why my friend could not start his Nouvo SX.

As for fuel economy comparisons, I'm sorry but I cannot give you a direct link to my review on my web site. You can access the right page from my You Tube video once you are in You Tube however. The written review is much more thorough than the You Tube video. I actually used a stopwatch to get the acceleration times for the three bikes. As for fuel economy comparisons, I rented the SX for four days so I could run it in a variety of primarily city driving conditions and after returning the bike I tried to duplicate the same conditions with my Yamaha Nouvo Elegance 135. You really need to read the written review which I think is really in depth. For example....my Elegance 135 duplicated the fuel economy of a fuel injected Nouvo SX 125 on route 36 from Pattaya to Rayong and back. But that's primarily highway driving at moderate speeds. There is a world of difference between the numbers I got on that run with both bikes and the 32 kilometers to the liter I got on multiple tank refills with my Elegance doing city driving. So how do you explain 32 kilometers to the liter and the 44.5 kpl I got on the city mileage loop with the Yamaha Nouvo SX? Through the wizardry of a modern day fuel injection system? I'm sure both Honda and Yamaha would love for us all to believe that. I wound up getting almost the same great fuel economy with the Elegance as I got with the Yamaha 125 SX when I reran my city mileage fuel economy tests.

The 125 Yamaha Nouvo SX is a great bike. I love its style and its great headlight with the slim Cyclops look. Its handling characteristics and road manners are wonderful, and it's got enough power and acceleration for about anything we can throw at it in Pattaya, even if we are driving on Sukamvit. That said....the 135 Elegance has one helluva engine. Its got gobs of torque down low where you really need it in the city. I think we tend to use a lot of that torque when we really don't need it just because it feels so good and that's why the Elegance performs dismally in city driving. But when we suppress all those wanna feel good sensations that come when we give this bike more throttle than needed it will give fuel economy that's every bit as good as the fuel injected 125 Nouvo SX PER CUBIC CENTIMETER.

By the way, I'm now seeing pictures and promotional videos out of Vietnam of a new 2014 model Nouvo that's being called a 135? Does this mean there will be a 10 cc. larger Nouvo using a fuel injected version of that torque happy 135 c.c. engine? One might hope so. But what I'm seeing out of all this Asian promo is there doesn't seem to be a lot of respect for accuracy. I'm also seeing pictures and promo out of Taiwan for a new Yamaha motorbike that's intended to compete with Honda's 150 PCX. In some places it's called a 160, while in other places it's a bike with a 155 c.c. displacement. It's also indicated that it will be available in a lot more Asian locations than Taiwan but I'm seeing no confirmation of this anywhere or explanation of what is meant by much greater widespread availability.

[SooKee]

Not sure why but your site review page seems to default to a column about 2" wide on a laptop with about 3-4 words per line? Makes it quite laborious to read IMHO, more like trying to read a long product label than an article. Maybe it's defaulting to some kind of mobile view?

I'll still be pondering the 135 Elegance (LC) in a few weeks time in Malaysia (the SX isn't available there and Yamaha, oddly, have no plans to introduce it) alongside the new 2013 Airblade and the PCX 150 (albeit the PCX I think for me is a bit too bulbous and crusier styled for extensive town riding. It'll all come down to what I feel is the best fit as I'm 6'03". The very modern tech on the Airblade might take some beating though v the now 4-5 year old Nouvo LC (as Malaysia terms the Elegance), esp the idle stop. Pity we have no SX and none in sight.

Nice to see the 135 Eleg/LC still holds up against the SX, esp in terms of low mph power take up, for me that's when I most want it. So IF I decided to go towards the Yam I might not be that worried that it'll be the 135, esp with that single headlight (really don't like the overall look it imparts) and a reduced size fuel tank on the 125 That said, the harder starting after several days might grate after a while, esp given the Airblade has PGM-FI AND (IIRC) a kick-start back-up too.

Must admit I really like the new Click 125i for around town here in Patong.

For me these small scoots are fine and the current state of the tech and engineering is superb IMO, esp for the money. I've been a big bike rider for years but those are behind me now, highway riding is something I prefer to do where there are better drivers and more respect for the law, rules of the road and more care for lives & safety of self and others.

Edited October 22, 2013 by Pick of Penang

[jackcorbett]

Pick of Penang. I'm sorry to see you are having difficulties with the way my written review appears. I just checked this out and on my new Aesus the appearance of the review is the way I wanted it to look on all three browsers I use, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Google Chrome. Then I checked it on an old Acer laptop and had the same results with Internet Explorer and Firefox.

In the past 48 hours I've just become aware of two things. First...two of my friends have had their batteries fail on their Nouvo SX's even though both machines are less than a year old. My first friend now tells me that had he kept trying to kickstart his SX for a longer period of time it would have started as the light kept getting stronger while he was kickstarting it. My second friend told me he got help kickstarting his Nouvo SX and they got it started but only after around 10 minutes of hard effort. I am thinking that there must have been a very bad batch of batteries getting into the Yamaha pipeline here in Pattaya...the made in China kind. I do want to emphasize that both friends are very good friends of mine, and not just casual acquaintances and they were comparing notes last night as we all had dinner together.

Also...I am now testing still another bike for a future bike review and that's my girlfriend's Yamaha Filano. Up till now I've very seldom driven it solo. It's got small Vespa like 12 inch wheels on it but the tires are fat. When my gf rides behind me I will bottom out on two consecutive speed bumps even at 1 mile per hour. Also, this bike does not handle well for me when I am driving it two up. That said I am now putting some miles on it driving it solo for the upcoming review and I have to say it's fun to drive as running it without the added weight of my gf causes it to handle much better. I also was unable to bottom it out on those two speed bumps. So....here's what I'm thinking re the Honda Click 125 i. Both the Filano and Click have a single shock absorber in the rear. I feel this is a cheap way out. Now, you might not be able to bottom a Click out due to its 14 inch wheels as opposed to the Filano's 12 inch wheels but it's a crap setup that's just not ready for prime time. Also...the Filano didn't ride that badly when I was driving it solo but if I hit an obstacle, such as a sudden rut appearing in the road or stone, etc, the front end would suddenly jump a bit to one side or the other. I attribute this to the small diameter wheels that does not have anything close to the directional stability of the Nouvo. Of course with the larger 14 inch wheels of the Click this skittishness is not as pronounced but it is still going to be there meaning you are going to have inferior directional stability to the Yamaha Elegance. Lastly.....on both recent Honda Click 125 I rentals I had problems with the seat latching mechanisms, which I ascribe as poor attention to proper design and quality control. Also....the turn indicator switch on the Click is very badly positioned. It is not user friendly. In a nutshell the Nouvo Elegance is a far superior bike. However, the new 125 Airblades in my opinion are far better designed than the Honda Click 125i.

[GirlDrinkDrunk]

i will never get that time back. thanks jack for nothing

[jackcorbett]

i will never get that time back. thanks jack for nothing

No problem. I didn't have you in mind when I wrote it.

[SooKee]

@Jack: No prob. I'll look again when I get chance. May have been a one of glitch from Safari. I'd got to the post my navigating from the You Tube link so whether that affected it I'm not sure.

Personally I don't think I'd buy a Click, mostly for the reasons you say. On my new rental the seat latch became detached too. I DO quite like it for pottering round Patong at 30-40 kph though and actually like it much more than the PCX in that regard, I often get the feeling with the PCX that it's better suited for cruising and not so agile / nippy around town, often feels like it's going where IT wants, rather than where I want it to go.

Bit disturbing about the SX batteries. On the buying from it won't affect me seeing as only the Nouvo LC (Elegance) 135 is an option. I've largely ruled out the PCX but look forward to looking closely at the Airblade. It'll then be down to whichever seems to fit the bill better, at the moment, given its newer design and more recent tech, I'm betting it'll be the Airblade.