bifcake Posted June 13, 2014 Share Posted June 13, 2014 Does anyone know if Honda still makes the Airblade or has it been supplanted by the PCX? In case they're still made, does anyone know if larger, 16" wheels can be installed on them? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papa al Posted June 13, 2014 Share Posted June 13, 2014 (edited) 1. Yes, I know. They don't and it has. 2. It has been done. Consider a Yamaha Nouvo. Also Suzuki makes a scoot with 16" wheels. Edited June 13, 2014 by papa al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bifcake Posted June 13, 2014 Author Share Posted June 13, 2014 Thanks Papa Al. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philthebook Posted June 13, 2014 Share Posted June 13, 2014 They do still make them but not for the Thai market, Vietnam have the new ones. Great bike, try and get a late model 2nd hand one with full injection. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bifcake Posted June 14, 2014 Author Share Posted June 14, 2014 What is the latest year in which they were produced/available here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris2004 Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 What is the latest year in which they were produced/available here? I haven't seen them in the bike shops here for at least 4-5 years. Get a Yamaha SX just as good. The PCX is way overpriced. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bifcake Posted June 14, 2014 Author Share Posted June 14, 2014 That's what I was thinking. I had my eyes set on the Nouvo, but I figured if the Air Blade was still on the market, I would check it out and compare it to the Nouvo. I'm not a big fan of the PCX. They're overpriced and they're not as maneuvarable as the smaller bikes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubonjoe Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 Move to the bikes in Thailand forum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papa al Posted June 14, 2014 Share Posted June 14, 2014 I bought a low milage, 2nd-hand SX in December. Most excellent scooter. Favorite feature for me is very bright headlights. Nice instrumentation and good fuel economy too. New ones are reasonably priced. ~B58K. Low priced 2nd-hand are listed in the ads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bifcake Posted June 14, 2014 Author Share Posted June 14, 2014 Pulled the trigger today on a second hand Nouvo SX. Thank you for all your input. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yankee99 Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 Pulled the trigger today on a second hand Nouvo SX. Thank you for all your input. Way better then a airblade which were/are overrated imho! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yankee99 Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 Pulled the trigger today on a second hand Nouvo SX. Thank you for all your input. Can i ask how much a second hand sx sells for as im getting ready to sell mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
losworld Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 (edited) Pulled the trigger today on a second hand Nouvo SX. Thank you for all your input. Way better then a airblade which were/are overrated imho! Based on what information? The airblade is/was and excellent bike with superior build quality to the sx and the airblade as well as the new click. It is a stronger, tougher more durable bike as well as more agile. Just as good as sx and less than half the cost used. A few thousand baht budgeted for belt and brakes and the excellent engine will likely outrun and outlast the sx new. Edited June 15, 2014 by losworld Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackcorbett Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 Pulled the trigger today on a second hand Nouvo SX. Thank you for all your input. Way better then a airblade which were/are overrated imho! Based on what information? The airblade is/was and excellent bike with superior build quality to the sx and the airblade as well as the new click. It is a stronger, tougher more durable bike as well as more agile. Just as good as sx and less than half the cost used. A few thousand baht budgeted for belt and brakes and the excellent engine will likely outrun and outlast the sx new. On what do you base this conclusion? We will be satisfied with nothing less than the facts. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yankee99 Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 Pulled the trigger today on a second hand Nouvo SX. Thank you for all your input.Way better then a airblade which were/are overrated imho! Based on what information? The airblade is/was and excellent bike with superior build quality to the sx and the airblade as well as the new click. It is a stronger, tougher more durable bike as well as more agile. Just as good as sx and less than half the cost used. A few thousand baht budgeted for belt and brakes and the excellent engine will likely outrun and outlast the sx new. Based on my personal review after owning both thus imho. the airblade was underpowered with a sub par suspension. Of course honda must have been so imoressed with the sales and they couldnt keep up with production and thought it would be a better idea to discontinue the model in thailand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackcorbett Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 Pulled the trigger today on a second hand Nouvo SX. Thank you for all your input.Way better then a airblade which were/are overrated imho! Based on what information? The airblade is/was and excellent bike with superior build quality to the sx and the airblade as well as the new click. It is a stronger, tougher more durable bike as well as more agile. Just as good as sx and less than half the cost used. A few thousand baht budgeted for belt and brakes and the excellent engine will likely outrun and outlast the sx new. Based on my personal review after owning both thus imho. the airblade was underpowered with a sub par suspension. Of course honda must have been so imoressed with the sales and they couldnt keep up with production and thought it would be a better idea to discontinue the model in thailand. I agree with you Yankee99. I quibble with losworld and just about everthing he wrote. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wantan Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 Pulled the trigger today on a second hand Nouvo SX. Thank you for all your input.Can i ask how much a second hand sx sells for as im getting ready to sell mine.I paid 38k for mine with 10km on it. 18 month old and looking like new. Bough at a shop, price inclusive transfer and new tax. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
losworld Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 (edited) Jack I highly doubt you took the time or effort to read my near 1000 posts so I will take what you say with a grain of salt. I have read many of your posts on motorbikes and your knowledge in many areas is good but I find your reviews biased. Does your buddy own a Yamaha dealership here lol. I have ridden Yamaha and many are good bikes but I think Honda is ahead with the airblade and the PCX in the scooter range. The Yamaha Elegance you drool over is not a stable bike at highway speeds as the seating is way too far forward. You yourself talked about Yamaha moving the seat forward to provide agile handling similar to the airblade but this is not the way to do it. Why sacrifice road safety for niftier handling in town. The airblade has superior engineering and does both fine. Sure the elegance has a higher top speed but it is usless due to its stability issues. Secondly any bike will begin to outrun its braking capabilites after 100 khm without a rear disc. Thirdly you yourself taked about trading your Nouvo for an airblade in one review I read. I won't even get into the transmission problems with the Yamaha bikes as indicated by a rental shop owner with over 50 bikes and 10 years experience. He avoids the elegance and older Nouvos. I can't say if they have improved recently. The airblade is a well engineered bike and I have had one with 20k and original suspension at speeds over 100 kph with two passengers and 160 kilos on the bike with no problem or issue. Also the previous poster commented the airblade is slow although they will top out at around 105-110 kph speedo read. The SX with its larger engine only tops out around the same. How can the airblade be underpowered and not the SX? Regarding build quality both Yamaha and Honda have cheapened their bikes in some ways. For instance a friend of mine who has a tricity recently replaced plastic screws. The new honda click has many cheap plastic parts as well as one rear shock. I don't think they were nickel and diming like this when they built the airblade and elegance a few years back. Seems like corner cutting to keep costs down in a tough economy. Thats the facts Jack! Edited June 15, 2014 by losworld Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackcorbett Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 (edited) Jack I highly doubt you took the time or effort to read my near 1000 posts so I will take what you say with a grain of salt. I have read many of your posts on motorbikes and your knowledge in many areas is good but I find your reviews biased. Does your buddy own a Yamaha dealership here lol. I have ridden Yamaha and many are good bikes but I think Honda is ahead with the airblade and the PCX in the scooter range. The Yamaha Elegance you drool over is not a stable bike at highway speeds as the seating is way too far forward. You yourself talked about Yamaha moving the seat forward to provide agile handling similar to the airblade but this is not the way to do it. Why sacrifice road safety for niftier handling in town. The airblade has superior engineering and does both fine. Sure the elegance has a higher top speed but it is usless due to its stability issues. Secondly any bike will begin to outrun its breaking capabilites after 100 khm without a rear disc. Thirdly you yourself taked about trading your Nouvo for an airblade in one review I read. The airblade is a well engineered bike and I have had one with 20k and original suspension at speeds over 100 kph with two passengers and 160 kilos on the bike with no problem or issue. Regarding build quality both Yamaha and Honda have cheapened their bikes in some ways. For instance a friend of mine who has a tricity recently replaced plastic screws. The new honda click has many cheap plastic parts as well as one rear shock. I don't think they were nickel and diming like this when they built the airblade and elegance a few years back. Seems like corner cutting to keep costs down in a tough economy. a I mentioned that I might trade my Nouvo (MX) for an Airblade in that review after renting the Airblade years ago in Krabi. I had also rented a 110 c.c. Honda Click then and I viewed the Airblade as being very superior to the Click stability wise. But in those days the Airblade was a 110, and when Yamaha updated its Nouvo to the Elegance it increased the Nouvo MX's displacement from 115 c.c.'s to 135 cc's while introducing water cooling. And as you gathered from my reviews it repositioned the Nouvo's seat 2 inches forward and higher in the Elegance. This made the Elegance turn much quicker than the Nouvo MX while its horsepower went from 8.9 to 11.2. So if the Airblade had a slight edge on the Yamaha Nouvo MX back when the Airblade was a 110 and the Nouvo MX was a 115, the Elegance wound up outclassing all three bikes. Since then the displacement of the Airblade was expanded to 125 cc's and from what I've gathered the horsepower is similar to the Elegance's. And both bikes will completely outclass the likes of a Click, Yamaha Fino or Filano or Honda Scoopy when it comes to stability and handling. The Honda PCX, the Nouvo 125 SX which replaced the Elegance, the Elegance and the Airblade all have the upper underbone brace that these others lack and this makes a huge difference. But of these four on the highway the PCX 150 will easily feel the most stable. So, I am not anti Honda by any means. Go one size larger tires as I have with the MIchelin Pilots and I'd say the Nouvo Elegance or SX with its larger diameter wheels will edge out the Honda Airblade 125 at higher cruising speeds and if the ride on an Elegance or SX starts to feel jittery at speed this can be remedied by sitting further back in the seat. So a sligoht edge must go to the Nouvo Elegance or SX over the Airblade. But all 3 will be cheaper and handier than the PCX in town. I think we both are agreed that the Click and other floor boarded models mentioned here are completely inferior to a PCX, Elegance, Nouvo SX or 125 c.c. Airblade in nearly all important respects. In my opinion Honda should be focusing on the 125 Airblade instead of the Click because it will compete price wise with a Yamaha SX while offering comparable performance and quality. But I suppose both Honda and Yamaha have rightfully figured that there's more than enough fools around to who are willing to believe such bikes are equal to these much better put together products. All that upper bracing doesn't come cheap while adding that second rear shock further decrease's Honda's or Yamaha's profit margin along with the other superior engineering goodies that such premium bikes offer over their cheaply produced stablemates. Edited June 15, 2014 by jackcorbett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
losworld Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 (edited) Jack I highly doubt you took the time or effort to read my near 1000 posts so I will take what you say with a grain of salt. I have read many of your posts on motorbikes and your knowledge in many areas is good but I find your reviews biased. Does your buddy own a Yamaha dealership here lol. I have ridden Yamaha and many are good bikes but I think Honda is ahead with the airblade and the PCX in the scooter range. The Yamaha Elegance you drool over is not a stable bike at highway speeds as the seating is way too far forward. You yourself talked about Yamaha moving the seat forward to provide agile handling similar to the airblade but this is not the way to do it. Why sacrifice road safety for niftier handling in town. The airblade has superior engineering and does both fine. Sure the elegance has a higher top speed but it is usless due to its stability issues. Secondly any bike will begin to outrun its breaking capabilites after 100 khm without a rear disc. Thirdly you yourself taked about trading your Nouvo for an airblade in one review I read. The airblade is a well engineered bike and I have had one with 20k and original suspension at speeds over 100 kph with two passengers and 160 kilos on the bike with no problem or issue. Regarding build quality both Yamaha and Honda have cheapened their bikes in some ways. For instance a friend of mine who has a tricity recently replaced plastic screws. The new honda click has many cheap plastic parts as well as one rear shock. I don't think they were nickel and diming like this when they built the airblade and elegance a few years back. Seems like corner cutting to keep costs down in a tough economy. a I mentioned that I might trade my Nouvo (MX) for an Airblade in that review after renting the Airblade years ago in Krabi. I had also rented a 110 c.c. Honda Click then and I viewed the Airblade as being very superior to the Click stability wise. But in those days the Airblade was a 110, and when Yamaha updated its Nouvo to the Elegance it increased the Nouvo MX's displacement from 115 c.c.'s to 135 cc's while introducing water cooling. And as you gathered from my reviews it repositioned the Nouvo's seat 2 inches forward and higher in the Elegance. This made the Elegance turn much quicker than the Nouvo MX while its horsepower went from 8.9 to 11.2. So if the Airblade had a slight edge on the Yamaha Nouvo MX back when the Airblade was a 110 and the Nouvo MX was a 115, the Elegance wound up outclassing all three bikes. Since then the displacement of the Airblade was expanded to 125 cc's and from what I've gathered the horsepower is similar to the Elegance's. And both bikes will completely outclass the likes of a Click, Yamaha Fino or Filano or Honda Scoopy when it comes to stability and handling. All three, the Yamaha 125 SX which replaced the Elegance, the Airblade and the Honda PCX have the upper underbone brace that these others lack and this makes a huge difference. But of these three on the highway the PCX 150 will easily feel the most stable. So, I am not anti Honda by any means. Go one size larger tires as I have with the MIchelin Pilots and I'd say the Nouvo Elegance or SX with its larger diameter wheels and will edge out the Honda Airblade 125 at cruising at higher speeds and if the ride on an Elegance or SX starts to feel jittery at speed this can be remedied by sitting further back in the seat. So a slight edge must go to the Nouvo Elegance or SX over the Airblade. But all 3 will be cheaper and handier than the PCX in town. I think we both are agreed that the Click and other floor boarded models mentioned here are completely inferior to a PCX, Elegance, Nouvo SX or 125 c.c. Airblade in nearly all important respects. In my opinion Honda should be focusing on the 125 Airblade instead of the Click because it will compete price wise with a Yamaha SX while offering comparable performance. But I suppose Honda has rightfully figured that there's more than enough fools around to inflate its profit line due to its offering inferior products at high profit margins. Jack have to disagree with you on a number of points. Although I do agree we both prefer the underbone design and understand that it is more stable under high stress conditions and probably will extend the working life of the frame. And I agree with your previous assertion about the brilliance of these auto scooters. However, the new Honda Click is an excellent bike all you have to do is ride one to notice it has good torque and reasonably good handling however not as nimble as the airblade and there is some flex in the frame over uneven surfaces. My concern with the Click would be how long it can last suspension wise and frame wise with its somewhat cheapened body design. I have also heard the older 108cc engine is more durable than the Honda 125cc. Now I should mention I rode the new 125 cc Click from Ao Nang to Patong and back two up at 110 kph and it worked brilliantly but this was a great road. Now back to the Elegance. I just would not drive one at high speeds. I had an elegance for a number of years and I really liked the 135cc engine. It was spirited and fun. However, the bike lacked in road stability and braking. It was a very comfortable two up bike and I always thought if it were a car it would be a 70s Cadillac. Also like to know where you happened to ride the 125cc Airblade as it is not available in Thailand. Honda is content with the good profits on its PCX and the Airblade as I have stated earlier the Airblade is really a PCX without the larger engine, laid back seating and stretched handlebars. Honda built aroudn the Airblade to make the PCX imho so why keep the Airblade when you can sell a PCX for 30k more. As per the Airblade engine I put lighter roller weights in one and could keep pacw with the Elegance up to 80 kmh as well as the 125 cc PCX and just a tad slower than the 150 cc PCX. At highway speeds they and the elegance are faster but like I said you are outrunning your brakes and in some cases suspension past 100 kmh. p.s. where you from in Missouri? my family roots from around Jefferson City. Edited June 15, 2014 by losworld Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackcorbett Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 Jefferson City? Actually I'm from Illinois but I did spend a little time at the University of Missouri in Columbia (good law school there) and also lived all over the St. Louis area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
losworld Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 Jefferson City? Actually I'm from Illinois but I did spend a little time at the University of Missouri in Columbia (good law school there) and also lived all over the St. Louis area. I see. On another note I don't understand Yamaha's thinking. They built the Tricity but it doesn't compete directly with the PCX. Why did they not put a 150 cc engine in it and put one wheel on the front and they would give the PCX a real run for the money in my opinion. It would be a great two wheeled bike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papa al Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 Pulled the trigger today on a second hand Nouvo SX. Thank you for all your input. Way better then a airblade which were/are overrated imho! Based on what information? The airblade is/was and excellent bike with superior build quality to the sx and the airblade as well as the new click. It is a stronger, tougher more durable bike as well as more agile. Just as good as sx and less than half the cost used. A few thousand baht budgeted for belt and brakes and the excellent engine will likely outrun and outlast the sx new. Based on what information? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moe666 Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 The PCX is cheaper in Thailand at under 3,000dollars about 75,000b compared to the states at 3,500d Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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