I'm currently renting a bike by the month but have decided to take the plunge and buy a new machine. I've driven both manual and automatic before, but my other half prefers an automatic so I may go that route, although will consider both. I won't need anything over 150cc. The bike would be used daily for short journeys around town, so mileage would be relatively low with an even mix of both one and two people riding (say 150kg combined), in addition to some occasional shopping on board.

I'm looking at Honda Dream 125, Honda Wave 125i and Honda Click-i Forward but am also getting recommendations for the Yamaha Nouvo 135 Elegance. I've no mechanical knowledge, so some advice would be appreciated. Can anyone recommend any of these (or not) or any others given the above.

Thanks in advance

TCA

I recently went on my 250cc D-Tracker into the hills around Chiang Mai with a friend
on his Nouvo. He came home raving about the bike. I sure kept up with the D-Tracker.
But then he was an ex London courier rider!

Should read, "It sure kept up ...."

If you prefer an automatic motorcycle, and not want to visit the petrol station too much, you probably best off with one of the latest fuel-injection models.

Currently you have two choices of manufacturer, which offer automatic scooters with fuel-injection. Honda was the first, and mid this year Suzuki came with its own fuel-injection system. The automatic scooters from Honda are powered by a 110cc engine, which is remarkable powerful, but overall they do not match the power of the none-fuel-injection 135cc Yamaha Nouvo Elegance. Suzuki has selected 125cc as the basis of there fuel-injection models, and Suzuki claims that they use a DCP-FI (fuel-injection) system which is not only programmable but also has two state air – fuel system. How it exactly works is for now a well kept secret from Suzuki. Anyway, the new Suzuki's with fuel-injection easily match the power of the 135cc scooters and it is much much more efficient with fuel-consumption, something worth to consider with current fuel prices.

Second benefit of fuel-injection motorcycles, or scooters, is that they much easier adapt to different fuel types. Something an carburetor equipped engine is NOT capable to do. If a carburettor equipped engine is tuned for E20 fuel it will run badly on something like 95 Fuel (and visa-versa). Fuel-injection engines have several sensors to fuel the engine with the exact amount of fuel it needs to run smooth and efficient.

If you have selected which fueling system is good for you, you best scout your area for a motorcycle dealer. For example I like the new Suzuki Skydrive 125, but if the Suzuki dealer is 2 kilometer from my home and Honda is around the corner I will by a Honda Airblade-i, as there is nothing more annoying of pushing a motorcycle/scooter around town (especially when you are a foreigner).

My top 3 of automatic scooters, without considering the distance of the dealer, would be;

1)Suzuki Skydrive 125 or Suzuki Jelato 125
2)Honda AirBlade-i or Honda Click-i
2)Honda Scoopy-i

My top 3 of fuel-injection semi-automatic motorcycles would be;

1)Yamaha Spark RX 135i
2)Honda Wave 125i
3)Honda Wave 110i or Honda CZ-i

The Yamaha Spark RX 135i matches on some levels the performance of the Honda CBR150R, still it looks very common (sort wolf in sheaps clothing)

For the automatics without fuel-injection I would select the following;

1)Yamaha Nouvo Elegance
2)?
3)?

There is not much competition as both Honda and Suzuki are planning to stop the sales of none-fuel-injection motorcycles/scooters.

For none-fuel-injection 4 speed motorcycles with clutch you can also look at the alternative offerings of Tiger Motorcycles, which offers highly reliable 135cc motorcycles. Another alternative which I would consider is the Kawasaki ZX130, which is a very complete 130cc 4-gear motorcycle with even a Tach meter.

Quote by: Ron

I recently went on my 250cc D-Tracker into the hills around Chiang Mai with a friend
on his Nouvo. He came home raving about the bike. I sure kept up with the D-Tracker.
But then he was an ex London courier rider!

The Kawasaki D-Tracker 250cc is indeed a nice motorcycle for Thailand, another motorcycle in the 250cc range which you could consider is a Tiger Boxer 250RS.

But, if you need to share the motorcycle with other family members or girlfriends I would recommend a underbone type motorcycle or scooter. 250cc motorcycle for family sharing is dangerous, it's asking for accidents.

nice info

Thanks for the replies above, especially Richard's.

I plan to test drive a few this week. My rental bike is a Honda Click Forward (I don't see Click i or PGM-FI anywhere, so not sure if this is an older non-FI model?) and I have to say it's not bad but I feel slightly unsafe at higher speeds in that the steering feels a bit light and wobbly. I'm 85kg and feel that I should be imposing more of my weight forwards to compensate. I guess the weekly shopping in the area between the seat and the steering will do just this and this aspect of the design might actually be something I need, so I'm tending to stray from bikes which don't have this space (the manuals). Poor reason I know.

I wonder though, whether a bike like the Yahama Nouvo Elegance is better in respect of this apparent front end lightness given it appears to have larger front wheels and is a bigger bike? I will have to try one out this week, although for the reasons Richard gives above, fuel injection may be wiser and cheaper. The Suzuki Skydrive 125 looks and sounds good too but I'm not aware of a Suzuki dealership near me, so will have to investigate that point.

Not forget that when you buy a non-fuel-injection motorcycle and future bike/scooter models are only available with fuel-injection the value of your older model drops big time.

Managed to test the Nouvo Elegance 135cc today and was very impressed. I thought it steered and held the road better than the smaller Click that I'm riding at the moment and I definitely felt safer. Braking was good too and it has a fair bit of poke as well.

Pretty sure I'll go for it. My quandry now is that the only place stocking them locally is a small resale garage (almost exclusively Yamaha though) as opposed to the nearest main dealer which is 30mins drive away. Assuming the local place can carry out any necessary repairs and servicing, is there any benefit to buying from a main dealer? Price is the same.

Good choice!
I would definitely go to the main dealer, especially when so near.