The Yamaha Filano is not one of the best handling motorbikes you can buy for driving in Pattaya and similar Thailand cities.

It’s a jewel of a bike with Vespa inspired Italian bodywork.  And it has top notch Yamaha build quality.  But neither the Yamaha Filano or its floorboard equipped motor scooter cousins can match the handling prowess of a Yamaha Elegance.   By cousins I mean 125 c.c. class bikes that have floorboards.  Such as the Honda Click, Honda Scoopy, or Yamaha Fino.   Nor can they match the handling prowess and road worthiness of a Nouvo 125 SX,  Honda PCX or even a Honda Wave.

The reason is the extensive bracing of these other models.

Because of this bracing, motorbikes such as the Nouvo Elegance and Honda PCX are called underbones.  This bracing makes the bike a unified whole that is capable of excellent directional stability and responsiveness.   Filanos, Scoopies, Honda Clicks, etc have a big open space where the tube framing of an underbone would go.

This open area combined with a floorboard is great for having a lot of foot room.  It also offers a lot of room for hanging grocery bags and the like.   But whereas there’s very little difference between the structural layout of an underbone and conventional motorcycle, bikes with floorboards are scooters.  And a scooter cannot begin to match a conventional motorcycle’s stability and all around handling capabilities.

But a Yamaha Filano is what it is.  Think of it as a glorified small golf kart on two wheels and you just might be happy with it.

You can carry a lot of things with it such as groceries and so long as you keep your speed down to a sedate pace you will look good going down to the beach in your shorts and sandals or picking up a few groceries at the Local Seven Eleven.  My real beef is with faster small scooters such as the Honda Click that pretend to be in the same class as a Yamaha Nouvo Elegance.  Or in the same class as the new Nouvo SX that’s replaced it.   But I have equal disdain for such albatrosses such as the Honda Forza or Taiwanese built Sym 400.   Such bikes are far too bulky to do well threading through city traffic.