This review of the Yamaha Nouvo SX vs the Nouvo Elegance settles the Yamaha Nouvo fuel injection controversy that started before Yamaha replaced its carbureted 135 c.c. Nouvo Elegance with its state of the art 125 c.c. fuel injected Nouvo SX.

“Why should Yamaha stick with an old fashioned carburetor for its top of the line small automatic motorbike when everyone else has fuel injection?”

the unofficial members of the Honda universal fan club, claimed.   “Why that new space age PCX will get more than 128 miles to the gallon.  And all those relics of the past, especially the Yamaha Elegance with its outmoded carburetor, won’t even come close.  Welcome to this new era of small motorbike exotica.  You will look so good and comfy sitting on your fat ass on board this new PCX wunder bike.”

There’s three fundamental truths here.  The first was that the Yamaha Nouvo 135 c.c. Elegance really did have a starting issue with their carburetors.

Leave an Elegance untouched in the parking lot for more than three days, and the bike becomes a sluggish starter due to gasoline sitting too long in the carburetor.  And if you don’t start an Elegance for a month while taking a vacation, you will be due for a good thirty seconds of cranking the electric start before you can get underway. But unless you are a complete buffoon you will eventually start the bike.  It takes another thirty seconds driving the bike before all the bad fuel gets out of the fuel system.  But it is smooth sailing from then on.  And if the battery runs down there’s a kick start that will get you going, battery or no battery.

 The second fundamental truth is that 135 c.c. carbureted engine was so good that Yamaha kept it going for six years production.

 As for the third fundamental truth,  most people today actually do have fat asses, so for them, perhaps a Honda PCX might be the best choice after all.

But forget about Honda, for the moment.  This is all about two Yamaha Nouvo’s, the old versus the new.  And it’s about the Yamaha Nouvo fuel injection controversy.   When everyone and his brother  marches in lockstep for fuel injection not just the latest and greatest, but the only thing worth having for getting gasoline into a motorbike’s combustion chamber.

Yamaha listened to all those cries from the wilderness of uninformed disapproval.  And gave us the Yamaha Nouvo SX.

Yamaha Nouvo fuel injection controversy finally settled with the introduction of the Yamaha Nouvo SX 125

Now, the Yamaha Nouvo SX is a nifty little number.  It’s got a smooth fuel injected engine that offers quick and smooth power delivery when you turn the key on.  It has a neat little array of red illuminated gauges that tells you how many kilometers the bike gets per liter.  It even shows  your fuel consumption from one second to the next as you apply or reduce throttle.

The Yamaha Nouvo SX costs only sixty thousand baht (less than $2000 U.S.) This is out the door after you’ve paid the transfer tax and mandatory insurance.  The Nouvo SX handles wonderfully.  Its power delivery is very smooth and ample for just about any driving condition in the Pattaya Thailand area.  And if all that doesn’t win you over to this beautiful little transportation device, its very capable halogen headlight and tail light will illuminate the world for you.

It’s a wonderful little bike, but its engine is still only 125 c.c.s whereas that the Nouvo Elegance it replaced had a spirited 135 c.c. engine.

And when it comes to car and motorcycle engines bigger is usually better.  But not when it comes to fuel economy.  So what’s really going on here?  Is the smaller 125 c.c. engine with state of the art fuel injection really better than the 135 engine of the Elegance?  The Yamaha Nouvo fuel injection controversy still rages on.  But not when you read the Jack Corbett Motorbike Reviews.  Here you will get real numbers that show how good or bad the Yamaha Nouvo Elegance was for fuel economy.

Click on the link above to get the main article on the Nouvo Elegance vs the Nouvo SX.  After finishing it you might also want to read this one–Is Yamaha’s Nouvo SX 125 as good as the Nouvo Elegance 135?  Here for the first time you can see just how well the Nouvo Elegance 135 accelerates.  And  how it compares to its 125 c.c. replacement and most of its main competition.

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.The  lightening quick Yamaha  Elegance  is absolutely the finest all around motorcycle for Thailand cities such as Pattaya, bar none.

These are outrageous claims verging on the hyperbole, especially when one considers that the Yamaha Nouvo Elegance’s engine is only 135 c.c’s,

the bike cost less than $2000 brand new, and that the Elegance will only do 70 miles an hour on a good day.  But consider the following attributes.  Among the many general purpose motorbikes one can buy here in Pattaya, Thailand,  I can’t think of one that will out turn a Yamaha Nouvo Elegance.  Or for that matter the newer Yamaha Nouvo SX that’s replaced it.

Just take a close look at the picture above and notice how close the front part of the bike’s seat is to the Elegance’s front wheel.  Or how long the motorbike looks to the point of nearly appearing ungainly.  This design is no accident, and I should know because I used to own a Yamaha Nouvo MX.   I sold i to a friend when I got the Elegance, but first I took a measuring tape to both motorcycles.  My new bike seat compared to the old one I was about to sell,  measured 2 inches closer to the center of the front wheel.  It was also 2 inches taller.

What this means is when one compares the 115 c.c. Nouvo MX to the significantly more powerful 135 c.c. Elegance

if the driver sits forward on the seat he’s practically on top of the Elegance’s front wheel.

He’s also sitting 2 inches higher in the seat, and this gives his butt much more leverage on the bike which provides it with superior handling to the old model.  The seat forward riding position also provides incredibly quick turning.  Considering that the 16 inch wheels of the Yamaha Nouvo’s are much larger than the 12 inch wheels of the Yamaha Filano I later got my girlfriend, one would expect my Elegance to  turn much more slowly.  But, motorbike manufacturers must make compromises.  And larger diameter wheels are much more stable than smaller diameter wheels.   Which offset this disadvantage by being able to turn on a dime.

But the Yamaha Elegance and its Nouvo SX replacement offer the best of both worlds.

 The long wheel base and relatively large diameter 16 inch wheels offer good straight line stability and a decent ride

but the placement of the bike’s seat compared to the front wheel provides the same skateboard quick handling that is offered the small wheels  of Yamaha Filano or a Vespa.

This was absolute brilliance from Yamaha.  But when it comes to the Yamaha Elegance’s 135 c.c. engine, its power and efficiency enabled it to walk all over the Elegance’s predecessor, the Nouvo MX.   For one thing, the Elegance is water cooled  whereas the MX was air cooled.  In my opinion this enabled Yamaha to tune the Elegance’s larger engine to a higher specification than what air cooling might have allowed in the earlier model.  But whether this is true or not the 135 c.c. Elegance turns out 11.2 horsepower to the Nouvo MX’s 8.9 for a whopping 27 percent increase in power.   And it offered better fuel efficiency while doing it.

That 135 c.c.engine Yamaha put in its Nouvo Elegance was one helluva engine, the kind that only comes along every few years.

When Yamaha came out with its 135 c.c. Elegance most of its competitors were only offering 110 c.c. or 125 c.c. engines thus giving the Elegance a decisive edge in power.  But here one must keep in mind that the Elegance delivered all that power courtesy of a carburetor which even then was considered pretty low tech.

So when Honda introduced its excellent 125 c.c. PCX it was able to make the most of its “so called claims of superiority”.  But my Yamaha Elegance would get significantly better fuel economy than the Yamaha MX I used to own.  Even though it had 135 cc’s to the Nouvo MX’s 115 while developing 27 % more horsepower.

There must have been something very special about the Elegance’s fuel delivery system that could deliver such performance superiority.

One must also look at the fact that the Yamaha Elegance first came out in 2008. And it was still being sold in 2013 before Yamaha replaced the carburetor of the Elegance with the state of the art fuel injection of the Nouvo MX.  So whether Yamaha’s reliance on carburetors was old fashioned technology or not, the fact remains that the Yamaha 135 Nouvo Elegance was being sold for six years from 2008 through early 2014.

During the same basic time frame Honda went from a 110 c.c. engine to a fuel injected 125 in both its Air Blade and Click models. Then  it supplanted the 125 c.c. engine of the PCX to a better performing 150 power plant.  It can certainly be said that the 135 c.c. Elegance is a tried and true design that didn’t need any modifications whatsoever.  Moreover, other than timely battery and tire chances, replacing of headlight bulbs, and oil changes there’s virtually no maintenance whatsoever to a Yamaha Elegance.  My old Nouvo Elegance my ex neighbor bought from me has 70,000 kilometers on it and he hasn’t even replaced the drive belt.   Whereas another friend who bought one of the first Elegances to come out reports he hasn’t changed his belt either nor has he had anything of significance go wrong with it.

I can go on an on about the many fine attributes of the Yamaha Nouvo Elegance such as its offering kick starting.

Whiles its main competition (the Honda PCX) does not.  Or I can applaud its facility for easily carrying all kinds of things.  Such as grocery bags and even desktop computers.  Or that it has two rear shocks whereas much of its “so called competition” offers just one (eg.  The Honda Click, Scoopy, etc).  You will find out a lot more about how well the Yamaha Nouvo Elegance stacks up against the competition.  As well as its successor, the fuel injected 125 c.c. Nouvo SX in my Jack Corbett motorbike reviews.  But let’s get back to my original hyperbolic claim that the Yamaha Elegance is lightening quick and that it is the best all around motorbike for Pattaya.

In a city such as Pattaya most driving is at speeds of less than 50 kph (30 miles an hour).

The new Honda Click has an excellent 125 c.c. engine that provides it with terrific acceleration for its class.

Yet, up to 50 kph the 125 Click is not quite up to the lightening quick Yamaha Elegance Elegance’s figures.  And there is no way that  Honda Clicks are going come close to a Yamaha Elegance for good handling.

And the increased width, weight and chassis dynamics of the Honda PCX 150 puts it at a disadvantage to the svelte lightening quick Yamaha Elegance for slithering through tight city traffic.  Even though it offers excellent highway performance for this class of motorbikes.

But consider for a moment the city  driving conditions  we have in Pattaya, Thailand.  What I mean by quick is how quickly one can get from point A to point B.  It is arriving at my destination that counts.  Whether its getting to the next bar for a beer,  restaurant, or  to do a little shopping.

My Honda Civic is much faster than my motorbikes,

my Yamaha Nouvo Elegance or my Yamaha SR400.  But parking my Civic in Pattaya is problematical.  Furthermore,  my Honda Civic is going to take me more than twice as long to get to practically anywhere.  If I take .  Even a really fast motorcycle will take me longer to reach my destination.  Such as a Kawasaki 650 Ninja or a 1000 c.c. BMW.    I will still be able to get from point A to point B faster on my lightening quick Yamaha Elegance.  This is  due to its being so agile in traffic.  Not to mention its slim frame that  gets it through the smallest holes in traffic.  I can also park the Elegance much easier than I can a much larger motorcycle.

For years I’ve been trying to find something that’s better than my lightening quick Yamaha Elegance.  I  considered the old model Honda CBR 150,  the Honda CBR 250  and the Honda PCX.  I finally bought a Yamaha SR400 which  is an excellent motorbike forThailand.  But I’m still not selling my 2008 Yamaha Nouvo Elegance.  Which I still regard as the finest all rounder for this part of the world.

But sell it I did.

My lightening quick Yamaha Elegance was really all I needed and it never let me down.

Yamaha finally replaced its 125 c.c. fuel injected Nouvo SX with the Nmax.  With disk brakes on front and rear and anti lock brakes  I couldn’t pass up the 155 c.c. Nmax.

in 2012 I started to make 2012 Yamaha Nouvo SX performance predictions on what Yamaha’s upcoming latest and greatest could do.

By April 2012, the handwriting was on the wall.

In spite of the overall excellence of Yamaha’s 135 c.c. Nouvo Elegance, the Japanese company was planning to replace it with a new fuel injected 125 c.c. model.

That was in 2012.  Today, it’s May 1, 2015, and I’m still the proud owner of both a 2008 model 135 c.c. Yamaha Elegance and a 2014 Yamaha SR400.  Neither is for sale.

The Elegance has now been with me for six years.  And it’s likely to stay with me for a long time to come.  The reason is in the last six years I cannot think of a single motorbike  that’s as good for the kind of driving I do overall in and around Pattaya, Thailand which has been my home for the past ten years.  The 135 c.c. Yamaha Nouvo Elegance is still is a wondrous little motorbike that cannot be beat for the everyday driving conditions here.  Nevertheless, I’m still the kind  of guy who’s always looking for something better.    So in 2012 I started making 2012 Yamaha Nouvo SX performance predictions.

In 2012 Yamaha’s flagship for 125 c.c. class motorbikes in Southeast Asia was the Yamaha Nouvo Elegance.

It had a spirited 135 c.c. engine that outperformed most of its 125 c.c. competition.  Trouble was it was getting a lot of complaints about poor fuel economy and starting problems.  Even worse, it was getting to be pretty long in the tooth, and was becoming more and more viewed as a relic of the past.  This was not good for Yamaha,  Because here in Southeast Asia Yamaha was being perceived as being technologically grossly inferior to its main competitor.  Which was Honda, which had been getting the lion’s share of sales in this portion of the world.

Honda had just introduced its PCX 125 which it was billing as the most technologically advanced 125 step through that the world had ever seen.  Honda hyped its PCX up to have a wondrous fuel injection system that would get the new Honda automatic more than 125 miles per gallon.   I then started reading in several motorcycle internet forums how superior Honda’s PCX was to all its competition.  Especially the Yamaha Nouvo Elegance with its antiquated carburetor.  “Yamaha was a second class kind of company”, claimed many new owners of the Honda PCX.  It was starting to look like Yamaha had never heard of fuel injection.  Or if it had, its fuel injection systems were primitive compared to what Honda was now offering.

It must have been in 2012 that I started reading about Yamaha’s 125 c.c. and 250 X Max models

that it had been offering elsewhere in the world since 2005.  I still recall reading how its 125 X Max offered 14 horsepower to my 135 c.c. Elegance’s 11.2.  And the X Max had always been fuel injected.  Even back in 2005 when it was getting rave reviews as a wunder machine that was much more advanced than anything from Honda.

Truth is both Honda and Yamaha were already producing advanced twist and go 125 c.c. class motorbikes for various world markets that the rest of the world didn’t seem to know anything about at all.

Nevertheless, rumors started to get out on the Southeast Asia motorbike forums  that Yamaha would soon replace its 135 c.c. Elegance with something far better.  And even I, who already owned a Nouvo 135 c.c. Elegance started to believe such rumors.    That’s why in 2012 I started making my Yamaha Nouvo SX performance predictions.

Critics of the 135 c.c. Yamaha Nouvo Elegance had a valid point about the bike’s carburetor and lack of fuel injection.

Starting is not the Yamaha Elegance’s strong point.  Gas  accumulates in the carburetor.  Even after two or three days an Elegance is reluctant to start compared to fuel injected bikes that take just one half of a second to fire up.

When make an overseas trip for three or four weeks, it takes thirty seconds of cranking to get its engine to come to life.  Which nearly drains the battery.  Even then I have to baby the bike for the first minute or two before the little motorbike gets rid of all the bad fuel in the carburetor.  But the Elegance trumps any Honda PCX with its kick start.  This means that even if the battery goes totally dead you are still able to start it.

Yamaha’s new 125 c.c. Nouvo Elegance did turn out in my estimation to be a wonderful motorbike.  Especially for the kind of driving conditions one finds in Pattaya and in similar cities.  As for how well it compares to the carbureted 135 c.c. Elegance or the Honda PCX in either its 125 or later model 150 incarnations, you will just have to read some of my Jack Corbett motorbike reviews to find out.

But back to the Yamaha Nouvo SX performance predictions I was making in 2012.

I speculated “Above all, take all of this with a grain of salt.  I’m doing this for fun so I can later check back to see how close I got to the mark.  This is only a crap shoot. Nevertheless it should be interesting to see how accurately this crap shoot will measure up”.

So how accurate was I?  Click here for my Yamaha Nouvo SX performance predictions

That was all pure speculation back then.  For two days I’d rent a Nouvo SX 125 which I’d pit against my 135 c.c. Nouvo Elegance to get an accurate measurement on how the two would stack up against each other for pure economy and stop watched times from zero to fifty  and zero to eighty kph.  I seriously doubt if you will find a serious head to head comparison between these two Yamaha Nouvo’s elsewhere.   And now for the real deal–the shootout of the Yamaha 135 c.c. Elegance against the Yamaha fuel injected 125 c.c. SX

You might also be interested in reading What will Yamaha’s fuel injected  Nouvo SX be like? for a few comparative specs on the Elegance, Nouvo SX and other models from Yamaha.