The elegant Yamaha Filano is a stylish way of getting around Pattaya so long as you stay in the slow lane and keep the distances short. Just don’t expect it to behave like a real motorcycle or keep up with its bigger brother the Yamaha Elegance.
The elegant Yamaha Filano has the same classy rounded lines of an Italian Vespa
but it costs only half of what a new Vespa costs at slightly under 50,000 baht. But whereas a Vespa still l has a direct drive from its transmission to its rear tire, the Yamaha Filano uses a belt. Which doesn’t sound as technologically advanced even though Vespa pioneered the direct drive in 1946. But that’s a good thing because that direct drive doesn’t leave a lot of space for the scooter’s wheel. Which is why Vespas have small 10 inch diameter wheels.
I have never driven a Vespa so I really can’t comment on its ride or handling. But I will suggest that a Vespa 150 with its 11 inch front tires and 10 inch diameter rear tires should be even less stable than the Yamaha Filano. Which has larger 12 inch tires.
I can tell you that the Filano with its smallish 12 inch wheels is far less stable than my Yamaha Elegance. This is due to the Elegance’s much larger 16 inch diameter tires.
Driving the Filano feels like piloting a speedboat through a wavy river.
The prowl of the speedboat wanders as its being jostled by the wake of another boat. Small imperfections in the road can have the same effect on the 12 inch wheels of the Filano. Smallish wheels simply do not impart the gyroscopic straight line stability that larger diameter wheels provide. The effect is magnified by the absence of the upper bracing that keeps the bike’s frame from flexing.
But so what if the Filano doesn’t track like an arrow the way a real motorcycle or underbone does.
So long as one keeps speeds down to 20 to 30 miles an hour, one can expect a little bobbing and weaving. Which is what I call the cork in the waves effect.
The elegant Yamaha Filano is a great little device for getting around the city so long as one is not in a hurry. There’s a lot of room under the Filano’s seat for carrying groceries and other things. There’s also a hook between the driver’s legs above the floorboard for carrying groceries.
The little scooter’s fuel injected engine starts up immediately,
and the bike seems very well put together. The drive belt should last at least 50,000 kilometers. There’s very little on the elegant Yamaha Filano to go wrong, so maintenance should be close to zero. The well placed turn indicators, horn and brakes have a nice feel to them. But if you are wanting to keep driving at anything faster than 30 miles an hour, you would be a lot better off getting yourself a real motorcycle or a good underbone such as a Honda PCX, or Yamaha Nouvo SX 125.
