(My new motorbike, 2008 Yamaha Nouvo RC)
Well, I replaced my aging 4 year old red 2003 Yamaha Nouvo RC with the 2008 red Yamaha Nouvo RC. Trying to get my hands on one took nearly three days. I thought I would just go to one Yamaha dealer and just buy the red Nouvo that I wanted. That’s what I did back in July, 2004, when I bought my first Nouvo.
Nope, it was not that easy. I ended up visiting 7 Yamaha dealers in 4 different districts in Saigon last Sunday with my Vietnamese friend Anh Ngoc. I was a bit surprised at the different price ranges. Four years ago I was able to get my first Nouvo at the base price with a little discount. Last Sunday, forget it. The red Nouvo RC was highly sought after and the Yamaha dealers knew it.
The price range for the red Nouvo RC went from 30 million VND to 32 million VND (base price was 29,500,000 VND). That did not include the registration fee which ranged from 2-3 million VND (I did not register my motorbike in Saigon so I was able to deduct the registration fees).
Finally, last Monday I decided to go with the Yamaha dealer that serviced my motorbike monthly. I ended up paying 31 million VND for my motorbike. I did not mind since I knew they would service my new bike for me for the next 2-3 years. In fact, instead of having to wait a day, they got my red Nouvo RC in 30 minutes.
It has been a joy since. I will give a thorough review next week when I take it on a long spin around the city. So far this week, I drove it 120 km but that is all. I am waiting for my new registration number from up North (Ninh Binh to be exact). I friend Minh Ngoc, who helped me with the first registration, helped me with this one as well.
Oh yeah, I sold my 2003 Yamaha Nouvo RC within a day. Mr. Lawrence Sinclair bought it from me last Tuesday. Please do not tell him that he bought a lemon 🙂 Air conditioner does not work but the window shield wipers operate very well when there is a girl riding behind 🙂 I will help Lawrence pimp up his Nouvo this Sunday…
Pretty sweet 🙂
Thanks. I am still waiting for my registration number. Eventually the canh sat will wonder why I keep riding with my ‘xe xin so’ plates 🙂
If canh sat catch you, just pretend you don’t speak Vietnamese. Hopefully they will get frustrated and let you go.
PS Lawrence Sinclair: I have an almost new 2003 Yamaha Nouvo RC, I will sell it to you cheaper than Kevin did.
@Tuan: Sold and already debranded 🙂
Congratulation on the new bike, it looks really nice.
Thanks. Take a look at Lawrence’s bike as well. He made my old Nouvo look interesting after he debranded it. 🙂
Kevin,
Nice post 🙂 and nice ride too. I used to have an old honda 50cc cub (probably made in the early 80s or so) so any newer bike right now is a fancy one for me 🙂 Now I have a trusty 2001 toyota corolla which does the job of taking me from point A to point B perfectly. More importantly, the AC does work and the heater hasn’t failed me yet in the cold Chicago winter.
You mentioned Lawrence Sinclair. I checked out his profile and he seems to be a tech entrepreneur from Silicon Valley. Just wonder if he is still in VN since I’d love to connect with you and him when I’m going back.
Cheers!
Alex
PS: how fast have you made it on your bike?
@Alex: No cars for me in Saigon 🙂 Imagine the maintenance costs for a car that goes only 10-20 mph per day.
Lawrence Sinclair set up an offshore IT company in Saigon. You can meet him when he gets in. Currently he is traveling in the US.
I do not speed on my motorbike, ever (over 100 kph but had to slow down due to traffic). 🙂