French · 7 years on Samui
French motorcycle tour guide living on Koh Samui for 7 years. Marc leads group rides across southern Thailand and knows every road on the island.
Updated: May 2026
At Hin Lad waterfall last October I rode the access trail on the ADV 160 alongside a friend on an NMAX 155. The trail drops 80 metres over 2.5 kilometres of mixed laterite, loose rock, and exposed roots. The ADV handled it seated at 30 km/h; the NMAX required active standing technique and reached the bottom with both tyres marked from the loose surface. That comparison settled when the ADV 160 earns its place on Samui: any trail that changes surface type more than twice in a kilometre.
The rainy season on Samui runs June through October and turns plantation tracks above Nathon from firm laterite to unpredictable slick mud in a single afternoon storm. I rode the ADV 160 on the Nathon viewpoint track last August after 40mm of overnight rain - the kind of surface that closes standard scooter tracks for most riders. The ADV 160's 160mm ground clearance kept the undercarriage clear and the semi-knobby rear tyre found the firmer edges below the mud surface consistently.
Southern Samui's beach access tracks vary from concrete to sand to compacted gravel within 500 metres. The approach to Laem Sor beach last December was dry sand for the final 200 metres - deep enough to demand the ADV's wider contact patch and lower tyre pressure capability. I reached the beach without incident. The NMAX renter who followed me onto the same track stopped at the first loose section and walked the remaining distance. That 200-metre difference is exactly when the ADV's specification becomes a clear advantage.
On the ring road between Mae Nam and Chaweng last January at 80 km/h, the ADV 160 felt perceptibly less planted than the NMAX at the same speed - the higher centre of gravity and narrower wheel footprint on the tarmac surface made the ADV work slightly more at speed. For a day of tarmac riding only, the ADV does not outperform the NMAX on any criterion. It matches it in most and falls behind it in ring road composure. The ADV's superiority is specific to mixed-surface days.
The mountain road above Nathon after heavy rain carries water runoff across the tarmac surface in irregular channels - a condition requiring either low speed or additional tyre grip. I rode the descending section last September on the ADV 160 at 40 km/h in the wet: the semi-knobby rear tyre channelled water more effectively than the road-pattern rear on the NMAX. The difference was felt rather than dramatic - but on a mountain descent in Samui's wet season, felt differences are the kind that matter most.
Seven years of mixed-surface riding on Koh Samui has produced one consistent answer to when the ADV 160 outperforms regular scooters: any day that includes a significant off-tarmac section, any wet season jungle track, or any beach approach that changes surface type more than once. Meet one of those conditions with a plan to actually ride the section - not bypass it - and the ADV 160 is the correct rental choice. The premium over the NMAX is the premium for arriving at those locations rather than stopping before them.
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