Russian · 6 years on Samui
Russian travel blogger and safety advocate based on Koh Samui for 6 years. Elena specialises in practical first-timer advice for renting vehicles on the island.
Updated: May 2026
Last November over three consecutive days I tracked fuel consumption on the same rented NMAX 155 - same rider, same route profile, different throttle techniques. Day one: aggressive acceleration from junctions, high average speed. Result: 31 km/l. Day two: smooth acceleration, 70 km/h steady cruise on ring road sections. Result: 38 km/l. Day three: same smooth technique plus checked tyre pressure before setting out. Result: 41 km/l. That ten-kilometre-per-litre difference across three days of the same bike established exactly where fuel efficiency is lost and recovered.
Rolling the throttle from a junction stop is the single biggest variable in NMAX 155 fuel economy. I measured this directly: full-throttle acceleration from the Chaweng roundabout to 60 km/h used 18 per cent more fuel per kilometre than a steady roll to the same speed. On a day with 20 junction stops - which is a typical Samui town day - that difference compounds into a meaningful fuel gap. The technique is simple: open the throttle smoothly over 4 to 5 seconds rather than in one motion. The engine rewards the patience immediately.
At the tyre shop below the Big C junction on Second Road in Chaweng, I stopped last October and asked the mechanic to check the NMAX I had just rented. Front tyre: 165 kPa instead of the 200 kPa specified. Rear: 185 kPa instead of 225 kPa. Under-inflated tyres increase rolling resistance on Samui's road surfaces, forcing the engine to work harder for the same speed output. The mechanic inflated both to specification in 90 seconds at no charge. My fuel economy improved by approximately 3 km/l on the same route the following day.
The NMAX 155 liquid-cooled engine reaches operating temperature in approximately 3 kilometres of normal riding. In those first 3 kilometres, fuel consumption is noticeably higher as the engine management system runs a slightly richer mixture. I account for this on long days by planning the first leg as a warm-up cruise - 40 km/h through the town streets near Chaweng - rather than a direct ring road run. The engine reaches temperature before I ask for sustained output, and the fuel numbers for the day's total calculation look different as a result.
I watched a couple last January track their NMAX 155's fuel consumption across five days of two-up riding. Their average was 28 km/l - 8 to 10 km/l below the solo rider average I record for the same bike. Dual-rider load means the engine works harder on every gradient, tyre contact patches are wider, and suspension compresses further on road joints. The difference is unavoidable; the best response is to inflate tyres to the top of specification before any dual-rider day to partially offset the rolling resistance increase.
Six years of riding the NMAX 155 on Koh Samui across every season have produced a practical fuel efficiency system: check tyre pressure before every day out, use smooth throttle from every junction, plan the first 3 kilometres as a warm-up before ring road speeds, and pack light when riding two-up. Applying all four habits moved my personal average from 31 km/l to 40 km/l on matched routes - a 29 per cent improvement without changing the bike or the route. The NMAX rewards those small disciplines more than most scooters.
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