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
The ring road from Chaweng counterclockwise to Nathon and back - 62 kilometres of mixed tarmac, three significant climbs, and a dozen junction pauses - is the benchmark I use to evaluate every scooter I test on Samui. I rode the NMAX 155 on this circuit last March and arrived back in Chaweng with a core temperature that had barely risen from departure, hands that felt no fatigue, and an average speed of 67 km/h including the stops. No other rental scooter in the same price category returns those numbers on this route.
Riding the NMAX 155 at 80 km/h for 20 consecutive kilometres on the northern ring road produces a particular quality of calm that smaller automatics cannot match: no vibration through the handlebars, no sense of the engine working at its limit, no noise above the wind. The 155cc liquid-cooled engine produces its power in a range that keeps 75 to 85 km/h feeling like cruising rather than effort. Over a 90-kilometre day, that difference in engine demand translates directly into how much energy the rider has when they arrive at each destination.
Last November I watched a German couple complete the full counterclockwise island circuit on a single NMAX 155 - 68 kilometres with four stops - and return to the Chaweng rental shop without either of them expressing fatigue. He had been riding; she had been pillion for 68 kilometres of Samui's mixed road surfaces. The NMAX's rear suspension handles two-up loads better than any 150cc in the fleet: it does not bottom out on the concrete road joins north of Mae Nam, which is the section that discomforts pillion riders on smaller scooters.
Front ABS and rear drum on the NMAX 155 produce a braking character that removes the mental load of distance riding. I do not have to calculate brake release points on descents or mentally adjust for painted road markings when coming in at 80 km/h after a long straight. The ABS absorbs those imprecisions cleanly. On a 90-kilometre day with six to eight braking events above 60 km/h, that mental offload accumulates into genuine reduced fatigue at the end of the ride. Performance here means arriving less tired.
Last April over three days I tracked the NMAX 155's range on similar 70 to 90 kilometre days: north coast, south coast, and mixed ring road. Average fuel consumption was 36 km/l at sustained 70 to 80 km/h. The 6.6-litre tank produced a range of 230 to 240 kilometres before the gauge entered reserve. On Samui's 62-kilometre ring road, that is three complete circuits before stopping. For a rider who does not want to break momentum hunting for a petrol station, that range removes fuel anxiety entirely.
After seven years of guiding tours across Koh Samui's full road network, the NMAX 155's position as the best long-distance rental scooter on the island has not shifted. It is not the fastest bike available, but it is the fastest scooter that remains comfortable after 80 kilometres of riding. The combination of ABS, liquid cooling, suspension quality, and fuel range creates a machine that rewards the rider who plans an ambitious day. Every competitor I have tested over those seven years falls short on at least one of those criteria.
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