LARO Motorcycles and Accessories make no bones about it, the 250 Laro cruiser is designed to be an economical budget motorcycle that is capable of a little bit more than just tootling around town.

If you want flash and high performance then there are plenty of other machines out there that fit the bill. But this little cruiser isn't designed to compete with the machines at the top end of the market, although, having said that, the distributors have enough confidence in their product to put a two-year unlimited kilometre warranty on it. Not bad for something that you can walk into a shop and buy with your credit card.

But where does this confidence come from? How do they know it will last long enough in the real world to make it a viable proposition? Part of this answer lies in Laro Motorcycles and Accessories owner Anthony Famularo's intimate knowledge of how the Chinese market works. Having started his connection with Chinese motorcycles back in the days of Arqin Motorcycles he has learned many tough lessons.

In fact Laro has since taken on all the responsibility for warranty and spares for the Arqin bikes in Australia since the company folded as a brand. The other thing that Anthony Famularo has done is visit Chinese factories so often that he's even got a basic working knowledge of Mandarin (eat your heart out Kevin Rudd).

"I've learned that you have to know who you're dealing with every step of the way," he said. "And you can only do that if you are actually there talking to them and negotiating directly. "It's no good just finding a factory that produces a cheap vehicle and shipping it in by the container load.

"The Australian market is much more sophisticated than that. You need to have an economically priced vehicle but it also has to meet certain basic requirements of reliability if you're going to survive in the marketplace."

There are several other brands of bikes in Australia which use basically the same engine, some air-cooled, and the later models with liquid cooling like the Laro, so this configuration and been around long enough to develop a small market for itself.
Laro has a partnership with Lifeng who builds the bikes in Wen Zhou and assembles them in Shanghai.

Laro also has teamed up with Lifan to distribute their products in Australia.
The first Laro branded cruiser is powered by a 250cc twin cylinder liquid cooled four-stroke engine. Although it's maximum power output is 14.8Kw (20hp) it can manage a top speed of around 135kmh.

On the stand

Despite it's small engine capacity the bike is purposely pitched at the cruiser market with its raked front end topped off with flat bars on high risers.
The seat is quite comfortable and the pillion has a backrest for comfort.
The cruiser styling cues continue with the bobbed rear mudguard and the bike comes standard with crash bars, which are easy to remove. Two bolts at the top and one each side is all it takes to do away with it.

On the road

Our test started in Sydney when we picked up a new machine with very few kilometres on the clock. So, by way of introduction, we test rode a bike that had been run-in and with aftermarket pipes, which didn't sound too bad. Then we took the ultimate test through peak Sydney traffic, then onto the F3 Freeway and up to Newcastle.

Having ridden a few different Chinese bikes over the years I didn't really know what to expect of this new offering. But it was a pleasant surprise to find that the gears didn't jump and the clutch didn't stick even in heavy traffic on a very hot afternoon. It's a five-speed gearbox with a chain drive.
The Laro 250 does accelerate quite smoothly and the brakes can handle the work in traffic even if the rear is a drum brake and the front a single disc.
The suspension is pretty basic with no adjustment on the front end and some adjustment on the twin oil-damped rear. But on a bike with this kind of power output they managed to do their task.
The front wheel is an 18inch five spoke alloy with 90/90-18 tyres and the rear sports a 130/90-15.

So, that was the first test passed with flying colours. The next step was the freeway. Bearing in mind that we were riding a brand new machine we kept it pretty much to 100-110 kmh freeway speed limit, although it was obvious that the throttle had more left.
The twin pipes have a solid little note without being overbearing.
The riding position is quite comfortable with the flat handlebars offering a relaxed riding position.

The rider has footboards instead of footpegs. perhaps the board could be a bit longer. They were okay for my feet but perhaps a larger rider might need just a little more room.
Seat height is 70cm so it won't present any problems for shorter riders and the bike weighs in at 180kg.

Fuel tank capacity is 14 litres and, although we didn't have time to run a consumption test, we had a few hundred kays on the clock when we handed the bike back.
Speedo is located on the fuel tank and has ample warning lights for indicators, high beam, temperature etc.
The other handy little thing we noticed is that there is a lockable compartment under the right-hand side cover which has a half-decent little tool kit.

On the wallet

In NSW the bike retails from $3990 + ORC and comes with two-year unlimited kilometre warranty.
With its price and warranty it will certainly find its own niche in a budget conscious consumer market.