THE vast majority of small capacity bikes have small petrol tanks.

The combination of good fuel economy and the fact most small bikes never travel too far means it's never really been needed.

Enter the Laro SPT 350 with its 28 litre tank. That's bigger than almost every bike out there and no wonder there's rumours around that the bike can go from Sydney to Melbourne on one tank of fuel.

On the stand
Even though the bike's engine is only 350cc it really is a full sized bike. At 6'1" I found the SPT quite a big bike, with ample room to move around and an easy stretch to the ’bars and ’pegs. If someone blindfolded you and placed you on the seat you could easily think it's a 1000cc model, such is the overall size of the bike. Of course it weighs much less than a big banger. The engine used in the SPT is Chinese made, as is the whole bike, but it's used in a number of different machines by various manufacturers. Laro uses the engine in its Pro Street custom cruiser. It's a liquid-cooled parallel twin, and it's fuel injected. It's got electric start, like you'd expect, and it has a five speed gearbox. While the suspension is pretty basic, both front and rear have lots of travel. You could almost imagine some semi-knobby tyres on it, letting you explore some out of the way places. Initially I found the rear suspension too stiff, but Laro gave me another SPT to try, one which had a lighter spring on the shock. It was much better. Laro will change the shock spring to suit your weight.
Disc brakes are fitted all round, with twins on the front. Once again, the braking package is basic but works OK. For the rider there's a nice plush seat which has plenty of room for big bums, and pillions, maybe even pillions with big bums too. A rack is fitted standard and looks quite strong. Dual mufflers sit up high at the back. They are quiet and add a little 'bling' to the understated look of the bike.

On the road
Now, that massive tank almost demanded the bike be tested over a longer distance than you might normally do with such a bike. Besides commuting we took it on a 300 kilometre day run which was mostly country back roads, and bumpy ones at that. My mate Dave Longbottom rode the bike for the day, and if the pace was around 100km/h he was always there, in someone's rear vision mirror, which surprised many in the group. "I found the bike to be better than I expected," said Dave. "It will spin up to over 120 km/h easily enough but I did have to keep it on the boil to keep up with the bigger bikes. It's very comfortable but I also found the rear shock on the first bike to be over-sprung. Sure, the brakes could be better, but I was surprised at how well it kept up, and how it handled the crap roads we were on at the pace we were going. "Build quality is reasonably good, but there's minor irritations like slop in gear linkages and the like which would make the bike nicer to ride."

Verdict
This is China's answer to the Universal Japanese Motorcycle (UJM). It's got a way to go before it lives up to the UJM tag though. While the UJM was a bit of a piss take on the Japanese bikes all those years ago there was no denying the build quality was very high. There's not many Chinese made bikes at this level yet, but they are certainly getting better and better, and if I had an SPT 350 in my garage I wouldn't be worried about it falling apart any time soon. Laro is working hard on improving its range all the time, including turning some of the standard models into funky customised jobs, and it stands by its products, offering a two-year unlimited kilometre warranty on the SPT. And at $4990 + ORC it makes the SPT a bargain buy.

(RIDING GEAR: Zeus helmet, Road-Master jacket from Hunter Riders Gear, Matador Equipment gloves, Draggin jean and Razor boots)