Benelli India lists its Leoncino line-up under the Scrambler tab on its website, and the Leoncino 250 is the second bike to be added to this tab after the Leoncino 500, which came in a few months ago. The 500 impressed us a good deal and we were curious as to see what the 250 was like, and whether it could live up to the benchmark set by its older sibling. So we put it through our extensive road test, and here’s what we thought of it.
While the characteristics mentioned above add to the visual presence of the bike, some of them take a toll on the ergonomics. For starters, the seat is a bit too narrow and small. The use of a softer padding and some more space for the pillion would have done a great deal in improving overall comfort. However, what’s really bothersome is the position of the rider foot pegs; they are aggressively rear-set, resulting in a cramped riding position. In fact, the riding ergos and the suspension setup feel more in line with a sporty naked, and that means standing up and riding through broken stretches (as you would on a scrambler) doesn’t feel like a natural process. Having said that, I wouldn’t categorise the Leoncino 250 as particularly uncomfortable. While you could get away with commuting on it every day, the ergonomics and comfort are just not what you’d expect from a motorcycle in the category.
The Leoncino 250 is a motorcycle that has its charms, but the price is certainly a deal-breaker. An ex-showroom price of Rs 2.5 lakh puts it a whole Rs 1 lakh above the Suzuki Gixxer 250, a motorcycle with very similar levels of performance. You could also get yourself its fully faired counterpart in the form of the Gixxer SF250, which costs close to Rs 10,000 more than the naked variant. The pricing of the Leoncino 250 puts it in the space of more accomplished machines. For this money, you could get the KTM 390 Duke, or the Honda CB300R, or even the Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 – all motorcycles the little Leoncino would seriously be out of its depth around. If (or rather when) Benelli figures out a way to bring the price down to an appropriate level, the Leoncino 250 will make for a quirky, left of field alternative to the established crowd.
from Autocar India - Bikes https://ift.tt/2tphU89
via YouCabri
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