The home of automatic scootering

Two’s company - Moto-Roma G10 & Lambros

Don’t see one for years and then two come along at once!

Moto-Roma (or MR as it now prefers to be called) hasn’t been away, but it hasn’t exactly set the scooter world on fire with cutting edge design or aggressive marketing. Instead it’s been slowly ticking away in the background, along with the other scooter brands imported by E P Barrus in Oxfordshire. Barrus is a huge concern, better known for its marine, garden, tools and industrial departments than for its vehicle division. The motorcycle and scooter side of the business is quite varied too though, it includes LML, Hyosung, Generic, PGO and of course Moto-Roma.

To remind us what we’ve been missing, the firm sent a couple of scooters up for us to play with for a couple of weeks: the attractive little 50cc G10 and the Lambros 125. Both scooters are pretty similar to look at and the only major changes between the two are different headlights, LED indicators and daytime running lights on the 125, plus twin rear shocks and of course a 125cc four-stroke engine as opposed to the two-stroke 50. The G10 comes with a nice looking paint job to appeal to the kids, while the Lambros is a bit plain-looking in comparison.

LAMBROS 125

£1299 isn’t a lot of money for a 125cc scooter, so what exactly do you get for your money? Well you wouldn’t expect to have a cutting edge fuel-injected scooter that’s for sure – which is just as well because you won’t be getting one. What you do get though is a competent little machine. The Lambros has the usual carb fed, single cylinder, air-cooled four-stroke engine. You also get a front disc/rear drum brake set up. Twin rear shocks (which aren’t adjustable) and a simple dash layout with speedo/odometer and fuel gauge. The front headlights benefit from a set of modern LED running lights though, which is a worthwhile addition, other than that though that’s pretty much your lot.

The Lambros takes a bit of warming-up on a cold morning. I found myself prodding the starter a few times and gradually coaxing it into life, but once it’s running it does rev quite cleanly and ticks over well. Quite a few of the cheaper scooters will constantly stall when the temperature drops close to freezing, (even after riding for a few miles) because the carb ices up, thankfully these two machines didn’t seem to suffer from the problem.

The engine sounds like any other small capacity four-stroke (nothing to write home about) and it picks up fairly well from a standing start. It’ll do just over 60mph on the flat and show 65mph on the speedo down hill, which isn’t too bad. It seems to have enough power on tap for the odd overtake and doesn’t feel sluggish. The little MR 125 doesn’t feel ‘cheap’ when you’re riding it either, the suspension for instance, both front and rear is quite good to be honest, the front forks seem to be well damped and the rear gave no cause for concern, despite not being adjustable.

Braking was good enough as well and the Kenda tyres offered enough grip on the damp winter roads. The riding position felt a little bit cramped when I first got on the scooter, but the shape of the legshields allows you to stretch your feet further forward than normal so that your toes stick through the front a bit which allows you to get yourself comfortable. To be honest, the Lambros 125 isn’t a bad little scooter; okay the paintwork is a bit boring to look at, but for the price you’re paying for this 125cc scoot you certainly can’t grumble too much about that.

G10

The G10 does look very nice; the paintwork and graphics alone make you feel like you’re getting value for money. The G10 is exactly the same price as the 125cc Lambros, but comes with a nice little 50cc air-cooled two-stroke engine. The dash layout and many of the other components are very similar to the Lambros, but the fifty only comes with a single rear shock. Again it’s not adjustable, but it works well enough so isn’t a problem.

The G10 starts up much easier than the four-stroke Lambros though; a quick prod on the button and the engine springs into life and settles into a steady tickover with that lovely familiar two-stroke note from the exhaust. Pull away on the fifty and you get a momentary lag before the transmission wakes up, but once you’re moving it soon picks up speed. As is usually the case, our test scooter had already been de-restricted for us so it easily hit 30mph and quickly climbed to 40 on the flat, close to 45mph down hill. Even uphill the scooter can maintain 35mph, which isn’t too bad and as a rider it certainly feels much safer than the learner enforced restricted speed of 30mph.

As you’d expect from a scooter that shares the parts bin with its larger cousin, this one feels like the Lambros when you’re sitting on it, although you can’t stretch your legs as far forward on the fifty because the legshields are shaped differently. Rather than finishing just above foot level, these ones are moulded into the floorboards; not a problem, but not quite as roomy as the Lambros. The brakes and suspension are just as good on the G10 as the Lambros though and you can manage a stoppie if the mood takes you.

All-in-all, both of these MR scooters are good little runabouts. The Lambros might not look as flash as the smaller capacity G10, but at £1299 it offers great value for money. There aren’t many cheaper 125s on the market that come with dealer backup and warranty.