LEXMOTO LSM 125 (2012 - on) Review

The ride feels cheap, with overly soft suspension struggling down tricky back roads. Despite the Supermoto styling it's fairly comfortable, if a little small for taller riders.

The engine's just what you'd expect from a 124cc single-cylinder. It's nothing special, but it will propel you up to town speeds fairly quickly. On the open roads it struggles to keep up with the flow of traffic and overtakes are a risky business.

The latest Chinese bikes all have better reliability than their predecessors, but they're still not up there with the Hondas and Yamahas of the world. The LSM felt well built, just not as polished as a Japanese bike. If it does go wrong, Lexmoto have a very good parts back-up and UK importer.

Compared to the competition it's terrific value. The Suzuki DR125SM costs over £1000 more. The Lexmoto won't hold its value though, and you'll struggle to sell it on for a decent price.

Equipment is fairly basic, you get what you need to get from A to B. The clocks are a good size and easy to read and it comes with some neat little diamond indicators as standard, much better than the huge standard indicators of most bikes. The side stand is spring loaded, which is just stupid. If you can own a bike with a spring-loaded side stand and not drop it at least once then you must be a wizard.