In full rose-tinted specs mode I went for a little test ride around Southend with a mate on his Vespa T5 (my first ever 125cc scooter at 17 years old was a T5 in red). This gave us a chance to compare the two. Remember that the Vespa T5 was THE sports scooter of its time. A five-transfer port engine giving it a characteristic revvy nature and long-distance appeal for us teenagers heading off to far off towns for a weekend of fun. It was the preferred scooter of choice for many, myself included. I rode one even after passing my bike test which allowed me to ride scooters with bigger engines.

Talking of comparisons, the natural competitor for the LML Star Lite has to be the Scomadi TL 125. Sadly Kegra didn’t have a demo Scomadi for us to ride. The Scomadi is more expensive, by quite a margin, but looks cool, rides well and will without a doubt sell more over time than the LML (around 6,000 Scomadis have been sold in just over a year).

On the road

The LML feels just like a smallframe Vespa, so much so in fact that for the first ten minutes I kept prodding a foot whilst braking, searching for the rear footbrake, just like I used to when I first started riding Gilera Runners and Dragsters back in the day. You soon get used to that though and if you’re not an old Vespa rider you’ll just use the front and rear brake levers, just as you would on any modern scooter.

The 125cc air-cooled auto is carb-fed but relatively responsive from the off. Quick enough in fact to give the T5 a run for its money from a standing start, as you’ll see on our video. The LML pulled away from the start and kept in the lead until we got to 48mph. After that the T5 pulled away and left me. I saw 58mph on the digital clock of the brand new LML as I chased the red Vespa, that was before we had to brake for a roundabout. I’d be very surprised if a properly run-in LML wouldn’t do around 62mph once it has loosened up a bit. It’ll certainly put you up there with any Scomadi 125 riders you come across. The good thing is that the LML handles well too, like a Smallframe Vespa you can throw them around a bit and the Sava tyres don’t protest when you get a bit carried away. The centre stand does ground fairly easily though, although it’s a satisfying scrape rather than a scary dig into the tarmac type job. It’s good for showing off mid roundabout whilst out with friends.

The Star Lite comes with the same branded Escort shocks as you’ll find on a Vespa PX and they do their job well enough. As does the modern front disc brake. The front disc/rear drum combination has more than enough power to stop this lightweight scooter in a hurry.

Despite only having an hour or so on the Star Lite I can’t say I had any cause to moan about anything significant. The performance was good, certainly on a par with most air-cooled four stroke 125s. It looks very stylish as well, or at least it does if you have a soft spot for classic scooters. Quality is one area most readers will be interested in, and to be honest the overall finish isn’t bad at all. The paintwork is well finished in most areas, although the plastic glovebox on our test scooter was a bit dull on the top, also where the sidepanels screw on the paint had been chipped around them. Other than that, I couldn’t really fault it from a first ride point of view. A longer term test would give us a chance to delve a little deeper and find any faults an owner might need to live with but we’ll maybe look at that at a later date.