Benelli Leoncino 250 review, road test

The smallest Leoncino in the Benelli line-up proves to be a very competent bike for the city streets.

Published on Jan 17, 2020 08:00:00 AM

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Narrow profile and wide handlebar gives you an agile riding experience.

Instrument cluster is a basic digital unit. Could do with a TFT dash.

Tail tidy gets a compact design, and is a neat aesthetic element.

The 249cc, single-cylinder unit powering the bike is fairly punchy, and while it’s certainly not a performance benchmark, there’s enough on offer to keep you happy. That and a bassy exhaust note! It’s not a very refined engine, though, and you will feel (and hear) vibrations higher up in the rev band, but not at levels that will bother you. Peak power of 25.8hp is produced at 9,250rpm, while a maximum torque of 21Nm comes in at 8,000rpm. What this means is you have to wring out the engine to really get going, but the Leoncino 250 won’t mind and is quite happy higher up in the rev band.

In our performance tests, the Leoncino 250 managed the 0-60kph sprint in 3.49sec, while to 100kph, it took 9.68sec. These figures aren’t exemplary, and while they are almost identical to the Suzuki Gixxer 250’s, the similarly priced Honda CB300R is vastly quicker all around.