Unfortunately it felt much the same as the Suzuki at least when it comes to acceleration. Our test results confirmed my seat of the pants conclusion that this Piaggio’s engine is fairly uninspiring; it felt like there hasn’t been any engine development in quite some time. A 200cc engine should make noticeably more power than a 125cc; 12.5hp is just not good enough. The engine feels solid and reliable and quite ‘grunty’ in that it is not actually slow, it will do 100kph without complaining although it takes a long time to get there, and will put you in front of most cars at the traffic lights. It just isn’t very lively or exciting or dare I say it… ‘sporty?’

I am not actually dumping on the Liberty even though it may sound that way. In many other respects this is a truly solid vehicle. The large 16” front and 14” rear wheels mean that this bike rides uneven road surfaces with aplomb and combined with good suspension makes for seriously good handling, smooth and comfortable. This doesn’t suffer the excessively slow change in direction that many larger wheeled bikes suffer; I can only put this down to the Liberty’s relatively skinny tyres.

The riding position is very upright and very forward toward the handlebars and the footboard is very narrow. Overall it feels like this machine was designed with a fairly short rider in mind… with all respect and with an unusually un-politically correct remark I would suggest that this particular bike was built with ‘the ladies’ in mind. This was an opinion that was echoed by pretty much everybody I spoke to that rode it. This is not a bad thing in any way shape or form, just a heads up to the lads, if you are considering buying one take it for a reasonable test ride before you buy and make sure it is comfortable.