VLF Mobster 135 300 KM Review: Fun But Flawed

PHOTOGRAPHY: PAWAN DAGIA

There's no shortage of options for those wanting a dynamic, distinctive 125 cc scooter – there's the ever-popular TVS Ntorq 125, the Hero Xoom 125, as well as Aprilia's SR 125. And yet, a new entrant believes there is scope to inject fresh excitement into this space with an offbeat product. MotoHaus India, which retails two-wheelers from Brixton and Velocifero (VLF), has brought in the VLF Mobster 135 – a 125 cc scooter that apes a small adventure motorcycle with its chunky bodywork and thick all-terrain tyres.

It promises to be quick, and it’s also pretty loaded, packing a few segment-firsts, but is that enough to justify its premium price tag? We rode the Mobster for a little over 300 kilometres to bring you the answer.

VLF Mobster 135 Review: How Italian is it?

When the Mobster was launched in India a few months ago, several comments on social media cast aspersions on the scooter's heritage. While Velocifero is an Italian brand owned by designer Alessandro Tartarini, it's also true that the name of the company that conceived this scooter is Taizhou Velocifero Vehicle Company Limited, which is based in Zhejiang, China. So, it isn't incorrect to say the Mobster has Chinese genes. For the Indian market, the scooter is assembled at MotoHaus' facility in Maharashtra.

The Mobster is assembled in Maharashtra, but traces its roots back to Zhejiang, China.

It would be short-sighted to be dismissive of the Mobster's abilities purely because of its origins, and this becomes clear within the first few minutes of riding it.

Performance is endearingly impressive for a 125 cc scooter.

VLF Mobster 135: Performance

Show the Mobster 135 an open stretch of road, and this scooter will pleasantly surprise you with the urgency it exhibits. Twist the throttle, and within moments, you’re up to highway speeds. During our time with the Mobster, it consistently cracked 60 kmph from standstill inside six seconds, which is impressive for a 125 cc scooter. While the low-end response is acceptable, it’s the mid-range that would probably have you mistake this for a bigger scooter.

The way it pulls from 25 kmph to 90 kmph is uncharacteristically explosive for a 125, and it makes its progress heard, too – this scooter is loud. On its way to its true top speed of 100 kmph, the scooter revs all the way up to 9,000 rpm – pretty high-revving for a scooter, full stop. And when its time to come to a halt, the front and rear disc brakes, in combination with the standard dual-channel anti-lock braking system, ensure you come to a stop without any drama, even from highway speeds.

Reaching highway speeds takes no time on the Mobster.

The rev-happy nature of this engine, however, can get tiresome when riding in the city. It tends to cling on to high revs (staying above 6000 rpm) even at cruising speeds of 40-45 kmph, and because it is loud, riding it for long durations can be fatigue-inducing.

VLF Mobster 135: Ride quality

Unfortunately, the suspension just cannot keep up with the engine and the chassis. The telescopic fork and the rear shock absorbers are once-best-friends-turned-foes. The front is really stiff. You don’t just get a good amount of feedback through the handlebar – you get a detailed report of each and every single road in your locality, replete with 3D scans of potholes, ruts and joint cracks in every surface.

Powerful brakes, but the suspension is a letdown.

You will feel every single road imperfection, and over a period of time, this gets really rather uncomfortable because your hands, wrists, and elbows are constantly taking a beating. Also, the scooter just doesn't want to steer when it's going fast. So when you tip it into a corner, there is notable understeer, and that really sours the ride experience.

Seat is borderline uncomfortable – for both rider as well as the pillion.

VLF Mobster 135: Seat comfort

Just like the rest of the scooter, the seat too is pretty compact and at the same time it is unwelcoming. At 797 mm, seat height is a little high for a 125 cc scooter. And when you get on it, you will see that for me, I'm 5 ft 6 and I'm only able to place the ball of my feet comfortably on the floor. But more than that, the issue is that this seat is actually sloping downwards; in a bid to make it a little more accommodating for shorter riders, VLF has tried to lower the seat. Whenever you brake hard, you slide down in the seat, and you have to keep pushing yourself back up every time that happens. Unfortunately, the seat is also stepped, and in the centre portion, the cushion is needlessly firm, which pushes into your tailbone and makes for a rather uncomfortable experience. So you will need to be patient with the seating of the scooter.

Tail squats heavily when you're riding two-up, compromising clearance.

Then comes space for the pillion. With a full-sized adult riding the scooter, there's barely any space left for the pillion, and while there is a chunky grab handle, sitting at the back is a rather uncomfortable experience. I did try it out briefly, and what makes it worse are the foot pegs for the pillion, which are incredibly small and thin, so you will never be able to place your feet comfortably on them.

There's also the matter of clearance. You see, when you have a pillion with you, the tail really squats down and what that means is that the exhaust piping is really, really close to the road and when you're going over bumpy patches and it does tend to hit the ground. Also, the mud guard at the back also tends to rub against the rear tyre, and that is not only annoying but can also be unsafe.

VLF Mobster 135: Practicality

Now I know practicality isn't supposed to be a priority for a sporty 125 cc scooter, but the Mobster 135 feels like it is deliberately impractical. It has a storage compartment at the front, but it is rather small and quite shallow – it just won't accommodate my phone. The other problem is because of the thickness of the hinge, there is a huge cutout on the inside which presents a large enough gap for smaller items to fall through. So, if you were to keep any money here, maybe a pen or any other small item, then the moment you open this lid, there is a chance it might just fall through the floor and fall onto the ground.

Underseat space is limited; note fuel filler lid under the seat.

And while the scooter does have a USB Type A phone charging port, the cover for it feels rather flimsy, as does the cover for the storage compartment. There is a bag hook which does give you some level of flexibility, but the floor is raised in the centre, and that means that you will not be able to place any large items over here without them tipping to one side or potentially falling off the scooter.

Raised central portion makes it difficult to place any items on the floorboard.

What makes it further impractical is the underseat storage, which is really limited for this day and age, and even the floor of the storage space isn't flat, so you won't really be able to place any large items. It'll barely accommodate a half-face helmet, forget a full face helmet, and the fuel filler lid is beneath the seat like on scooters from the 2010s, so every time you have to tank up, you will have to get off the scooter and open the seat, which I feel is a rather unnecessary exercise.

VLF Mobster 135: Dashboard

The 5.0-inch colour TFT actually has a clean, easy-to-read layout, and you have the rev counter featured prominently on the screen along with the speedometer. This screen has five levels of brightness, and even under harsh sunlight, it is perfectly legible. However, when you want to change any settings – say, if you want to disable traction control or look at any of the other settings of the scooter – you have to access the menu using the buttons on the display.

Layout of the dash is clean and easy-to-read, thanks to five levels of brightness.

And honestly, the way that menu looks, it feels so dated, it feels like it belongs on a computer from the 90s. Velocifero could and should put in a little more effort to improve the UX on this scooter. Even browsing through the menu takes a lot of button presses, because once you've entered the menu to be able to exit, you have to press the button around seven to eight times to get to the bottom option, which is ‘Exit’, and only then can you go back to your regular speedo layout.

Menu design and overall user experience needs improvement.

VLF Mobster 135: Quality

While the switch gear and the grips feel reasonably well put together, the same can't be said about these mirrors. Not only are they small, but they're also oddly shaped, and what that means is there are massive blind spots when you're riding that can get quite disconcerting, especially at night, and the quality of the mirrors themselves is below par. And I feel Velocifero would do well to replace these mirrors at the earliest. The scooter feels reasonably well put together for the most part, but there are elements on the scooter which feel like they will not age well. The brake lever protectors on the test scooter had already started to come loose, and at least one panel on the scooter rattled every time the scooter went over an undulation.

Mirrors prioritise form over function; brake lever protectors already starting to come loose.

VLF Mobster 135: Design

Depending on how you feel about attention, the VLF Mobster 135 will test your patience on that front too, because let's be honest; it does stand out in a crowd, especially in this neon yellow shade. The design is striking for sure, and it draws stares everywhere. Every motorist is curious and wants to know more about the scooter.

Mobster turns heads on the road at all times of the day.

So, if you like talking to people, you will enjoy having the scooter because you will constantly be in the spotlight, but it may also test your patience because people have an unending list of questions to ask about this scooter because they're super curious. They've never seen it before, and they will keep throwing questions at you until you grow really, really frustrated.

VLF Mobster 135: Verdict

Purchases like this one are driven more by emotion than by rationality. But even so, even if you choose to accept the compromises that this scooter requires you to make, there are still a couple of things I just can't look past. Number one is the brand that sells this scooter. MotoHaus India is a relatively new player in this space and it has a rather tiny network at this time with just a single dealer in each of the cities that it is present in. In fact, it doesn't even have a dealership in Mumbai yet. Eventually when there is a dealership, there will be a service centre as well, but the lack of a widespread service network is far from reassuring. Products from niche brands like these usually entail high wait times for any spare parts that you may require, which may also be more expensive than you’d expect.

Mobster costs over Rs 1.60 lakh on-road.

And the second, and what I feel is the biggest problem facing the VLF Mobster, is named the Aprilla SR 175. The SR has the same ethos. It is built for fun. It is not the most practical scooter. It's not the most comfortable either, but it is significantly cheaper than the VLF Mobster. In fact, the on-road price difference would be anywhere between ₹20,000 to ₹25,000, and ultimately the Aprilla is a 175 cc scooter, while this, gutsy as it may be, is still a 125.

And if you were looking for something to truly thrill you, you would still be inclined to go for the SR 175, because at the end of the day, Aprilia, no matter how inconsistent, still has a pretty solid network across the country.

Don't count out the Mobster just because of VLF’s Chinese ties. There is genuine potential hidden in there. This scooter has a great engine, good brakes, and there is a solid base for Velocifero to build on. Unfortunately, in its current form, it’s not the kind of scooter you can fall head over heels in love with.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 125 cc, liquid-cooled single-cylinder, 4-valve

Power: 12.1 bhp at 8250 rpm

Torque: 11.7 Nm at 6500 rpm

Transmission: CVT

Kerb weight: 122 kg

Top speed: 100 kmph (actual)

Tyres: 120/70 R12 (F), 130/70 R12 (R)

Brakes: 230mm disc (F), 220 mm disc (R), dual-channel ABS

Wheelbase: 1341 mm

Seat height: 797 mm

Ground clearance: 155 mm