Keeway Dorado 250

For a quarter-liter offering, the Keeway Dorado 250 actually has got a very good road presence, thanks to its big dimensions and tasteful use of chrome finish on many of its parts. The old school American flavor can be easily sensed in its design, which has been executed finely for this 250cc motorcycle. 

The front end of the Keeway Dorado 250 has got a large chrome bathed rectangular panel placed at the top, in between the upper portions of the front telescopic forks, which too have been finished in chrome. A large rounded headlamp, encased in a semi-spherical chrome housing, is placed very much ahead of the rectangular panel, which might look awkward and unfinished to many. The rounded amber turn indicators, which too have chrome housings for them, are placed at the lower corners of the headlamp.

Move towards the side profile, and it is where the Keeway Dorado 250 manages to impress the onlookers the most. The flared and rounded front and rear fenders and twin chrome exhaust pipes stacked one over the other in the left-hand side make it look very much bigger for a 250cc cruiser and make you remind of the much bigger and powerful American cruisers. The small chrome bathed V-twin engine sits proudly below the sloping peanut style fuel tank, above which sits a slanted chrome finished instrument console (more on that later).

While moving towards the rear, the majority of the persona of the Keeway Dorado 250 is covered up by the large rear fender, with the motorcycle having very small side body panels in between the rear fender and engine. The split seats offered on the Keeway Dorado 250 are split unit and get a functional backrest for the pillion seat. The rear fender comes mounted with slim chrome finished grab rails on either of its sides and a simple looking tail lamp mounted at its bottom portion at the back.

The instrument console of the Keeway Dorado 250 is a rounded unit that is enclosed in a tapered chrome housing mounted on the top of the fuel tank. The unit consists of an analog speedometer and a small rectangular LCD panel which shows digital readouts for the odometer and trip meters.

The Keeway Dorado 250 has got a softly tuned suspension setup of upside-down hydraulic telescopic forks at the front and twin coil springs mounted at the back. The soft nature of the suspension does help the Keeway Dorado 250 in offering a comfortable ride quality, only backed by the well-cushioned and wide seats on offer. Both the wheels of the Keeway Dorado 250 have been equipped with disc brakes for halting duties.

The major highlight of the Keeway Dorado 250 happens to be its engine and gearbox combination, which makes it one of the most affordable twin-cylinder motorcycles available in the Malaysian market at present.

The motorcycle is powered by a four-stroke, V-twin, air-cooled, carbureted 249cc engine, which makes 19.4 PS of maximum power and 18.7 Nm of maximum torque. The performance figures might seem low for a quarter-liter engine, but it offers decent levels of performance for urban riding duties. A 5-speed gearbox is coupled for the engine as the transmission option for the motorcycle.

To keep costs in check, the Keeway Dorado 250 misses out on the basic safety features, including ABS, which is quite surprising, given that it belongs to the quarter-liter motorcycle category. The presence of an engine kill switch, pass flasher and disc brakes on both the wheels make up for the lack of prominent safety features.

For a quarter-liter cruiser motorcycle, the Keeway Dorado 250 has got a charismatic road presence, with oodles of chrome touches making it look premium and flashy. The motorcycle could have had more features and a bit more power on tap, but the available performance is sufficient enough to give it a good grunt for urban riding.