MotorStar Cafe 400

The Motorstar Café 400, with its retro-themed design and basic personality, will surely appeal to those purists who want their ride on two wheels to look and be humble in its nature. The old-world charm is clearly visible in its minimalist design, which surely manages to stand out from the crowd of even other retro roadsters.

The front look of the Motorstar Café 400 has been designed very simply, with a traditional round headlamp and a pair of round orange turn indicators, all of which are encased in semi-spherical chrome housings. Above the headlamp sits the dual pod instrument console, which too is finished entirely in chrome, hence rounding off the frontal look of the motorcycle.

The side profile of the Motorstar Café 400 creates a sort of mixed bag opinion, as the motorcycle has a likeable design only marred down by the low levels of fit and finish and cheap-looking cycle parts. The well-curved fuel tank with rounded knee recesses and knee grip pads on the fuel tank as well as the trapezoidal side body cowls under the long single-seat look nice. However, the engine finished in dated-looking grey theme looks a bit low rent. The long single-piece exhaust, as well as front and rear fenders, is given full chrome treatment to go with the retro show of the motorcycle.

Towards the rear, the Motorstar Café 400 boasts of a very basic visual appeal, with the show stealer here being the high mounted chopped rear fender, on which sits the basic looking tail lamp cluster. At the top of the rear fender and behind the seat, there is a small curved pillion grab handle. The all-analog instrument console of the Motorstar Café 400, with its all-white background, has a dual pod layout – while the right one shows tachometer, the left housing has a speedometer, odometer, and trip meter. The absence of a fuel gauge is something that could have been avoided. The switchgear and handlebar are of acceptable quality levels and could have been better.

Matching the classy but basic visual appeal of the Motorstar Café 400 is its entire set of mechanical hardware. The motorcycle has been armed with simple hydraulic telescopic forks at the front and dual hydraulic coil springs at the rear, which has been tuned on a softer end to make sure the Motorstar Café 400 feels at home and smooth when ridden sedately. Riding on a 19-inch front wheel and an 18-inch rear wheel, the Motorstar Café 400 has been fitted with a disc brake at the front and a drum brake at the rear.

The Motorstar Café 400 has been fitted with a four-stroke, single-cylinder, liquid-cooled, fuel-injected, 397.2cc engine, which is one of the biggest powertrains produced by the Chinese two-wheeler maker. Coupled to a 6-speed gearbox, this engine in the Motorstar Café 400 makes a maximum power output of 27 PS and a peak torque output of 30 Nm. The engine seems at ease in its comfort space of midrange, however, throttle more than that, and the refinement levels are something which cannot be termed as smooth.

The Motorstar Café 400 misses out on a number of safety features that are taken for granted in a quarter-liter or bigger motorcycles, which includes the basic necessity of ABS. However, with basics done right like the presence of an engine kill switch and front disc brake, the Motorstar Café 400 feels decently armed, but surely could have been better.

Barring the cool retro design theme, there is no other factor of desirability which works out in favor of the Motorstar Café 400. The motorcycle feels low rent and unfinished when compared to other 250-400cc motorcycles from established rivals, which questions its long term reliability.