The Kymco KRV 180 Is The Sporty Maxi Scooter We’ve Been Waiting For

Although we might just need to pray if we want to see it in India

Words: Priyadarshan Bawikar

The Kymco KRV 180’s debut at the Beijing Auto Show 2021 seems to be the first bit of inspiring news to come out of China in the last year and a half. Now this scooter is a bit of a departure from the company’s better known X-Town line of maxi scooters, instead taking inspiration from the Taiwanese company’s largest twin-cylinder offering, the AK 550.

Some of the design cues borrowed from the AK 550, such as the sharp, split LED headlights with LED DRLs and edgy body panels, are obvious. But the similarities extend under the skin as well. Unlike traditional scooters, there’s no underbone chassis here. Instead, just like the AK, the KRV uses a lightweight twin-spar frame along with a motorcycle-like swingarm, and the engine mounted in the centre, sending drive to the rear wheel through an exposed belt drive.

This should really help with overall weight distribution as well as reduce unsprung mass, which combined with its right-side-up front fork, rear monoshock and 13-inch wheels shod with 110/70-13 rubber at the front and 130/70-13 at the rear, should really make for a compelling handling package.

The motor itself is a 175cc liquid-cooled, 4-valve, single-cylinder mill putting out about 17PS @ 8000rpm and 15.5Nm @ 6500rpm. To put that into context, that’s as much power and 1Nm more torque than the Bajaj Pulsar 180. More interestingly, it also gets switchable traction control as an option.

What makes this KRV 180 really stand apart from the more conventional maxi scooters is its flat footboard; stepped, but not split, seat; exposed handlebar and the lack of a large windshield. To be honest, this sort of design is right up our alley and lends the KRV a distinctly sporty style compared to other maxi scooters.

It’s a fairly featured packed scooter as well, equipped with disc brakes at both ends with ABS, LED lighting all around, fully digital instrument cluster, dual USB charging ports and a keyless start system that gets a central knob for locking/unlocking the scooter, underseat storage as well as the external fuel filler cap. And speaking of the underseat storage, it looks fairly cavernous and should swallow a proper full-face helmet whole.

While we’d love to see the Kymco KRV 175 make its way to India, considering that the collaboration between Kymco and 22 Motors has been an utter fiasco, we doubt that will happen any time in the foreseeable future.