Scooters have gone a long way from the point A-to-B commuters they started out as. These days, we’re seeing scooters decked out in all sorts of tech, boasting impressive performance, and capable of doing far more than just regular old scooter stuff. An example of this is the growing adventure scooter segment, occupied by the likes of the Honda ADV 160, Aprilia SR GT, and now, the Hero Xoom 160.
Hero MotoCorp has been on a roll lately, and recently made global headlines for its partnership with Harley-Davidson on the X440 cruiser in India. This time around, at EICMA 2023, Hero MotoCorp is back in the spotlight as it unveils its own interpretation of the ideal adventure scooter: the Xoom 160.
The Hero Xoom 160 follows in the footsteps of its smaller sibling the Xoom 110, a commuter with a touch of rugged flair. That said, the Xoom 160 stands out thanks to its even more rugged design, boasting bulky bodywork, a tall windscreen, high ground clearance (for a scooter, that is), and large wheels shod in dual-purpose tires. On top of that, the Xoom 160 gets a beefy exhaust pipe that looks like it was pulled straight off an adventure bike.
On the performance front, the Hero Xoom 160 makes use of a new engine derived from the Hero Xtreme 160R 4V, a 163cc, air-cooled, fuel-injected, single-cylinder engine with 15 horsepower at 8,500 rpm and 14 newton-meters (about 9.8 pound-feet) of torque at 6,500 rpm. Power is sent to the rear wheel via a CVT, as is the case with most scooters of this caliber. To add extra rigidity to account for the scooter’s adventure-focus, the Xoom 160 makes use of a frame with a center spline. This means that some front storage has been sacrificed for a durable, sporty frame.
The Hero Xoom 160 gets some fairly premium underpinnings consisting of telescopic forks up front and twin shocks at the back. Furthermore, it gets front and rear disc brakes for confident stopping power. The scooter rolls on 14-inch wheels shod in dual-purpose rubber, making it capable of tackling bot city streets and light gravel roads.
