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Hero Destini 125 Review

Hero Destini 125 Pros

• Comfortable seat and riding position with an upright back for both rider and pillion. Good legroom too
• Full metal body and solid build quality
• Sufficient power for daily use. Claimed mileage of 59 km/l
• Features like projector LED headlamp, 12-inch alloy wheels, seat backrest, auto cancel indicators, Bluetooth connectivity and more

Hero Destini 125 Cons

• Lacks the "oomph" factor for an extremely competitive market
• 12-inch alloy wheels make the ride a tad bit stiff
• Should've been offered with ABS
• Boot space is decent but can't fit in a large full-face helmet

Introduction

If you see the monthly sales figure thread, you will think that Hero MotorCorp sells motorcycles as a business and scooters as a hobby. For every scooter they sell, they sell about 10 motorcycles. Their first scooter was the Hero Pleasure with the very catchy tagline of "Why should boys have all the fun". They marketed it as a "Ladies" scooter and it was an incredible success. No other scooter from Hero managed to replicate it. The New Destini 125 certainly looks very good and has a lot of things going for it, but only time will tell if it will succeed.

The New Destini 125 has a very refreshing design and styling. The golden highlights look good and the all-metal body goes against the general trend of making everything with plastic. While plastic is certainly a much lighter material, metal ages more gracefully and survives better in our tight parking areas.

Hero Destini 125 Price

There are 2 variants with a total of 3 options. The base variant called VX comes with drum brakes and an analogue console. The ZX and ZX+ come with a disc brake in the front, a digital console and many cool features in it. The price is not yet announced.

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Design & Styling

It is a good-looking bike and I like the blue colour of my test bike. It is classy and the accents compliment the bike. The all-metal body makes the bike feel very solid and the kerb weight of 115 kg is well balanced. It is easy to hold the bike and move it around tight parking spaces:


The LED projector headlight looks capable, but I did not get to ride the scooter in the dark to give an honest evaluation. The brightness of the lights can be adjusted using the buttons on the console. If you live on the ground floor and the scooter is parked inside, then this feature allows you to dim the lights will avoid illuminating the home as you park the bike:


Everything is very well put together on this bike. All the panels fit in precisely and cleanly. There are no ugly or inconsistent gaps:


Because of the rain during my test ride, I was riding through a lot of slush. But the bike after almost 40 kilometres of this, remained quite clean and presentable. In fact, thanks to the spacious legroom, my trousers and shoes were also completely clean. The long seat and the good amount of cover provided by the rear meant there were no dirty water splash marks across my shirt. Having ridden a lot of scooters during my college days, I was worried about this and checked my shirt as soon as I got back to the hotel:



The body lines are clean and will be acceptable to almost everyone. The red colored scooter looks very bright and most younger buyers will most probably prefer that:


The black and white look nice as well but I am not a big fan of the copper accents:

Build Quality, Fit & Finish

The side stand provides very good support and engages confidently:


A balanced bike with a kerb weight of just about 115 kg makes it easy to park on the main stand:


I liked that small rubber protection for the spring:


Good to see kick start on a modern scooter:


Such a nice elegant touch to create a small gap in the panels for the chassis number:


Both the brake levers have a small notch that allows them to break apart in a controlled manner. This protects the handlebar and even when the edge breaks, the rider is still able to use the bike and get back home:

Features and Instrumentation

Only the ZX and ZX+ get the fully digital console. The VX gets a digi-analog console. On the left is the M(ode) button and on the right is the S(elect) button. The console displays the distance-to-empty, speed, time, turn-by-turn navigation and has Bluetooth connectivity:


The switches are of very good quality and feel solid. The horn was pretty meek and easily ignored by everyone on the road. In a segment-first, the indicators switch off automatically after a couple of seconds. This is a safety feature, which should be mandated for all vehicles:


The i.3s is a Hero terminology that stands for "Idle start-stop system". I hate this in my car, and I hated this on the scooter as well. On an EV it makes a lot of sense as those motors hardly even vibrate when they get activated. But on an IC engine, this just feels terrible. Maybe it will save some petrol but I can't think of any value addition from this. The light "On / Off" switch also made little sense to me. The hi-beam and lo-beam control is on the left-hand side. They might as well have put all the switches on one side and kept it simple. Maybe people will get used to this double-switch concept but it felt a little unnecessary to me:


The ignition lock system also manages the rear fuel lid and the seat lock:


The key fob is quite thin:

Wheels & Tyres

Only the ZX and ZX+ variants get 12-inch alloy wheels. The front tyre is of 90/90 section and gets a disc brake:



The rear gets a wider 100/80 section tyre and drum brake. There is no ABS on offer. However, the bike gets a bank angle sensor. This will cause the engine to switch off if the bike falls:

Ergonomics and Comfort

The bike definitely scores very well on the comfort factor. The upright posture was quite comfortable. Ergonomically everything was in the right place. The mirrors could have been a little bigger but they did not suffer any vibrations.

The seat is firm and well padded. I rode a total of some 60 km over all kinds of roads with speed breakers of all sizes. The scooter felt comfortable and not tiring to ride:


The suspension is on the stiffer side. But the thick seat absorbs most of the bumps. You get a telescopic fork suspension up front and...


... single coil spring hydraulic type:


The ground clearance is acceptable and the bike handles our pothole-ridden roads quite comfortably.


The handlebars never once fouled up with my knees. I am about 5 feet and 10 inches and wear jeans with a 34-inch waist size. I would not have any trouble keeping some stuff in the footwell while bringing back groceries etc.



The mirrors are just about adequate:

Storage

The side pocket is big enough to hold a bottle of water. With the USB power plug just above it, it is a nice place to put in a mobile phone as well. But I am not sure how safe it would be as anyone can easily flick the phone in traffic:


Here's the regular USB port for charging:



The hook that makes all motorcycle riders jealous. I swear that as soon as I saw this hook, I heard my mother shout from the kitchen that I needed to go and buy some coriander:


Nice touch providing a light inside, but the switch looks like a direct lift from some refrigerator. But it works well and is a simple and effective design:


The under seat storage is decent, but with my full-face LS2 helmet, the seat would not close. It would be important to buy a helmet that fits into this space:



That plastic cover with Destini branding can be easily popped open and it hides the OBD port under it:

Smart Stuff

Everything is beautifully packaged with no open wires or loose ends. A lot of care has been taken to make the wiring cables look beautiful:



The belt drive is protected from the elements and has a rubber breathing hose in front of it:


The mechanics who will work on this bike will be grateful for the easy access to the air filter and extra long grip for the dipstick:

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Riding the Hero Destini 125

Right off the bat, the Hero Destini 125 is a comfortable scooter. It has enough power to get you around the city. Turn the key, pull on the brake lever and press the starter key and the motor springs to life. There is a little extra vibration on a cold start but it settles down fairly quickly. There is no eerie silence of the new age EV's. This is an air-cooled, four-stroke 125cc engine that churns out 9 BHP @ 7,000 rpm with a max torque of 10.4 Nm @ 5,500 rpm.

The dry centrifugal CVT transmission is responsive and quickly gathers speed crossing into the 40 km/h and the 60 km/h mark quite well. I weigh around 100 kg. The scooter did not feel lethargic when carrying me to the normal cruising speed of these two-wheelers. The scooter felt like it could go faster but I limited the speed to under 80 km/h as the road conditions were quite wet and traffic not very conducive. The target segment for this scooter will find its performance to be more than adequate for their daily needs.

The midrange acceleration from the 30 km/h to the 60 km/h was ok. This was the only part where you could feel the predictable rubber band effect of the CVT. The scooter is not meant for aggressive driving.

The suspension is a tad bit stiff and thanks to the 12-inch alloy wheels, you do feel the bad roads. Overall, the ride is comfortable for the most part. The brakes are adequate but it would have been nice if they had provided ABS.

This scooter is ideal for those who prefer petrol engines, use it for commuting to the office and also occasionally need to carry something as large as a 20-litre water can comfortably kept in the footwell.

Petrol Tank Capacity, Mileage

The petrol tank capacity is 5.3 litres. With a claimed mileage of 59 km/l, this should mostly be a good 200 km range before you enter the anxiety zone:

Final Thoughts

Hero stormed into the scooter market with the very successful Pleasure but they have never been able to match its success. The New Destini 125 is a nice scooter that has a comfortable seat, a decent engine, class-leading mileage and vibrant colours.

Sure the mechanics will love the thoughtful design that makes this bike so easy to service. But for the buyers to look beyond the many new EVs and the petrol market leaders like Honda Activa, TVS Jupiter, and Suzuki Access there must be something strikingly unique about a new scooter. Sadly, while this scooter is very good, it lacks that "Ooomph" factor.

Disclaimer: Hero invited Team-BHP for the Destini 125 test-ride. They covered the expenses for this riding event.

[Omkar]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[Jupizire]

Thanks for the excellent review.

However, I have an irrational bias towards the word Destini. "Desitini" name somehow reminds me of Final Destination movies :( For this sole reason, I don't prefer this bike.

And, anyways, the new gen Jupiter looks way better than this bike.

[ManiE]

Thanks for the detailed review, the Destini has been since 2018 in the market, and haven't been able to compete well with rivals like Access, Activa 125, or Jupiter 125. Hope with this new makeover it should be able to pick up the market well.

Hero has changed their strategy and with the new Xoom and Destini packages they are offering they want to capture more of the scooter markets.

[NiInJa]

In my opinion the Jupiter 125 with petrol tank under the floorboard giving biggest boot space kind of makes this scooter 'Destinied' for irrelevance. It is the biggest USP that dwarfs everything else. Its not like these scooters have unique handling characteristics that will differentiate them from others.

[saket77]

Very nice review Imran. Along with the manufacturer, even your attention to detail is spectacular. That sort of review brings out the nuances of the product design on the table for layman consumers. Thanks!!

[kika]

Thier design everytime looks like it should have come out 5 years back. Except the Xoom, none of their scooters stand out in the crowd.

[BayB]

Whats with the metal body? Is it really a USP?
It it really all metal body like vespa? which other scooter comes with metal body. I have seen Bajaj also market their electric scooter with metal body as it's USP.

[Vagabond27]

Excellent review! Covered every inch! Thanks!

• “No other scooter from Hero managed to replicate it.” – The first generation Hero Maestro with Activa’s engine was a huge success. It was the second bestselling scooter till Jupiter arrived and Hero decided to kill it for the second gen Maestro that is Maestro Edge (had good sales in the beginning but later fizzed off and ended as a big failure).

• Destini 125 was first introduced as a low cost 125cc. Now it’s transformed to a more premium experience. Looks more like a grownup Pleasure 125. The blue colour looks classy.

• The switches gear are of a new design language. The design of key could have been better. The brightness adjustment option for headlight is cool. First in segment??

• Lately Hero has been focussing on easy access for servicing also- position of air filter and extra-long grip for the oil dipstick looks good (In Karizma XMR, they have given a cut out in the fairing for accessing oil filter).

• Small notch in the brake lever will absorb the first impact and reduce damage.

[chiefpk]

Great review bblost! Very detailed and precise.

I find the styling to be a bit odd here with all the caveats of the H-logo thrown in and the weird shaped headlight. This is a very crowded segment of the 125's and I think Hero has done a good job overall.

But what's interesting to consider is the updated Jupiter 110 is very similar in terms of performance numbers and size. And it won't be much longer that the 125 also gets the same updates. This will make things difficult for Hero. Until then let's see what sort of market response does this get.