Kymco X-Town 300i
Are you ready for maxi-scooters?
To be honest, I’d never thought I’d ever see a maxi-scooter in India. (And no the Kinetic Italiano Blaze was not a MaxiScooter!) We are a conservative market, not particularly open to new ideas and risks. Honda has sold more or less the same scooter for over two decades, with very little in the form of change and it has consistently topped the charts for the better part of two decades. For the most part, the scooters on sale are vanilla, but the Kymco X-Town 300i is a far cry from your average city gadabout. I’m a motorcycle person, I enjoy grind
ing gears, but here I am on the X-Town cruising at respectable highway speeds, comfortable beyond words questioning my own life choices. The conflict is real. After the test, I spoke to the guys on the ground at 22Kymco in India and I was told that this state of conflict was exactly what they wanted to create. Here is a scooter that costs about the same as an entry-level motorcycle that’s targeted at true enthusiasts, the Duke, Interceptor and CB300Rs of the world, with the intent of offering a less motorcycle-y alternative. I wouldn’t have even considered it before, but now
I’m torn. Keep an open mind and read on.
The Kymco X-Town 300i from the moment it enters the frame will grab your attention, and not because India hasn’t seen anything remotely like it since Kinetic’s 170cc scoot. Even by global standards, the X-Town 300i is a very impressive looking scooter, governed by sharp lines in the front end that flow into a more streamlined -- but still quite large -- rear section. All put together, the design cues do what they can to hide the X-Towns generous proportions. And boy! Could it use the help; the nose to tail of the X-Town 300i is about 2250 mm, that’s almost the length of one and a half Activas! Like it or not the X-Town 300i will not be ignored, and that’s saying something in one of the world’s largest automatic scooter markets!
Riding dynamics on the X-Town is another thing that stood out, with both space on the floorboard as well as behind the front apron, you get to pick between a more laid back position or a more commuter focused straight-up position. Throw in the balanced steering geometry, twin-shocks at the back paired with 37mm forks upfront that are tuned for crisp damping and you have a MaxiScoot that’s not only eager to dive into a corner but is also very planted at high speed. Of course, the tyres play their part in all this as well the larger but slimmer 120 section 14-inch tyre up front aides
the steering while the thicker but one down-size rear wheel helps put the power down without ruining the upright stability. Wind Blast protection is on point too. The windscreen up front keeps the rider out of the way of windblast even at the X-Town’s 140kmph top speed. The scooped out front seat is comfortable and does an amicable job of keeping you exactly where you are, but taller riders could find themselves wanting for a little more in the form of lumbar support. I’ll suffice to say, that I didn’t realize the fact that the X-Town weighed the same as a Royal Enfield 350 until I came back to the office and went through the spec sheet.
Finally, let’s move on to the power unit on the X-Town 300i, a 276cc liquid-cooled motor that makes a healthy 24bhp and 25Nm of torque. If the numbers don’t say it, the X-Town is equally happy charging off the line as it is holding 120kmph on the highway, but what really stands out is the NVH refinement. At 80kmph, the XTown is almost entirely silent, even completely maxed out X-Town 300i has very little to report in terms of vibes.
Overall, the X-Town’s motor is lively enough to get by in the city, but it comes into its own on the highway and is likely to even make twisty mountain roads quite interesting.
THE X-TOWN COMES ACROSS AS A MAXISCOOT THAT’S NOT ONLY EAGER TO
DIVE INTO A CORNER BUT IS ALSO VERY PLANTED AT HIGH SPEED