RIVER INDIE GEN 2.5

The SUV of Scooters, really?

- WORDS CHRISTOPHER CHAVES PHOTOGRAPHY ANIS SHAIKH

If you've spent any amount of time navigating an Indian city on a scooter, you already know the holy trinity: comfort, practicality, convenience. That's the whole deal. Scooters are supposed to carry your lunchbox, your office bag, a week's worth of vegetables and, occasionally, your existential anxiety—all with minimal fuss. And in these times of fuel prices behaving like stock market graphs, electric scooters make more sense than ever. Which brings us to this cheerful red hippo on wheels: the River Indie Gen 2.5 (River refers to it as the gen 2.5 but I'm just going to call it the Gen 3). River calls it the SUV of scooters, and while that might sound like marketing gibberish, I've spent over a week with this thing, and I can confidently say—it's definitely an SUV in the way the OG Tata Sierra was an SUV: chunky, quirky, capable, and here to charm your socks off.

You can't look at the Indie and not smile. This thing is massive. And imposing. And tall. And square. And somehow manages to pull it off with the same confidence as that bulldog wearing sunglasses meme. Those massive 14-inch wheels immediately give the scooter a grownup stance. Add the chunky tyres, the twin headlamp setup with a sharp DRL signature, and the broad apron, and suddenly this scooter looks like it wants to cut across Mumbai traffic like a hot vada pav through butter. Ride it around town and you'll feel like a minor celebrity. River doesn't even sell in Mumbai yet, but I must've fielded at least 20 'Bhai, ye kaunsa model hai?' queries in a single stretch. The scooter has presence. Proper presence. The suspension setup—telescopic fork at the front and twin shocks at the rear—leans on the comfortable side of the spectrum, which already makes it nicer than half the stuff we ride in the city. Sure, the big wheels trade some agility for stability, but once you're rolling, the Indie just floats along.