[carfreak7]

With the increase in taxi and bus fares, we decided to buy a 2 wheeler. We went for a scooter because :-

- Easy to ride in the city without the hassle of gears
- Easy to maneuver
- Broader seat
- Better underseat and center storage

The scooters shortlisted were :-
- Honda Activa
- Hero Maestro
- TVS Jupiter

Reasons for buying Hero Maestro :-
- Honda showroom in our area had closed down and also there were no service centers nearby
- TVS Jupiter is a good scooter but no showroom nearby and also the service center was about 10kms away
- Honda Activa was too overpriced for the features offered
- Hero showroom and service center were in my vicinity
- Fiber body of the Maestro ensured easy maneuverability
- Maestro looked best among all of them (personal choice)

Delivery experience :-
Well, we got the scooter in one day since we made full payment and also the scooter with the color of our choice (Force Silver) was in stock. Thus, the vehicle was booked at 3.30pm and it was home delivered at 7.30pm the same day. The sales person Vikesh was very helpful with the booking and delivery process. The scooter was delivered on 16th October 2014.

On road price :-
Rs 61000 including registration, insurance etc.

Freebies offered :-
- Only a steel guard
- 500ml petrol

Experience :-
The experience with the scooter has been very good till now. It has done only 119kms till now. The scooter is easy to use especially in heavy traffic. Acceleration and pickup is very good. Brakes are disappointing and have to press both the brake levers for efficient braking. The scooter wobbles if braked hard. Ride quality is better than the Activa but taking the scooter on deep potholes will surely break your back.

Front profile looks attractive

The side seems to be inspired by the Activa

Rear looks similar to the Activa

Instrument console looks good and speedo does a full sweep before starting

High beam indicator. Headlights are not so effective

Keyhole has a useful shutter lock

Key given with the scooter

LCD Screen shows Fuel Content, Odometer, Trip Meter and Service Due indicator

Tyre Information and Maximum Weight

Underseat storage is enough to store a full sized helmet and vehicle papers

Kick Start Lever

Engine

The logo


500kms report :-

What I like :-
- The looks. Have received many questions by random people on the street about the good looks and features.
- Performance. The scooter can easily touch 80km/h with two riders.
- Instrument console looks good and digital display shows Odometer, Trip meter, Fuel Indicator and Service Indicator.
- Under seat storage is very spacious and can store a full sized helmet along with some small things easily.
- Broad seat ensures that 2 adults sit comfortably.

What I don't like :-
- Hero should have given a metal body instead of a fibre body to ensure durability.
- Mirrors given get loose in every 50 kms and thus become useless. Hopefully the mirrors would be fixed in the first service.

[ebonho]

Congrats carfreak! Will be checking out your thread for updates.

[SaurabhSaran]

Congrats! wish you many happy miles with your Maestro.

Any reason for not considering Mahindra Scooters?

[carfreak7]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Congrats carfreak! Will be checking out your thread for updates.

Originally Posted by SaurabhSaran

Congrats! wish you many happy miles with your Maestro.

Any reason for not considering Mahindra Scooters?

Thank you for the wishes. Well, I don't trust Mahindra scooters since one of my family friend bought a Mahindra Rodeo RZ and that scooter had many issues. Thus, they had to sell it at 5000kms.

[Leoshashi]

Congratulations. Wishing you many many trouble-free miles on your Maestro.

Maestro is just a reskinned Activa, so the mechanicals are guaranteed to be reliable.

Regards,
Shashi

[indian21r]

I drove a maestro for around 2 kms recently. It has really nice pick and felt a better ride than Activa. Don't know about long term realiability but I felt it is a good alternative to the Activa.

[ashwin.terminat]

A friend of mine bought the Maestro recently as well.

Initially, she got a mileage of around 43kmpl during the run in period. During this time, she also experienced a strong shuddering kind of feeling while accelerating from very low speeds.

The same was reported during the first service at Om Bikes, Bangalore. Result was, the mileage dropped to 35kmpl and the shuddering still existed.

For the next service, gave it to my local mechanic. He suggested the swap of some part from the Access to the Maestro. Said it would cost Rs. 1,400. She could try the setup, if the shuddering was gone, she can pay him, else, he would just swap back the parts.

After the service, the shuddering was completely gone and the mileage was back up to 40kmpl.

I love the scooter to be honest. Only grouse is the factory headlamp focusing, it is quite bizarre!

Didn't mean to hijack your thread. Just wanted to give you some pointers over what you might encounter.

[Soumyajit9]

Congrats mate for the new acquisition.
The Maestro is one of my liked ones amongst scooters, after Activa.

I hate the Dio and Avaiator and the rest of the breed that I don't want to mention.

The Maestro looks like a well placed and complete looking scooter.
Talks are on with the missus to replace my bachelor days - 11 years old Yamaha Libero with a scooter that she can also use.
Hero Maestro is one of the contendors apart from Activa and Access.

I somehow feel that the seat width is a bit discomforting while sitting idle in traffic. My brother has an Aviator and I feel discomfort while waiting at signals (while resting on foot on road). I put the side stand and keep standing rather than sitting on the scooter.
However while riding the wide seats are very comfortable.
I see that the Maestro has a similar wide seat. Is it comfortable while waiting long at signals ?

Wishing you many happy miles with the Maestro.
Last, but not the least, I simply love the font in which Maestro is written.

[StepUP!]

Hi.. Congratulations on your new ride! Any reason why you didn't consider Suzuki Access? It has fibre body, better suspension and great engine. IMO From side profile it looks like Maestro has rear overhang and the handle is stretched back.

[TheARUN]

Congratulations

You have bought the recently face-lifted version of the Maestro. The best thing going in favour of the Maestro is the 5 year warranty

Also nice perspective, Customers actually think of proximity to service centers before deciding on a purchase. Something that a lot of manufacturers can wake up to

[abhinav.s]

Congrats carfreak! Its a very nice color that you have got. Hopefully easy to maintain

Originally Posted by carfreak7

Reasons for buying Hero Maestro :-

Interesting.. Any idea what was the part that was changed? If it really is the fix, not sure why Hero themselves are not doing it at the factory rather. Also if there are any older Maestro owners maybe they can chip in if this shuddering existed in the versions prior to facelift as well?

PS: Where is this local mechanic of yours? Please PM me if you don't mind. Is he an expert only on Hero scooters or all scooters in general?

Originally Posted by ashwin.terminat

He suggested the swap of some part from the Access to the Maestro. Said it would cost Rs. 1,400. She could try the setup, if the shuddering was gone, she can pay him, else, he would just swap back the parts. After the service, the shuddering was completely gone and the mileage was back up to 40kmpl.

[carfreak7]

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

Congratulations. Wishing you many many trouble-free miles on your Maestro.

Maestro is just a reskinned Activa, so the mechanicals are guaranteed to be reliable.

Regards,
Shashi

Originally Posted by indian21r

I drove a maestro for around 2 kms recently. It has really nice pick and felt a better ride than Activa. Don't know about long term realiability but I felt it is a good alternative to the Activa.

Originally Posted by ashwin.terminat

A friend of mine bought the Maestro recently as well.

Initially, she got a mileage of around 43kmpl during the run in period. During this time, she also experienced a strong shuddering kind of feeling while accelerating from very low speeds.

The same was reported during the first service at Om Bikes, Bangalore. Result was, the mileage dropped to 35kmpl and the shuddering still existed.

For the next service, gave it to my local mechanic. He suggested the swap of some part from the Access to the Maestro. Said it would cost Rs. 1,400. She could try the setup, if the shuddering was gone, she can pay him, else, he would just swap back the parts.

After the service, the shuddering was completely gone and the mileage was back up to 40kmpl.

I love the scooter to be honest. Only grouse is the factory headlamp focusing, it is quite bizarre!

Didn't mean to hijack your thread. Just wanted to give you some pointers over what you might encounter.

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

Congrats mate for the new acquisition.
The Maestro is one of my liked ones amongst scooters, after Activa.

I hate the Dio and Avaiator and the rest of the breed that I don't want to mention.

The Maestro looks like a well placed and complete looking scooter.
Talks are on with the missus to replace my bachelor days - 11 years old Yamaha Libero with a scooter that she can also use.
Hero Maestro is one of the contendors apart from Activa and Access.

I somehow feel that the seat width is a bit discomforting while sitting idle in traffic. My brother has an Aviator and I feel discomfort while waiting at signals (while resting on foot on road). I put the side stand and keep standing rather than sitting on the scooter.
However while riding the wide seats are very comfortable.
I see that the Maestro has a similar wide seat. Is it comfortable while waiting long at signals ?

Wishing you many happy miles with the Maestro.
Last, but not the least, I simply love the font in which Maestro is written.

Originally Posted by StepUP!

Hi.. Congratulations on your new ride! Any reason why you didn't consider Suzuki Access? It has fibre body, better suspension and great engine. IMO From side profile it looks like Maestro has rear overhang and the handle is stretched back.

Originally Posted by TheARUN

Congratulations

You have bought the recently face-lifted version of the Maestro. The best thing going in favour of the Maestro is the 5 year warranty

Also nice perspective, Customers actually think of proximity to service centers before deciding on a purchase. Something that a lot of manufacturers can wake up to

Thank you for the wishes. I am getting a mileage of 35 kmpl currently and there is not much shuddering while the acceleration is low. Did not go for Access because I felt it was a bit dated. Could have gone for Swish but again no service center and showroom in my area.

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by carfreak7

Fiber body of the Maestro ensured easy maneuverability
Ride quality is better than the Activa but taking the scooter on deep potholes will surely break your back.

Congrats carfreak7 on the scooter. The Maestro still comes with the 110 cc whereas Activa is now graduated to 125cc. Did you feel any difference in the performance when you test drove them? Although the Maestro is easy to maneuver since its light weight, it vibrates scarily when a fast vehicle zooms by, any chance you experienced this? I guess Maestro does come with front telescopic suspensions. If so then the ride quality is definitely better than Activa.

All the best and happy driving.

[carfreak7]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Congrats carfreak7 on the scooter. The Maestro still comes with the 110 cc whereas Activa is now graduated to 125cc. Did you feel any difference in the performance when you test drove them? Although the Maestro is easy to maneuver since its light weight, it vibrates scarily when a fast vehicle zooms by, any chance you experienced this? I guess Maestro does come with front telescopic suspensions. If so then the ride quality is definitely better than Activa.

All the best and happy driving.

The Maestro seems a bit faster than the old 2004 Activa. Haven't taken the test ride of Activa 110 or 125. The Maestro doesn't vibrate so much when a fast vehicle zooms by thanks to my weight. Maestro doesn't come with telescopic suspension but there isn't much difference with telescopic suspension since our family has a Ray with telescopic suspension and I couldn't find much difference.

[ashwin.terminat]

Originally Posted by abhinav.s

Interesting.. Any idea what was the part that was changed? If it really is the fix, not sure why Hero themselves are not doing it at the factory rather. Also if there are any older Maestro owners maybe they can chip in if this shuddering existed in the versions prior to facelift as well?

PS: Where is this local mechanic of yours? Please PM me if you don't mind. Is he an expert only on Hero scooters or all scooters in general?

I remember him saying something about the clutch, Abhinav. I didn't probe too much. I could ask him and get back to you if you'd like.

I remember him saying that this is a common issue that people raise when they come to him.

His is a 2 wheeler garage in general. Services scooters and motorcycles alike. Just not the old Kinetic era scooters.

You have a PM.