[TusharK]

Bangalore-based electric scooter maker River has introduced an updated version of its Indie e-scooter. It is priced at Rs 1.43 lakh (ex-showroom, Bangalore).



The River Indie is now available with a single-speed gearbox and a chain drive. This segment-first configuration is said to be more durable compared to the old belt drive. The company also claims that this would lower the long-term ownership costs.

The new River India uses the same 6.7 kW electric motor that delivers 4.5 kW and 26 Nm. It is powered by a 4 kWh battery pack, offering a range of up to 161 km on a single charge. The e-scooter rides on a telescopic front fork and twin shock absorbers at the rear. Braking is handled by a 240 mm disc at the front and a 200 mm disc at the rear.

The River Indie offers features such as a 6-inch digital instrument console, LED lighting, and adaptive regen. The e-scooter has 43 litres of underseat storage and a 12-litre glove box.

Link to Team-BHP news

[arjab]

This scooter has intrigued me a lot. People who have ridden it say it is a good product and very practical. Unfortunately the company has yet to open any dealerships in Eastern India. Hopefully it does soon, might end up getting one for myself.

[siren373]

On a side note, I find this design to be an abomination. It seems like a cross between a bike and a scooter.

[tchsvy]

Originally Posted by siren373

On a side note, I find this design to be an abomination. It seems like a cross between a bike and a scooter.

Everyone has nothing but good things to say about the Indie, but it is very difficult for the vast majority of people to look beyond those looks. I have suggested the Indie to a few people, and they have quickly rejected it, saying it looks odd/like an unfinished product.

[Raskolnikov.R]

Originally Posted by tchsvy

Everyone has nothing but good things to say about the Indie, but it is very difficult for the vast majority of people to look beyond those looks. I have suggested the Indie to a few people, and they have quickly rejected it, saying it looks odd/like an unfinished product.

Haha!

I remember one thing from the first test ride, and I remembered to catalog it: the bike didn't ever feel like it had been made by a new entrant to the business.

If people are to take a ride, they'll find this to be one of the best-built vehicles available in the market.

It was the design that made me switch from an ICE motorcycle to an electric scooter. I didn't fancy the Ather, and while I wished for the iQube to come with a 5 KW battery, it wasn't happening anytime soon.

One look at the River Indie test vehicles (fully camouflaged) sometime on December 22 or January 23 was good enough for me to feel a strong desire.

But then, design is an emotional element. To each his own.

I'll only add that a single ride in the Indie has the potential to revise the most stubborn heart!

[tchsvy]

Originally Posted by Raskolnikov.R

Haha!

If people are to take a ride, they'll find this to be one of the best-built vehicles available in the market.

I'll only add that a single ride in the Indie has the potential to revise the most stubborn heart!

Well, this is the most difficult part, is what I am saying.

But then, design is an emotional element. To each his own.

I couldn't agree more. But then there are universal designs that everyone likes, and then there are a few designs that aren't everyone's cup of tea. Indie falls into the latter category.

[ronk]

I have owned this scooter for about 6 months now and I LOVE it!
I was never into scooters, but the practicality of one in Bangalore enthused me. Stayed on the fence for a long time and even booked an ather before it was launched. But never went through.

Totally ignored the Indie when it was launched, but one ride on it just brought such a wide smile on my face that I had to get it. It’s utilitarian looks, enough space and a weird fun to ride element was just too endearing. I can probably compare it to how the Jimny evokes emotions in a few people. Its somehow very fun to corner carve in this, and the looks never give that away.

I just hope that they address the few fit and finish issues and bring on a better screen with more functionality, and maybe a little more power that the chassis can easily handle.

[Axe77]

2025 River Indie (Gen 2): Brief test ride and walk around

Had a very very quick test ride and look-see of the 2025 updated edition of the River Indie, which has received some useful updates. I had barely 15 - 20 mins max to check it out (including the test ride) since I was rushing elsewhere very soon after so please benchmark my observations on that very brief time period.

This is my first look and feel of the bike since it was previewed and launched and I must say it lived up to my expectations. With stores now finally coming as close to us folks in MH (with Pune just opening), I’m really looking forward to a wider spread of dealers pan India in the foreseeable future.

Looks

It has the most distinctive visual identity and I love it for that - highly subjective but I find it looks very very characterful and true to its functional appeal. I think its wonderful that it doesn’t resemble any other EV per se and despite it being apparent that a lot of its design is led by function, IMO it hasn’t been at the expense of form.

Overall fit and finish really did seem to be nice and while it does not look ‘rich’, neither does it feel cheap or compromised in any way. There is a reassuring feeling of quality wherever you look in the overall finishing. I know initial reviews seem to have called out fit and finish in some places and its possible they’ve made some improvements in this area from early feedback but my time was too limited so I may not have noticed the deficiencies in detail. I’d be interested to hear how our official reviewer Libran finds this 2025 edition’s fit and finish compared to his original review, as well as the experience of some of our early adopters.

Ergonomics

Make no mistake, this is a large scooter. But it’s beautifully designed and well proportioned with a lot of thought to even little things. The handlebar falls to hand easily although being on the shorter side, I’m likely to end up sitting a bit forward set on the scooter and perhaps not utilise the useful step-up in the seat to rest my tailbone. The seat itself is broad and long and I can imagine the Indie to be extremely comfortable for both rider and pillion during two up riding. The rear back seat accessory will be a useful addition though IMO. Ironically, as if to underscore this aspect, just as I was leaving, an Indie rode up to the showroom with three adult men astride it and they were looking more comfortable on it than your typical, ‘third chap hanging off the rear of the bike’ sort of visual.

Controls fall to hand easily and buttons seem good quality in terms of operation etc. Switching between drive and reverse is also easier now with a button requiring a long 3 second press. I did not get the chance to operate the buttons on the MID screen. There is that useful flip out style of footpeg which makes the riding stance extremely comfortable despite the floorboard itself being roomy enough already. The scooter comes with a front storage area by default but it is well designed and does not foul with your legs. The mirrors seemed strictly average both in terms of their design as well as robustness. Not fatal but not impressive either.

Finally the scooter has a side as well as main stand and taking it on and off the main stand was a fairly easy affair, despite its weight. I like the fact that though River has innovated heavily where it matters, it has not tried to over-engineer the needless bits like giving keyless access. There is a regular key that you insert in a key slot on top of the handlebar to start and stop the scooter. There is no music or phone integration all of which to me is fine. I want a scooter that gets the essential things right, rather than load up on these non critical extras.

The Ride

This is where the rubber hits the road, literally of course. My first and foremost experience win is with the choice of 14” wheels that lend a distinctly superior feeling of confidence and stability while handling this scooter. I’ve said it before that whenever I buy my next scooter I’d have a strong preference for it to sport 14” wheels. Combined with the long wheelbase, this lends to the River an extremely stable and sporty handling that lends you confidence in pushing it around.

The first thing that wow’d me was how smooth the overall experience of riding the Indie was. I had similarly test ridden an Ather Rizta a few months ago and while it was ‘nice enough’ by no stretch did it blow me away. Notably, where the Rizta seemed to have an annoying electric drone to it, the Indie had no such noise coming (not sure if this is because of the move from belt to chain drive or something else).

There are three modes, Eco, Ride and Rush. It was a short ride and I was mostly in Rush mode with a hint of Ride mode - no time in Eco. The bike was smooth and fast enough in Ride and more than entertaining in Rush. I think folks that cover seriously long distances in a day will not feel shortchanged spending all their time in ‘Ride’ either to maximise their range outcome.

The brakes had a good enough bite and while they have the CBS feature (front and rear brakes linked) ABS is a glaring omission and that’s a safety feature I’d have liked to see.

Overall, the scooter felt solid, and despite its portly weight specs, I didn’t really ‘feel’ it to be heavy per se. But then, my default ride is a 250+ kilo litre class ADV. I’d love to hear my wife’s perspective as someone who’s otherwise ridden only an N Torq and who’s not only very short but also a relatively inexperienced and tentative rider. I’m sure she would in particular appreciate the “reverse” feature in this scooter, specially given its slightly larger dimensions and weight.

Some missing notables from my brief ride:
# The test route I took was devoid of potholes / bad roads or for that matter even speed breakers. So I could not check for any suspension related shortcomings and I’ve heard that the front suspension can be on the stiffer side, although nowhere as stiff as the Athers.
# I could obviously not test the range but again, it would have been nice if in Ride mode one could predictably extract at least 110 - 115 kms. I believe this is currently possible in Eco mode only.
# I could not get any first hand pillion impressions as I was riding solo, nor could I experience the scooter along with a pillion. I am sure this should be comfortable though for both.
# I wish I’d ridden a little more in ‘Ride’ mode to see how it feels in the mode one is most likely to use. But the fun I had in ‘Rush’ mode was just too good to resist.
# As mentioned elsewhere, I could not experience the headlights but the universal view is that they are notably inadequate.
# My test ride was unfortunately in a short area that was devoid of any inclines so I could not test the bike on climbs, nor did I get a chance to play around with the feeling of regen.

Practicality / accessory ecosystem

I love a nice and practical storage with plenty of cubbyholes, storage and importantly the one thing no scooter seems to offer - the ability to store a helmet. On that front, the River Indie had me from the word go. Love the fact that it can easily fit a full face helmet in the underseat storage with space to spare for more stuff in fact. There is a useful light in this space. The front storage too is well proportioned with a helpful USB port to charge your phone. There is another USB port under the handlebar to charge your phone should you use the phone mount.

Speaking of which, the phone mount too is fantastically designed - it’s a sealed design, can rotate orientation as per your preference and has a nice opening in case you’re charging your phone while using it. Win-Win-Win on all the little things that they could think of. The only downside I can think of is it sports a sealed design so on very hot days, these sort of designs can tend to heat up smartphones, specially when being used heavily for navigation. I forgot to ask the salesperson whether the design is waterproof.

The cage addition is a clever bit utilizing is XL size floorboard - pet owners in particular might love it (or if you’re the sort that frequently ferries copies amounts of shopping and wants to do so without the fear of it falling off).

It could easily borrow Skoda’s ‘simply clever’ tagline for all the little things that it thinks through.

If I was an owner, the accessories I would buy without a doubt are probably the rear backrest for pillion comfort and the phone mount. The windscreen has no real value but it makes for a nice visual element. The cage can be plenty useful but I think it’s fixed solid. An easily removable format when you want it on / off would have been nicer but I don’t know if that’s the case.

Finally, and I don’t know who’d want this (specially for a bike sporting a relatively average range), you can put on side panniers and a top box if you please. They should probably call it the ADV of scooters instead of SUV of scooters but you get the drift.

Parting thoughts

The River Indie had my attention when it was launched (I had even pre booked it then but there was no line of sight to a showroom) and in my brief hands on experience with it, it lived up to my expectations. It’s an honest to goodness product from what seems like an authentic enterprise that is true to its stated philosophy. For that they have my admiration and if they were to bring a showroom that’s in strike range of my residence, they’d also get a stab at getting my money. I had test ridden the Rizta with similar hopes but honestly, it simply didn’t talk to me. With the Indie, it was the opposite. I went in with fingers crossed and came back sufficiently impressed. At this point, the two EV scooters that have my attention are the River Indie and the Tesseract (another very impressive looking design on paper at least). I’m hoping if the latter stays on track and both are available for sale in Mumbai anytime in 2026, I’d definitely be up for taking my chances with one of them to replace my N Torq and getting a real world experience of some EV at least in our garage.

While I could not test it in dark hours, I’ve heard that the headlights are extremely inadequate and again, I’m hoping by the time I have a dealership closer to my vicinity this will be something they’ll improve on.

That’s me on the yellow test ride vehicle. With the 2025 updated editions they’ve launched two more conventional colors to their otherwise candy color options - a widely acceptable white and a very class looking grey - the grey would hands down be my pick of color from this stable.

Astride the bright yellow test vehicle here, at the end of that wide grin inducing test ride.


The fully accessorized white colorway, holding centre stage at the showroom.


The other new 2025 colorway - the very classy looking grey and my pick from their varied colorways.


Well designed phone mount that can rotate orientation as per your preference. I’d still not trust an expensive iPhone in it and would limit use via my second cheaper phone to avoid damaging camera lenses etc.

The MID looks all right - not the fanciest of offerings but respectable enough. I believe this has been improved somewhat from the 1.0 iteration.


Helpful charging point near the handlebar …


… and a useful space for the charging cable to go through while the phone is in the accessory mount.


Generously sized front storage. Sports a small space to keep your phone and has a USB charging point too.


The XXL sized, well shaped underseat storage. Pictured here with a full face helmet …


… and here with the unhappily large charging cable.


The seat is both long and wide and makes for a generous proportion for rider and pillion comfort.


A closer look at my preferred grey steed from the front. I really LOVE the distinctive and quirky looking twin headlight design.


And one look from that chunky rear. Note the very well finished River logo at the back. This looks classier and better than even some of the cheap labelling and lettering I’ve seen on expensive bikes like the BSA which make do with cheap sticker jobs.


Plenty of accessories in the showrooms ranging from bike accessories (see some in shelves in the pictures above) to helmets and lifestyle accessories like bags, tee shirts caps etc.