Hero Destini 125: 3,000km Long Term Review

Ever since it was handed over to me back in March (14th to be precise), the Destini has been overdue for service. And so far, it has made all the attempts to showcase its frustration. I cannot count the number of times the scooter had just stalled in the middle of a ride. Much to my frustration, most of these times were aptly timed just at the turn of the signal.

Also Read - Hero Destini 125: Long Term Fleet Introduction

The boiling point reached a new height when the scooter, like always, switched off right in the middle of an intersection. But this time around, with the constant honks of my fellow commuters behind me, the Destini just refused to start. Chalking it off as performance anxiety, I promptly pushed it aside and began my attempt at resurrecting it. It took a combined effort of my colleague and I to revive it.

Also Read - Hero Destini 125: 1660km Long Term Review

Since then, the overall experience has been quite the same - Stall. Start. Repeat. But, as much as I’d like to blame the scooter for my troubles, the fault was entirely mine for not taking it for service on time. It wasn’t until this week that I was finally able to send it for a full service. And voila, the problem just disappeared. With just a day at the shop, our Destini was a completely different scooter. In fact, I actually made sure that the service centre guys hadn’t handed me a completely different scooter.

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All it had taken was a quick inspection and cleaning of the carburettor to completely change my experience of the scooter. The stalling finally stopped and the throttle no longer felt choppy. Credit to some much-needed cleaning of the brake pads, the drum units felt bitey and reliable as before. Thanks to Hero’s initial free services, all this had come with a cost of Rs 53. Yes, it had taken just over 50 bucks and commitment to finally visit the service station, in order to completely change my experience of the scooter.

I am not sure if this was the placebo effect, but the Destini all of a sudden felt more refined and responsive. This also made me realize how flickable the scooter really is, with its shorter (shortest in the segment) wheelbase of 1245mm. That being said, I still have a few niggles. As nimble as it is, the scooter is also equally twitchy at speeds. Thanks to its stiff suspension, relatively taller seat height and shorter 10-inch wheels, the Destini just feels unsettled on bumpy roads. This fact was further reiterated by a few of my colleagues who had borrowed the scooter a couple of times. But then again, it is not a deal breaker and is something you can get used to.

In conclusion, this long term report has been about new learnings for me. The main takeaway being, never detest something which can be fixed easily. It’s a machine, which will continue to do what it is supposed to unless something goes wrong. After all, what it needs is a bit of “mechanical empathy.”

Date Acquired: 14 March 2019

Total Km Till Date: 3,003km

Fuel Efficiency: 40kmpl

Cheers: Effective brakes, Nimble handling

Sneers: Small 10-inch wheels, fuel-efficiency