Kymco’s New Motorcycle Isn’t Sure if It’s a Scooter or an Adventure Bike

Kymco is introducing a new scooter called the CV-R5. The company calls it an adventure scooter, but most observers can't decide if it falls more in the 'scooter' or the 'adventure motorbike' category. A full reveal is expected at EICMA 2024.

What do you do if you want the go-anywhere capability of an adventure bike, the practicality and ease-of-use of a scooter, and absolutely had to have them both in just one bike? Well, you get an adventure scooter, of course.

Bikes like the Honda X-ADV were clearly born from this need. And while the whole notion of an adventure scooter may seem pretty niche for you, over in Asia and parts of Europe, scooters are, for all intents and purposes, the kings of the road. And so scooters have come to take all sorts of shapes and sizes.

In particular, Kymco has a new model that seems to take the whole adventure scooter thing and dial it up to eleven. It’s called the CV-R5, and quite frankly, I’m not sure if it wants to be a scooter or an adventure bike.

Let’s start off with its styling. Up front, it gets angular bodywork and an upward sweeping front fairing. If you look at it head-on, it looks very much like an adventure bike, with some of its lines reminiscent of the Husqvarna Norden 901. Meanwhile, if you look at it from the side, it becomes clear that it is indeed, not an adventure bike—but it isn’t exactly a scooter either.

You see, the charm of scooters lies in their practicality. Apart from having massive under-seat storage compartments, scooters become extra practical thanks to their flat floorboards, allowing riders to stow extra luggage in between their legs. Best of all, this makes hopping onto the scooter really easy, as you don’t need to swing a leg over the back of the bike to get on.

But in the case of the CV-R5, there seems to be a hump at the front of the saddle, and it looks a bit bigger than those you’d find on maxi-scooters like the Yamaha TMAX. And so the most logical way to get on this thing would be to swing a leg over it as you would a regular motorcycle. Plus, you miss out on all the extra practicality of a flat floorboard.

All this leads me to ask the question: who exactly is the Kymco CV-R5 for? Well, it’s obviously a very unique two-wheeler, with very few other bikes in the market like it. It looks like it could be for someone who’s not exactly sure what they want when it comes to bikes. Perhaps someone who wants an easy-to-ride commuter, all while having enough ground clearance for the odd gravel road or moto camping trip.

Kymco doesn’t go into the specifics of the bike other than that it’s powered by a 427cc single-cylinder engine. It also appears to have a chain final drive, so it’s hard to tell whether this thing’s rocking either a CVT or a dual-clutch transmission.

With all that being said, all our speculation could soon be quelled as Kymco’s expected to unveil the CV-R5 adventure scooter in all its glory at EICMA 2024.