By Jeffrey the Barak.
You can’t get Oxelo scooters in Hawai’i, but someone had a set of three up on Facebook Marketplace, which they had brought from Italy to a US military base here. I announced my intention to buy this used Oxelo Town 9EF on the Facebook Group “Let’s Kick Scoot” and fellow member Angus Law of Hong Kong was the first to identify the exact model from the photo that I shared from the local ad. Then member Ken Breeze from the U.K. correctly predicted it would feel heavy after jumping off my DLX. Not only is it heavy, but it is also high.
“Slower – heavier – higher”.
Oxelo Town 9EF (version 1)
Deck Height: 78 mm. Weight: 7kg
$150 in the lower 48 States only
Razor A5 DLX
Deck Height: 62 mm. Weight: 4kg
$95 to $108 on Amazon Prime
The Oxelo Town 9EF’s height of 78 mm is in its uncompressed state. There is front-only suspension on the version 1, plus a rear axle vibration damper. (v2 has a rear suspension system also) and this front spring does compress during the ride, however it is up during the ground contact phase of a kick so the uncompressed measurement is more relevant. Yet that little amount of front suspension is very effective at ironing out the vibrations of asphalt and concrete. It feels a bit like having a very high pressure front rubber tire, except without the sure footed grip.
My Razor A5 DLX is nicely tightened up and has both the stomp brake and the overly aggressive grip tape removed. With the brake rattle eliminated it is a very quiet ride, and the finned rubber Envy hand grips that I added do a fairly good job of taking all vibration away from the hands. With the original stock bearings still installed, it is a fast, easy to move scooter.
The Oxelo Town 9EF is slower, heavier, higher from the ground and emits a louder roar or hollow howl, which sounds like ceramic bearings or a plastic toy ride-along. Does it have ceramic bearings? I don’t know, but the wheels spin for a very long time when the heavy scooter is hauled up onto the wall rack. It is a very stable ride at a very low speed, even around half of walking speed.
The Oxelo Town 9EF has an impressive design, with the way it quickly folds and unfolds, the trolley function that helps you avoid having to pick up and carry the 7 kg heft, and the ability to stand up partly folded. It is a great commuter design. It has a hand operated rear brake that stops the rear wheel more efficiently than the also included stomp fender brake.
The Razor A5 DLX is a very bare-bones scooter, especially when you remove the same parts that I did, but when the rattles are tightened away it is exceptionally quiet and efficient, and light in weight. Note that removing the spoon brake is actually an improvement as a rubber sneaker sole applied to that rear wheel is much more effective than the original aluminum fender.
Imagine a Xootr Mg with 95% less noise, much better traction, much less vibration, a quarter less footboard height, a fifth less weight, and costing a third of the price. That’s the DLX. Sorry Xootr fans.
I can see why the more complex Oxelo Town 9EF is so popular around the world, especially for train commuters, campus-crossing students etc., but the ride is not nearly as effortless as the ride on a well tuned DTX. Switching back and forth between the two scooters on my closed course at home did not make me very happy to have just bought the used Oxelo Town 9EF. I don’t dislike it, and it is better than most adult folding scooters, but it is not better than what I personally already had on my wall racks.
Despite the impressive design features, the above observations give the Oxelo a distant second place in this particular match.
Jeffrey the Barak is the publisher of the-vu and as of 2022 has bought and sold, or kept, at least twenty-one kick-scooters and five electrics.