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the-vu

online magazine, since 2000

Tag: Street

Using a Pro Street Scooter for Sidewalk Cruising

By Jeffrey the Barak I recently gave up scooting electric. I suddenly felt that being out in the street with the traffic and riding at anywhere between 12 and 27 miles per hour (19 to 44 kilometers per hour) was too risky for a man my age. In fact on one of my last rides,… Read More Using a Pro Street Scooter for Sidewalk Cruising

October 3, 2020December 6, 2022 thebarak4 Comments
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  1. Karen Little Avatar
    Karen Little
    October 4, 2020

    Both my husband, and I, have had experience with face-downs and only recommend full-face helmets. If I were to buy a kick scooter again (a bout of cancer along with injured knees due to a fall in a construction area caused me to abandon the sport) I would buy an Amish scooter, either kid’s size or the small I once owned.

    The scooter you are recommending has very small wheels, so the drop down to kick is minimal. In other words, scooting can be just a faster way of walking. The Amish I owned had a 1.5″ clearance, which meant I never had to bend my knees using it.

    We re-habbed the Amish kid’s size scooter and it was excellent. Among the things we did is put on hand brakes because the original brake lever always got caught in our jeans.

    The small Amish also needs to be fitted for a hand brake, but it had standard bike tires, making it easy to ride on rough roads.

    Now, with respect to small, hard wheels discussed here, we live in an old-growth area where after any rain storm, tree roots push up sidewalk slabs. Because of that, smooth riding on a small wheel kick scooter is pretty much impossible. I think an 8″ wheel is the minimum and we see electric scooters sip around on them. The riders are taking their lives in their hands, however, because you never know when a 5″ sidewalk drop is going to appear in front of you.

    Here is what our neighboring city (Hoboken, NJ) has to say about electric scooters: https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2019/09/12/hoboken-electric-scooter-accidents/

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    1. editor Avatar
      editor
      October 4, 2020

      Yes, if your local paved surfaces are that terrible, then you need something bigger, and air tires on bike wheels. It is just a shame the Amish scooters, which are in the footbike classification, take up so much storage room and are a little on the heavy side. For your boating life, your other recent favorite, the folding adult scooter “Oxelo Town 9”, may be worth reconsidering.

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  2. Jonathan Avatar
    Jonathan
    January 5, 2021

    I think your leaving out Kickboards as a safe alternative for scooter riding. I have a Micro Monster Kickboard that I added skateboard wheels to and a bike stem with bicycle handlebars. Also added Ergon gc1 grips and tog thumb grips. I have Ergon gc1 grips on all my scooters and kickbikes. They give a strong base to push off and the thumb grips helps in holding onto the bar. Kickboards are super safe with the downside of not turning sharply. It does take some time to learn the feel for how to control the direction but it’s kind of like a skateboard with a rear brake. One other thing about Kickboards is kicking into the front wheels on occasion. As I ride kickbikes where you can kick in front of you Kickboards you can not. I have kicked into the front wheel a number of times and have never fallen. A few weeks ago I did 18 miles on the Micro Monster.

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    1. editor Avatar
      editor
      January 8, 2021

      Yes I have not yet written about Kickboards. When the skateboard crazes hit, repeatedly, over the years, I always wanted to get one with a handle, but then I remembered I like brakes. Now of course the Kickboard has a rear scooter-style fender brake, but still I have yet to buy one to try one. Feel free to write an article and it will get published right here.

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