I’m looking for an escooter small and light enough for my daughter to take onto a bus and then ride a km or two through a college campus?
But I’m having trouble finding a suitable model. Whenever I go to a dealer, they always want to sell me something rather huge and heavy. She’s not that big. Maybe 5’3 with a slender build? When I suggest perhaps their child model would be more suitable, they say they wouldn’t be up to the task for one reason or another.
Any suggestions on what to look for?
Well my thought is she’s not huge. Like maybe 100 lbs-ish? A 40 lbs scooter that weighs nearly half as much as her is kind of a big ask? I could somehow not get that through to people I approached about this.
Perhaps the problem is I’ve never as yet managed to go into a store together with her, as she lives in a different city. But I wanted to pre-research this a bit before I find a dealer in said city.
She is presently dead-set against bikes (be it electric or traditional). I’m a big ebike guy so I don’t know what her problem is, but there you have it.
Alas, no.
That’s actually a very good question! I will investigate.
Looks like the college allows scooters. There are guidelines regarding storage and not performing stunts (probably directed more towards the skateboarding crowd?) but they’re cool otherwise.
One website to consider is “Rider Guide” (formerly Electric Scooter Guide), and they do have a list of lightweight e-scooters: https://riderguide.com/best-rated/best-lightweight-electric-scooters/
Keep in mind that even the lightest weight e-scooters on the list are 25lbs+
I personally wouldn’t go too light, since it compromises a lot in terms of stability, durability, range, etc.
If she plans to only use it around campus, then that might be fine, but nobody I know who rides an e-scooter stops at what their original intended purpose was :)
Thanks! I will look through those.
I think there would be a big difference between 25 and 40 lbs. I myself am a 6’2 dude with a dad bod so bigger would no doubt be better. But I can’t buy the idea that there is some kind of one-size-fits-all model everyone should ride?
One question. At 25 lbs it does not sound like it would be infeasible to ride even without the motor should the battery die? Should that be possible? Like do escooters work ok as push scooters in a pinch?
In my experience, you can’t kick scoot a dead escooter, unfortunately. The motor creates resistance and won’t roll. You’d have to push it, but for the ranges she needs, I doubt this would come up.
Interesting. So they differ from ebikes in that respect. Otoh I’ve read escooters often do regenerative breaking, while that’s not common on ebikes.
There are a couple of others things I’m wondering about, like what charging times are like? If say your battery got mostly drained riding to a workplace, could you leave it on a charger there and reasonably expect it to be topped off by the time you leave?
The other thing is how do you lock up an escooter? Do you use a regular bike lock somehow? I know these are such noob questions! lol
Ask away!
Charge times will be different between models. Some might only take 4 hours while one of mine takes like 18 hours 😂
Smaller scooters will have smaller batteries, so they should take less time to charge.
And it’s common for someone to charge at work (if allowed).
Depending on the frame of the scooter, you could use a ulock to secure it, but they are highly targeted, so if you can take it with you, do that.
You are very helpful! Thanks so much.
On the security front, I think it likely that my daughter would be able to store the scooter at an indoor location which should be relatively secure, though she would not be able to keep an eye on it at all times?
Perhaps she could store it in a locker, which would again make smaller size an asset. I’ve been researching a number of models and what I’ve determined so far is that features like keyed ignition are not common? That’s a shame given what you said about how escooters are fairly unusable without the motor.
There are apparently some disc locks you can buy that are specifically oriented towards scooters and would serve essentially the same purpose, which is to say discouraging a bad actor from the temptation of simply hopping on and riding off. They may even make an alarm sound if the scooter is moved.
Something like a U-lock would be more protection, but assumes you have something to lock it to, which may or may not be the case indoors?
Another option might be to detach the battery and carry it around on your person, but I’m not sure how heavy/awkward those things are? My ebike battery’s actually not too bad. Were I a student, I could see myself shoving it into a backpack or whatever.
A locker would be great, if it fits! Again, just make sure it’s permitted to store indoors - some places ban them because of fire risks.
Yeah, not common at all, and some higher end models have NFC or some other form of unlocking the scooter.
One of mine has a keyed ignition and it works well.
Yup! I’ve got a few. LOL
As long as the lock fits the holes in your particular brake disc, that is another option. I also have an alarm on mine, since I don’t tend to use the disc lock very often (I worry about bending the disc).
Correct. If kept indoors, there needs to be a way to secure it if you aren’t close by 100% of the time.
If you get a model with a removable battery, then that’s a good option, too. Smaller e-scooters shouldn’t have very heavy batteries. Granted, a motivated thief may still try to kick scoot away… but they won’t get too far. LOL
Good points!
She’s in a veterinary program so it’s not your usual lecture hall type situation where she could presumably carry it around and lean it on the seat next to her. Much more hands on lab work and stuff. Otoh I’ve been there a couple of times and it seems very close-knit with profs and students alike on a first name basis, so theft may not be a huge issue? Also, the vet school has its own building that’s far away from the rest of the campus, so no one else goes there. Including, alas, the bus, which is where the scooter comes in :)
The Unagi one they gave top ratings to looks pretty good! Anyone own one of those?