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E-scooters.

6K views 65 replies 18 participants last post by  WRENCH 
#1 ·
#2 ·
I'm in favour of innovation but with those diddy little wheels any pothole/ road debris is going to cause carnage. The legislation will be interesting as what was meant to legalise scooters might morph into something with a seat resembling a motorbike?
 
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#3 ·
This seems like a recipe for disaster and I agree with Wrenny above. Our car has small wheels and even that is enough to render potholes pretty daunting. I know that bicycles have bigger wheels than scooters but I reckon that with the poor state of the roads around here, cyclists take their lives in their hands on every trip.
 
#4 · (Edited by Moderator)
Still fancy one of these...Halfords sell the Segway S1 for around £400. They may be illegal to use on the pavements and roads at the moment, but there are loads of kids with them and electric scooters around our area, and no one seems to bother them. This model is already limited to 12.5 MPH so would be within the proposed speed limit.

 
#5 ·
This seems like a recipe for disaster and I agree with Wrenny above. Our car has small wheels and even that is enough to render potholes pretty daunting. I know that bicycles have bigger wheels than scooters but I reckon that with the poor state of the roads around here, cyclists take their lives in their hands on every trip.
I would surmise that the example shown is I'll informed media example. This sort of thing works better.

HTB1PTE4OVXXXXbfapXXq6xXFXXX4.jpg


Mind you, the local "scooter gran" managed to whiz around the pavement safely on her foot powered small wheels.

1394427483.jpg


https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/daily-record-helps-perth-scooter-1593132
 
#6 ·
I would surmise that the example shown is I'll informed media example. This sort of thing works better.

HTB1PTE4OVXXXXbfapXXq6xXFXXX4.jpg
These things were all over the place in Fuertaventura when we were there last year.

And ridden with no regard to pedestrians or other road users by anybody young or old with a few euros to spare. They even offered Big M's grandson, who was only 9, one fortunately his father stepped in and vetoed the idea and they got a twin seater.

Basically it was carnage, no suspension and big balloon tyres they just bounced all over the place at the slightest hint of a bump or kerb, we were sat in a boozer and we saw one kid get no more than a hundred yards from the hire shop before getting bucked off into a traffic bollard as he tried to cross a road as well as several other crashes and comings together with cars and various stationary objects

Death traps

Unless you want to go straight to A&E avoid at all costs.

:laughing2dw: :laughing2dw:
 
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#9 ·
#11 ·
These look good

https://stagmotorcycles.co.uk/collections/e-dirtbike

@Roger the Dodger

I don't know about where you were but in the shop Big M's grandson and dad went to there was no mention of insurance or even the offer of any kind of crash helmet or protective clothing, you stumped up €20 or so and off you went no questions asked.
The locals seem to use them quite a lot...I even saw one with a Union Jack paint job...probably an ex-pat. They're quite nippy, but the roads in Portugal seem to be pretty good on the whole...not many potholes around, though they do have ridiculously deep open storm gutters at the sides of the road...V shaped and about 14 inches across and deep. You wouldn't want to accidently drive a car into one, let alone a scooter
 
#20 ·
Well this is where this county falls down, many areas on mainland Europe have safe designated lanes for both cyclists and e-scooters and restricted mopeds, this making it safe for all. You'll always get idiots driving/riding anything, but I am in total agreement that the pavement is and always should be for pedestrians only, and mobility scooters should be governed to a sensible walking pace as well. The local "hells grannies" menace many an innocent pedestrian when they are out en mass on their way to afternoon tea club, with shouts of "out of my way ***t" as you hold them up crossing the narrow railway bridge walkway, only to be flicked with hot fag ash as they speed by for their fix of PG tips.

38fd0d1643ef3d81f19971243de76510.jpg
 
#26 ·
@Roger the Dodger not only the roads to worry about with E-Scooters!

It would be interesting to know the factory of origin of the product. I remember having a set of two way radios that couldn't be left on for much more than the recommended charging time or the batteries would get red hot and explode. The charger for my e-bike battery gets worryingly hot, but apparently that's the norm. It also has the same high frequency "whine" as the battery car chargers, which most folk don't hear.
 
#37 · (Edited by Moderator)
I shall start looking for one of the electric unicycles once the current 'scare' is over. At least there should be a bed available when I fall off and break every bone in my body... :laughing2dw:

Would still like one of these, though...and Frankie Zapata, the original inventor of the jet ski powered flyboard, has now done a Channel crossing on his miniature turbojet powered version, albeit at the second attempt...he fell off the refuelling boat the first time. Early days, but looks exciting! This is an earlier video before the Channel crossing.



 
#39 ·
I'd have this.
That reminds me of the Moulton small wheeled bike I had for going to school in the early 60s...first bike I think with suspension on the rear fork, and a new, 4 speed Sturmey Archer hub ( the norm was a 3 speed).

275px-Moulton_Standard.jpg


At the same time, mum had a Raleigh RSW with balloon tyres...

440px-Raleigh_rsw_mk_2_bicycle_drive_sid
 
#44 ·
Back in the late 50s, early 60s, my dad had a normal pushbike with a little engine mounted on a carrier behind the saddle. When a lever was operated, the engine lowered until a knurled roller beneath it contacted the top of the rear tyre and thus drove the bike forward. He used it for going to and from work. Anyone remember these?
 
#46 ·
I worked with a bloke who came to work on, I think, a velosolex. A strange bike with an engine above the front wheel. I wasn't impressed, I had an MZ 150 Adler! :biggrin:
 
#54 ·
I'm all in favour of these scooters, I have used them all over Europe and Scandinavia. The only concern I have is when the local pond life start trashing them.. because it's fun...

Sent from my SM-A515F using Tapatalk
 
#55 ·
I'm all in favour of these scooters, I have used them all over Europe and Scandinavia. The only concern I have is when the local pond life start trashing them.. because it's fun...

Sent from my SM-A515F using Tapatalk
Locally E-Scooter users are whizzing around at 20mph on the pavements and not the roads, bloody menace, only a matter of time before a pedestrian gets seriously hurt
 
#58 ·
Typical of the British press, Simon Cowell involved in electric bicycle shock horror doesn't give the full story. Here's what he was riding apparently,

2019-Recon-2T.jpg?v-cache=1582206679


Spec,

Optimized 20 kW Sine Wave System The Recon, with it's 20kW power system and Sine Wave controller, it is by far the most powerful electric bike on the planet, hands down. By doubling the power of the Eagle, we were able to develop a system that provided a 20% increase in top speed while simultaneously increasing torque by 100% to a whopping 320 ft-lbs of torque.

Whereas the legal spec for UK e-bikes is "slightly" different ,

The EN15194 regulations stipulate that e-bikes may: Be fitted with a motor with a power of no more than 250w. Provide a maximum assisted speed (i.e. the speed at which motor assistance is automatically cut off) of no more than 25 kmph (roughly 15.5 mph)

Quite a difference between 250w and 20kw.
 
#59 ·
Typical of the British press, Simon Cowell involved in electric bicycle shock horror doesn't give the full story. Here's what he was riding apparently,

2019-Recon-2T.jpg?v-cache=1582206679

Spec,

Optimized 20 kW Sine Wave System The Recon, with it's 20kW power system and Sine Wave controller, it is by far the most powerful electric bike on the planet, hands down. By doubling the power of the Eagle, we were able to develop a system that provided a 20% increase in top speed while simultaneously increasing torque by 100% to a whopping 320 ft-lbs of torque.

Whereas the legal spec for UK e-bikes is "slightly" different ,

The EN15194 regulations stipulate that e-bikes may: Be fitted with a motor with a power of no more than 250w. Provide a maximum assisted speed (i.e. the speed at which motor assistance is automatically cut off) of no more than 25 kmph (roughly 15.5 mph)

Quite a difference between 250w and 20kw.
And here was me thinking he fell off another bike!
10-B13-C74-9-E6-C-44-DC-B08-B-AEDFDD04-E
 
#63 ·
The Met need to get on this in London. Lots of money in fines (and licence points) going to waste that could be keeping our council tax down.

eScooters here are an absolute menace - especially during the school run, you can see parents riding these machines with tiny wheels with a child standing on the platform in front of them, weaving in and out of the rush hour traffic, no helmets.

Also eBikes - they're only supposed to provide assistance when cycling but I regularly see food delivery drivers going along at speed without their feet on the pedals or those that provide their own machines this is naughty, but worse are the bright orange Just Eat lot where the illegal 'electric motorbikes' have been provided by the company.
 
#64 ·
The Met need to get on this in London. Lots of money in fines (and licence points) going to waste that could be keeping our council tax down.

eScooters here are an absolute menace - especially during the school run, you can see parents riding these machines with tiny wheels with a child standing on the platform in front of them, weaving in and out of the rush hour traffic, no helmets.

Also eBikes - they're only supposed to provide assistance when cycling but I regularly see food delivery drivers going along at speed without their feet on the pedals or those that provide their own machines this is naughty, but worse are the bright orange Just Eat lot where the illegal 'electric motorbikes' have been provided by the company.
They are heavy on them here when there are enough police to deal with it. Two court cases pending, one caught on a public road within an hour of unpacking it, and the other caught on a public foot path. Both pleading not guilty. Both charged with using a non compliant vehicle, no license, no helmet, no insurance, no vehicle registration number, no tax. If found guilty they will get banned. Edinburgh and Newcastle police/courts have been active as well, handing out bans to those caught riding them home from the pub. I have no problems with mobility scooters as long as they stay within the law of 4mph on the pavement, but there are plenty doing in excess of 10. I had a new Koga Miyata World traveler bicycle with 37 miles on it completely destroyed by an old guy loosing control of his fast scooter and coming off the pavement and knocking my bike over. The police reckoned between rider and scooter the all in weight was 34 stone/216kg. Imagine if he had hit a child and dragged them along underneath it.
 
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