Scooters are becoming one of the most popular means of personal transportation but many people are hesitant to use the device because they are afraid of its limited range. Without their knowledge, these little devices can travel almost everywhere depending on the rider’s experience and endurance.
How long can a scooter trip be
This question is answerable only depending on the rider. Kick scooters are designed to last with proper care and maintenance. In this article, we are going to take a look at how a specific young man uses his scooter from his teenage years up to becoming a young adult. As soon as you finish reading and want to read more about off-road-scooters, go to Go2scooter.com.
Benjamin Maxwell’s scooter experience
Sit at the cafe, enjoy the sun, look at the street, traffic, the city on the move. And you’ll see what you’ve never seen before: scooters, roller skates, skateboards, hoverboards, etc. All these means of transport are discreet in the city and invisible in official statistics. It’s also very convenient to set up an appointment.
“I’ll be with my scooter.” At the exit of the metro, Ben Maxwell has his foot on his solid means of transport. In his hometown, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, when he visits his student friends, or in New Orleans, for a weekend from time to time, this 23-year-old urban planner never travels without his device. “It’s three times faster than walking, almost as fast as cycling. The ideal means of transport for short journeys,” he argues.
Non-regulated
In the city, the fleeting vision of an adult perched on a scooter remains rare. Or it’s relegated to the status of a competitive sport. The object is also absent from the surveys on travel carried out under the aegis of the Centre for Studies and Research on Transport and Urban Planning (Certu).
“Active modes,” these individual means of movement driven by the human body, are limited to walking and cycling. And yet, when one pays a little attention, one notices in the overall flow of traffic these modes of transport, or rather acceleration, which previously went unnoticed. Among the skaters, there are many children, mixed girls, and boys, who run out of school, but, curiously, very few teenagers. And from time to time, a young adult, like Ben, or even a forty-year-old.
The scooter often elicits sympathy.
“At the university restaurant in New Orleans, the lady at the reception called me ‘the young man on the scooter’,” says Ben. When the planner meets children who use the same means of transportation as him, sometimes a conversation begins. The comparative merits of the different models are discussed. Between adults, skaters can be seen. On the bus, on the train, they cross each other with a smile, a wink.
Ben received his first ride at the age of 11. As a child, he used it in the streets of Baton Rouge. Later, as a student in New Orleans, he would have taken his bike with him, but the 215 square feet of his studio is too cramped and the elevator does not lend itself to the daily passage of a bicycle. The young man then starts skating again, a gesture he has not forgotten. The journey begins in Baton Rouge, at his parents’ home, located precisely “1.9 miles from the station”. Ben travels this distance “in 12-13 minutes,” he calculated. In New Orleans, the scooter is used as a means of folding, at the exit of the metro or to move on the campus of the University of Louisiana.
The device was purchased online. It was Razor A5 Lux, cost $80, and weighs 9.4lbs. With a strong handlebar, a wide board, and solid polyurethane wheels, the scooter is easy to transport. About 50 centimeters high, or even a little more if you adjust the handlebars in a high position, it folds in a few seconds. The handlebars are retractable. “It’s much easier to take on a train than a bike,” says the Baton Rouge native, who describes the device as “the missing tool, the binder,” which speeds up walking.
The scooter is not the ideal way everywhere or all the time. “It’s a little more tiring than cycling and it’s not at all suitable for climbs or irregular pavements like cobblestones,” explains the young man. Oddly enough, he says, “it’s not the foot that grows that tires the fastest, but the foot that’s on the board. In fact, it’s the thigh that works.” It is also this foot, for Ben always the right, that helps to brake, with simple pressure on the rear wheel. The little machine travels all over the road, on the sidewalks, on the street if the lane is clear. “The problem with sidewalks is intersections,” he says. The personal transport device does not deplore, either with motorists or with pedestrians, “conflict of use”, this polite expression coined by specialists to translate the word “asshole” dropped in traffic. “Just a honking of the horn, once, the motorist feeling that I was out of place.”
Longest ride
According to Ben, his longest single ride was 10.1 miles (16.25 kilometers) from Riverland to Old Jefferson, together with his two childhood friends. It took them 1 hour and 25 minutes stopping two times along the way.
“It was a great experience and before we tried that, we never expected that we could do it. We carried them when we returned though as it was uphill and the weather condition was becoming bad”, he said.
“Scooters can take you wherever you want as long as your legs are strong enough to kick”, he added.
“We never experienced any mechanical problem. The road was in perfect condition. The only concern is the environment. We had to be very careful because of traffic. We had to find roads that are safe for us”, he added.
Electric Scooter Range
Although kick scooters can take us anywhere, electric models have limited range due to their battery but some of them can be operated manually too. The range of electric scooters varies depending on the model, speed, and motor capacity. There are models that can reach up to 40 miles. On average, most electric rides can reach 12 to 15 miles on a single charge.
