Cheap Scooters. Good or Bad? – Electric Scooter

Cheap Scooters May Not be Such a Good Idea After All

Do a Google search for cheap scooters and you’ll find lots of them being sold for as little as $200. It seems then that you could easily buy yourself a viable scooter for next to nothing. However, the truth is that, while cheap scooters are a reality in the sense that they are infinitely cheaper than owning a car or even a motorcycle, they are definitely not that cheap and the cheap scooters that companies sell for just $200 or so are actually death traps. Here’s what you need to know:

Cheap Scooters, Tiny Motors

Cheap scooters aren’t necessarily cheap because they are on sale. They’re cheap because they’re made cheaply and one of the principle ways to make such cheap scooters is that they use tiny motors. CC is a measure of displacement, meaning the amount of power that a scooter has. Many of these cheap scooters offer just a 50CC engine. Unscrupulous salespeople will tell you that 50CC is plenty for getting around town, but the truth is that such a tiny engine is not only worthless, it’s also dangerous.

Not Enough Power for Hills or Switching Lanes

Never mind going on highways with these tiny, cheap scooters. You can’t even take them onto hills because they simply won’t have enough power to allow you to climb the hill effectively. Imagine for example trying to go up one of San Francisco’s famous hills on one of these cheap scooters. Instead of getting over the hill, you’d end up falling back down and into traffic. They’re also no good for switching lanes because the pickup on these models is so miniscule as to be worthless. You’ll find yourself constantly being outflanked by cars and put into serious danger of losing life and limb because you buy a super cheap scooter.

Brakes and Wheels Are a Problem Too

Another problem with cheap scooters is that you’ll find that the manufacturers often skimp on the brakes. Some of them even use nothing but bicycle brakes, even though these things ostensibly are designed to go much faster than most bikes could ever go. Tires on super cheap scooters are also prone to blowouts, again causing severe safety concerns when using them.

The Minimum for Cheap Scooters

Now that’s not to say that you can’t find cheap scooters which are safe. You can. However, you’ll want to look for one which has at the minimum a 125CC engine so that you have enough power for basic trips around town. If you happen to weigh more than 150LBS or you know you’ll often be carrying heavy groceries, consider purchasing something with even more power since even the 125CC scooters are not going to provide much power.

Buy for a Real Scooter Store

Finally, be sure to buy from a store that actually knows something about selling scooters. Yes, you can still buy cheap scooters at these places, but they’ll be able to tell you the difference between a cheap scooter which is a death trap and the ones that are reliable but still cheap enough to make into the category of cheap scooters.

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