Recently, I bought a Xootr Street, a kick scooter designed for adults. Admittedly, when one thinks of a kick scooter, the word cool isn’t usually the first thing that comes to mind. Nope, in my mind, words like, “dork,” “geek,” “nerd,” are the kinds of words I think of but having put a few miles on my Xootr, I have to admit it’s one of the better purchases I’ve made.
Before I get into the rest of the review, I feel I need to clarify a few things that may affect your decision should you decide that a kick scooter might be something you would buy. First, I live in Japan which has really compact cities and excellent public transportation. Secondly, I own and live aboard an Amel 54′ sailboat and so space is limited. And even though I’m at heart, a cyclist, I hate to admit it but bicycles are a nuisance here and by that, I mean they are ubiquitous and cheap. In short, people here simply discard their old bicycles by parking it and forgetting it. This means that bicycle parking is a repository of “garbage” bicycles.
From my disclosure, you might get a sense of two problems that are solved by using a kick scooter. Really compact cities means that most trips are really short. The grocery store for example is about a six minute walk which you can cut in half using the Xootr. Secondly, once you get to the grocery store, depending on the time of day, there isn’t much bicycle parking available so being able to carry the Xootr inside is really helpful plus it breaks down in seconds. Another plus of the Xootr is the large wheels. Part of that really good public transportation mentioned earlier, include light rail and thus light rail-road tracks. The Xootr has no problem going over them.
So what’s not so great about the Xootr Street? About the only negative thing I can think of, which isn’t really a design flaw, but rather a trade off in terms of efficiency, and that is the solid wheels transmit a ton of vibration on rough surfaces. This could be lessened by using pneumatic tires but then you’d lose out on rolling resistance.
All in all, the Xootr Street has been an excellent purchase, and it’s so simple that I can see getting many miles of use from it. What’s more, is that it truly folds up compactly. I can’t say the same about the Bike Friday that I own which has to be “broke down,” and packed into a suit case for travel. Considering that for short distances in a city, the Xootr is just as efficient as a bicycle it may be worth it, to consider a kick scooter over a folding bike. And if you’re a sailor you’ll truly appreciate how small this scooter can get.