So I had a brief discussion with a scooter guy today, after he buzzed by me when I was going about 20mph. He was going 30, easy.

I caught up with him at the light.

Me: So did you hack the scooter to go that fast?

SG: No, store bought original.

Me: It’s illegal, max speed is 15mph.

SG: I don’t think so, otherwise the store wouldn’t sell it.

So apparently some store is selling illegal scooters. Great.

One of those stand up electric scooters? Some of the e-bikes are very easy to hack the limiter, I imagine some scooters might be, too.

Electric or gas scooter?
49CC gas scooter will do 35 mph or more depending on rider weight

I've been passed by a goped in the bike lane of a major artery who was keeping up with the traffic at 50 per. Not really impressed with the peril of e-scooters

Electric scooter, the kind you stand on. It had fat tires, like this one, and it sounded like an e-car when it overtook me:



Website says this model's max speed is 50 mph.

Nevertheless, max. legal speed in California is 15 mph:

The 15 mile per hour maximum speed limit for the operation of a motorized scooter specified in Section 22411 applies to the operation of a motorized scooter on all highways, including bikeways, regardless of a higher speed limit applicable to the highway.

Thing looks like a total pisser, except for the price and the weight.

I suspect most of the scooters being sold are illegal for public use. We don't allow them at all in the UK, yet you can still buy them and they are everywhere.

I was riding in a bike lane. Approaching a slight hill I turned on my ebike motor to turbo mode. Then shortly after this e-scooter blew pass me like I was standing still. I believe at 25 km/hr my motor cuts out so I was traveling over that speed. If I moved slightly to the left and collided with this scooter, it would have been a very bad day.

Just think, If he crashed, you who are you going to sue for your financial hardship he caused? Him, store, government that allows these to be sold?

if some stranger came up to you asking if you've done something potentially illegal to your E-quipment, would you give an honest answer?

Good thing about those scooters ... way top-heavy. They tip right over with just a nudge. A Keirin-style helmet whack and well .... have someone video the show and edit you out ......

I just visited YouTube and entered fast e-scooter. Saw vids for 50-60-80 MPH e-scooters. The 80 MPH variety are called hyper-scooters. Hyper-nuts to me.

Those electric scooters are insane

I have seen one ripping through a nearly-red light, at 65-70kph. Takes balls to ride that fast on one of those

I have seen a couple guys with "hacked" electric unicycles (the thing that straps onto your ankles). These can hit a similar speed, and apparently have a 40km range

These are all amazing breakthroughs in human transportation.

I am reminded of the Saturday Night Live comment about Segways .... "... an entirely new way for people to be hit by cars."

You guys just wait. The e-bikes have opened pandoras box and we are going to see a lot more of this in the future. It's only going to get worse.

Last year our on our local mountain bike trail, that doesn't allow e-bikes, a guy was caught riding an electric motocross bike on the trail.

https://starkfuture.com/products/stark-varg

All the mining for battery materials for all of the electric methods of transportation (cars, bikes, scooters) that are showing up are worse on the environment than fossil fuels.

https://ecojungle.net/post/lithium-e...mental-impact/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graph...m-ion-battery/

The other day I passed a Onewheel going the other way, he was zipping right along. Website says max 20mph. Talk about a bad day waiting to happen.

there is a guy here who has one of those 1 wheel deals that you straddle and he goes somewhere around 50mph as he keeps up with traffic in 45mph zones and it looks cool as heck. glad I live where cool stuff is not illegal. I don't own a scooter but if i did I would want to go faster than 15mph.

Pulling up to people at red lights and telling them they were speeding (do you do it when driving also?)..."What you're doing is ILLEGAL!".

Must be a California thing...

Apparently y'all out there have a law defining what a scooter can do. But if it goes over 15 mph, is it any longer a scooter? Might it then come under other regulations more typical for motorcycles and such?

Since the site you linked wanted a sign-up, I passed on that and didn't go any further to see what is and isn't a scooter in California and whether anything prevented them from being considered another type vehicle if they didn't meet the qualifications for being a scooter.

While on foot I have yelled at drivers to "Slow down!". (There are a lot of children in my 'hood.) Must be a Philly thing.

Holy heck, why would anyone want to go 50 MPH on one of these things?

Making the phrase "breakneck speed" extremely literal.

These things are way more dangerous than bikes. It's crazy to be moving that fast with such a high center of gravity.

I saw a onewheel and an e-unicycle yesterday.

The former guy looked about my age and he was goofing around in his neighborhood. Just having fun.

The latter was commuting and he was duded up in black armor and a motocross style helmet. So serious!

Pretty soon it will be dark and cold and rainy and all these people will go back to their cars and we can talk about it again in the spring

I saw three OneWheel guys on the mountain bike trail a few weeks ago. They mentioned they wiped out a lot.

Were you never a kid? Or did you lead a very sheltered and safe life? Safety awareness many times seems to be something one gains as one ages and survives the stupid things done previously.

My wife says I still need some growing up to do!