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I bought a Xiaomi scooter in June and received it a few weeks ago. I live in Williamsburg and work in SoHo/Chinatown, and my commute is 15-20 mins compared to 2

by buckhx 8y ago

I bought a Xiaomi scooter in June and received it a few weeks ago. I live in Williamsburg and work in SoHo/Chinatown, and my commute is 15-20 mins compared to 25-30 on the subway (L -> NQR). I obey biking rules and only push if I am on a sidewalk. I haven't felt unsafe outside of riding at night in Brooklyn and not feeling visible enough. Overall it's been great, but can imagine it getting out of hand if they were readily available. For example, I was at the Farmers Market in Union Square last Weds a couple of people were riding powered scooters through the crowd clearly NGAF.

microdrum 8y ago
How dare you purchase a Xiaomi scooter! You have to rent them from Lime or Bird. Do you have any idea how many hours these companies spent in Excel designing their tight unit economics? Dozens!
- stirlo 8y ago
  These scooters are around $400, unless you're using them for a commute its quite a few rides to recoup the purchase cost. Then there's the ability to ride it one way and just leave it without worrying about having it stolen or damaged and losing your $400 investment.
  - microdrum 8y ago
    It's at most 6 months payback for the average commute at current prices.* And that's for a $400 scooter. Think Xiaomi can't get these things into U.S. ports for $300? Think again. Scooter share economics don't work. And now that cities are placing caps on vendors and scooter quantity, prices are going up. Which means payback period to owning the scooter goes down. This is a vale of tears. * What is the average payback period for purchasing a car (μ(p) = $30,000) versus taking the train? Much longer!
    - dsfyu404ed 8y ago
      Payback period is kind of a nebulous concept because you can't easily assign a cost to the trips forgone because they aren't worth taking when you're at the mercy of some 3rd party's pricing and/or schedule. The personal freedom you get from having a scooter and/or a car is hard to overstate.
torgian 8y ago
Pfft, GTFO. Kymko or go home
siruncledrew 8y ago
For the price, it makes much more sense to buy a scooter if someone is going to use a scooter as their daily commuter transportation. I checked the price of Bird (idk what the prices of Lime/Spin are), and it's $1 per ride plus $.15/min. For 2x20min commutes per day, that's $8/day to ride a scooter. A roundtrip on the subway would be 2x$2.75, so $5.50/day. Taken monthly, it's $160/mo to ride a scooter vs. $110/mo to ride the subway. A Xiaomi scooter is about $500 on Amazon, so the cost would be recouped in less than 5 months. Seems reasonable for those who would be "frequent riders" to just buy their own collapsible scooters and carry it with them into work.
schrodinger 8y ago
I bought one recently too, and the folding mechanism is awfully loose, have you had the same problem?
- hadlock 8y ago
  There are several open source shims on thingverse that may be printed, they are also available to purchase online, periodically. The two major "upgrades" for the xiaomi m365 (what bird uses, is about $500 shipped online) is the shim for the folding mechanism, and then a sort of wear plate for the inside of the rear fender to protect the brake light cable. Both bought together usually cost $10 usd. Typically the shims come in packs of three, depending on how much gap is present in your folding mechanism.
- buckhx 8y ago
  Mine is pretty squeaky, but doesnt feel loose. Will probably purchase a shim as it's supposed to help the squeak.

by buckhx 8y ago

microdrum 8y ago

How dare you purchase a Xiaomi scooter! You have to rent them from Lime or Bird. Do you have any idea how many hours these companies spent in Excel designing their tight unit economics? Dozens!

stirlo 8y ago
These scooters are around $400, unless you're using them for a commute its quite a few rides to recoup the purchase cost. Then there's the ability to ride it one way and just leave it without worrying about having it stolen or damaged and losing your $400 investment.
- microdrum 8y ago
  It's at most 6 months payback for the average commute at current prices.* And that's for a $400 scooter. Think Xiaomi can't get these things into U.S. ports for $300? Think again. Scooter share economics don't work. And now that cities are placing caps on vendors and scooter quantity, prices are going up. Which means payback period to owning the scooter goes down. This is a vale of tears. * What is the average payback period for purchasing a car (μ(p) = $30,000) versus taking the train? Much longer!
  - dsfyu404ed 8y ago
    Payback period is kind of a nebulous concept because you can't easily assign a cost to the trips forgone because they aren't worth taking when you're at the mercy of some 3rd party's pricing and/or schedule. The personal freedom you get from having a scooter and/or a car is hard to overstate.

torgian 8y ago

Pfft, GTFO. Kymko or go home

siruncledrew 8y ago

For the price, it makes much more sense to buy a scooter if someone is going to use a scooter as their daily commuter transportation. I checked the price of Bird (idk what the prices of Lime/Spin are), and it's $1 per ride plus $.15/min. For 2x20min commutes per day, that's $8/day to ride a scooter. A roundtrip on the subway would be 2x$2.75, so $5.50/day. Taken monthly, it's $160/mo to ride a scooter vs. $110/mo to ride the subway. A Xiaomi scooter is about $500 on Amazon, so the cost would be recouped in less than 5 months. Seems reasonable for those who would be "frequent riders" to just buy their own collapsible scooters and carry it with them into work.

schrodinger 8y ago

I bought one recently too, and the folding mechanism is awfully loose, have you had the same problem?

hadlock 8y ago
There are several open source shims on thingverse that may be printed, they are also available to purchase online, periodically. The two major "upgrades" for the xiaomi m365 (what bird uses, is about $500 shipped online) is the shim for the folding mechanism, and then a sort of wear plate for the inside of the rear fender to protect the brake light cable. Both bought together usually cost $10 usd. Typically the shims come in packs of three, depending on how much gap is present in your folding mechanism.
buckhx 8y ago
Mine is pretty squeaky, but doesnt feel loose. Will probably purchase a shim as it's supposed to help the squeak.