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This is very easy for me, I bought a Boosted Rev electric scooter last year. It cut my commute time nearly in half compared to biking to work (before covid), I

This is very easy for me, I bought a Boosted Rev electric scooter last year. It cut my commute time nearly in half compared to biking to work (before covid), I don't arrive hot and sweaty in summer and in winter a helmet with a visor keeps me totally warm. It is powerful and sturdy enough that my wife and I can ride together, now that's how we get around Manhattan. All the benefits of a car + bike in a smaller package that can fold down to fit in the back of a taxi or be carried on the subway. I've said this here before I think, but the Segway inventor was claiming cities would be designed around it and everyone was laughing, but with an electric scooter I can totally see this happening.

gregoriol 6y ago
+1 for electric scooter: life changing for me in Paris, France => spend more time outside, travel times as fast as subway but more enjoyable, a (very little) bit of phyiscal activity, ... I'd recommend one with removable/swappable batteries: it's very nice to be able to have 2 of them for a long day.
mleonhard 6y ago
"IIHS researchers found that e-scooter riders sustained more injuries per mile than bicyclists and were twice as likely to be injured because of potholes, pavement cracks, lampposts, and signposts, although bicyclists were three times as likely to be hit by a motor vehicle." https://www.consumerreports.org/electric-scooters/safety-risks-of-riding-e-scooters-on-the-sidewalk-iihs-study/ https://www.consumerreports.org/electric-scooters/safety-ris... Boosted Rev has both regenerative and mechanical disc brakes. "The typical 15 mph stopping distance for mechanical systems is 20 feet, with the absolute best stopping power being under 10 feet." https://electric-scooter.guide/guides/electric-scooter-brakes/ https://electric-scooter.guide/guides/electric-scooter-brake... If you put two people on a scooter, the stopping distance increases. I searched online and found no data on the risk of double-riding an electric scooter. Intuitively, I expect double-riders to be 10 times more likely to get injured than single-riders. I worry for you and your wife and the people I see double-riding in SF. Someday, US cities may be safe for scooter riding. I doubt they will ever be safe for double-riding.
dragonwriter 6y ago
> I've said this here before I think, but the Segway inventor was claiming cities would be designed around it and everyone was laughing, but with an electric scooter I can totally see this happening. Powered (both electric and gas) scooters in the same form factor as is now becoming more popular were around before Segway; Segway’s innovation was a new form factor tied to a balance-based control system (sure, the brand later got applied to traditional-layour scooters, but that wasn't what Kamen was hyping when made his bold predictions.) The key enabling developments from the scooters before Segway to the modern electric scooters were battery improvements; the original Segway was mostly a distraction. (There are balance-based devices which owe something to it, but basically-traditional-layout scooters like Boosted Rev aren't among them.)

gregoriol 6y ago

+1 for electric scooter: life changing for me in Paris, France => spend more time outside, travel times as fast as subway but more enjoyable, a (very little) bit of phyiscal activity, ... I'd recommend one with removable/swappable batteries: it's very nice to be able to have 2 of them for a long day.

mleonhard 6y ago

"IIHS researchers found that e-scooter riders sustained more injuries per mile than bicyclists and were twice as likely to be injured because of potholes, pavement cracks, lampposts, and signposts, although bicyclists were three times as likely to be hit by a motor vehicle." https://www.consumerreports.org/electric-scooters/safety-risks-of-riding-e-scooters-on-the-sidewalk-iihs-study/ https://www.consumerreports.org/electric-scooters/safety-ris... Boosted Rev has both regenerative and mechanical disc brakes. "The typical 15 mph stopping distance for mechanical systems is 20 feet, with the absolute best stopping power being under 10 feet." https://electric-scooter.guide/guides/electric-scooter-brakes/ https://electric-scooter.guide/guides/electric-scooter-brake... If you put two people on a scooter, the stopping distance increases. I searched online and found no data on the risk of double-riding an electric scooter. Intuitively, I expect double-riders to be 10 times more likely to get injured than single-riders. I worry for you and your wife and the people I see double-riding in SF. Someday, US cities may be safe for scooter riding. I doubt they will ever be safe for double-riding.

dragonwriter 6y ago

> I've said this here before I think, but the Segway inventor was claiming cities would be designed around it and everyone was laughing, but with an electric scooter I can totally see this happening. Powered (both electric and gas) scooters in the same form factor as is now becoming more popular were around before Segway; Segway’s innovation was a new form factor tied to a balance-based control system (sure, the brand later got applied to traditional-layour scooters, but that wasn't what Kamen was hyping when made his bold predictions.) The key enabling developments from the scooters before Segway to the modern electric scooters were battery improvements; the original Segway was mostly a distraction. (There are balance-based devices which owe something to it, but basically-traditional-layout scooters like Boosted Rev aren't among them.)