my son is set on getting an e scooter as all his friends now have them (no fun running or pedalling after them for miles)
I know the legality issues are not great but…
what’s good, low price, robust (as it will take a kicking, some of his friends have tiny suspension forks on them) and most importantly trustworthy - I don’t fancy a charging lottery/ house fire. Sizing is odd he is 14 most friend seem to be running adult/ high handlebar types..
I would try to everything you can to avoid. I work in a Secondary School and they are turning into a bit of a menace with our kids. If there was a way for them to be legally used it would be different and as society we could try to address them, but there are issues to do with safety (user + others), security, let alone storage and charging. They way teens use them they are an accident waiting to happen.
As a minimum, built in BRIGHT lights.
No idea what your budget is but this is at least legal for a 14 year old...
I know the legality issues are not great
That’s a great spin.
You know what else is not great legally? Drugs. But lots of teenagers do that! Probably start him off with some standard strength marijuana....
Man up and tell him he can't have one.
It’s a difficult one. Trying to resist but difficult to justify when ‘everyone else has one’ A sales ban would do me a massive favour!
I own an Apachie XTS Scooter.Well made and reliable.British company with good customer service to.Apps a bit hit and miss if that's really important to you .I,m not bothered about using it.Is changing an inner tube a problem for you on an escooter? If so get a solid wheeled tyre.That would be Aovopro if your looking for a budget model .
Warm comfortable clothing,good solid gloves and soft grippy trainers will be nice.This time of year you might insist upon him wearing a helmet as well
I presume you will be waiting until Black Friday in case any great deals emerge.D LOCK!
I got one from Pure a couple of years ago when they were having a Black Friday thing. They'd rather jumped the gun with closing all their physical stores and going full online, at the same time as ditching all the e-bike offers and concentrating on e-scooters, I think they thought the Government might be on the way to legalising them.
The Pure is OK - not the most powerful of things but super handy for quick trips. My nieces absolutely love it. We go to the park with them on their normal scooters then they get to ride the e-scooter (and yes, I turn the drive mode down!)
Yes it's technically illegal but this is in an area where Lime e-bikes and e-scooters rule the roads and enforcement is pretty much non-existent. Loads of kids use them.
Yet another stupid wasted opportunity from Government to actually make the things legal and pop a bit of a sales tax on them. ****s.
Yet another stupid wasted opportunity from Government to actually make the things legal and pop a bit of a sales tax on them. ****s.
Most of the people I see on them ride like ****s on cycle paths at well above 15mph so I'd say definitely not. And you would have paid 20% VAT on it.
Thankfully around where I live they seem to be falling out of fashion.
Legal in most of Europe and the US.Illegal, of course in Ruratania
Illegal, of course in Ruratania
And the most bike friendly European country, Netherlands.
I think they might be legal in the UK if they are insured, registered as motor vehicles with the necessary lights,. brakes, etc, and regularly MOTed. Good luck with that though.
I work in France, and they’re incredibly common for commuting. But I’ve never seen them revved on pavements by kids. But sometimes, it seems that everyone is using them to get to and from work! So I was shocked when I looked into them here in the uk and found that they’re illegal.
I think they might be legal in the UK if they are insured, registered as motor vehicles with the necessary lights,. brakes, etc, and regularly MOTed. Good luck with that though.
That's e-motorbikes you're thinking of. E-scooters are not legal because they don't fit a category of vehicle.
They're legal if they are part of a DfT / council trial scheme (so the like of Lime, Dott etc) but the Government has repeatedly kicked the can down the road in terms of legalising them. The issue is that they simply don't exist in legislation. There's a move to create a category called LZEV (Low-speed Zero Emission Vehicle) to cover the likes of e-scooters, delivery robots etc but it's not had any parliamentary time yet.
Meanwhile, a load of commercial manufacturers have got on board, started churning out everything from Lime clones that will do the legal e-bike max of 15.5mph right up to insane full suspension scooters capable of 50mph and selling them all with the caveat that they're only legal on private land.
Which is sort of like selling an F1 car and telling the buyer you can only use it on racetracks, it'll deter a few people but not many!
Daughter has a Pure air something or other
Bought from Moose. Failed and replaced under warranty, then failed again and a £100 fix...
Apart from that it has been good but I'd struggle to recommend based on the above.
They certainly can be dangerous in the wrong hands.However,most riders I see around here are riding sensibly.Pedestrians on the other hand seem to be on another planet.If not looking down at their phones
I’ve ridden Lime and Voi and there’s nothing dangerous about them. If anything they’re frustratingly slow (12mph?). The voi have the battery under the deck, lime upright at the front. The difference that makes to your CoG is noticeable.
same advice as for e-bikes I guess:
- buy quality (think brakes etc)
- something that’s speed limited (the super fast stuff look like organ donor transport). If they ever get legalised (and they should ) it won’t be at more than 15 mph
- for charging/battery safety reckon one of the most important points is the plug/socket on the battery. All the main brand bikes have solid custom plugs with cable strain relief etc the dodgy e-bikes are overloading a crappy little barrel plug. I’d not be surprised if some of the fires start with issues at that point
saw a huge traffic jam last night at a tee junction, illegal E-scooter smashed the living **** out of an SUV type vehicle, thousands of damage, scooter in smithereens, rider sat upright by the side of the road, unable to say how visible he would have been but my first thoughts not very...
Honestly, if its not a 5mph little kids scooter i wouldn't be doing it, they are lethal, no riders wear any protection, are barely visible, small wheels that really can effect stability, also i'm sure kids are being robbed for them, why on earth any one would buy a kid an e-scooter is beyond me, as a parent i really would be educating and not bowing down to it
my opinion, and apologies if it conflicts with yours
They are not legal to use unless on private land and with the landowners permission.
As a responsible parent you should be educating your child about this and leading their moral development.
You should not even be asking the “which make” question.
Legality aside, how happy are you going to feel about your kid razzing through red light junctions in the town / village, dressed all in black (with obligatory balaclava), on a dark winter's night with no lights?
It's a regular occurrence out where I stay. Honestly don't know how someone hasn't been killed yet.
The other thing to factor in to your buying decisions, is that although enforcement is pretty sparse, when it is enforced, the starting point is to seize and destroy the scooters. I wouldn't buy anything too expensive.
Pedestrians on the other hand seem to be on another planet.If not looking down at their phones
Got it, so it is the pedestrians fault for getting hit by someone on an illegal vehicle.
Legality aside, how happy are you going to feel about your kid razzing through red light junctions in the town / village, dressed all in black (with obligatory balaclava), on a dark winter's night with no lights?
Nothing like some stereotyping is there?
Where I live the vast majority are used by commuters getting to school or work. There's the odd bit of stupid pavement riding, but no more than BMX riders or cyclists. I don't doubt there's the odd "hoodie" using them, but they more likely to be on a "proper" motor powered scooter.
I think the government needs a kick up the arse to make them legal, and therefore be able to enforce rules and standard on how they're used. They're really useful for getting around on and they're exactly the kind of green transport we should be encourgaging.
my son is set on getting an e scooter as all his friends now have them....
.... I know the legality issues are not great but
I wouldn't be surprised if his mates also think knives are cool so yeah, why not!
😐
I think the government needs a kick up the arse to make them legal, and therefore be able to enforce rules and standard on how they're used.
There are already rules and standards on how they're used
I wouldn't be surprised if his mates also think knives are cool so yeah, why not!
Really? Come on now.
You could just get him a motorbike or car - the legality issues are not great but hey ho.
There was a police crash investigators thing on BBC the other week. Started off with CCTV showing woman on e scooter was well lit, riding slowly and sensibly etc. Then reviewed from the driver's viewpoint (the scooter was visibly lost in a lot of other lighting and street clutter). Then finally that she was illegal for riding the thing in the first place. Looked like the illegality was the final factor in absolving the driver's responsibility to vulnerable road users.
Then finally that she was illegal for riding the thing in the first place. Looked like the illegality was the final factor in absolving the driver's responsibility to vulnerable road users.
Yup, it's bad enough when cycling accident reports state "not wearing a helmet" without riding illegally as well.
Just tell the lad you'll get him a proper electric scooter when he's old enough..
https://www.bmw-motorrad.co.uk/en/models/urban_mobility/ce04.html
I think the government needs a kick up the arse to make them legal, and therefore be able to enforce rules and standard on how they're used.
Because the existing rules regarding illegal electric motorcycles are so well adhered to, no Deliveroo riders doing 30MPH up hill not even pedalling or Sur Ron nobbers out there nope, not even one.
Legislation is pointless without enforcement and the budget and training to do so. The government hasn't got the money to do either so they're turning a blind eye for now, it's generally only the plebs that are getting killed using them so the press haven't decided to make it into an issue yet either.
They are legal in Sweden because they are clased as a moped and there is existing legislation that deals with that class of vehicle.
All the hire ones have lights on and, the hire rules state helmet must be worn, no passengers, etc that brings them into line with this legislation. I'd say most people ignore this and it's common to see them two up on the footway.
The big thing is that they are legal here. They are not legal in the UK outside of the constrained environments that people have laready mentioned. IANAL, but it seems crazy to go down the route of buying something that you know is illegal.
I hate to sound like me at work, but "everyone else is doing it, why can't I?" is a really crap thing to say if you are the one that gets in the shit for it.
Despite the Voi hire ones, Cambridge police have been confiscating them and the deliveroo eskutas recently.
I absolutely think that private escooters should be legalised but currently they are not so I would not be getting my kid one and, as suggested above, would offer a legal ebike as an alternative.
I would be concerned about accident liability if one of my kids was riding an illegal escooter. If your kid caused damage to property or a person then they could potentially be pursued for compensation - maybe unlikely but not a risk I would be comfortable with.
I think the fact that you cannot get any insurance on them is the first legal hurdle that they fall at as far as the police are concerned.
The other stuff might be slightly hazy because of the fact that hire e-scooters are legal but the insurance issue is black and white.
Also need to bear in mind that if they get caught they can get points on their license before they even have a license so may make insurance that much more painful if/when getting a car
I would be concerned about accident liability if one of my kids was riding an illegal escooter. If your kid caused damage to property or a person then they could potentially be pursued for compensation - maybe unlikely but not a risk I would be comfortable with.
The damage i mentioned above in the accident i saw... that would 100% be perused i'm sure, the car was ruined, bumper, wing, bonnet, possibly headlight, possibly cooling components...definitely multiple 1000's
I know this is the Met (so you maybe treated differently if you are white male) but the info is good (penalties and offences section)
The ones you can hire are different I think because you (have to?) supply driving licence details to be able to use them and I think this somehow provides you insurance (and they're limited - think I had 14 mph out of one once going downhill)
Do you understand how the police deal with this when they do stop someone using them (I am aware that in some areas, some officers ignore them - but a traffic cop with nothing urgent to do will not).
First, the scooter will be confiscated and destroyed.
Second, they usually charge with driving a motor vehicle without insurance (6-8pts, £2500 max fine*, fixed penalty 6pts/£300), and/or using a motor vehicle other than in accordance with a license (3-6pts, £1000 max fine, fixed penalty 3pts/£200). Usually charge both which means a trip to court as two fixed penalties don't work together. Sometimes extra charges get thrown in too if there's been stupidity (like jumping lights, careless driving etc). When he gets his provisional license at 17 it will arrive with endorsements on it for the offences insurers hate the most.
Now if you think that's not bad enough - if in the course of his "interview" with the cops he says something like "my dad gave me the scooter" or worse "my dad said it would be ok" then they may decide to teach you a lesson too and charge you with causing and permitting the above offences as well. Even if you can afford the fines - do you want points on your driving license because your son's mates parents are all willing to take that chance.
Finally, if he actually has an accident and causes injury (or worse!) don't expect them to deal with this like a cycling accident - it will be prosecuted as careless/dangerous driving, with the potential for causing serious injury or death by dangerous driving offences. Jail time becomes a serious consideration.
Personally, I'd like to see them legalised with sensible rules for use, but there's no way i'd use one or enable my children to with such draconian punishments even if the odds of getting caught are fairly low.
*Actually could be unlimited if in the right court!
Sorry.
I meant to say that yesterday, but got distracted by work.
This must be rubbish for the OP. His kid wants an electric scooter for Christmas. How do you tell the kid that he can't have one because they're illegal and dangerous, when all his mates already have one?
All I know is that where I live, the young lads I regularly see on electric scooters are hammering along busy roads at 20-30mph, sometimes two-up, with a child's disregard for person safety and an expectation that everyone will make way for them. It's honestly terrifying, heart in mouth stuff.
Is there anything else you could steer him towards that might catch the interest of his mates as well? For me, when riding with my clubmates back in the day, it was a frame mounted hipflask that suddenly caught everyone's interest and slowed the group rides down to a more manageable pace. Maybe not quite suitable for your son, but what about a RC car? A drone?
Whatever you decide, hope it works out okay and you all have a good Xmas.