How to ride an electric scooter: 10 beginner skills
How to ride an electric scooter: 10 beginner skills
Riding an electric scooter is easier than riding a bicycle, and most people can pick it up immediately. This guide will help you get started and cover insights on how to ride an electric scooter and techniques.
A quick start guide on how to ride an electric scooter
Wear protective equipment that suits your travel and cycling style. Before you ride the scooter, you need to wear suitable equipment.
First of all, no matter how short the trip or how fast the bike is, you should always wear a helmet when riding. A CPSC-certified bicycle helmet is the smallest, but you may want something more to protect higher speeds.
Learn more in our helmet guide. Your equipment and clothing should always match the speed and type of your travel. Higher speed = more gears. For higher speeds or if riding on heavy traffic roads, you need to add long-leg pants, gloves, long-sleeved shirts, and closed-toed shoes.
You can also add more protective equipment, including elbow and knee pads, or maybe a full racing suit. For most riders, these are overkill. Man wearing full safety gear rides an electric scooter
Make sure you are familiar with your scooter and its controls
Before riding, it is important to be familiar with your scooter. Make sure you know the position of the accelerator, brakes, lights, and horn.
If you have just received a scooter, it is best to take it to a protected outside area, such as a parking lot, and make sure you understand how the accelerator feels and how the brakes work. If you want to be very cautious, you can use it as a standard scooter to test your scooter without even turning on the power. This allows you to have a good sense of balance, steering and braking.
Finally, make sure you understand how the folding mechanism on the scooter works. Depending on the scooter you own, you may have folding stems and folding handlebars. Make sure you know how to lock the two in place. There are many mechanisms, some with additional safety features, which must be used to prevent them from folding while riding.
Some mechanisms make a clicking sound when they are properly seated, while others do not. Read your instruction manual and make sure you understand how it works. People familiar with electric scooters
Do a pre-flight inspection of your scooter before jumping on it
Please perform a pre-flight inspection for the first time and every time you ride to ensure that your scooter can drive normally. If this is your first time using a scooter, you may need to adopt a traditional posture where one foot (usually a non-dominant foot) is placed in front of the other. If you do it to your advantage, this is called a stupid position.
Some people prefer to ride with their feet side by side… It does work, but you will be unstable and unable to transfer weight properly to maintain balance. If you are in an emergency, you will not be able to react so quickly while riding.
When riding a scooter, use the handlebars to help you keep your balance, but your feet and legs should do most of the work. If you notice that you are pushing or pulling hard on the handlebars, this is not a good sign and means you need to work hard to maintain your balance.
The handlebar is located at the end of a long lever arm, and even the best scooters are not designed for the rider to shake the handlebar frequently.
At very, very low speeds, you will actively use the handlebars to control the scooter. You must also mobilize your core strength and adjust your weight to maintain balance. At normal riding speeds> 8 kmh, you should keep most of the handlebars straight and rely on weight transfer and tilt to maneuver and turn. Man turning on electric scooter
Move the center of gravity back and forth when braking suddenly
When you brake hard, bend your knees and move your weight back to your hind legs—as if you were about to sit down. Most of the braking force comes from the front brake, so be sure to use both at the same time.
Braking hard while turning is more likely to cause a collision than braking hard in a straight line, so whenever possible, go straight before executing an emergency stop.
In order to get the maximum braking force, you will want the rear tires to be on the verge of slipping, rather than “locking up” the brakes. The front wheel is unlikely to skid, but too strong a front brake might allow you to get past the handlebars, especially when riding a scooter with more powerful front brakes (such as disc brakes).
Take some time to practice using the front brakes. As you adapt to the front brakes, add more and more front brakes. Time-lapse photo of people braking on electric scooter
Use the throttle to accelerate and adjust your position to maintain stability
Accelerate by pressing the accelerator control. If you are accelerating on a more powerful scooter, double check that your feet are in a stable position and bend your knees to lower the center of gravity. Use the handlebars to maintain stability, but avoid excessive force. Your legs should provide most of your balance.
Pro tip: When accelerating hard, put your weight on your back foot and use your back foot to help your body lean forward. This will prevent you from pulling the handlebars.
If you are riding a twin scooter, it also helps prevent the front wheels from losing traction when accelerating. Inokim OXO electric scooter-man riding on the right side of the frame, facing the camera, side view, full view
Advanced riding skills
When you learn how to ride a scooter and take risks on public roads, you need to put some advanced technology in your pocket.
Avoid obstacles in advance
First, learn and use obstacle avoidance. Scooters have relatively small tires and potholes, and other road debris is dangerous. Always pay attention to the road and pay attention to the surrounding vehicles. Practice and confidently make quick but controlled avoidance movements. The most important thing is not to overcorrect or turn to another car. Sometimes obstacles are inevitable, and you have to cross or cross them. The biggest problem is stopping your front wheels, which will allow you to get over the handlebars.
Jump over obstacles vertically
To climb over obstacles, practice shifting the center of gravity to the rear wheels, and gently pull the handlebars to make the front wheels jump over the obstacles. You will not try to get a lot of air with the front wheels, and if you do it properly, the front wheels may not leave the ground. The goal here is to reduce the weight of the front wheels so that they can get over obstacles as easily as possible.
Use these techniques to maximize range
How do you maximize the range of your scooter? It’s simple-follow the tips below to use as little energy as possible:
1. Always start your scooter. The motor uses maximum power when outputting maximum torque-that is, when you start the scooter for the first time.
2. Accelerate slowly. Faster acceleration = more torque = more energy consumption.
3. Reduce the maximum speed. Higher top speed = more wind resistance = more torque = more energy consumption.
4. Inflate the tire to an appropriate pressure. Make sure to inflate the tire to the recommended pressure, which will reduce rolling resistance. Lower pressure will reduce mileage and increase the risk of puncture.
5. Ride in warm weather. You may not be able to control this, but the battery cannot be fully charged when it is cold. When operating the battery at temperatures below 50 F / 20 C, you will notice a significant drop in capacity (temporarily).
Will regenerative braking give you more range?
No, according to our analysis, it may increase by 2% to 3%. However, it will extend the service life of the brake pads.
After riding
When you arrive at your destination, it is important to store your scooter safely so that it will be there when you return. Although the safest option is to always carry your scooter with you, and there are often creative ways to do this, sometimes this is not possible.
To lock your scooter in public places, we recommend using only very high-quality U-shaped locks, such as the Kryptonite New York series. These locks are expensive and heavy—about 2.0 kg, but they are necessary and worthwhile. A cheaper and lighter lock will not protect your investment. Slide the U-lock over a safety lock and permanent point, which cannot be easily removed with a tool. Some examples are: through/around the frame, permanent handles, through folding mechanisms.
Finally, if your scooter gets wet during the ride, wipe it off quickly (towel or paper towel) and make sure to park it in the car so that it is completely dry before the next ride. This is especially important if your scooter does not have an IP rating (waterproof/dustproof rating).
Generalize
Learning to ride an electric scooter is relatively easy, but being able to commute safely in traffic is learned through experience. If you are a complete beginner, make sure to wear a helmet, practice and gain confidence before riding in mixed traffic.
If you are looking for a new way of commuting or want a healthier lifestyle, we are here to help you. Visit our website to learn more about electric bikes and electric scooter or please leave information to us.