Why should I own an Electric Scooter when I have a Bicycle?
I have owned a Mi Electric Scooter Pro for around a month now and I think its worth talking about the benefits of such a piece of equipment over your every day bicycle. In other words why should you own an E-Scooter when you can ride a bike?
Here are TEN reasons why.
1. Less overhead / Less wasting time
Lets say you have a journey to the grocery store which might be a 30 minute walk, or say ten minute bicycle ride. Most likely your bike is stored in the garage. You have to grab your helmet, keys for the lock, maybe wear slightly suitable clothes for cycling, unlock your bike and then head out.
On the other hand your scooter sits nicely folded up under the living room sofa or nicely packed by the sidewall of the bedroom. Time to go for a shop? You simply roll your scooter out your front door and you are on your way.
With a bike on arriving at the grocery store you first need to find a place to park and lock it. It may also not be right next to the store. This all adds extra time.
On the scooter, you say a few words as you go in the store “mind if i bring this in”, and in my experience so far 90% of store owners have said no problem at all. In most cases i fold the scooter down and leave it at the store front, or on occasion at the back, and if its just a pint of milk I don’t leave the scooter at all.
This results in a massive amount of time saved. Since having the scooter I don’t care if I say forgot to buy one grocery item as I know i can shoot out again at any time with little time lost. This is a massive benefit over a bicycle.
2. No Sweat
Let's say you have an appointment with your bank manager, or the dentist, or simply going to the office (huh? forgot about these since the pandemic!) Why prior to my scooter did i need to take public transport or taxis? Well if you cycle besides the overhead from the point above, you sweat. With this comes smell, so you pretty much have to have a shower at the other end and if you don’t then do you really want the dentist or your colleagues giving you those funny looks?
So if time is an issue or there are no showers and specially in the midst of a pandemic when public transport is not really an option the E-Scooter is an amazing win, because it is effortless. i.e you won’t sweat, in fact you will be fresher than if you walked. At your destination you will still be smelling like the roses and the lavender soap you used in the morning.
And of course you will be at your appointment on time, which is the next benefit.
3. Never late again, no more excuses needed
A follow on from the first point. With public transport or taxis undoubtedly you are often late beyond any control of your own. That is probably why you have been riding a bike, possibly up until you read this article. So whilst a bike is pretty reliable on getting to where you are going on time the fact that you are saving more time at either end, and no waiting for shower queues in the office the chances of being late have dropped one more notch. Further to this another important point. Lets say you are actually late, i.e a bike would not get you to your appointment on time, there is generally nothing you can do. I recently had an appointment 8 miles away through central London and I would have been late. However, the E-Scooter can take routes no bike can take, another win which brings me to the next point…
4. Incredibly Agile / More Route Options
After using the scooter for around 10 minutes you will start to realise its incredibly agile and can take routes or narrow paths, and every twist and cranny which if you were on a bicycle would require you to get off, walk a bit, get back on and most likely you would skip the potential shortcut. In my real example from East London to Oxford Street where normally you would ride on the road, stopping for red lights, I was able to kill half the journey flying along the canal with no stops at all, popping out only at the main road for the last half, this knocked off an incredible amount of time, mainly due the fact there was no stopping for traffic lights.
It is not just time and distance which I love about this, but all these amazing new parts of London I am discovering. It makes every journey incredibly interesting and potentially fresh and new each time.
5. Environmentally friendly
Hold on, how can it before more environmentally friendly than a bike? This is because you will probably never get in a taxi or diesel bus again. As the previous points highlighted a bike is not always an option. The alternatives have really only been polluting trains, buses or cars. However, now that the electric scooter is an option and a fun one you will be using this more and more instead of a polluting means.
6. Pandemic Friendly
Obviously a bike is good for stopping viruses spreading, but as already mentioned it does involve locker rooms for the bike, shower rooms all of which are hot spots for viruses. As you no longer need any of this, and you certainly will not get in a bus whilst COVID-19 is doing the rounds, the electric scooter is probably the most COVID Secure means of getting from one place to another.
7. BUT… What about my waist line?
This is a very important point as one “potential” downside of the electric scooter is the fact that you MAY stop walking, and riding and the pounds will pile on. This is something to be conscious of, but easily mitigated. You must not see the scooter as an alternative to normal exercise. You are using it for other reasons, in fact all the reasons mentioned in this article. If you were planning a 30km bike ride in the evening, or weekend, then don’t substitute it for the scooter, do the bike ride, then have a shower, and use the scooter later in the evening to shoot up to the top of the hill for sunset…
8. Very Much Leisure
I almost left this point out covering all these technicalities, but this is the most obvious one. An electric scooter is a lot of fun! Cruising effortlessly up and down hills, turning sharp circles, watching the birds glide next you, whilst seeing the sun travel slowly down at dusk is amazingly beautiful, relaxing and simply makes you feel great. As a keen surfer not many things have come even close to the feeling of calving a long the water, however, Imust say for moments on the scooter I get the same feeling. Only moments though! Do not forget the saying Only a Surfer Knows the Feeling but you will get a glimpse.
9. Price
Can you put a price on freedom? Seriously, at say £500 for a decent scooter (maybe half that for a more budget one), it really is not much different to the price of an entry grade bike. What about the battery and the motor, won’t I have to replace that? You might ask. Well like a bike parts do need to be replaced, however, one advantage of the scooter compared to a bike is there is very little moving parts. The entire motor is located in the wheel. There is a battery in the middle, and a simple wheel with some disc break on the front. No complex gearing systems, no chains, so I would say it’s at least a par with a bicycle.
10. Safety
OK this one might be a little subjective, and only time will tell how it compares to cycling when the data comes out, hopefully it is scarce! In my personal opinion, I feel at least as safe as on a bicycle. But let me reiterate this really is down to how you use it. For me I go at the top speed of 25 km/hr everywhere I can and I feel in the worst case scenario if i do come off its not super fast that speed will be a big factor in my injuries. However, the main concern is how does it fair with bikes especially in relation to cars? I find when I am travelling on the road, I can fit much more closely to the side of the road than on a bike adding a little security. However, the big win for me, and I am not sure how legal this is (laws are still being established — but generally its not allowed), any time a main road is looking unsafe, more often than not there are plenty of paths on the side of the road, and of course if no pedestrians are in sight its often very easy to complete a leg on a side walk and return back to the road when its safe. If you are travelling on the road, then like a bike a helmet is generally recommended and of course in some places illegal to not wear one.
Away, hope that helps you make up your mind to get an electric scooter!
