benb
06-27-2019, 09:39 AM
I've managed to never try one of these the last 10-15 years since the Razor scooters became a thing.
My son wanted one, so my wife bought him one and one for herself. She got him a Razor A5 and bought herself something called an Exooter.
Anyway I of course got drafted to unpack/check these. They don't really have any assembly but do have some adjustments & things to check. The razor had the front wheel crooked out of the box but it was called out as likely to need adjustment, no big deal.
What blows me away about them is the amount of play & wobble in the steering headsets/bearings and "stem". It's like a bicycle that is horrifically badly setup and is going to kill you going down a hill. The folding joint on them is a big part of the problem too. Razor puts a set screw on there to adjust how much play is in the pivot, but you can't adjust all the play out or the scooter no longer folds. The Exooter is even worse and I'm not sure it can be adjusted. I may take them to a bike shop at some point as they are super old school headsets and I don't have the right wrenches, but I suspect perfectly adjusting the headsets won't really matter as the whole rest of the system is so flexible.
Granted you aren't supposed to go fast on them but they almost feel less stable & secure than a skateboard. Guess we're spoiled, even a walmart bike has a fork/headset/handlebars that feel amazing in comparison. Imagine going 10mph on your bike and gently hitting the brakes and the handlebars flex forward 1"+, that's what they're like, for a cyclist these things feel broken.
The non-folding scooters we had as kids in the 80s were not like this at all.
My son wanted one, so my wife bought him one and one for herself. She got him a Razor A5 and bought herself something called an Exooter.
Anyway I of course got drafted to unpack/check these. They don't really have any assembly but do have some adjustments & things to check. The razor had the front wheel crooked out of the box but it was called out as likely to need adjustment, no big deal.
What blows me away about them is the amount of play & wobble in the steering headsets/bearings and "stem". It's like a bicycle that is horrifically badly setup and is going to kill you going down a hill. The folding joint on them is a big part of the problem too. Razor puts a set screw on there to adjust how much play is in the pivot, but you can't adjust all the play out or the scooter no longer folds. The Exooter is even worse and I'm not sure it can be adjusted. I may take them to a bike shop at some point as they are super old school headsets and I don't have the right wrenches, but I suspect perfectly adjusting the headsets won't really matter as the whole rest of the system is so flexible.
Granted you aren't supposed to go fast on them but they almost feel less stable & secure than a skateboard. Guess we're spoiled, even a walmart bike has a fork/headset/handlebars that feel amazing in comparison. Imagine going 10mph on your bike and gently hitting the brakes and the handlebars flex forward 1"+, that's what they're like, for a cyclist these things feel broken.
The non-folding scooters we had as kids in the 80s were not like this at all.