5 Facts That Nobody Told You About Scooters
Ah, the scooter. I’ve always considered them to be healthier midpoint between a bicycle and a skateboard. On one hand, you have the maneuverability of a bicycle, but you also have the portability of a skateboard. Obviously scooters aren’t as fast as a bicycle but in today’s fast paced environment, many urbanites are choosing a scooter to get themselves around town.
These scooters are frequently referred to as kick scooters to differentiate themselves from electric scooters or the Vespa/motorcycle style gasoline scooters. Lightweight, cost-efficient, and with no fuel costs, hundreds of people are choosing to invest in a scooter so they no longer have to wait at a bus stop for up to half an hour just to get where they’d like to go. But what else do scooters have going for them?
Well, here’s five things nobody ever let you in on when it comes to kick scooters:
1. Scooters Were Invented By Children
Far from being made in a fancy workshop of a trained engineer, the first kick scooters were invented by children. The story goes that children were getting bored of their roller skates and decided to innovate a little bit. First, they removed the shoe portion of their roller skates and then attached the wheeled portions to a plank of wood. They then added the handle to support themselves while they merrily propelled themselves down their neighborhood roads. It would be some time before an adult thought they could do it better and begin manufacturing scooters large-scale.
2. They Were Favored By The Suffragettes
While the scooter may have been invented by children, that’s not everyone who had a chance to make use of them. During the years when women were trying to secure voting rights they still wore floor-length dresses and shoes that made walking less than ideal. The scooter was a perfect companion for these ladies who still had places to be but had to work around their choice of wardrobe.
3. Scooters As We Know Them Now Are From Switzerland
Far from the electric scooters of yore or the planks of wood on wheels that originally took the name of scooters, scooters such as the kinds focused on by sites like Scooters by RideTwoWheels are an entirely Swiss invention. Wim Ouboter, a former Zurich banker, perfected the micro scooter design in the 1990s as a way for his sister who had one leg shorter than the other to get around.
4. Amelia Earhart Was A User Of Scooters
While she is primarily known for being the first woman to fly across the Atlantic, she was also an avid user of the kick scooter. Having to get walk around the tarmac all day took valuable energy that she’d rather have spent focusing on flying, so at any airport Earhart found herself at she was incredibly likely to be seen using a kick scooter to get around.
5. Scooters Are Constantly Evolving
While it is obvious that the transition from rudimentary scooter to electric and the modern kick scooter didn’t happen overnight, that doesn’t mean there isn’t anywhere else for the scooter to go in it’s evolution. Scooters that can be used in the snow or folded up into the tiniest of spaces are now just some of the newest things in scooter innovation. As time goes on, the sky’s the limit as far as scooter technology.
Far from being strictly in the realm of children, many people of all ages have realized the utility and range of uses that a scooter can fulfill. It’s certainly an upgrade from walking on two feet. Who knows, maybe you’ll be taking a scooter to work in the next few years. I hope this list was entertaining and informative to all of my readers, thanks for reading!
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