Why scooters are cool

Broussard also began hacking together custom scooters capable of taking more abuse, a business originally branded Scooter Resource in , before being renamed Proto Scooters in The company doubled its revenue for six years straight, its growth only slowing once a rush of other companies entered the market. Scooters are modular, which has created a marketplace for component-specific companies like River Wheel Co.

The lexicon of tricks grew and was cataloged on Scooter Resource with specific credits for the pioneers behind each move. Or an hour. The rest of the community is the same; nearly everything happens on Instagram or Facebook.

According to Tommy Daddono, one of the organizers of the Chicago Jam and a founder of scooter manufacturer Outset Select, his event is one of the most popular street jams in the world, but it was un-Googleable until a week after the dust had cleared. Since pro-level scooters are so costly, many of the kids come from affluent backgrounds.

Despite this, the scene feels decidedly DIY. Riders dress with a mix of grungy skater gear and a touch of Internet irony. Landing a backflip at a skatepark definitely turns heads, but a combination of entitlement and inexperience has made most scooter riders a bane to skateboarders, inline skaters and BMX riders.

Instead, early scooter riders dug through garage sales for dollar scooters, took them to skate parks and rode them until they were literally destroyed — typically about an hour. Mike Hohmann, a year-old with frayed Kurt Vile hair, is a good bet to win prize money at any jam. In May, he won several hundred dollars for grinding a foot rail called the Green Monster in Austin and had a similar payday in Chicago for landing a backside bar twist down a dozen steps at Grant Park.

Scant documentation of the community has emerged outside social media, but the scene does have historians. One is Dylan Kasson, a professional rider for Proto who has photographed scooting for a decade and hosts a popular podcast, Tandem. As documentation of the sport grows, so does the industry around it. As with skateboarding, apparel companies like Sky High have formed to serve the subculture.

We were experimental. Alex Bee. I think they're more like cigerettes or drugs: Addictive, bad for your health and wallet, and you'd probably sell your grans TV to get one. How about Piaggio's? I really think the MP3 looks cool.

The front just looks mean to me, and kinda futuristic. What I see around town that is NOT cool, are people riding scooters of some weird brand I cant even guess that cant keep up with traffic and are riding on the shoulder of the road, wearing no gear and a half helmet If you think abut it, it's got really nothing to do with the scooters at all! Rather it depends on whether the people looking at them are 'cool' or not Harley rider: "What is that? Gump: "Cool is and cool does.

Veni, Vidi, Posti. Meh, who cares, I like it and I don't care what other people think, it just makes me smile and that's all I care about.

I find most scooters cool, metal or plastic Scooters are cool. It's unfortunate about the riders, though. Moderatrice Strega. Joined: 30 Jan Posts: I used to have the opposite issue.

People asked questions about my "Vespa" before I even had a Vespa. Usually still led to more questions about the scoot.

Maybe it's just the GTV's very good attempt at vintage charm, but so far I have had no negative comments on my Vespa. Most conversations start something like, "Wow, that's gorgeous. Is it a Vespa? I appreciate good motorcycles. I just don't want one. Gods Country. No Vespas are not cool. They become cool with age and modification to suit the riders taste. Fri Jun 19, pm link quote. Teacherquinn wrote: I gotta disagree.

Really too cool to be just cool, if you know what I mean. I never worried about being cool. Scooters are nerdy and I'm proud to be a nerd! Scooter Bug. Yes, scooters are cool and they make you rich too. Or wait, no, maybe someone said they were for rich people. Either way, I bought one anyway. Silver Streak. If you worry about being cool, you are not cool. Post Reply. All Content Copyright by Modern Vespa.

All Rights Reserved. Thu Jun 18, pm link quote This is true I had a guy follow me and when I stopped at a light he yelled "hey I like your scooter where can I get one". Thu Jun 18, pm link quote I gotta disagree. Thu Jun 18, pm link quote Thunk Vespas are cool and all the rest are just copies. Thu Jun 18, pm link quote Cool? Thu Jun 18, pm link quote Cool is subjective. Thu Jun 18, pm link quote If your waiting for scooters or Vespas to be cool with those in the general public, you will be waiting a long time, and you are missing the point.

Scooters are gay, "not that there's anything wrong with that S: Jerry? Jerry: Ma, it's not true! S: It's those damn culottes you made him wear when he was five! S: They weren't culottes, they were shorts. S: They were culottes! You bought them in the girl's department. S: By mistake! By mistake, Jerry! I'm sorry! S: It looked like he was wearing a skirt, for crying out loud!

And like we said, if your client is one those cool tech companies in California or New York, employees could use them to get around the office. Here's the thing about the electric scooters popping up in cities though: They are starting to become a nuisance to some.

They're clogging sidewalks and sort of look like trash when they're just discarded along walkways. Because of that, some cities are forcing companies to limit the sizes of their scooter fleets or considering an outright ban. So, obviously, there are still some kinks to work out here, as there would be with any new idea that grows faster than the companies know how to control. But, for those old-timey push scooters let's call them "acoustic scooters" for fun , there's really no problem.

They're typically used by people who know how to ride them, rather than someone just acting on a whim. And since they're something people buy, they're likely going to be used by people who know where they're going and how to get there, rather than tourists aimlessly clogging up streets and sidewalks looking for the restaurant from "Seinfeld.

But the best thing about scooters is that just about everyone can ride them. They're not as complex as a bicycle, and they're easier to control than a skateboard. For those acoustic scooters really pushing that , there's no carbon footprint or fire hazard attached to charging them.