Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Bird One Scooter – Pre-Order

shop.bird.co

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 187 posts

Re: Bird One Scooter – Pre-Order

#111

Post by samcheng »

allworknoplay wrote: post #7

> "give your commute a higher purpose with zero carbon emissions." Can people please stop claiming electric vehicles are zero emissions?

This isn't some 4,000 pound Tesla.

According to https://mi-xiaomi.net/specs/, the scooter uses 1.1 kWh per 100km. Let's say you ride this scooter 10 miles a day on your nice, short commute. That's roughly 0.2kWh. The average home uses ~35 kWh per day, so this is in the noise of household electricity usage.

Per https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gases-equivalencies-ca... that's roughly 0.3 lbs of C02 in those 10 miles in the average US state. Obviously it's significantly lower than that in many places using nuclear, natural gas, and renewables, and it is decreasing annually everywhere.

According to https://www.answers.com/Q/How_much_carbon_dioxide_does_a_car..., the average car produces 0.6 lbs of C02 per mile, or 6 lbs of C02 in that 10-mile commute.

So the electric scooter isn't quite zero, but it's insignificant at less than 5% of the emissions of an average car.

Re: Bird One Scooter – Pre-Order

#112

Post by stale2002 »

diegorbaquero wrote: post #24

$1299??? Apart from the GPS and "Free Rides Package" and "Bird Service Center", what's the value added? I could just get a Segway Ninebot ES4 for less than $800?

There are even cheaper options that are just as good.

The xiaomi m365, for example, is one of the most commonly owned electric scooters, (I am pretty sure it used to be the model that Bird based their scooters off of), and you can buy them for ~425$ or so.

Re: Bird One Scooter – Pre-Order

#113

Post by snovv_crash »

astrodust wrote: post #103
elamje wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, those two brands make high quality products that use a 4 stroke motor, so no oil mixing. They are quite popular around college campuses and do not smell.

Do they sound like a bunch of angry bees?

No, they aren't 2-stroke, they're 4-stroke. They sound similar to a little 250cc roadbike - quiet and puttering.

Re: Bird One Scooter – Pre-Order

#114

Post by spike021 »

gonehome wrote: post #69
benatkin wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or a Boosted Board. I see people riding by on Boosted Boards and sometimes think that I want one. I never think that when I see someone on a scooter. I like to ride the scooter now and then, but I don't want to own one, nor do I want to carry one into my home or office.

If you're in Palo Alto and want to try one sometime I'd be happy to let you use mine.

How difficult are they to use if your balance isn't necessarily optimal? I tried to ride a cruising board back in college and.. well, broke my wrist when I fell (shrug).

I have fine balance normally so I've always wanted to try a Boosted because it'd be handy when I go into our SF office or when I do stuff in San Jose.

Re: Bird One Scooter – Pre-Order

#115

Post by zed88 »

universenz wrote: post #98
1023bytes wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Bird Service center would be actually extremely useful. I bought a Xiaomi M365 (which is what Bird initially used) and dealing with tire punctures is really difficult. The first time I changed the tube, it took me a week to finish it. The bolts on the holding wheel are extremely tight from the factory and tire is such a tight fit too, I broke and bent multiple tire levers trying to get it on. I tried bringing it…

There's your problem right there... Why make a scooter with tyres instead of solid rubber with suspension? That's what Segway did with the Ninebot, and their scooters are great. So confused right now.. Tyres are meant for the low end/cheap scooters, not the high end stuff.

Funnily enough, both m365 and Ninebot model you are referring to, are made by the same company.

Re: Bird One Scooter – Pre-Order

#116

Post by condiment »

cameldrv wrote: post #59

This is a weird offering for an individual purchase. Look at the unique features: 1. Non folding stem: Adds durability for a rental, but the super quick fold is a huge part of the appeal of a scooter, because it means you can easily take it with you on the train, put it in the trunk of a car, or store it under your desk. If you didn't care about compactness, you'd probably buy an e-bike. 2. Huge battery: Adds to the…

I own a Xiaomi Mi m365 scooter that I use daily for commutes around downtown Denver and while it's lighter than this bird, it is by no means lightweight. It won't fit under a desk. It attracts funny looks if I bring it into a business or restaurant, and locking it up on the street is annoying and time-consuming. Even when it's folded and locked up, people try to steal it.

The Bird One marketing document doesn't really go into detail, but the huge battery and GPS functionality suggests to me that the expected approach for using these scooters is to park them on the street and leave them there. If they borrow the anti-theft functionality that you see in VanMoof bicycles, this scooter makes a lot of sense. You ride it around town. You charge it in your garage. You leave it on the street when you're done with it. If it's stolen you look up its GPS location and the police help you get it back. There's low urgency to charge it. If it breaks, they'll fix it for you. And if you don't have it with you, Bird comps your rental scooter.

That's a lot more compelling of an offering than just a "heavier, faster, longer-range" scooter.

Re: Bird One Scooter – Pre-Order

#118

Post by acomjean »

k3oni wrote: post #15

I'm sorry but at 1.3K i was expecting a bit more, or maybe i'm just off but that price looks high to me.

For a point of reference I got a really quite decent ebike for $1800. (Disc brakes, rapidfire shifters) Ebikes range in price quite a bit but that seams middle of the road.

Those scooters are fast though, easily going 20 mph. I can’t imagine what the ride is like in our pothole filled streets...

Re: Bird One Scooter – Pre-Order

#120

Post by Cerium »

spike021 wrote: post #114
gonehome wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're in Palo Alto and want to try one sometime I'd be happy to let you use mine.

How difficult are they to use if your balance isn't necessarily optimal? I tried to ride a cruising board back in college and.. well, broke my wrist when I fell (shrug). I have fine balance normally so I've always wanted to try a Boosted because it'd be handy when I go into our SF office or when I do stuff in San Jose.

In my experience learning to ride a regular longboard takes about 10 hours of practice across 5+ sessions. Learning to ride a boosted board to the same level of competence is a half hour endeavor. Really, the hard part of skateboarding is pushing, not standing.
Post reply on HN