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Bird One Scooter – Pre-Order

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121–130 of 187 posts

Re: Bird One Scooter – Pre-Order

#121
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That you were a drunk who lost their license because of a DUI. I'm also from NC, and what the parent commenter said is accurate for any kind of scooter.

To continue with the other NC'ers (there's literally dozens of us!), I used to live in Wilmington, NC, which has a large number of scooters to the point a term I've taken from others is to refer to them as dui-scooters (read "dewey scooters"). I don't know the difference between a $1200 scooter or a dui-scooter. However, the overall opinion is if you aren't in a traditional vehicle or a crazy cyclist, you're riding t…

I don't know if the attitude you're conveying is yours, or the population, but it's really sad. That if you don't drive a car, you're crazy for riding a bike. And if you want the combined environmental and cost benefits of a bike with the speed and lack-of-work of driving, you must be a drunk.

Even if there is a grain of truth in some stereotypes, it is harmful.

Re: Bird One Scooter – Pre-Order

#122
post #93

I think one of the issue with people from silicon valley trying to make consumer products is the fact that it will always be too expensive for people outside of silicon valley. When you live there you have a huge salary and the feeling that 1k is nothing, so selling a scooter for 1k is nothing, reality is that SV is a world of its own. That's complex product management issue in my opinion

Note that Bird is a Los Angeles company, but the point still stands.

Re: Bird One Scooter – Pre-Order

#123
post #93

I think one of the issue with people from silicon valley trying to make consumer products is the fact that it will always be too expensive for people outside of silicon valley. When you live there you have a huge salary and the feeling that 1k is nothing, so selling a scooter for 1k is nothing, reality is that SV is a world of its own. That's complex product management issue in my opinion

True ..

I got a boosted board when I moved to San Francisco.

Well, reason number one is that the public transportation system is a joke in this city compared to the European cities I am used to.

The price still felt steep but I can afford an 1k skateboard with a tech salary. Especially if I can recoup part of its cost by avoiding lyft rides.

Re: Bird One Scooter – Pre-Order

#124

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.

I rode a skateboard (badly) when I was in middleschool so I'm not sure how hard it is for a completely new person. I'm not super athletic, but I find it pretty easy.

The trickiest part of skateboarding is foot breaking and pushing, with the boosted board you really don't have to do either so it's generally a lot easier. I'd guess given a couple hours and a week cruising around a bit you'd be comfortable going pretty fast.

I wear a helmet and sometimes wrist guards depending on how risky I'm feeling. If you're in town and want to try it let me know.

Re: Bird One Scooter – Pre-Order

#125
post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I've heard this statement a lot, but does anyone have a source? First I heard they were manufactured by Ninebot, then I heard that they were just designed by Ninebot. The build quality is actually quite different between the different brands.

Re: Bird One Scooter – Pre-Order

#127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do they stink worse than a bus, leaving an oily trail of smoke? I can't understand why petrol mopeds are still sold.

The Ruckus has a modern four-stroke fuel-injected engine. It shouldn’t smoke or make a stench.

Does it have a catalytic converter?

When I bought my house, I bought electric lawn tools as small engines are pretty terrible polluters. I read an article several years ago, by Car and Driver I think. They took a push mower, a Fiat 500 and F150 Raptor and hooked them up to some emissions testing equipment. 30 minutes of running the mower had higher emissions, other than CO2, then driving the Raptor 3000 miles.

Re: Bird One Scooter – Pre-Order

#128

$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?

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…

"Trust me, the customer service is a great value-add for this shitty product."

Re: Bird One Scooter – Pre-Order

#129
post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I've heard this statement a lot, but does anyone have a source? First I heard they were manufactured by Ninebot, then I heard that they were just designed by Ninebot. The build quality is actually quite different between the different brands.

I have both models, I discovered it in the manufacturing label and was surprised as well.

Turns out Segway is owned by Ninebot and a large chunk of Ninebot is owned by Xiaomi.

In terms of build quality, both are pretty similar.

Here is the source:

https://www.engadget.com/2015/04/15/segway-ninebot-xiaomi-ac...

Re: Bird One Scooter – Pre-Order

#130
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It looks bad. Especially after a few months of being abused or the first rainy day. Same problem with the white Birds in their current fleet. There's nothing wrong with pink, but it makes more sense for a Google Home Mini than a mode of transportation. Bird selected pink because it's an "in" color. The product is going to outlive the color trend, which will result in further branding confusion in the future. See Jump…

pink is not a trendy color... pink has been a fairly common color for as long as people have been making multiple colors of things. it's the "female" color. white / pink stuff does get dirtier more easily than black. it just requires you to care for your things and keep them clean and don't abuse them. next you suggest we should make all shoes in a single color?

It definitely is trendy – https://www.pantone.com/color-intelligence/color-of-the-year...

There are other reasons, outside of complicating branding, to stick to one color: https://blog.bolt.io/sonos-x-hay-8fb9e96fcc72.

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