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

161–170 of 187 posts

Re: Bird One Scooter – Pre-Order

#161

Post by benatkin »

on_and_off wrote: post #134
btbuildem wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you really want to stand on a scooter for 30 miles tho?

yes. On a boosted, I can go to the other side of my city, but I cannot do the return trip. I can do the 6 miles to go there (since there are slopes, we are far from the theoretical and inflated max range) Spend several hours .. and I would love to be able to go back on my skateboard afterwards.

That's unpalatable for most people, and probably unpalatable for everyone if you consider the wear on your joints. I'm not an expert but I think that even if you feel fine you're probably setting yourself up for osteoarthritis. Running a full marathon on a single day is more dangerous than running two half marathons on different days, and riding that far has gotta be sort of like running a marathon in terms of moving the joints.

Re: Bird One Scooter – Pre-Order

#162

Post by nullwasamistake »

I don't see how "Uber scale" scooter rental is viable long-term. Interestingly, this appears to show bird acknowledges it at some level.

Unlike cars, the purchase and maintenance cost of scooters is minimal. And you don't need a license or insurance. The only reason to rent one is lack of scooter parking or if you're visiting. Eventually society will catch up and scooter rental will be like bike or car rental. A viable business, but not nearly the scale of rideshare.

You only need to look at how successful Jump bikes are vs scooter rental to see where this is going. I've already seen many people around town that were driven to buy their own scooter after trying out the rentals. It's just one big advertisment for buying your own scooter.

Rental will still exist, but I expect the market to shrink, not grow, in the cities that already have rentals available. The barrier to buying your own is too low to make this a viable SV style business

Re: Bird One Scooter – Pre-Order

#163

Post by 15155 »

on_and_off wrote: post #132
15155 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm absolutely in love with the Onewheel: it may seem gimmicky, but having a massive, air-filled tire means you can go over serious obstacles and off-road (off-sidewalk) very easily. Having a single wheel also means the wheelbase/turning radius is extremely small - you can turn in-place with enough skill.

I have a boosted board and I have been wanting to exchange it for a onewheel. I am a bit more worried about the OW failure states though : For example what happens if the battery dies ? since the OW balances itself, I fear it would be worse than a boosted (for which you are already potentially in a tight spot but you might be able to slow down manually) .

I've ridden the OW to 0% battery: you have plenty of warning before it gets dangerous.

The OW has a feature called "pushback" - when the battery is nearly-depleted or you are going too fast, it will aggressively adjust the angle of the board backwards, forcing you to slow down.

In the event of a low battery, you'll end up traveling at extremely low speed until the back end of the board touches the ground, forcing you to stop.

Re: Bird One Scooter – Pre-Order

#164

Post by anbop »

sithadmin wrote: post #82
avree wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure if it's really too high. Boosted Boards are quite popular and sell at a $1,399 price point. Seems like an equivalent purchase.

Boosted Boards also tend to be a lot higher quality in terms of build, user experience, etc. compared to similar low cost competitors. This Bird scooter has very little that sets it apart from the low cost crowd.

How do you know what the "build, user experience, etc." of this scooter is? And that it's not much higher quality than the competition?

Re: Bird One Scooter – Pre-Order

#165

Post by King-Aaron »

Sir_Substance wrote: post #144
condiment wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 reall…

>If it's stolen you look up its GPS location and the police help you get it back. Do your police do that?

They do in a lot of cases in Aus.

Re: Bird One Scooter – Pre-Order

#167

Post by Scoundreller »

brianbreslin wrote: post #133
on_and_off wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I've long contemplated a boosted board, but am hesitant to spend $1k on a skateboard that I can't use when it rains.

Or in a city that snows. Obviously you won’t ride it when it snows, but the cognitive effort of watching out for a pothole that will eat your wheel(s) is incredibly high.

Re: Bird One Scooter – Pre-Order

#168

Post by themmes »

riantogo wrote: post #148
Sir_Substance wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>If it's stolen you look up its GPS location and the police help you get it back. Do your police do that?

I want to know the answer to to this. Must be a nice place to live.

In the Netherlands the police definitely will not. Vanmoof has their own team to track down bikes and retrieve, but so far this seems more like a marketing stunt than actual service (they have a youtube channel “Van Moof Bike Hunters”).

Re: Bird One Scooter – Pre-Order

#169

Post by kerng »

condiment wrote: post #116
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 reall…

1200 dollars - I wouldnt just park this on the street, given the battery and other useful things that might be mistaken for a ride share offering.

Re: Bird One Scooter – Pre-Order

#170

Post by s3nnyy »

sschueller wrote: post #29
tyopiuy wrote: post #10

Evidence their business model isn’t working out. Their scooters (along with all the other companies) have all but disappeared from my area, where they once littered the sidewalk. Once you fall once or twice on these scooters, it’s hard to ride them again. Especially when it’s the scooter that’s broken, as is often the case. It’s a shrinking market base, consequently. They (Uber-Jump, Lime) should have given incentive…

They haven't learned it yet here (Switzerland). A new one from Berlin just showed up. Now we have Bird, Flash and Tier (both out of Berlin). Ironic since these scooters are illegal in Germany so they can't operate them in their own country. Lime has bailed out of Zürich after a serious accident which was caused by a scooter applying the park brake at speed due to some firmware issue.

Flash I see everywhere, Tier not so much in Zürich. Is it new?

The German firms have models that have a brake that works mechanically on the wheels and this was the prerequisite by the city police after the lime accidents. Lime's scooters don't have a mechanical brake.

Post reply on HN