InMotion sent me its flagship long-distance scooter made for big-n-tall folk – such as myself – for a review, and I have to say, after my first ride, I’m actually kind of shocked. While I haven’t ridden a whole slew of makes and models, I do have well over 1,000 miles (1,600 km) of scooting about in recent times.
A tiny backstory, skip over three paragraphs to get straight into the review:
Long story short, three years ago, I fell down on a motorbike and got a permanent booboo that really put a damper on my walking proclivity, so to speak. I spent about a year in a wheelchair and towards the tail end of being stuck in ADA-mode, I bought a ~US$300 Segway kickscooter off Amazon thinking that it was my ticket to freedom once I graduated from the wheelchair.
It turned out to be pretty amazing, actually. Having the scooter allowed me to roam free once again. A quick scoot over to the local coffee shop. A hop on over to the store to grab a sugary energy drink. Or just randomly go around the block for no other reason than because I can. You know, the stuff you could walk rather than drive on a nice day.
I knew almost nothing about scooters (except that Segway was a household name) when I made my purchase, but I very quickly learned the limitations of the Segway D18W I’d bought.
Firstly, I’m 6’3 and 225 lb (191 cm / 102 kg). Unless you’re Samoan, that’s not small. And that’s before clothes or my backpack or anything I might have in my cargo pockets weighing me down. The claimed 11-mile range on the Segway in the real-world is an “idyllic conditions and highly optimistic” 3.4-mile range-actual with me on it. Less if there’s a headwind. Oh, and forget hills entirely – the little scooter, with me on it, can’t even go up a driveway unless it’s wide enough for me to tack my way up like a seafaring sailboat captain.
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First ride on the InMotion S1F:
Now that all of that is out of the way, my very first ride was to my favorite Alice in Wonderland-themed coffee shop I frequent to sit and write out all these New Atlas articles. It’s 3.4 miles from my doorstep to a delicious “White Rabbit” coffee drink brewed to perfection (or 100% charge to zero percent charge on the Segway in 6-mph-eco-mode – I bring my charger with me, else I won’t make it past the doorstep on the return trip, let alone home).
Given InMotion’s claimed 59-mile (95-km) range for the mighty S1F, I felt zero range anxiety starting with only 92% to make the journey. In fact, I didn’t even go the most direct route, lollygagging the long way and even crossing a bridge steep enough that I wouldn’t dare attempt with the lesser Segway.
The scoot to the coffee shop was spent almost entirely at full-throttle in Sport mode for “testing” purposes. It wasn’t until the return trip that I played with all the other modes: Eco, D(rive), and S(port), as are fairly standard across the scooter world.
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Eco-mode has a very smooth and gentle build-up of power. It only takes a few seconds (on flat ground) to reach eco’s top speed of 12.4 mph (20 km/h) – which happens to be nearly the top speed of the Segway. This gave me much pleasure knowing that even in its slowest and longest-range mode, it was already almost as fast as I was used to going. Though, when crossing main streets from a dead stop, eco can start off very sluggish and take nearly four lanes before it gets fully up to speed. It feels like playing Frogger with traffic stopped and staring at this grown man riding a giant children’s toy. The crown in the road makes that big of a difference. I did go over a fairly steep footbridge in eco mode and the scooter maintained a pretty steady 8-or-so mph up the ~20% grade.
D-mode has a little bit more punch to it. You can really start to feel that 500-watt (peak 1,000-watt) motor digging into the pavement to give you some speed. It’s not at all daunting or uncomfortable in any way. The power is very linear and predictable. And the top speed is a zippy 20 mph! I know that might not seem fast when you’re driving down the road in your Ford F-150 behind a scooter with 10-inch tires, but to the daring scooterist, twenty feels like sixty. I think I prefer D-mode for daily cruising. It feels safe-ish.
And finally, S-mode. Ahh, S-mode … What can I say? Yeehaw? Would that suffice? S-mode has some pretty quick pick-me-up, to say the least. It very much exhibits that feeling when you first drive an electric car or ride an electric motorcycle and give it the beans. Instant torque from zero RPM is a shocking feeling the first time you experience it. The S1F doesn’t disappoint in that aspect. It propels you right up to 24.8 mph (40.6 km/h) in what feels like two blinks. Sure, that’s only 4.8 mph faster than D-mode, but as I said, if twenty feels like sixty, then 24.8 feels like 85 (40 and ~140 km/h).
My grip tightens and my focus narrows at those speeds. Other body parts pucker just a tad.
It’s absolutely manageable, but if you have any fear, self-doubt, or a lack of confidence, S-mode could be detrimental to your health.
Did I say that I’m a big dude? Because I am. I can’t fathom what S-mode would feel like to someone of normal human stature at 50-100 lb (23-45 kg) less than I am. What comes after “yeehaw” in the wow-o-meter? Expletives, probably.
As I mentioned, my trip to the coffee shop was almost entirely at full throttle, save for the couple of stop signs I encountered. The 4.6-mile (7.4-km) trip took my state of charge (SoC) from 92% down to 67%. Some quick maths in my head figured I’d be golden for around 20 miles at that pace (I’m not good at math. It was more like 18.4 miles / 29.6 km when I pocket calculated it), reinforcing my lack of range anxiety.
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The beach town I live in is only about 6 miles (9.7 km) across the long way and half of that wide. Riding the InMotion S1F made me feel similarly to when I’d bought my first car nearly thirty years ago: Freedom! Now I can go anywhere and do anything!
It’s been about week since then and I haven’t gotten to ride the scooter as much as I’d like to. Dad duty and all. I have 20.6 miles (33.2 km) on the odometer now …
… And as I wrote the above sentence, I realized I hadn’t given the scooter a proper real-world range test yet and this review would be meaningless … So I stopped writing and went for an evening ride. As I set out, I didn’t realize a storm was coming in and I’d ride half of my eco-test in the dark and pouring rain.
Eco range results from fully charged:
6.5 miles (10.5 km) traveled at full throttle with a top speed of 14 mph (22.5 km/h), mostly averaging 12.4 mph (20 km/h) for 35 minutes with one brief stop to buy a refreshing beverage in the warm rain and to turn on the scooter’s underglow lights through the app. The test was done on flat ground with no hills or elevation changes to speak of. Just deep puddles.
In those conditions and barring any sudden change, the math says a real-world range of 54.2 miles (87.2 km) and the scooter would continue to operate for about four hours and twenty minutes before it died (barring any water ingress issues, though it is IP54 rated, meaning light rain and puddle splashes are okay, but no river-fording).
Color me impressed. I was honestly expecting somewhere in the ballpark of about 25-30 miles.
And when the scooter’s 675-Wh 42-volt battery does die, it’ll take about seven hours to charge from 0-100% unless you utilize the second charger port, then cut that in half to 3.5 hours. And if you live where I live where electricity costs $0.13 per kWh, it’ll cost you exactly $0.04771 (we’ll call it a nickel) to top it back to 100%.
Things I’m not totally stoked about:
No steering stop: You can turn the bars until the fork triple clamp makes contact with the frame, metal on metal, meaning it’s going to eventually gouge the paint. It’s a small, but silly oversight. I think I’ll throw a sticky felt pad on the frame right there to prevent paint chips and subsequent rust.
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High-speed geometry: If you were ever a “cool kid” and rode BMX in the 80s or 90s, I’m sure at some point you’ve pushed your handlebars so far forward that the grips extend beyond the front axle. Sure, it looked cool, but was entirely impractical and made the steering feel lazy and heavy right until tip-in point, then suddenly it feels like it’s going to just fall over into a corner. The S1F has a similar feeling to that at higher speeds in particular. It took a bit of getting used to, making the scooter feel “nervous” (and me unnerved) when at warp speed. In a straight line with no bar input, it feels as stable as a tank. And at slower speeds, the steering is nimble and quick. It might be a geometry issue or it might be that I’ve been so accustomed to the little Segway. Most likely it’s the latter.
The brakes: “Lacking” would be the word that best describes the front drum brake. I’ve used the entirety of adjustment on the perch and the front brake is still inadequate. I also made an adjustment to the front wheel side of the brake and that helped a little, but a drum brake will never match the performance of a disk brake. And yes, it also has electric motor braking, but that doesn’t engage until you’re already at least 50% or so of the way through the brake lever stroke (also when the brake light kicks on), and it’s somewhat unpredictable as how much braking force is digitally applied. In an emergency situation, I’m not sure if I could stop in time, leading me to ride even that much further ahead with my eyes and approach driveways and the like more cautiously.
The S1F’s biggest flaw: In my opinion, is that it has no regenerative braking when going off throttle. It simply coasts. And do I mean coast! It might have some of the best bearings I’ve ever ridden on a scooter because when you go off throttle, it’ll roll and roll and roll for blocks! Great for efficiency, I imagine, but I’d much prefer adjustable regen when going off throttle. I have my Segway set to max regen. Not for energy recovery, per se, but as a means of slowing down without having to use (and wear out) the tiny rear drum brake pads.
I’d love to see a regen option for the S1F.
Things I’m really neither here nor there about:
The suspension: I know quite a bit about suspension. From rebound and compression to the inner workings like valving and spring rates, I’ve spent considerable amount of hands-on time with all. Suspension is often a selling point for things like scooters, mountain bikes, etc … the boingers on the S1F really are just that: boingers. The front forks have preload adjustment, and nothing more. I know there’s oil in the forks because they have fork seals and a film of oil on the stanchions, but there is exactly zero rebound or compression damping. They compress when you hit a bump and rebound with as much force, indicative of being all spring.
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The rear end is essentially a double coil setup with zero adjustability. I’m not sure if it even has an air/fluid reservoir with valving. It “boings” as advertised! Just like the front. And in S-mode over bumpy roads at full throttle, I hear the occasional chirping of the rear tire when it’s underloaded and the motor gets ahead of itself.
While it makes me chuckle continuously, the suspension is a feature that could be deleted in order to save cost and weight, in my opinion. Putting legit, proper working suspension on this scooter would raise the price considerably.
Things I am totally stoked about:
The range: I can not stress how much having a long range makes me happy. I love leaving my car in the driveway and blasting off on the scooter to do the daily or mundane tasks like running errands, going to the store for a small bag of groceries, going to the beach, or just sitting at the coffee shop, etc.
The power: It’s got pep, no doubt about it. In D- or S-mode, it’s very capable of getting out of its own way with a quick turn of the thumb throttle. And the ability to tackle 30% grades is insane! That’s a 16.7° slope. That’s good enough to tackle most of San Francisco. If you live at the top of Tompkins Ave, yeah, you’re gonna need a gnarlier scooter.
The speed: With a top speed that matches most residential speed limits, no longer am I in constant fear of being run over from behind. Normal fear, for sure, but I don’t feel as though I’m impeding traffic or anything of the sort now. Rarely am I rushed to get somewhere, especially when I’m taking the scooter, but to know I can get there quickly if I need to is pretty awesome. That and the whole “keeping up with traffic” thing gives me a sense of safety and efficiency.
Its physical size: Both a pro and a con, honestly. It’s really nice riding a scooter that’s long and tall. There’s a ton of room on the deck for my size 13 stompers (48 EU stompers). The deck is 7 inches wide by about 25 inches long, but the usable deck length is about 19 inches. The latch mechanism to fold the scooter is at the back of the deck and seems kind of like an afterthought … but it works.
And I’m not hunched over, reaching down for the handlebars like Quasimodo either. The grips stand right about 42 inches above the deck. It’s quite comfortable in that regard. HOWEVER, with great size comes great weight! She ain’t light! The S1F weighs just a tad under 53 lb. That’s like carrying around a bag of cement. And I have stairs at home. I imagine it would be pretty difficult for someone who isn’t as strong as I am (which isn’t very) to carry it up stairs.
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The app: Connecting to the S1F with your smartphone is a breeze. The app is mostly intuitive. It took me a second to figure out how to change from metric to “imperial” units (is it just me, or does “imperial” carry a negative connotation to it?) on not just the scooter, but the app as well. Most of the world won’t need to worry about that setting though.
Not only does the app track your scooter’s metrics like ride-time, distance and speed on a customizable dashboard, but it also controls some of your scooter functions, like leaning to turn on indicators (yeah, it’s got bar-end blinkers!), or turning on and off the underglow lighting, or turning off the 20 mph speed limiter.
There’s even an option to disable “kick start,” meaning you can turn the throttle from a dead stop and it’ll go! Great for a number of reasons (pushing hurts my gimpy leg), but also something to be aware of … like leaving the scooter on and your three-year-old daughter decides to stand on it while it’s parked and thinks hitting full throttle will be fun. Ha!
Final verdict?
All in all, I think the S1F is WELL worth the $799 price tag. Its speed and range pit it against other high-end long-range scooters that cost significantly more. The fit and finish of the InMotion scooter feels rugged and durable and far from cheap.
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If you’re a big, beautiful, plus-size model such as myself, this is the scooter for you. It’s designed for riders up to 308 lb (140 kg). If you’re a normal-sized person, this is also the scooter for you.
If you’re crazier than I am, InMotion has the “world’s fastest electric scooter,” the RS, in its line-up … Not to mention the “king of off-road” adventure unicycle V14. And a number of other personal mobility vehicles. And I hear they’re having a big sale right now.
After I wrote this review and before I posted it, I went and did one final 6.9-mile (11.1-km) full-blast run in S-mode. I used 25% of the battery, giving me what looks to be about 27.6 miles (44.4 km) of sporty-riding-range. I like it.
Source: InMotion S1F
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