#30DaysofScootering: Faithful Steed

It was another beautiful spring day in Issaquah, so it was busy as heck at the bike shop. I'd been busy doing my taxes this morning before work, but I got out a bit this evening to scooter around and enjoy the fine weather.

I've written a fair bit about places I've gone on my scooter, but tonight I'm going to focus a bit more on the scooter itself, my faithful steed. It's a NYCeWheels KickPed and it's more than lived up to its rugged reputation. I've ridden this machine darn near every day for a over a year now, in nice and lousy weather and aside from wiping off some mud now and then and dribbling a little TriFlow into the bearings a couple of times, I've basically had to do nothing to keep the scooter humming along. Oh, I did tighten down a couple of the deck bolts last week because they'd loosened up a bit over the course of a year and I was getting a wee bit of a creaking noise from the deck. But that's it.

The tires still have plenty of life on them (thousands of miles, probably). They are solid and can't go flat. Pneumatic tires would give a cushier ride, but I find these wide tires combined with a strong steel frame give a much smoother ride than the aluminum scooters I've tried with skinnier "faster" urethane tires. I'd never trust the urethane tires in the wet conditions I've subjected my KickPed to and it is so nice never having to worry about flat tires or think about tire pressure.

My scooter is made in America by Americans. I scuffed a bit of the grip tape off the deck in the first weeks I owned the scooter, but the rest of the tape is holding up fine.

The varnish at the back of the deck is a bit worn now. That shiny spot is where my toe rests when I'm feathering the rear fender brake with my heel.

This is one of my modifications. That's a Bontrager Ember USB tail light strapped to a wine cork and stuffed into the "tailpipe" of my scooter.

Up front I have a little bell and a Planet Bike 2 Watt Blaze Micro headlight. I use a bit of old innertube rubber to keep the light from bouncing free of its mount.

This is the bottom of the scooter deck. Over the course of a year, my scooter has collected it's share of scrapes from banging into curbs and rocks. Some scratches and dings but nothing even close to compromising the structural integrity of the machine. I figure it will take decades more pounding and still be going strong.

The rear fender doubles as a brake. Both the rear tire and fender look like they've got years more wear in them.

I did scooter around my neighborhood for a bit. This is a bit of shade in Confluence Park.

Finally, I played around some more with my tripod and timer.

I got a few shots of me rolling.

Evidence that I do in fact trade off which leg is doing the kicking. One surprising thing you learn when you start kick scooting is that it isn't the kicking leg that tires, it's the one you're standing on.

This shot turned out pretty good. Don't I look like I'm having fun? I am. I really like zipping around on this faithful steed.

No epic miles today, just 2.4 miles including my commute, bringing my April total to 127.9 miles.