My Boardy Scooter





My impression and review of my Boardy scooter.

I also own a Razor A5 Lux and Xootr Mg.
I enjoy long distance "exploring" over varied terrain. In one day, I have scootered over 30 miles on my Xootr and on another day over 32 miles on my Boardy.
I also enjoy scooting for fitness, pushing the scooter at sustained speeds. 
I don’t want to use a bike rack on my car to carry it to my scooting locations. My scooters must fit in the trunk of my small car (Mazda Miata).


Pros:

It's smooth over rough pavement, dirt roads. One of the reasons: it uses 12” high pressure, pneumatic tires. I keep the air pressure high to make the tires as firm as possible. It offers less rolling resistance, but still absorbs shock. Another reason it rides smooth is that it has a "flexy" wooden / fiberglass deck. Absorbs even more shock. Feels kinda like a skateboard. It can get a bit bouncy, but I think it's groovy. The deck is made of layers of wood and fiberglass. It's seems flexible but very strong. 

It's fast / glides well. Faster than I thought it would be. I had heard / read things that pneumatic wheeled scooters were slower and harder to push than hard polyurethane wheeled ones. From my experience with the Boardy, this doesn't seem to be the case. Maybe it's because of rotational inertia and larger tires? In any case, once I get moving (and that doesn't seem to take any extra effort) it seems to keep on gliding like my other scooters.

It has a bike-like caliper hand operated brake. A brake lever on the handlebar is much easier to engage than a foot operated rear fender brake.


I got the optional mudguard to prevent getting "painted" by puddles and mud patches

It folds and fits in the tiny trunk of my Mazda Miata. 'nuff sed. 

It has good ground clearance AND low deck height. The actual board / deck of the Boardy is only 15mm thick. Strong yet far thinner than most decks of other scooters which are constructed of thicker metal, steel or aluminum. Because it's so thin, the Boardy can have a low deck height and still maintain a relatively high ground clearance. 

It's lightweight. This is relative of course. It's heavier than my Xootr or Razor A5, but lighter than larger kick-bikes / foot-bikes. Light enough to pick up with one hand and walk into a store. 


It has a "parking" brake lock. Okay, this is a nice little bonus. There's a little button on the brake lever. When you press it, it locks the front brake so the scooter won't roll away. A seemingly trivial thing. But engage the lock and the scooter won't roll away and subsequently fall over when you lean it up against a wall, a tree, a fence. You get the idea. Cool!

It looks cool. Well, I think it does anyway.


The Boardy JUST barely fits in the trunk of my Miata. I have to be very purposeful on "how" maneuver it into this space. "Hold it here, move this piece in first, then the other side will fit, next slide it to the left and forward ...". Positioned this way, the front tire sits tall enough that the trunk lid JUST BARELY closes. 

Fitting the scooter in my trunk is an experience that kinda reminds me of one of these puzzles ...



Cons:

It's expensive. About $550. Razor A5 is about $90

The grip tape is too grippy. It's harder to do the pivot-switch technique of swapping out feet when the grip tape is so ... grippy. 

It's heavier than my other scooters. Compared to my Razor A5 and Xootr Mg, this is a heaviest scooter I own.

It's larger than my other scooter. The Boardy BARELY fits in the trunk of my car. It's a tight squeeze (see above) and doesn't leave room for much else in my trunk.

I only has a front brake, no back brake. Although it seems to work just fine, I wish there was an option to have a back brake as well. I got the optional "brake" booster. This reinforcement support piece boosts brake efficiency by adding rigidity to the brake mount. 


It's cumbersome compared to my Xootr. I can’t carry like a suitcase with one hand (unless I use an optional Ken-strap). Bringing it into a store or convenience-mart seems a bit more "intrusive". 

The usable deck space is actually a little shorter than my Xootr. The front end of the board curves up reducing the overall usable space.

It can get a flat tire (polyurethane wheels can't), therefore I need to carry extra gear: A patch kit, tire levers, wrenches and a pump. 


Overall:

Although my PU wheeled scooters have their place (they are SO light, nimble and can't get a flat), I LOVE the Boardy scooter. It's near perfect for my typical needs and intent. It fits in the trunk of my car, can cruise over rough pavement and is fast enough to keep up with my swift, long distance adventures. 

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