Oregon daily emerald., July 20, 2000, Page 5, Image 5

Scooters are back on the scene
■The latest fad in hip
transportation, scooters are
a flash from the near past,
but are they here to stay?
By Kristina Johnson
for the Emerald
They’re light. They’re fast.
They’re shiny. They’re not bikes,
and they’re not skateboards.
They’re scooters, and stores
around Eugene can’t keep enough
of them in stock. Alex Fong at
Paul’s Bicycle Way of Life on
Alder Street said scooters are the
fastest selling item in the store.
“These are the craze; if you
don’t have one, you’re not cool,”
Fong said. “We order about thirty
at a time, and then they’re gone.”
G.I. Joe’s sporting goods store
has resorted to a waiting list for
customers desperate to get in on
the latest in transportation.
“They sell like hotcakes,” sales
man Jason Brawner said. “We
can’t keep 'em in stock.”
Brawner said 10- to 12-year-old
boys are the biggest fans of scoot
ers, which sell for about $120
each. But the fad hasn’t gone un
noticed on campus.
“A lot of college students have
bought them,” Brawner said.
“They fold down into a small,
compact unit, so anybody can car
ry them anywhere.”
The sleek aluminum scooters
evolved from the kickboards kids
used to ride in the 70s and 80s.
Fong said Paul’s Bicycle Way of
Life has always carried some form
of scooter, but they weren’t popu
lar until a few months ago when
the Razor model hit the racks and
started selling out.
“I guess they’re in the maga
zines kids read,” Fong said.
Instead of the big bicycle tires
found on old kickboards, the up
dated scooters sport two over
sized rollerblade wheels and han
dlebars that make steering easy.
They weigh from 6 to 7 pounds,
depending on the brand and can
be folded into a parcel as small as
one by one-and-a-half feet. While
motorized models exist, the most
popular versions are powered by
pushing off the sidewalk, skate
board style.
Ryan McNamara used to skate
board, but he said scooters are
more fun to ride.
“They’re easier to maneuver,”
he said. “I would say on a flat sur
face, they’re faster than a skate
board.” McNamara, 27, bought his
“JD Bug” model a week ago to get
back and forth to his job at Block
buster. “I’m three blocks from
work. It’s a hassle having to take
my bike, and obviously this is
Azle Malinao-Alvarez Emerald
Freshman chemistry major Ryan Koons rides a newly evolved scooter on campus.
faster than walking. Scooters are a
blast. They’re really fun to ride. ”
McNamara said he noticed
scooters a couple of years ago
when they started showing up in
( i These are the craze; if
you don't have one,
you're not cool.
Alex Fong
Paul’s Bicycle
Way of Life
yy
Asia and Europe.
“I know in Japan and bigger
cities in Asia, there’s not enough
room for bike racks, so people
start using these.”
When Paul’s Bicycle Way of
Life first started stocking scooters,
the Razor model was the only one
available. Two months later, ac
cording to Fong, “there must be 30
other companies that make the
same thing.” One model even fea
tures front suspension. A moun
tain scooter?
“Its more to take the cracks out
of the curb and sidewalk,” Fong
said.
Officer Frank Lewis of the Cam
pus Police said he didn’t antici
pate serious safety issues resulting
from the scooter trend.
“They’d have to follow the
same rules as bicycles,” Lewis
said. “They’d be better off wearing
safety gear, like helmets and
kneepads.”
Are campus bike racks destined
to be replaced by scooter lanes?
It may be awhile.
“Those things?” Dan Hirai, a 26
year-old political science major
from Seattle, said. “Those are the
things we used to cruise around
on in third grade. It was like a pro
gression. First your parents got
you a big wheel, then they got you
one of those, then they got you a
bike with training wheels. You
should go down to Goodwill and
look for one, because that’s where
they’re gonna be in a week after
kids get tired of'em.”
Even Ryan McNamara admitted
that the scooter has its limits.
“Forgoing to work I’ve given up
on my bike, but across town is
kind of far on a scooter. It gets a lit
tle tiresome.”
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