Scooter

The term scooter has several distinct meanings.

A motor scooter is like a motorcycle or moped in that it is a two-wheeled vehicle (or has a front wheel and a rear axle). It is typically smaller than a motorcycle, and has wheels between 8 and 14 inches (20-35 cm) in diameter, a step-through frame, and an engine near the rear wheel or axle.

• Manufacturers include
  • Aprilia
  • Vespa, Gilera[?] all from Piaggio
  • Lambretta[?]
  • Peugeot
  • Honda
  • Suzuki
  • Yamaha
  • Fuji
  • Mitsubishi
  • Go-peds[?]

A children's or adult push scooter or kick scooter lacks a motor, and the user generally stands on a platform with a vertical post that controls steering. Sometimes as simple as a board and post hand-mounted on roller skate wheels, commercial versions (often variants of the skateboard) have met with varying degrees of popularity.

In the early 2000s, a sleeker, narrower folding version of the kick scooter became wildly popular in the US, with a wide variety of colors and styles. Popular brands include Razor[?], Kick, and Xootr.

A motorized variant of this, with the wheels along a single axle, is the Segway HT.

External Links:

http://www.dreamscape.com/danny/faq/index.html

http://www.electric-bikes.com/kickers.htm