Over the summer a local e-waste recycler announced that it would be getting all of the Spin scooter share machines from Akron University when the company upgraded to its new “Spin 6” and a friend dropped by to put all of our names on a list to receive one when they became available. I’d almost completely forgotten about the transaction by the time my scooter was ready.
Why the hell would I want an old scooter share? Well, I live in a quiet urban neighborhood west of Cleveland, Ohio, with a huge network of small streets and low speed limits. These little machines will be perfect for hopping over to the Westside Market for some fresh grocery shopping, or heading to the Flats for live music and a few drinks. If it’s just a little bit too far to walk, but not far enough to take a car (or parking is a chore), take the scoot! I also help run some car shows and vintage car rallies, and I figure one of these little scooters will help me zip around events putting out metaphorical fires.
I trucked down and picked out my new-to-me previously public electric two wheeler, and liked the selection so much I actually bought a second. At $200 each, I couldn’t really pass up that kind of deal. I selected two units with intact tail lights and the least amount of tire wear and loaded them up.
What does an e-waste company do to a Spin scooter to make it saleable to the public? I was assured that they’d already dug in and gutted the Spin hardware, the GPS, and the motor controller. They used the best of the scooters they got as sale units and blew the rest of them apart for repairs and replacement parts. Each of the scooters was tested for battery life and refurbed if necessary. Then they paint them all black and add some new skateboard grip tape to the footbed.
The sellers installed their own wifi-enabled controller and built out a rudimentary controller app (below) to make it work. All I have to do is connect my phone to the machine and the interface auto-populates on my screen. It’s a pretty trick little system, so far I dig it.
The buttons are pretty self explanatory. Power turns it on, light turns on the headlight, alarm allows you to kick on an audible alarm, and speed limit overrides the machine’s built-in limiter for more power. I’ve only put about three miles on this machine since buying it as the weather is now quite cold for mid-town ice cream runs, but I’m already a fan. It was a pretty good use of $200 in my opinion.
It turns out Spin used Okai ES200 units and adding their own app and controller to them to use for public transport around campus. You can buy consumer-grade e-scooters from Okai for around $500, but these are beefed up for public utility purposes. The ES200, unlike other Okai units, doesn’t have a folding stem, and carries a larger battery. It’s pretty hefty at around 80 pounds, but it seems pretty stable and gets moving pretty quick.
I just did a speed test with the limiter on and off. Speed limited this thing will do just about 13 miles per hour on flat ground. I’m a pretty big American-sized man, and I was still able to find 15 miles per hour with the limiter off. With a tuck for aerodynamics and losing a few pounds, it would probably go faster, but I think 15 is plenty fast for a thing that rides on 9-inch wheels. I don’t know how much range the thing has, but it seems like quite a lot. Okai’s consumer units can allegedly go 50 miles on a charge. I’d be perfectly happy if it can do 20.
So far I’m thinking this was a great investment, even if they won’t get used much until spring. And before you ask, we picked up a couple of bike locks to help prevent them from disappearing.
