Schwinn ST-1000 Electric Scooter Review

Overall Rating

Easy to get used to, does not need to be insured, no need for a drivers license, no emissions, also it's about 10 cents a day to charge as well (Sacramento, CA electrical pricing, and in the length of 8 hours.) Gets about 9-11 miles on a single charge at full throttle (I weight about 180 lbs). Gets about 12-16 Miles on a single charge at half throttle.

Battery is very easy to take out and replace, all you have to do is take out the feet plate, which is held down by a screw that you can easily remove with just your hands, no Philips Flat Head needed. Then disconnect one set of wires and take out the battery and swap in the spare and plug everything back up and put the plate back on.

Has Mountain bike style handle bars, so if you want, you can buy a Bell Night riding light and put it on there as well.

Can easily be started and get going in a second in the cold(not raining), I've done this in 30 degrees Fahrenheit.

Comes with a half charge in the battery, that is if it's new.

Will die if water is thrown on it or if you ride in the rain. Only has a disk brake on the rear wheel and regular bike brakes on the front. Doesn't easily fold back down into a more portable shape, will take some time and some tools to do so. Seat is a bit hard and skinny.

I got my Schwinn ST-1000 a few months ago. I had been riding my bike to work and got tired of it, mainly because I was getting to work a bit out of breath and left a bit tired. I stock merchandise at a store called Sam's Club. Also I was getting tired of riding a bicycle to my girlfriend's house as well. So one day at work, we had gotten some new scooters in and I stocked them in, printed out the price tag and was amazed at the price! So I started debating whether to buy it or not, reading the specs on the box. I started day dreaming until my supervisor snapped me out of it yelling from down the isle "What are you doing, get back to work!" After I got off work, I had looked online for reviews and how much it cost online and in other stores. Found lots of good reviews and bad ones as well. Online prices ranged from $450 USD to $600 USD plus a heavy amount of shipping and handling charges, and they always said you get what you pay for, right? Anyway the price for it at my store was $298 USD before tax and $322 after. Right when I took it home, well, technically my mom did. I had took it out of the box, put it together, technically I got stumped on the instructions and my dad did all the work.
Just great huh? I'm 21 and my 40 yr old father puts it together in 15 minutes after I struggled with it for about 45 minutes. After that I turned it on, pulled the throttle thinking that it was going to start out slow and get faster after a while, keep in mind this was done in my house without me on it. I pulled on it slowly and nothing happened, so I twisted the throttle halfway and boy did it move, it slammed into my sofa scarring the heebee jeebies out of me. So I took it outside just to be safe, got on, pulled the lever and boy was it fun and quite scary, also keep in mind I don't drive nor have I ever used any type of motor vehicle. I'm 180 lbs and a sheriff that I know clocked me out at 19 mph! It gets up quick too, takes about 3-4 seconds to get to the max speed that it can do with your weight. My little sister got 23 mph, because she's 93 lbs.

All in all it's a great scooter and an alternative to buying a gas scooter as in my opinion, this one will save you more money than a gas one would. Think about it, 10 cents to go 9-14 Miles, or 3 dollars to go 20 miles! Plus having the chance of something leaking or blowing up on you? Not my cup of tea. Well, later and happy riding to those who are looking to buying one.

NOTE:
Wear a helmet. Also knee and elbow pads are good too, but if you think it makes you look stupid, then wear jeans and long sleeves as well when operating the vehicle, because this could mean the difference between subtle and fatal injury.

I seriously do not recommend this for teens below 17 years old or have lived a so called "Out of the House" life, meaning the ones that like to go partying with friends, or just don't listen to their parents, because chances are, they will take off their helmet when their parents aren't looking and will seriously increase their chances of getting hurt or even death. Also they usually will tend to go as fast as possible while passing through stop signs and red lights. This is just my personal thought because many kids with gas scooters around my neighborhood have had this happened to them already. If you plan to buy something like this for a nephew or niece, please talk to their parents first to see their real behavior is (what really goes on when you or any other relative isn't around) and what their thought of their child being on one of these machines are.

Also If you plan to stand up on it while going at full throttle, always keep both hands on both hand grips, keep a firm and strong hold on them. If you don't and you accidentally ride into a small crack or hole in the ground, since the scooters tires are small, they will twist a bit from the left to the right, and if you don't have a firm grip, your weight on the front portion of the scooter will cause the wheel to spin a full 90 degrees and cause it to come to a complete stop at your max speed. This in turn, will raise the back portion of the scooter up thus throwing you into the air and you know what happens, you will land and get hurt. Only reason I am putting this here is because that is exactly what happened to me one week ago. Luckily I was wearing some tough truckers khaki pants and a long sleeve shirt with my helmet, otherwise I would have had more than just some minor scratches and aches. I was thrown into the air and the first part of me that landed was my forehead, if it wasn't for my helmet, I'm sure my skull would have cracked. Next was my shoulder landed, then the rest of me came. I probably rolled about 4 times, not just rolling but as if some force was dragging me as well because if you are just rolling, you don't get scratches or torn clothing on concrete. Luckily I'm fine, just whiplash(my neck still sort of hurts) and a few minor aches. From the witness behind me, she said that I was thrown at least 7 feet in the air before I landed. Also another thing is that this was down hill, maybe just 2% downgrade but enough to make me go at least 22mph.

If you care about yourself or a loved one, please take this into consideration.