This season’s ‘must-have’ isn’t a new style of sunnies or an eco-sunscreen made from dolphin tears. It’s waaay more fun than that! Those in the know are easier to spot than cross-fitters at a barbeque or vegans in a café, because they just won’t shut up about it either. Those people are e-scooter riders, and the life-changing qualities they profess to enjoy are real, quantifiable, and hiding in plain sight.
Since arriving on our fair shores some six years ago, e-scooters have enjoyed their fair share of headline-grabbing media, and incensed great swathes of the populace with their lack of running costs (‘No rego! No licensing! It’s an outrage!’) and purported ACC-related public costs (in reality a fraction of those attributed to crashing cars, riding bikes, and drunken fighting). Those early-adopters have seen their commute times and costs slashed, and discovered a vibrant community of like-minded souls who meet up country-wide to share the love and buzz of the electric scooter culture. No wonder they are stoked on it.
‘Is it for me?’ I hear you ask. Well, do you stress and gripe about the traffic, and wish there was an easier way? Then it’s for you. Do you long for a closer experience with your environment? To smell the flowers, listen to the birds, and glide silently about your business, smug in the knowledge it is barely costing you a cent? It’s for you as well. Do you enjoy getting on the beers at your mate's place and often wish you had a cheap and easy way to transport yourself back home? Well, it’s for you as well. Step this way.
What are you looking at to get involved with your own magnificent machine? Depending on your intended use, you can start on a simple and durable commuter scooter, light and portable, and budget from $1,100 to $1,400 dollars for that. If you put in a little more then around the $2,500 mark gets you into the sports category, and something quite exciting that eats up the mileage and gets your heart racing. Moving past the $4,000 mark things get a bit crazy, and you’re in the domain of the committed enthusiast. Horses for courses, as the wisdom goes.
How do you get started? It couldn’t be easier. There is a dedicated e-scooter business, Electric Scooter Shop, recently relocated to 74 Barry’s Point Road, open seven days a week, with a shop full of scooters you can try out. After six years of serving customers nationwide, there isn’t much they don’t know, and with a full workshop and parts service on-site, they can always keep you riding. Many of their customers are paying off their scooter in a matter of months, just with the savings from avoiding the car. Is this the year you finally join them?
'Fully integrated shop with a workshop out back, super knowledgeable, very happy.' *****
'Great people great service highly recommend going there and buying or getting your scooter repaired A+' *****
From over 100 Google reviews
Jonno Leonard
Chief Scooter Enthusiast
Electric Scooter Shop
74 Barry's Point Road
Tel: 09 445 6969
sales@electricscootershop.co.nz
www.electricscootershop.co.nz
