How To Ride Electric Scooter: Best Tips & Tricks For Beginners

If you know how to ride a bike, you can easily learn how to ride an electric scooter. Well, even if you can’t ride a bike, balancing on an electric scooter is a lot easier. 

In this article, beginners will discover tips and tricks on how to ride and maintain balance on an electric scooter. If you are planning to buy one or already own one, you are in for a treat. Zipping your way through the streets and crowds is a sustainable and enjoyable way of going where you need to be. 

If you have a few bucks lying around, you can own one of the best electric scooters for commuting and recreation. If you are worried that you won’t learn how to operate an electric scooter, don’t fret. Because it is a lot easier than you think.

What do you need before Riding an Electric Scooter?

Electric Scooter

The first thing you need is an electric scooter. If you don’t have one yet, you can borrow one from a friend, or you can purchase one at the nearest Walmart or Target in your area. Whether you want to buy one online or offline, there are several places where you can buy an electric scooter.

Safety Equipment

While learning how to operate an electric scooter, you should make sure you don’t hurt yourself. Safety is important, so make sure you have all the essential protective gear like a helmet, elbow pads, and knee pads. Some riders with enough experience do not wear safety equipment anymore, but it is still best to keep safety a top priority, even if you get good at riding an electric scooter. In the event that you do fall down while learning, you will be thankful that you came prepared. 

Practice Spot

Do not want to practice riding where there is a lot of people and traffic to prevent accidents. It is best to look for a spot where you can practice riding. The best spot would be in a suburban area where there are hardly any vehicles. If you happen to live in the city, you can practice riding an electric scooter at parks or empty parking lots. Operating an electric scooter is not that hard, so after a couple of practice sessions, you will probably have the confidence to take your riding to the test. 

How to Ride an Electric Scooter

Electric scooters are fairly easy to operate. First, you have to learn how to balance with two wheels. Since the tires are smaller than a bike’s, it will be much easier to find your balance. Before learning how to balance on an electric scooter, it is important to find out which is your dominant foot. If you have experience riding a manual scooter, you probably know by now which is your front foot. If not, determine the position you are most comfortable with. You will eventually get it after a few tries. 

How to Balance on an Electric Scooter

Now that you’ve got your feet position locked down, it is time to learn how to balance on an electric scooter. Make sure you hold both handlebars and keep your weight centered. If you feel like you are about to fall, you can always put one foot down. Once you learn how to balance, it will be a lot easier when the scooter is running.

Riding Steps

• First, unfold your electric scooter and raise it to its full upright position, then turn the power on. Some electric scooters power on differently, some even need a key to start.
• Next, look at the LED or LCD to make sure you have enough battery life to practice.
• Determine the acceleration and braking mechanics. Most scooters have acceleration buttons and hand brakes. If you are practicing on a Razor scooter, use the twist grip to throttle, and the squeeze brake to hand brake. Razor scooters are designed this way so you don’t have to do two things simultaneously with one hand. 
• Once you know the basic controls, make sure you accelerate slowly. Pressing the accelerator abruptly may cause you to fall off the scooter. Some scooters have different riding modes. If you have one of these scooters, make sure you learn to drive electric a scooter using the slowest riding mode first.
• Operating a scooter is that simple, the next thing you need to do is keep on practicing. If you have gained enough confidence, you can try to ride to your destination. 

Tips and Tricks

Avoiding Accidents

If you lose control of the scooter, stay calm. If you are going at a slow speed, you can always jump off the scooter instead of falling down. Panicking might just cause more harm.

Practice

Practice will get you a long way. You will need to build up enough confidence before you can zip through streets and sidewalks where there are cars and pedestrians. 

Once you get a good handle of braking and accelerating without getting confused, you are ready to go. 

Every commute is a practice session already. 

Take it Easy

Learning how to ride an electric scooter is not something you should rapidly learn. It is best to take your time. Some people learn faster than others, but it does not mean you should be in a hurry to learn. All will work out if you just take it easy. 

When in Doubt, Stop!

If you are getting nervous or feel like you’re going too fast, the best thing to do is to use the brakes and stop. It is normal to be nervous at first. After all, riding a 2-wheeled scooter is pretty extreme. 

Conclusion

Riding an electric scooter is a fun way to get where you need to be, but just like driving, it takes time before you get the hang of it. It is better to not rush when learning, so nobody will get hurt. Expect that you will fall a couple of times when learning, which is why it is best to learn with safety gear. 

Once you get the hang of things, you can ride faster with more confidence than ever.