REVIEW: Gogoro's scooter marketing people are IRRESPONSIBLE

[4LivesPerGallon]

This is a review of the marketing methods used by the Gogoro electric scooter company.

Their high-speed scooter runs on YouTube will make every speed-crazy scooter wing-nut want to get one, imo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8xlrW9e1us
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbZO9zCsWNg

The Gogoro is a small-wheel scooter, with tires that are narrower than a Kymco Super-9 (that Super-9 can stop on a dime even at high speed).

Imo, the Gogoro is not a scooter that should be raced, let alone at the city street's bike lanes, as shown by Gogoro's marketing video clips.

 

[Scottydog]

Tesla do the same with their insane mode car. It makes sense to blow the myth of the slow electric scooter, I'd market the same way. Whether the Gogoro is safe to be used that way, don't really know not having rode one myself.

The bike seems to go a bit like a 100cc scooter and it's possible the speedo reads a little high as typical for any small bike. Knock 3 mph off the speed viewed easy.

 

[dogman dan]

I'm not sure if the tires are too skinny for the speed, but I do have to agree that 60 kph on the bike lane is not a great idea.

 

[Nehmo]

This is a review of the marketing methods used by the Gogoro electric scooter company.

Their high-speed scooter runs on YouTube will make every speed-crazy scooter wing-nut want to get one, imo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8xlrW9e1us
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbZO9zCsWNg

The Gogoro is a small-wheel scooter, with tires that are narrower than a Kymco Super-9 (that Super-9 can stop on a dime even at high speed).

Imo, the Gogoro is not a scooter that should be raced, let alone at the city street's bike lanes, as shown by Gogoro's marketing video clips.

I'm not sure I understand what you are saying. If I may venture: You disapprove of the Gogoro Scooter's advertisement because small-wheel scooters shouldn't be raced (because of danger?).
You also like the brakes on the Kymco Super-9, a 50cc 2-stroke air-cooled, oil injected (oil-injected means you don't need to premix the gasoline with the oil because the engine has a mechanism that adds oil from a reservoir)
You also believe scooters shouldn't be allowed in Chinese bike lanes(?)

I don't approve of 2-stroke engines (except perhaps very modern one that aren't typical) because they cause way more pollution than their share. I look at 2-stroke affectionados as socially irresponsible or blissfully ignorant. 2-strokes also can be difficult to start.
4-stroke 50 cc bikes are fine, but even better is a good electric one. And if you plan on spending $2,500 USD, the US cost of the Kymco Super-9 (MSRP), you can come up with an electric alternative. That's kind-a what this forum is about.

(BTW, you can insert a Youtube video into your post by Copy Youtube URL> go to Posting page> in posting window> hit youtube button that's above & left, which makes tags appear in window> Paste URL in between tags> Delete all charters of the URL except the final string after the = > complete your post)

 

[Scottydog]

I don't approve of 2-stroke engines (except perhaps very modern one that aren't typical) because they cause way more pollution than their share. I look at 2-stroke affectionados as socially irresponsible or blissfully ignorant. 2-strokes also can be difficult to start.

Damn dude talk about stereotyping! I'm a twostroke aficionado, more so than fourstrokes these days. It's a beautiful machine when you look at the race versions. I've spent years learning how to port and tune them. They are a challenge and fun to race and ride. When you do it right they are amazing!

That all said I only ride mine on weekend here and there as riding them to work in morning traffic seems a little socially irresponsible now when most of the bikes are fourstroke. Stop and go traffic isn't the best operation for them and can easily fog out the lights! (but I'm running a high tuned engine with premix and race synthetic oil which burns off a tad less easily) The last of the modern twostroke's out of Japan left as standard you'd barely see if any exhaust smoke.

But all this to say I use a efi fourstroke scooter to get to work and currently working on my own custom electric scooter project. http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=59873

The plan was to build something cooler than the regular Chinese electric scooter. I hope to have it somewhat running in the next month. It'll be a hub motor setup with GBS batteries. Later on plan to upgrade the hub motor to a more powerful one with controller along with Enerdel battery modules. I have a second sister scooter which I would like to try building with a high end motor and run a chain or belt drive.

 

[4LivesPerGallon]

My views on the 2-stroke are here:
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=70905


@Nehmo: Yup, those small tires are not suitable for 80kph speeds. Our group has already spent more than Cdn$5,000 trying to get a reliable 60kph+ electric scooter, with no good results. Please show me the successful, reliable $2.5K implementation. Those Taiwan Gogoro volunteers(?) riding in an unsafe way may pay the ultimate price for their bravado racing. Been riding 'cycles for decades, with no serious falls, because I am lucky and 'paranoid' on the bikes. Here's what happens to bravado:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ffa_1342863399


@Scottydog, that's a nice project, thanks for sharing. Like you, I felt that the liquid-cooled 2-stroke was like riding a jet, until the next stoplight, then gagging from the exhaust fumes that caught up. I would love to have an electric version of the [best-ever 50cc made, imo] Kymco Super-9 with the dual disk brakes that stopped on a dime without locking up, and the huge superbike tires. Btw, I rode the Super9, leading the big motorcycles until the hilly roads. In my group's experience, the biggest hurdle with electric scooters/vehicles is the battery-balancing. We'll have to copy the Tesla car's approach, but your scooter project will be using large cells, which is different. Also, note that the NUI N1 and Gogoro are using Panasonic 18650's, not large cells. We had 16 40AH Thundersky's on a fast scooter, but it "ran out of breath" after 3 minutes at 70kph, and needed a rest. Imo, the series/parallel battery pack (Tesla) is the correct battery pack design.

 

[Scottydog]

Cheers, so the Derbi was a super revolutionary design when it came out, in fact it's called a revolution. The aluminium beam chassis is super stiff and unique. Removing the engine makes it perfect for conversion. At the moment the plan is to go with the GBS batteries which will sag if pressed. For me the idea is to get it working and on the road and improve later. I have looked at Enerdel modules which will just fit, as well as 18650 format 25R packs. Time will tell which way I will need to go.

 

[Miles]

This is pretty annoying ........

http://techcrunch.com/2016/01/05/do-androids-dream-of-electric-scooters/

http://www.gogoro.com/open/

So, now you know...... "OPEN" stands for "Owner Proposed Energy Network" LOL!

 

[Leebolectric]

All scooter vehicles are silly, reckless and irresponsible.
No intelligent person ever designed a vehicle with a tiny wheel and a giant lever at the front.
The leverage this creates is a dental nightmare as the forward center of gravity and small low pivot (wheel) make endos nearly mandatory under hard braking and small obstacles, and the natural response is to grip those bars all the way to the pavement.
This especially goes for the toy ones like RazorScooters...but the same is true with full sized ones.

I love going fast...but I'll choose a vehicle that has a hope of handling the speed without disaster.
Calculated risk, not reckless abandon....i did too much of that in my youth and now regret it with all the lingering aches. :wink:

 

[ecycler]

All scooter vehicles are silly, reckless and irresponsible.
No intelligent person ever designed a vehicle with a tiny wheel and a giant lever at the front.
The leverage this creates is a dental nightmare as the forward center of gravity and small low pivot (wheel) make endos nearly mandatory under hard braking and small obstacles, and the natural response is to grip those bars all the way to the pavement.
This especially goes for the toy ones like RazorScooters...but the same is true with full sized ones.

I love going fast...but I'll choose a vehicle that has a hope of handling the speed without disaster.
Calculated risk, not reckless abandon....i did too much of that in my youth and now regret it with all the lingering aches. :wink:

Agreed. Scooters are fun, but not my platform of choice for two wheels. I have to admit there is a special place in my heart for them though, when I got my first 2 stroke G2D goped 25 years ago... I put thousands of miles on that thing really began my powered 2 wheel craze... it was quite a bit of fun bombing stairs and bunny hopping over stuff - except for the time I didn't clear the 3 foot gap in the sidewalk and crashed into a fire hydrant! I need to dig that thing out of storage this spring for nostalgia.