Essential Scooter Maintenance: Common Issues and How to Address Them

    So, you’ve bought your first escooter. Congratulations! Get ready to ride and embark on your journey into eco friendly micro mobility. When it comes to maintenance, an escooter is just like a car. You have to bring it in for checkups, tighten screws and watch your wheels. Here we’ll outline common issues with escooters and how to fix and maintain them.

Stem

    The stem is the part connecting the deck to the handlebars. This part contains essential components to your scooter. Depending on the brand of escooter you have, this can contain your brake wires, wires to connect your display, throttle, brakes, etc. Most escooters have folding mechanisms that fold and lock your stem to the deck to make it easier to carry. Issues with anything in the stem is usually an easy fix. Broken wires can be soldered together, brakes can be tightened, and displays can be replaced easily. The most common issue with the stem can be screws coming loose. This is normal, as vibrations from riding on a scooter can loosen screws over time. This phenomenon can be accelerated by tubeless tires as they cause rougher rides leading to more vibrations in the stem. We will go more in depth on this later. 

Wheels

    The wheels of an escooter are one of the most important parts of your scooter. Not only are they what you ride on, the motor of the scooter is often attached to the wheel. Maintenance of the wheels is really easy! On the wheels, you have four main components, the tires, wheel frame, brakes and motor. 

    For the tires, there are two different types of tires, tube tires and tubeless tires. Tube tires have a tube between the frame and the tire. The tube contains air, meaning tube tires make for smoother rides as you won’t feel every little bump in the road. They do however puncture, meaning if something pierces the tire you would have to get it replaced. Do not ride your scooter on a flat tire, as this will lead to damage in the wheel’s frame leading to other issues. Tubeless tires are solid, meaning there is no air in the tires. The main draw to tubeless tires is that they are immune to punctures. Tubeless tires, however, ride a lot rougher which can lead to screws loosening in the scooter. Whichever your scooter has, you must be watchful for tire erosion. Most escooter tires last for around 3,000 kilometers. After this, the traction can be worn down after this making the ride dangerous. Tire replacement is easy, only taking about an hour, and new tires cost around 80 aed. 

Brakes

    Brakes are fairly easy to maintain. Brakes only have to be maintained for every 1,000 to 1,500 kilometers depending on the kind of brake your scooter has. Escooters generally have three different types of brakes: drum, disc and hydraulic brakes. A common issue with brakes are loose brakes. This is an easy fix, one you can even do at home, tightening the brakes. This can be done in a shop for labor costs, or you can do it at home with a screwdriver. Needing brake fluid is another common issue you can solve at home. All you need is brake fluid and knowledge of where to pour it. However, brake pads can get bent, components in the brakes come apart and generally can get worn down. It can cost from 30 aed onwards to replace faulty brakes.

Deck

    The deck is where you stand on the scooter. Thankfully there are usually no issues with the deck itself. However, under the deck is where the technological components of the escooter are located. The components are the battery and power controller. The battery stores power, and the controller regulates electrical current to the other parts of the scooter. Some higher end scooters have fuses located in the deck. When there are issues with electrical components, the scooter usually doesn’t turn on or has issues with acceleration and speed. These are the most grave issues with escooters as the only solution is usually a full battery or controller replacement. These are usually costly fixes. Sometimes, these components can be fixed without a full replacement, however these issues are uncommon. 

    Don’t worry, most escooters are easy to fix if any issues arise. Some brands of escooter are more durable than others so it is important to do research on durability before buying your first scooter. Despite this, it is important to know common issues and how to address them on your escooter. Remember to check your scooter on occasion, and happy riding!