I've been riding a Micro Falcon X3 for a few months now. Almost all electric scooters are illegal here in The Netherlands, but Micro sells two models which were adjusted to be legal; the throttle has been disabled and you have to actually kick to start moving and keep kicking regularly to keep the electric motor going.
My experience with it is it's a very fun way to commute and I prefer it to my bike. Most of the time I'm moving faster than all bikes, but just like the article I do agree with the 15 mph speed limit, because I really don't want to be going any faster with this thing. When I just started riding and was still learning how to stand and keep in control, a couple of times it shot away from under my feet and I hit the road pretty hard (on my feet luckily).
I'm not wearing a helmet or any other protective gear, I don't think that is necessary anymore than when riding a bike in NL (we have bike lanes everywhere). But if I had to travel on the road with cars then I probably would wear a helmet.
As for the goofy look mentioned by others in the comments, I don't know if that's true and I'm not the type of person that cares. I do get a lot of people looking at me though, but that's probably because they hardly ever see an electric scooter around here, or they think I'm doing something illegal and in NL the rules are the rules and deviation is not acceptable! ;)
My experience with it is it's a very fun way to commute and I prefer it to my bike. Most of the time I'm moving faster than all bikes, but just like the article I do agree with the 15 mph speed limit, because I really don't want to be going any faster with this thing. When I just started riding and was still learning how to stand and keep in control, a couple of times it shot away from under my feet and I hit the road pretty hard (on my feet luckily).
I'm not wearing a helmet or any other protective gear, I don't think that is necessary anymore than when riding a bike in NL (we have bike lanes everywhere). But if I had to travel on the road with cars then I probably would wear a helmet.
As for the goofy look mentioned by others in the comments, I don't know if that's true and I'm not the type of person that cares. I do get a lot of people looking at me though, but that's probably because they hardly ever see an electric scooter around here, or they think I'm doing something illegal and in NL the rules are the rules and deviation is not acceptable! ;)