Kick Scooters with Air Tires Vs. PU Tires

I live in Hoboken, an urban town in NJ. My kids and I often travel around our little city and usually use our kick scooters. We have used the Exooter hard tire scooter and Razor kick scooters for years now. They're good, but wow, are they rough on the sidewalks. Not only is the ride rough, but screws and other pieces continue to loosen and fall off.

Within the past 6 months, we have been researching teen and adult kick scooters that would run smoother in urban areas. My latest purchase of the Exooter scooter (PU tires) with single front suspension seemed to run well but still, it's a rough ride on rougher terrain.

Your probably thinking, "Why doesn't he just ride on the street?" In theory, of course this is ideal and I do ride on the streets when needed. However, due to the crazy nature of NJ/NY auto-drivers and congested roads, I try to avoid riding on the streets at all costs. We prefer to ride on the sidewalks and through the parks.

ELECTRIC SCOOTERS do not have this luxury. Electric scooters in our state and many other states are not permitted to ride anywhere but on the streets and need to, by-law, follow traffic patterns. Hoboken disintegrated their Scooter Share Program (Lime Electric Scooters) due to the dangerous and inconsiderate riding habits of the natives. People just couldn't follow instructions and could not keep off the sidewalks. I don't blame them for keeping off the streets. I'll stick with the kick scooters, which are legal to ride on sidewalks in Hoboken (check with your own town ordinances).

If you didn't know, most electric scooters have at least one air-filled tire or a hard rubber tire in the front. Some have both front and back soft-ride tires which makes for a safer and more comfortable ride. During this journey of seeking a more practical urban scooter, I thought, why not look for a teen/adult kick scooter with soft-ride tires.

After doing research and realizing that these types of scooters are rare, Slick Scooters LLC was born. Our competition was small but still fierce as we were (and are) competing with Razor and their A5 Air Tire Kick Scooter. We have read many reviews on the A5 and some other companies that offer air tire kick scooters and we have solved many of the issues that they are facing. By the way, Razor's scooters are amazing. We're just different.

Our first few prototypes were good, just not good enough. We finally settled with an amazing manufacturing company who designed the perfect air tire kick scooter for us, the GF1 (Ground Force 1). We are now offering a foldable, lightweight, dual suspension, higher/wider deck plate, carry-strap, soft-ride teen/adult kick scooter with 8" air tires. It's exactly what I need to get around town and soon (if it's not already) it will be available to you.

So, should you buy a kick scooter with Air Tires or Hard (PU) Tires? How would you use the scooter? The ONLY CON to the air-tire kick scooter is that it will run slower than the hard tire kick scooter. If you are looking for speed and will be riding your scooter on paved surfaces, absolutely choose the hard tire scooter. If you need to get around town, need to ride on sidewalks and mixed terrain, definitely go with the air-tire teen/adult kick scooter. I hope this was helpful and informative. Please let us know what you think if you've ever been on an air-tire kick scooter.

Note: If you do own or intend to own an Air-Tire Kick Scooter, be sure to inflate the tire to the tire's specifications (PSI), which is found on the side of the tire.