Just got my first scooter - INMOTION Climber - and have been riding it everywhere. A few days ago, I hurt myself pretty bad on it. I was going full-speed and glanced behind me to check traffic, and my body unconsciously turned the steering to follow my head, which shot the scooter leftward and then down to the ground with me flying over it.
Anyway, it got me thinking - why is it so easy to turn the steering all the way in a split second? I almost never want that ability anyway. What if there was tension in the steering so that it provided increasing resistance the further you turned it, and also made it naturally return to center when not explicitly pushed out of position?
Are there any scooters made this way? Is there a term for that feature?
The term is "steering damper", and most of them use a dashpot to apply graduated resistance rather than a spring to pull the front wheel to center. They're usually a bad idea.
Well-designed two wheelers use the free rotational movement of the steering assembly along with its geometric qualities to make the steering self-correcting, with a passive tendency to return to an upright and centered position after steering the vehicle back underneath your dynamic center of balance. Draggy or overtightened headset bearings, or steering dampers, interfere with a two wheeler's ability to make these little corrections and keep you upright. A bad headset makes a bike feel twitchy and unstable, and it requires more attention and intervention by the rider to stay upright.
All of this is relevant to
well-designed two wheelers. It's separate from the demonstrated fact that those little donut wheel scooters are deathtraps that seriously hurt people all the time. They can't be made safe or stable, which makes it bitterly ironic that many people ride them because they've been scared off of bikes by helmet fearmongering. Emergency room trauma admissions skyrocketed in every city that was flooded with dockless rental scooters.
My ex-wife's 18 year old nephew has been in a coma for the last week because of a scooter crash. He's an accomplished dirtbiker, but the treachery of a stupid little bad idea on wheels has probably changed his future prospects permanently.
My advice is don't fall for it. Just because they're everywhere, doesn't make them okay. They suck and will always suck, and they will hurt you again if you keep making that gamble. If you must use a stand up scooter instead of a bicycle for whatever reason, make it one that has wheels at least 20 inches in diameter. It still won't be as safe or stable as a bicycle, but it's a massive improvement over shopping cart sized wheels.
P.S. -
Most centering springs for steering are not made to stabilize the steering, but to make an awkward cargo carrying bike stand up better than it would without one.
