And Now for Something Really Different
All Rights Reserved © 2001 Thomas W. Day
Early on, I thought I'd never find out what the average speed is over any distance beyond a couple hundred yards. Take my first morning out, for example. I made it two blocks when a semi driver passed me and stopped in the middle of the road so he could ask me how the Polaris was powered (electric motor) and what it's range was (how the hell would I know?) and what it weighed (59 pounds, without me). Two blocks later, I almost passed two power-walking women before getting stopped to answer the same questions plus "where can we buy one? (see your nearest Polaris dealer or call the company in Medina). Three blocks later, a guy in a Buick stopped me to ask about the range, the manufacturer, the cost, and to tell me he thought it would be a great vehicle to ride to his deer stand. At the coffee shop, three blocks later, in a half hour I got to read two pages of my book while answering questions about the scooter from half of the people in the store. The ride home was just as talkative. A little more than six blocks, four stops, four conversations, and I should be getting a free Electric Scooter t-shirt from Polaris so that I can complete my rolling advertising campaign for the Electric Scooter.
I first saw the Electric Scooter at a MN-Sportbike pre-event. One of the sportbikers brought his Scooter along to get from one end of the track to the other without having to mess up his Nike's. He offered a ride to anyone who wanted to play with it, but I was the only taker. Now I know why. Ride it and you gotta have one.
He had pulled the seat off of his Scooter and was riding it skateboard style. I, mostly, ride mine the same way. My wife likes the seat. I just feel slightly less like I'm posing as an invalid on a powered shopping cart when I'm standing. (See what I mean about having standards?) The seat is way too comfortable and it doesn't allow for drastic weight-shifting which makes getting over curb entrances, at top speed, a lot more interesting.
The Polaris Scooter is suspended. The suspension is slightly more elaborate than the typical kick scooter, but it's good enough to suck up sidewalk irregularities and sloped curb entrances. I've been told that the Scooter works fairly well on dirt roads, too. I haven't tried mine because I'm nearly over the weight limit just by wearing shoes. Adding the resistance of dirt roads would probably trip the circuit breaker in a few minutes.
The Scooter's brakes are more than adequate, a mountain bike V-brake on the front and a drum brake on the rear. The rear brake is also connected to the engine cutoff, so you can't brake and throttle at the same time. Sort of an idiot switch, I guess. The controls are in a motorcycle layout, right side = front brake and left side = rear brake, so you won't have to waste time re-routing cables like you did with your mountain bike.
Most of the Scooter's weight must be in the tires, batteries (and their bash-rail-protected steel case), and motor, since the frame is aluminum as are most of the other metal bits. The unit folds into something that could be carried on to a bus or packed in the trunk of a Geo. The seat and handle
bar height are fully adjustable and the hardware is all high quality bicycle bits. The throttle/battery capacity indicator is a thumb control dead-man switch control by the right-side grip.
bar height are fully adjustable and the hardware is all high quality bicycle bits. The throttle/battery capacity indicator is a thumb control dead-man switch control by the right-side grip. 
The owner's manual contains a bit of age discrimination, since Polaris states the bike is for "age 12 to 45" riders. If I weren't old I wouldn't be the Geezer and I resent being told that I'm too ancient to play with a toy that is this much fun. Repeal that limitation, Polaris Marketing/Legal department. I'd sue, but I'll probably fall down and bust my hip between now and when I'd get to court and Polaris would get to use me for evidence that the manual's precautions are justified.
The other precaution that seems a little paranoid is their warning against riding the Scooter downhill. Unless you are a Flat Earth'er, it's hard to imagine a place you can ride where you're not either going uphill or downhill. I see two possibilities regarding this contraindication: 1) it's a legal butt-covering tactic, 2) downhill operation could over-charge the battery. In Amerika it's always reasonable to assume that any idiot who finds a way to go over the bars and bust his empty skull will immediately locate a lawyer and claim "manufacturer negligence." However, I'd appreciate knowing if this warning is legal gibberish or some sort of limit on the Scooter's capability. I've noticed that even when the battery is off and the handlebar kill switch is off, the charge-condition LEDs light up when the bike is pushed. If the battery is getting a recharge from the motor during downhill operation, that recharge might be unregulated and could damage the battery or other circuitry. I'll wait by the phone for a response to this question. I'm reasonably patient about these things. Ten minutes and no one has called, I give up. I'll keep riding it up and down hills and I'll let you know how that works out for me.
Polaris is, apparently, a little confused about how they want to support the Electric Scooter. Their marketing handout and the Pure Polaris website (http://www.purepolaris.com/) states that the unit comes with "a year limited warranty." The owner's manual revises this number to 90 days. I'm guessing the warranty is somewhere between 90 and 365 days (note: Polaris confirmed the one year limited warranty). In the end, the company simply pretended the scooter never existed and, to this day, their misnamed "Customer Service" department pantomimes shuffling through pages of manuals and computer screens before saying "We never sold an electric scooter."
Riding the Scooter is about as simple as two-wheeled riding gets. The electric motor provides bags of torque. When the battery is freshly charged it's not that difficult to life the front wheel on full power takeoffs. You simply press the thumb control and go. The Scooter is up to max speed about the time your foot hits the floorboard. The belt-driven, 350W rare-earth magnet motor is quiet and amazingly powerful for its size.
The 12" wheels roll over minor road irregularities and the suspension sucks up the rest. The bike moves fast enough that you'll need to use countersteering techniques to turn quickly. Standing or seated, the Scooter is agile and responsive, although you do have to get used to applying power a few seconds before you want it, because of the time-delay between the thumb control and a reaction from the motor.
So far, I've learned these simple rules for my Scooter: 1) turn the freakin' battery switch off if you want the charger to do its job, 2) watch the weather, unless you want to walk home in the rain (electric motors and rain don't mix), 3) try to avoid police attention because nobody is sure how the law applies to this sort of vehicle, 4) use lots of body english to take advantage of the limited-travel suspension. I've make three 10 mile, round-trip excursions on my Scooter and have returned with power to spare. I'm about to test the unit on a home-to-work commute, but I'm building up to it since I haven't found an efficient, limited-traffic route as yet. My bicycle has wasted away (while my belly is doing quite well, thanks for asking) because the Scooter is a lot more fun than the bike. Any trip from home, shorter than ten miles, gets made on the Scooter. It's more fun than the bike, more efficient than either the car or the motorcycle, and I'm starting to enjoy the attention.
2010 Postscript: Polaris has continued to disavow any knowledge of this vehicle since around 2004. Because of this review, I get emails from all of the company's victims/customers wanting to know where to buy parts for this little scooter. Through direct conversation with the company, I have been told "we never mad/sold anything like that." They are, obviously, either liars or fools. This was a high-end attempt to get into the electric runabout business (at $1,000 MSRP) and Polaris isn't fooling anyone by pretending to be ignorant. They were probably too late to the market with too little support and their usual marketing stupidity and decided to cut and run from the model without a thought in their tiny little marketing/sales heads about the customers they were abandoning. Sorry, guys. I can't help you fix your electric scooter and I can't find parts for my own. I desperately need a new throttle mechanism, but I'm out of luck and the scooter is stuck in my shop until I find a substitute or give up and toss it in the dumpster.
2014 Postscript: Holy crap! I found a live person in Polaris' customer service and received this response:
Thank you for contacting Polaris. I apologize that you have had a poor experience with service parts for your electric scooter. Your model is called the EV Rider Xport SLX 707. This is a scooter with front and rear suspension and has the narrow tires. These scooters were made in the mid 2000’s and Polaris does not support these vehicles internally; however, service parts are available for the Polaris Electric Scooter directly from “Light Electric Vehicle Technologies.” They can be contacted at 1-888-743-3738 or levtservice@aol.com. [Talk to Shelly.]
Thank you for your inquiry,
Kyle
Parts Resolution Specialist
Polaris Industries
1-800-POLARIS
Parts Resolution Specialist
Polaris Industries
1-800-POLARIS
