Mike is very wise. Ask your local ER doctor about head injuries without helmets. After you vomit and then cry yourself to sleep, you’ll find yourself reaching for your helmet without even thinking about it.

A teacher of mine felt of her bike while not wearing a helmet. She didn’t drive fast, but felt in a very unlucky way. Even before the medic arrived she was dead.

If you’re in bad luck it doesn’t need top speeds, crazy stunts or a car hitting you to get serious injured or killed.

Is there a brake? it doesn’t look like it. Looks like fun though.

“If you’re smart enough to build a foot scooter that can go 25mph, be smart enough to wear a helmet when you ride on it-”

-indoors in a narrow underground corridor lined with jagged pieces of metal while being remote controlled by your drinking buddies.

wow, you guys are lamers.
good advice, sure, but jerome’s a big boy,
and so is everyone else here. why admonish and
baby him? is that what he gets for sharing his
work with you rubes?
most people reading this have probably already
decided for themselves if they like to wear
helmets, seatbelts, etc or not.

synth, you’re an idiot. People like the guys work, and want to see him live to Hack and Make another day. It’ll be tough for that to happen if he wins a Darwin award in the process. People are “rubes,” for giving a damn? “With great power comes great responsibility.” Maybe a few of us feel responsible for pointing out, “a helmet at a time like this is a good thing.” The, “lamer,” would be the self righteous snot that points out caring about your fellow Maker or Hacker and reminding them that they are following a self injurious path is in any way a bad thing. Bad Troll !

Put those motors in the center of roller blade wheels . Use them as the front wheel on the roller blades. Jet Set Radio for real anyone? Maybe retrofit a mountain board and have a hellacious urban assault vehicle.

They should make it slightly longer to make it more fit their adult size, I’d say 20% to 35% maybe,
And the handlebar should be slightly higher too, unless the plan is to give it to some kid.

People should be free to do what they want until my taxes or insurance payments go up because I need to take care of the vegetable they have become. Wear a damn helmet!

I work in EMS in an area with lots of bikes. I’ve seen too many people end up dead or worse from “little” crashes.

Well said, NoOne.

Damn, people are waaay, waaay, too risk-averse these days, and far too puritanical about it as well.

ZOMGWTFBBQ HE’S NOT WEARING A HELMET! WON’T SOMEONE PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN!

If you want to live in a nice, fluffy, risk-free world, where you’ll never get hurt, you don’t go around building 35mph electric scooters and having your *friends* decide what speed you’re gonna go down small concrete corridors.

He’s also only wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and no gloves. If he falls off, he’s gonna get hurt. His skin, his decision as to the trade-off between risk and looking like a cock.

It’s a cool thing the guy has made. Nicely implemented, too.

Synth: I’m with you. I don’t read this site to be lectured on health and safety.

Boo hoo hoo, cry me the Amazon River. If all you guys are thinking of now is “OH MY GOD HE’S NOT WEARING A HELMET [AND THE WALLS ARE NOT FOAMY AND PADDED]“, then what a gelatinous society we have become.

If all you are able to cogitate is how someone’s incrementally different behavior will affect your damned health care rates, and gloss over the spirit of independent engineering and heaven forbid, RISK-TAKING, then may your soul find solace in your own safe, infant-proofed, lead-free, over-insured body; maybe then it’ll leave the rest of us to have some damned fun.

To horrify the ambulance crowd some more, here’s some more DIY electric fun!

@moofmoofmoof, Mr Foo I call bull shit. I didn’t say he should, “live a peaceful life w/o the fear of constant nagging…” I said he should take ENTIRELY UNNECESSARY and stupid risks. Mr. Foo, the jump to the idiocy of, “won’t someone think of the children,” was cute but pointless, as that wasn’t stated anywhere. “People should have a right to exercise brute stupidity,” is exactly what hacking and Making stand against. Open it, mod it, own it. But don’t stick your hands in to electronics while wearing jewelry unless you’re a n00b, don’t put up antennas at night, and near power lines, and for damn sure where a helmet when traveling at 25 miles an hour and your head has a good chance of being stopped by concrete.

Honestly…I’ve ridden BMX off and on for 12 years around extremely busy roads with borderline retarded drivers – without a helmet on. Some people can just manage their own safety better than others. It seems apparent though that many feel they should try to manage everyone else’s safety for them(wonder who they voted for?XD). Sure, I had a couple close calls over the years(chain break caused close call w/ curb stop etc), but I’ve mastered pavement tumbling and never hit my cranium or broken any limbs.

What I don’t understand is how a simple action like wearing an helmet is subject to tabu. Specially when suck minor action can save your life in some cases.

I want to buy more hack reporting and less hack opinions by the reporters.

honestly I could give a damn what the reporters think.

you have a great website, but every time I read the commentary of someone who posted the story I debate on coming back here or not.

That’s awful tiny for a 1480W scooter motor. 1480W comes out to 2 horsepower. If that thing really delivers 2 HP, I want one. :)

Having fun at MUN guys? I know those tunnels below the Engineering building…..

lol dozens of outraged comments.

It doesn’t seem to make much acceleration before wheeling. Maybe stick the motor in an xkcd-style electric skateboard, so you can lean farther forward… or just make it front wheel drive.

What, no regenerative braking yet? More practical with larger wheels and bias runners on the belt, but my scooter pizza-and-quickrete delivery team salute his efforts to make scootering more awesome without Vespa-whine.
He can land on any 25MPH-rated mode he can choose; maybe he’s a 4-Dan (Aikido-belt wise.)

nice mod/hack. not sure how you could improve the power to weight ratio any further, save for using a smaller test dummy. with those tiny wheels and low ground clearance, i don’t think the scooter has enough lean angle or centrifugal force to properly negotiate turns at those speeds. i would prefer slightly taller rubber wheels with a little give in them.

i wonder what the battery life is like with a rider his size?

from what i can see he uses his foot on the back tire as a brake, similar to the stock design.

–

that said..

intelligent people have just as much fun and take just as big of risks as the darwin crowd. the difference is the smart people assess and understand the risks and consequences and manage them to the best of their abilities. granted, life is not fair, shit happens, and if it is your time, it is your time. that is no reason to be your own demise though.

how many of the anti-risk-management crowd have a firewall on their network/computer? or scan for virus or malware before running a file? or have a password on their email? or make backups? or lock their doors? or keep track of where their house/car keys are? or wear a condom? or use wpa2 and/or a vpn? or have insurance for themselves or their property? or touch ground before installing their new video card or building their new system? or think before they speak?

it is selfish and ignorant to ignore obvious and manageable risks. however, that is your right, if you so choose. at least sign your living will and save your friends and family some grief. we will enjoy your video on liveleak later i’m sure. ;)

by the way, 60-minutes did an excellent episode about concussions, if you need ‘hitting your head is bad’ spelled out.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/10/08/60minutes/main5371686.shtml

Test driving makes it all the more important to be protected. I can tell you, with a fair bit of certainty, how the motorbike will behave. If I were driving something for the first time, there’s no telling what little things might crop up that you didn’t think of.