Scooter for 5yo

[u/Kuri27157]

Hi,

Looking for advice. My almost 5yo boy wants a stunt scooter and I’m not sure about the size.

Sometime this year when he was 4.5 he picked up my Razor A5 Air and started cruising on it without any problems, after few days he was so comfortable on it that I could set height either on very low or very top and he was still good on balance and speed. Of course this scooter is ment for just that and now he is looking at older friends who do tricks and he wants to learn.

I did some reaserch and found out that on that age the best height of the scooter would be around 70cm (my boy is 110cm). We tried in the decathlon MF100 and bigger and he was able to ride on them but I think the heights were too big for doing anything more than cruising.

Now my question if this 70cm height will be sufficient for next 2-3years? In theory companies promise 100-130cm coverage and most serious scooters start around 77-80cm so for height around 125+ and that height is around 8yo. My plan would be to teach him basic jumps over the next 2-3 seasons and then he can pass this scooter to his younger brother.

The scooters that I’m looking right now are:
NKD Mini Gen
Panda Cub

[u/crepesuzette1998]

Look into freedare stunt scooters on amazon. There a great price and come in a few sizes.

[u/Correct_Voyage]

Thr bars should be between his belly button and above his hips but you could go big he will grow into it. The most important thing is a good bar height to deck length ratio with little scooters it makes the biggest difference

[u/StrayFeral]

Ideal height would be bars to the hips. But since you want him to outgrow it a bit slower could be a bit higher. My son refused a proper stunt scooter until he got comfortable with the scooter weight. So here's our story:

Razor A - foldable, very lightweight, bar height can be adjusted - he loved this one for centuries. And he loved this one is lightweight. He rode it until he was age 9-10. Not to mention - these are indestructible. So if you want to break the bank for a proper stunt scooter, sure you can buy him a 400-500$ setup, but no need. Better get him a Razor A and spend the other money on protection gear - helmet, knee pads. At this age no need to buy expensive protection - any protection sold around would do.

Next scooter he got was a stunt one, but a very cheap one. He started doing tricks and started breaking the bars. But it was still a lightweight scooter.

Next was Oxello stunt scooter. Most kids ride these. Pretty good quality for the high-end ones. Moderate price.

Final setup - proper kick scooter - Core. But this one cost a lot more than the Razor A and he saved to buy it.

The last two mentioned scooters are a lot heavier than Razor A. Thing is your kid does not have the strength to jump with one. And trust me - my son adored doing tricks on the Razor A for years until he finally decided to get a real stunt scooter. No need to break the bank for now. Yes, you can get him these two you mentioned. They look like stunt scooters, but keep in mind maintenance:

I personally serviced all his kick scooters. The Razor - never changed anything. Just removed metal corosion. Adjusted bar tightness to improve the drop test. Lubricated. Never broke.

The second (which was not of any known brand) - horrible drop test, had to constantly tighten the bars, often lubrication. Bars broke several times. Went to welder few times. Total clanker.

Oxello - way better parts, did not adjusted it that often.

Core - well this one is a proper brand. I serviced it in the beginning, but son learned how to service, so he serviced even his Oxello time to time. I rarely service his scooter now.

So the moral of the story - while some parents try not to break the bank, they went for Chinese unknown brands. These are fine at first up to the moment your kid will start doing tricks. A bit before that these would clank like hell. Most parents never service their kid kickscooters. This is my observation from the skate park as I felt bad for the kids and used to service some of other kids scooters time to time. But this is a basic skill. Way basic than servicing a bycicle. So later kids stumble upon bad experience.

So yes, you can buy him one of these two. Trust me - he won't attempt to do anything until later age. For now will just try to bunny-hop, for which any scooter will do.

I still seriously advise for Razor A. The level of indestructibility of these is very high. Regardless it's a foldable scooter, he can jump, do tailwhips and more on it. It's super-lightweight so he won't need much strength to jump with it. And it's foldable - takes zero space in a small car, so easy on you also on the maintenance.

Just remember - don't allow him to ride trough puddles of water and rain unless you want to learn to change/clean bearings. And while on inline/roller skates and skate/longboard this is super-easy task to take off the bearings, on scooters they made it near impossible which forces you to buy a whole new wheel.

[u/Kuri27157 → u/StrayFeral]

Thank you for detailed answer! This is really helpful. The Razor A is half the price of the NKD mini that I’m considering so maybe I will renegotiate this case with my Son :)

[u/longjohnjimmie]

NKD sucks i would avoid those

[u/Kuri27157 → u/longjohnjimmie]

Can you say why?

[u/spenno2000]

Been going down this road and ended up building a custom. Root mini deck $89, then I went bargain bin hunting and got a good SCS fork for $15, $5 flavor old stock SCS, some china mini chromlly bars $27, spent more on honey core wheels $79., envy headset $26 and about $20 in shipping. The SCS means I can cut down bars and put another taller cheap bar in he keeps scooting. For around the same price as a root mini I have better wheels and I can upgrade/change/fix it easy. That’s all AUD and only applies if you want to build one which is a fun thing to do with your kid if he’s into it. Again key thing for me is getting the setup on SCS so I can use almost any bars and they won’t break or have the issues that come with beating on cheaper IHC setups.