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Freestyle or pro scooters have over the last few years offered active kids and adults as well a fun and exciting means by which to enjoy their time outdoors, while showing off some neat skills. Users can enjoy their scooters outside on the driveway or at outdoor and indoor scooter parks.
Maybe you are wondering why you bought the cheap one when you could have gotten the same District Pro Scooter your friend got. Hereâs a detailed pro scooter buying guide to help parents and other buyers make the right, and informed, purchase decision.
Parts Of A Pro Scooter
The best way to find the perfect pro scooter is to have an idea of the right part(s) for the intended purpose. Read the following comprehensive part-by-part breakdown of the right pro scooter parts offering top performance.
The Scooter Deck
The deck is the most significant part of the scooter; it is essential to what the entire thing is built around. To ensure that they are lightweight as well as sturdy enough to stand up to the rigors of pro scooter stunts, high-end decks are made of aircraft grade aluminum. Industry standard decks come with a single piece body and head tube. Most decks come with a preinstalled headset, referred to as an integrated headset, while some come without the headset, referred to as nonintegrated.
Scooter Bars
Scooter bars come in a variety of dimensions, styles, and types. These can either be fashioned from steel or aluminum; with the former accounting for the majority of bars on the market. Even though the diameter of most scooter bars is (OS), oversized, at 1 3/8 inches, the industry standard diameter (STD) is set at 1 1/4 inches. It is important to remember that your choice of scooter bars, especially with respect to the previously mentioned dimension will affect your choice of clamps and forks. Different scooter bar styles are available solely for aesthetic purposes.
Scooter Fork
Considered to be one of the most critical parts of a scooter, the fork, which runs through the headset, connects the bars, deck, and front wheel. These parts come in a variety of strengths, styles, and weights; as such, you must make sure that you make an informed decision in this regard. The bars and fork are connected using a compression system. Thread-less forks, mostly used on high-end scooters, are considered to be stronger while facilitating better performance. The type of fork chosen has a bearing on the most suitable wheels. Choosing to get an Envy Declare Fork gives you a slightly different feeling from the Lucky Indy Fork, so always have an informed decision.
Pro Scooter Headset
Another essential part of the entire scooter setup, the headset, determines the overall feel of your scooter ride and stunts. This part allows the fork tube to rotate within the head tube, allowing users to steer the scooter. To facilitate proper functionality, the headset is made up of a variety of components, including fork race, bearings, and their corresponding bearing cups and top cap. The smooth operation associated with high-end pro scooters is due to the use of a sealed headset coupled with a threadless fork and compression system. Itâs important for you to consider going with an integrated headset, with the bearings cups pre-installed into the head tube, since tampering with this assembly is quite challenging, to say the least.
Pro Scooter Clamp
To hold the bars and work together, and ensure that they rotate in unison, a clamp is used. The available selection on the market today includes Quadruple, Triple and Double clamps. Each name is used to refer to the number of bolts featured on the clamp, which is used to securely hold the bars to the fork tube. When shopping around you will find clamps made by different manufacturers, in different designs for different performance levels. To build the best pro scooter, itâs essential that you choose the most reliable and high-performance clamps.
Pro Scooter Wheels
Scooter wheels influence the feel and look of your pro scooter. These important parts are mainly made out of two components, the core, and urethane. However, the available selection of core designs and urethane compounds used differ greatly from each other, resulting in a different look and feel altogether. Even though some wheels feature a plastic core, only those that come with a metallic core can be able to stand up to the rigors of pro scooter maneuvers, tricks, and stunts; the former will easily fall apart after a short duration of use. Wheel sizes, which must match the fork in use, range from 100 to 125 mm. the larger the wheel size the faster the scooter is bound to be. Itâs important to point out the fact that harder urethane wheels are best suited to faster riding, while softer wheels provide better traction.
Pro Scooter Compression
The compression system is used to create a stable connection between the bars, deck, and fork; this component is vital in the assembly of a well-dialed (solidly built) scooter. Lack of a stable connection can lead to injury or cause damage to various parts on the scooter. Cheaper scooters usually come with a threaded compression system. However, the Standard Compression System (SCS), Inverted Compression System (ICS) used in UrbanArtt Pro Scooters, and the Hidden Internal Compression System (HCS) are some of the more durable, stable and high-performance compression systems used by advanced pro scooter riders. These are far much better than the threaded variety.
Pro Scooter Brake
The scooter brake is usually fitted at the rear of the deck using a screw or bolt mechanism, depending on the model under consideration. There are two main types of scooter brakes, spring loaded or flex. Pro scooters usually use the latter, due to its effective and silent operation. The flex brake is simply a piece of steel designed to comfortably hug the rear wheel, while secured to the rear part of the deck.
The above information will help pro scooter buyers find top quality parts to be used in assembling a high-performance machine. However, if you do not want to assemble your very own custom built pro scooter, you can always use the above information as a guide to the perfect complete scooter; these come ready-to-use right out of the box.
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