More than a year has passed since I bought my first Swifty scooter, a Swifty Zero, way back in September 2018, a few months less since the purchase of my Swifty Air. Both scooters are doing well. I still manage to ride 3 or 4 times a week and on this page I want to try to convey in words just what a delight it is to own, ride and cherish a Swifty scooter.
The first word that comes to mind is a small one, joy, though perhaps is would be better to shout, JOY, as is no small thing to talk about. There is something about riding a Swifty scooter that is hard to define. Perhaps it is the ease of jumping onto the scooter, kicking off and gliding silently along. I recall when I built my first fat bike, a Surly Pugsley and taking it to the beach at Aberlady in East Lothian, and my astonishment at being to able to ride a bicycle across wet sand at low tide or up a dry sand dune when the tide was in. That same joy comes when riding a Swifty kick scooter.
The next word that comes to mind is simplicity. A kick scooter is a simple creation, something to stand on, something to steer with, something to stop with and two wheels to support everything and make you run along like you were floating on air. Having said that, I don’t want to dismiss all the technical and design effort that has gone into creating this amazing device. I mean simplicity in that there are no gears, no drive train and no pedals to bother about. No changing up and down, you just stop and go. You step on, you kick along and you step off.
Quality is another word that comes to mind when riding a Swifty scooter. Build quality is excellent as is the quality of the component parts themselves and the overall design of the scooter makes it well worth the asking price. I’ve taken my Swifty Air on some testing terrain and never once felt it would let me down. Quality also refers to the ride itself, always inspiring confidence, always stable on bends and more than capable of handling anything I ask the scooter to undertake.
Some things about using a Swifty scooter are almost impossible to put into words. They are more feelings than anything else. There is something special about clipping on a set of lights and taking your Swifty for a cross-country night ride. There is magic in the air with bats are flying around you when you scoot your Swifty along a woodland glade. There is magic when you stop for a breather and a tawny owl starts calling in the tree above your head. Parhaps magic is the word I’m looking for.
Riding a Swifty scooter, be it a Swifty Zero on a smooth tarmac footpath or a Swifty Air on a muddy woodland trail, always has me wanting more. I get home after a ride, take a shower and look forward to the next ride. I spend the day at work day-dreaming of possible routes, of challenging trails and where can I boldly go where no Swifty scooter has gone before. For myself personally, the more I ride either of my Swifty scooters, the more I want to ride. Perhaps I’m getting addicted to kick scooting, that cocktail of chemicals the body creates during exercise, that happy feeling of doing something unique.
Okay, enough for now. Time to head out on the Swifty Air again for another night ride. See you later.
Copyright ©2020 Gary Buckham. All rights reserved.
