The Toy Report » Scooters

Mini Kick Scooter Still Going Strong

Remo — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 02:41:18 +0000

We’ve had our Mini Kick scooters over 5 years now, and have been huge fans ever since. Mrs. TR first bought two of them for the boys for their third birthday back in 2005! There was only one color you could get back then, the blue one, and the boys took to them with surprising speed and agility. Actually, that has nothing to do with them being amazing three year olds, but rather the design of the Mini Kick making it super easy to ride.

This toddler scooter has two wheels in the front and a leaning steering mechanism that make them easy to steer without overcompensating like you can with traditional turn steering.

In fact, you can see our inaugural scooter run on the boys 3rd birthday back in 2005 right below in this YouTube video. I was a little shocked when I checked it the other day and it’s received over 11,000 views!

The scooters have racked up the miles over the last five years, both out on the bike trail, out in the yard, and just tearing around the kitchen island. The boys, now 8, are too big for them and have moved on to their Maxi Kick Scooters, but the Princess just turned 4 and has the choice of not one but two Mini Kick scooters to pick from.

For anyone considering buying one, they’re a great investment! If you want to wait a few more years, maybe you can have one of ours when the Princess is too big for it.

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Hello Kitty Scooter From Razor

Remo — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 00:57:34 +0000

Razor Inc. announced recently that they would be offering a Hello Kitty Scooter available this Christmas season in the US at some retailers.

This is not the first Hello Kitty scooter on the market, with a generic “Hello Kitty Folding Alloy Scooter” page still up at Amazon.com and a number of mentions for it on various sites around the web, but no where I could find with any still for sale.

The Hello Kitty Razor Scooter represents Razor’s first official licensed co-branding venture as a company and they announced plans to follow up the girls kick scooter with a couple of different electric versions for older girls. Which forces the question, is Hello Kitty a tween brand? I am forever shocked at the various demographics that gravitate towards Hello Kitty stuff and the staying power of the Japanese icon, from the 3-8 year old set to the 18-35 alternagirl set to the ever powerful gay adult male demographic. But does it survive and thrive in the 9-14 year old set that might be interested in an electric scooter for tooling around town?

In any event, if you are looking for a little girls scooter, something for the under 5 year old in your life, this one probably isn’t a good buy. Most 3-4 year olds will end up hurting themselves on a traditional two wheeled scooter, pink and Hello Kitty not withstanding. Check out our article on Scooters For Young Kids here for our recommendation on the best choice.

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Free Kids Scooter Giveaway – 5 Kick Scooters!

Remo — Tue, 12 May 2009 16:01:55 +0000

TWO free kids scooters? What about a free toddler scooter? How about three instead? Giving them away? What’s that you say?

Do we have your attention now? That’s right dear readers, our friends over at Kickboardusa.com saw our Mini Kick and Maxi Kick Scooter reviews and have given The Toy Report FIVE Kick scooters to give away to five lucky readers FIVE! One of these premium kids scooters could be yours!

We have THREE Mini Kicks and TWO Maxi Kicks to give away. That’s a lot of scooter power! One each of the Blue, Pink and Orange Mini Kick Scooters, and one each of the Black and Purple Maxi Kicks Scooters. These are easily the best kids scooters on the market today, and we’re very grateful to Kickboardusa.com for giving us this chance to thank our readers!

There are three ways to enter:

NOTE: The contest is now over and winners have been officially announced! Thanks to everyone who entered!

Each counts as ONE entry to the giveaway, so you can actually enter THREE times if you do all three of the above, thereby greatly increasing your chances of getting one of the five free kids scooters!

We’ll pick five winners in order at random from all the entries at 11:59:59pm June 30th, 2009 and contact them via email, Twitter, or their site sometime in the next week to arrange shipping. Two Grand Prize winners get Maxi Kicks, three First Prize winners get Mini Kicks. Since Massachusetts has strict rules about giveaways and sweepstakes, we like to cover our you know whatsits. Giveaway open to residents of the United States only. See this page for the official rules.

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The Best Kids Scooter

Remo — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 20:12:43 +0000

We’ve been big fans of the Mini Kick scooter for kids since Mrs TR first went on a kids scooter search for the boys when they were turning 3 years old back in 2005. After much research into reviews, looking at all the kick scooter options, the standout winner was obvious.

You can read our review about how she did some research and found the best toddler scooter was the Micro Kicks from Kickboard USA. It’s stable three wheel design, size, craftsmanship, and slow precise turning ability make it the superior scooter for toddlers. That bundled up kid in the picture is Rainbow at three years old on his second outing to the local tennis courts. It’s hard wanting to ride your new kid scooter for your birthday is in late November!

We gave them to the boys for their 3rd birthday and have LOVED them every since. As they turned 4 years old and 5 years old, the kids scooters have logged tens of miles on the Bike Trail near our house. They get pulled out at every playdate and party we’ve ever had, typically resulting in at least one argument over who gets one next (we have two, but when there are 8 kids all wanting a turn it gets harder). While more expensive than other toddler scooters on the market ($75 vs $45 for some other cheaper brands), you certainly get FAR more for the extra money. The top two reasons that set them apart:

We’ve been beating and abusing the Mini Kick Scooters for three plus years now and they are still going strong.
They were stable and easy to use from day one for a 3 year old toddler. They turn by leaning on the handlebars which move the wheels slightly. You can’t sharply turn the handle bars and suddenly veer off the road or tip over like many other two and three wheel scooters. We’ve had no major accidents or problems, unlike every time they’ve tried a two wheel scooter or other three wheel scooter that turn too fast. Preventing just one fall is well worth the extra in my book.

Well, the boys turned 6 last year and are now over the 45 lbs weight limit on the Mini Kicks and won’t be able to use them anymore. So what to do for the scooter loving 5 year old, 6 year old, 7 year old, or 8 year old that you don’t want riding a hard to control two wheeled scooter down a busy bike path in the summer?

Kickboard USA to the rescue! The company formerly known as “Micro” that is behind the Mini Kick recently released the Maxi Kick Scooter for kids 6-10 years old. It appears to use the same steering technology that makes the Mini so great, but in a larger design that replaces handle bars with a really cool looking “pilot steering” stick rather than traditional handlebars.

Click here to get more details on the Maxi Kick Scooters.

You can check out their promo video below to see the Maxi Kick in action:

We’ve been speaking with Julie over at Kickboard USA and they’re sending a couple of Maxi Kicks to us at the Toy Report to do a full review, as well as a Mini Kick for a giveaway to one lucky Toy Report reader! Check back here for the Mini Kick giveaway and full Maxi Kick review, including videos of the Maxi scooters in action at the local kid scooter testing grounds (AKA the community tennis courts) and the real live six year old opinion. Can’t wait, they look awesome…

And remember, when using any riding toy, always wear proper head protection! Helmets are a must. Knee pads and elbow pads are always recommended as well.