Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This adult kick scooter gives a very comfortable ride thanks to its heavy wheels that have a thick layer of soft, high-rebound urethane. When riding on a concrete trail, I could barely feel the junctions of the concrete slabs. Even the ride of my Xootr Mg is not as smooth as this.
Unfortunately, I could immediately feel when I first started riding this scooter that it is also slow, which may be the trade-off for the comfortable ride. My gravity-powered tests confirmed that the rolling resistance of the Micro Black is much higher than that of my two other scooters, the Razor A5 and Xootr Mg. The Micro Black was slower than the Razor A5 regardless of rider weight (220 or 67 lbs) or surface type (smooth concrete and gravel were tested). To eliminate the effect of slower acceleration from a full stop due to the heavier wheels on the Micro Black, we also ran tests where two riders got up to the same speed and then coasted, but the Micro Black was still slower than the Razor A5.
The kick height of the Micro Black is the lowest you can get, which is great because it means you don't need to bend the knee of your support leg as much with each kick and therefore you don't get tired as quickly. The low kick height comes at the expense of the clearance, which is also the lowest among the three scooters. In general, the clearance should still be fine for smooth trails and even for most city sidewalks if you are careful and watch were you are going.
The overall build quality and design are outstanding. For example, the rear fender has a hinge, so when you press on the fender to brake, the fender does not bend, it only turns on its hinge. This design should greatly increase the durability of the fender. I had a small issue with the front side of the rear fender rattling against the foot plate, but this was easily fixed by gluing a piece of foam between the two parts.
The Micro Black has a cool paint job, which makes the Micro Black look much better than the Razor A5. But the Micro Black still can't compete with the ultra-cool looks of the Xootr Mg.
The Micro Black uses standard 8 mm bearings, so it should be possible to replace the original bearings with skate-quality bearings such as Bones Reds Precision bearings. The wheels are also the same size as the wheels on the Razor A5, so if you are a scootering enthusiast who values speed more than comfort, you might consider replacing the original wheels with Razor A5 wheels and Bones Reds bearings. In theory, this modification would results in a scooter that has the lowest kick height and lowest rolling resistance available. The stiffer frame of the Micro Black would probably make it slightly faster than the Razor A5 when both are equipped with the same wheels.
For those of you who are all OCD (I may be the only one) about scooter specs such as kick height, clearance, and rolling resistance, I'm listing below some observations that I have made about the Micro Black, Razor A5, and Xootr Mg.
Disclaimer about my measurements of rolling distance, a measure of rolling resistance, reported below: Rolling resistance of solid wheels increases steeply with increasing rider weight, and softer wheels are affected more than harder wheels (JRRD 46:931-8, 2009). I'm a heavy guy (220 lbs). The Xootr has softer wheels than the Razor A5. It is possible that the Xootr is faster than the Razor A5 for lighter riders. Xootr has conducted their own tests, which showed that the Xootr Mg has a lower rolling resistance than the Razor A5. Recently, Michael Knackerson posted independent test results (NYCkickscooters forum), which also showed that the Xootr has a lower rolling resistance than the Razor A5. Information on rider weight in these two other tests is not available.
Disclaimer about wheel free-spinning time: Free-spinning time is not necessarily related to performance under load, but it can be used to rule out incorrect wheel installation and worn-out ball bearings.
Micro Black
Weight: 11 lbs.
Kick height (lower is better): 2 8/32"
Board thickness: 1 7/32"
Clearance (higher is better): 1 1/32"
Type of ball bearings: ABEC 5 608ZZ
Wheel durometer: 75A
Free-spinning time (new scooter): 1 min 36 s - 1 min 56 s
Rolling distance under load (a new scooter was tested; higher is better): 20 feet
Razor A5
Weight: 8.0 lbs.
Kick height: 2 12/32"
Board thickness: 31/32"
Clearance: 1 13/32"
Type of ball bearings: ABEC 5
Wheel durometer: 85-86A (90-95A as measured by Xootr)
Free-spinning time (original ball bearings): 35 s (times ranging from 14 s to 2 minutes 5 s have been reported
by others)
Free-spinning time (Bones Reds Precision 8mm bearings): 5 min 37 s
Rolling distance under load (original ball bearings with 60 miles on them): 37 feet
Rolling distance under load (Bones Reds Precision 8mm bearings with 10 miles on them): 41 feet
Xootr Mg
Weight: 10.2 lbs. (with rear fender)
Kick height: 2 24/32"
Board thickness: 1 8/32"
Clearance: 1 16/32"
Type of ball-bearings: McMaster-Carr R8ZZ
Wheel durometer: 81-83A (80-85A as measured by Xootr)
Free-spinning time (wheels and bearings that have 0-10 miles on them): 17-20 s (times ranging from 10 to 25 s have been reported by others)
Rolling distance under load: 30 feet
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