You want to read wishlists from german tretroller fanatics? Are you sure? Well, prepare yourself for pages and pages to scroll through! ;) So here are mine:
1. Wish #1 might be somewhat visionary (hopefully not totally utopian), because it seems impossible to built for a reasonable prize with currently available technology: Light-weight, easily foldable scooter for city-commute with public transport – stable, decent size and geometry, 12"+ tires (filled with helium?). I bet, there is and will be a huge market for a scooter like this out there, but only very few people know that yet. When it comes to folding scooters, I don't know any currently available model of any brand, that would match these criteria.
2. I like the idea of doing something about the design. However, I like my stuff to be designed as minimalistic as reasonably possible – not only but especially on a scooter, which is a very minimalistic concept in itself. That is, design is form, is frame, is its geometry in this case. So I do not think, design should be regarded as decoration (only).
Of all the Mibo scooters, I like the design of the
Rival and the all new (and
market-experimental)
Didin best – probably due to their flat board. a) Is the
Didin a glimpse into a new design era, so other models will be re-designed accordingly? b) Or do the bent boards mainly have engineering reasons? (It is, however, a very distinctive design feature that helps to identify the Mibo scooters as such.)
3. Now the
Didin is specially designed for small kids – not grown ones like I am. a) If machine-translations were correct, it is still strong enough for adults to ride as well. b) But if the footboard is really only 35cm short(?), this would be a challenge of its own, right? I am just guessing by comparing to the ~40cm footboard length of my K6 here, which, on the other side, is even shorter in total length (110cm vs the 115cm of the
Didin, if measurements are correct).
4. Regarding the
Rival versions,
Plain vs
Full: a) Do they share the same frame? Pictures of the black
Plain suggest otherwise, with a more closed board and an added triangular, reinforcing board-to-necktube-part on the
Plain. On the other hand, in the yellow modell pictured, this cannot be seen, but also rear brake mounts are missing there. I hope this are just some old pictures, not relevant and helpful to the cause of information –please clarify! Which leads me directly to the next point:
5. I am not the only one here who wishes that manufactures and especially dealers would pay more attention to correct presentation – that is in pictures and texts – of their (newest) products. Czech dealers are usually more up-to-date, while one usually cannot tell, if the standard German dealer is just to f!**ing lazy to update, or to uninformed, or sells (really!) old stuff (sometimes not even last years' modells), or just doesn't give a !*$§%, or – for good measure – all of them. Which, again, brings my rant to another turn:
6. There is only thing you could be certain about when it comes to (Czech brands' scooters at) German dealers: For doing less, they charge more than their Czech competitors. Now there still does exist some kind of a market barrier due do language, freight costs and currency conversion. However, these barriers are hopefully crumbling down, with Czech dealers already doing their best to service happy customers abroad.
As a customer, my concern regarding this issue is mainly that manufactures – instead of creating real value for customers through innovative products and enforcing competition amongst their dealers – will try to rise new, artificial barriers, e.g. by granting exclusive distribution rights only for certain markets, in order to keep prices and profits up. The bike brand "Specialized" is such an extreme case, where dealers are legally bound to deliver this brand's products only within given country borders, which is, of course, totally nuts and anti-customer.
With different price levels between DE and CZ, and perhaps more different standard fittings for some models due to different customers' preferences in different markets to be seen(?), where will this lead? Take the pricing of the
Royal at a German dealer: 675 Euro! It might be a very good scooter, even Mibos best at the moment (which I doubt), but this is just absurd! (Now, if it were a beautiful Pechr version, I would most likely think otherwise.)
7. Some people have requested and shown interest in frame or -fork-sets only. Any plans on offering them for a reasonable(!) price? Kostka offers them, so does K-Bike (if not sold out already) and there were announcements on the upcoming
Kickbike Race Max 28 also to be available as frame only.
8. Just to add to #4: Will there be a new
Rival (as update or addition to the model versions) based on the modified one we have seen in the
Stunt-Video?
Sorry for the lengthy post, I could not make it any shorter.