scope. speed. weight. If an e-scooter can strike a good balance between these three elements without costing an arm and a leg, that would be an immediate win for me.I am happy to say that after years of testing e-scooters and usually Speedway’s Mini 4 Pro found some flaws in at least one of its components and was the closest to perfection.
Speedway, a sub-brand of MiniMotors USA, makes expensive and powerful scooters like the Dualtron Victor and Bluetran Lightning (one of which is a bad boy for $3,000+). These e-scooters also weigh over 80 pounds, which isn’t great if your Brooklyn apartment is on the third floor and doesn’t have an elevator. On the other hand, this track provides enough power to cruise most hills, has a solid range, and weighs just 36 pounds. It’s a fantastic city ride.
slow start
Before diving into everything I like, I want to point out that I only have two problems with the Mini 4 Pro. On my first return ride on the scooter, the brakes screeched. It was so loud that I could see the unbelievable gazes of passersby. I just grimaced and kept screaming home.
The problem went away the next time I took the scooter out for a ride. But just to be on the safe side, I took it to a shop and found the brakes weren’t aligned properly. It was fixed in less than 10 minutes and I was on the road feeling safer than ever. After dozens of times, I haven’t had this problem.
My second woe? For a while I didn’t know how to properly fold this scooter. There’s a small folding lever on the bottom of the stem that you need to push down, but it didn’t move no matter how hard I pushed with my foot. It turns out that when you kick in the lever, you need to push the stem forward, which releases it and folds the entire stem down onto the deck.
Once I figured it out, I couldn’t stop Fold it every moment I’m not using it. It’s so easy! I can push it down with my legs to fold it down, and once it’s parallel to the deck, the stem snaps into place. You can also fold the handlebar down to make the whole thing very compact.
Best of all, just grab the handle and instantly carry the Mini 4 Pro as if it were luggage. At 36 pounds, it’s one of the lightest scooters I’ve tried, and it’s easier to get up and down stairs than most.
Go, speed racer!
Despite its small size and weight, it is powerful. With a 1,360-watt in-wheel motor, you can hit 28 mph in top speed mode. I almost always set it to Level 2, which hovers around 18 to 20 mph and doesn’t drain battery life quickly. It can even handle hills. The Mini 4 Pro is powerful enough to pass New York City’s Williamsburg and Brooklyn Bridges at a not frustratingly slow pace.
It’s worth noting that once or twice, when I started and hit the gas before putting my foot back on the front of the deck, the entire front end of the scooter rose a few inches into the air. I had to hit the brakes to stop it before it swung out of my hands. This seems to be the result of having a powerful motor in a relatively lightweight frame. Just make sure your feet are firmly attached to the deck while you punch the holes.
As with all EVs, the terrain you drive on can seriously affect your range (and so does your weight). I’m a lanky 6’4″ man and I ran 15 miles on the Mini 4 Pro, but it was a daunting ride that required crossing both bridges above. During the 11-mile round trip alone, mostly on flat roads, a readout on the battery handlebar display showed it had 63 percent remaining. It’s safe to say that most people can expect less than 20 miles (Speedway claims a 30-mile range). This is much better than something like the Segway F30. It will take you about 6 hours to fully charge again.
