
Convert a Bird Scooter to a personal one with $32 kit - nthitz
https://scootertalk.org/viewtopic.php?p=1643&fbclid=IwAR0-b9xJKny5r5adXwc6gocfXbqZ9scA1fpgX5t8L7f7afbT9RZU33Exqnk#p1643
======
kaybe
Apparently,you don't need to steal it for this.

> There are cities that are selling Bird scooters at police auctions. Planning
> on picking one up once the eBay parts show up.

~~~
kaybe
Aaand we killed it.

> SQL ERROR [ mysqli ]

> User birdfo5_phpbb already has more than 'max_user_connections' active
> connections [1203]

> An sql error occurred while fetching this page. Please contact an
> administrator if this problem persists.

~~~
scootertalk
The influx of traffic has been a great surprise. I've contacted the host and
updated the plan to handle the activity. They informed me the issue will be
fixed soon. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Thank you for checking out Scooter Talk. Hope you enjoy!

~~~
shittyadmin
If you don't want to pay more or deal with technical details like setting up
cache servers, just put it behind CloudFlare or similar temporarily.

~~~
bufferoverflow
This is the best answer. Cloudflare free tier CDN is amazing, and is
ridiculously easy to set up. They even provide and set up an SSL certificate
for you.

------
jordsta
Google cache of the page, since we've given the site the hug of death:
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https:/...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://scootertalk.org/viewtopic.php?p%3D1643)

~~~
quickthrower2
TLDR; =

I ordered this off eBay: [https://www.ebay.com/itm/for-Xiaomi-MIJIA-M365-BIRD-
Scooter-...](https://www.ebay.com/itm/for-Xiaomi-MIJIA-M365-BIRD-Scooter-
Circuit-Board-Dashboard-Cover-Replacement-
JT/253942419471?epid=9022713001&hash=item3b2025d00f:g:KdIAAOSw1CBbxwHh:rk:1:pf:0)

~~~
fencepost
"Taken apart from original M365 scooter."

What are the chances these are coming from someplace doing the conversions for
Bird and now they're coming full circle?

~~~
mikeash
The listing claims to be selling a brand new part still in its original
packaging, so that wouldn't fit, although it certainly wouldn't be the first
time that an eBay seller lied.

------
jacknews
Isn't a big part of the advantage of ride-share is that the vehicle is just
there for your journey, you don't need to take care of it outside of that?

These companies companies seems to have exploded in valuation, driven I guess
by VC money. I wonder how much of the rider-growth fueling that is just people
trying out an electric scooter for the first time.

~~~
fyfy18
> I wonder how much of the rider-growth fueling that is just people trying out
> an electric scooter for the first time

I saw they have Lime in Madrid and a few other Spanish cities, and that was my
impression for their usage here. For a 10 minute ride the cost is comparable
to what you would pay for car-sharing scheme like Car2Go - but that's for a
car where you can fit a passenger and shopping. It's also priced in USD here,
which suggests it's not aimed at the local market.

If they had pricing similar to bicycle sharing schemes (X minutes free, then
pay per minute + daily/yearly subscription fee) I could see them being a lot
more popular with commuters, but as it is now, my impression is it's too
expensive for the European market.

~~~
harperlee
But that’s also for a car that you need to park, and that stops at traffic
lights. Depending on the travel, scooters are a great value proposition.

I’d say shared electric motorbikes (also present in Madrid) pose a more direct
threat to scooters: they accompdatr 2 people, speedier, safer (comes with
helmet), easily parkeable, not affected by traffic jams (but dependent on
traffic lights - in strictness)

------
yazr
Isnt vandalism a problem with dock-less scooters ?

I can imagine someone passing by, picking up one of these and dumping it into
a garbage can.

Maybe the margins are so high they can just effort to replace them ?

~~~
mikeash
I suspect the margins are high enough. These things are cheap, and it doesn't
take a whole lot of rides to pay for themselves. If they last a few months on
average before being trashed, that's probably good enough.

It's also possible that these companies are taking the loss to gain market
penetration, hoping to find a solution to the vandalism problem before the VC
money dries up.

~~~
kenhwang
They cost <$500 at retail prices. Assuming they have 15 miles of range at max
speed (15mph), worst case one charge only gets them $10 ($1 to start +
0.15/min * 60min), $5 of which goes to the person who picks it up and
recharges it. That's 100 cycles to breakeven on worse case (one person rides
one scooter until it dies).

They've disclosed that an average scooter does 5.5 trips/day ($5.50), assuming
everyone rides at max speed nonstop, that still ~$14.50/day. Pays for itself
in under 2 months.

~~~
marsRoverDev
Full retail price in china is 1,999 RMB ($289-300). Wholesale on Alibaba for
more than 300 is $153USD per scooter.

Bird probably manages to get a further $25-30 off that, so perhaps as low as
$120 per scooter, plus perhaps $10 for the bird brain modification and
shipping by container, another $10-15.

So theoretically, a scooter could pay for itself in 10-20 days if used that
heavily. I'd say that they are very capable of absorbing the cost of the
occasional one going missing

------
excalibur
Background for anyone else who has not heard about this particular Bird:

[https://www.bird.co/](https://www.bird.co/)

~~~
gattilorenz
Thanks for linking this, I have never heard of Bird before.

Also, the website does a horrible job of explaining what it is in the home
page.

~~~
closetohome
Jesus, you're right. It looks like a site I'd design if the client had given
me no copy and only a vague description of what they do.

------
siruncledrew
So all that's needed to enter the scooter business is a van, a Faraday cage,
and a conversion kit. Perfect!

~~~
icedchai
Why bother with the Faraday cage? Where's your sense of adventure?

------
techaddict009
Bit off topic:

I had got to know about the scooter boom in USA via youtube video. It says
anyone can put scooter anywhere in the city and can pick up any other scooter
anytime they want from anywhere?

Is this really true?

~~~
heliophobicdude
Correct. It's been a headache to cities and some citizens.

The scooter companies hire somewhat of bounty hunters to charge them. They are
paid roughly $3 to 8 per scooter.

~~~
techaddict009
What kind of troubles do they give you exactly?

------
yoloswagins
The conversion kit is on ebay, [https://www.ebay.com/itm/for-Xiaomi-
MIJIA-M365-BIRD-Scooter-...](https://www.ebay.com/itm/for-Xiaomi-
MIJIA-M365-BIRD-Scooter-Circuit-Board-Dashboard-Cover-Replacement-
JT/253942419471?epid=9022713001&hash=item3b2025d00f:g:KdIAAOSw1CBbxwHh:rk:1:pf:0)

------
marsRoverDev
Does anyone have a source for confiscated Bird scooters in europe? I would
definitely buy a Xiaomi M365 from a government/police auction and do this mod
if possible; for now, it seems like they are being welcomed with open arms
though.

------
CrazyCatDog
Someone at u of Michigan stole my personal use m365 (bird) handlebars and
brain so that they could steal a bird for personal use—and to think I felt so
clever using a u-lock to lock the frame up....

~~~
justtopost
Sounds depressingly fqmiliar. I thought I was clever with a lock thru each
wheel at u of m, but came back to just 2 wheels, sans frame. Curse you quick
release, and things worse than curses to whomever stole our bikes.

------
cwkoss
Looks like the site is down, here is a tweet with a screenshot:
[https://twitter.com/nickabouzeid/status/1070036774871650304](https://twitter.com/nickabouzeid/status/1070036774871650304)

------
kevmo314
I wonder how much a kit costs to convert one of those Lime ebikes I've been
seeing around...

~~~
dsfyu404ed
Those bikes are heavy and under-powered. They're not worth using exclusively.

~~~
kevmo314
Pulling the motor off and putting it on a lighter bike would make it worth it
though.

------
HillaryBriss
there ought to be a business where, instead of shelling out $32, you just rent
the conversion kit by the hour

~~~
jm_l
Then maybe someone could make a kit to turn a rented kit into a personal one.

~~~
samstave
When people get tired of riding their personal ones - you can buy them all up
off craigslist, then rent them out and make a killing.

~~~
zygotic12
Obviously you could use a blockchain to tokenise the ownership as well. EDIT:
Crap. Now got a brain bug.

------
noobermin
Why don't hackers develop a $32 kit for hijacking leafs or other hybrid cars
SV hackers drive and publish it publicly.

~~~
justtopost
There are. Sdr code for opening many cars, replay attacks (featured today on
HN), and can-bus interfaces are all available inexpensively. Dealer style
keyfob copiers and obd2 port hacking products are about 200 and up online. The
scooters haven't been around as long.

