
Čezeta e-scooter: The rebirth of the chicest communist-era scooter - r0n0j0y
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/nov/18/cezeta-electric-scooter-rebirth-of-communist-era-bike-chic
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freddie_mercury
£11,000! I can buy an electric scooter here for $700.

Unfortunately, the article is really just a Press Release. So it doesn't go
into any detail about what you get for all that money and whether it is worth
it.

Where I live (not the US) there are a growing number of electric scooters. I'd
guesstimate maybe 20-30% of vehicles on the road now are electric scooters.

It is amazing how much quieter it makes...everything. Internal combustion
engines are so noisy yet we've become so accustomed to them.

~~~
yardie
For $700! This is the stand up push style pedestrian scooter. What they are
selling is the larger motoscooter (I wish the English language had a better
way to indicate the difference). Similar to a Vespa which is far more than
$700.

~~~
freddie_mercury
No, $700 is not a push style pedestrian scooter where I live. That would be an
insane amount of money to spend on something like that here.

$700 gets you something that you can drive on the city streets & highways with
a range of 100km and can carry 2 people.

[https://www.pega.com.vn/product/Aura/images/aura-
xanh.png](https://www.pega.com.vn/product/Aura/images/aura-xanh.png)

~~~
Rumudiez
I can’t see any product info on the page you link (it’s just a static image;
iOS 12 + Safari), but it appears to have a 50cc engine. $700 is still a pretty
darn low price point, but I doubt it can go the advertised 95mph the scooter
FTA claims. I’ve never seen a stock 50cc anything with claimed top speed above
50mph, so these are entirely different classes in both engineering and safety
requirements.

~~~
gpm
If you kill everything but the root in his url you get here
[https://www.pega.com.vn/](https://www.pega.com.vn/)

Which lists scooters for up to 15,700,000 Vietnamese dong = 675 USD.

I don't speak any Vietnamese, but looking at the specs listed at the bottom of
[https://www.pega.com.vn/pega-trans.html](https://www.pega.com.vn/pega-
trans.html) I'm guessing top speed 50 km/h range 100km.

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lower
We have something similar in Germany.

The Schwalbe scooter was built in Easter Germany from the the 60s to the 80s
and has achieved a sort of cult status. One still sees them today, even in the
west.
[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simson_Schwalbe](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simson_Schwalbe)

There is now a new electric scooter that looks just like the original:
[http://www.myschwalbe.com/en/](http://www.myschwalbe.com/en/)

~~~
hwillis
80 kg, oof. I bet you could crash that into a tree at 30 mph/50 kph and once
you got out of the hospital you'd only need to hammer the dents out.

~~~
lower
Wait until you hear that the new electric one weighs 120kg (one battery) to
135kg (two batteries).

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beaconstudios
> It’s always struck me as odd that scooters, with their pragmatic step-
> through design and fogeyish upright seating position, so easily outscore
> motorbikes when it comes to pure panache. They pack more sass and sex appeal
> into their dinky two-wheel frames than almost any other vehicle

That's a very bold statement.

~~~
Benjamin_Dobell
This article caught my attention and I started reading. However, I got to this
point in the article (the _very start_ ) and stopped reading. There's just no
way I could bring myself to take anything after that seriously.

Comparing one entire class of vehicle to another so offhandedly is both brash
and peculiar. It'd be like saying SUVs are much classier than sports cars.
Which SUV and which sports car? Sure, that statement will absolutely be true
in some cases, but it's a wicked generalisation. Particularly when the subject
matter is inherently so obviously subjective.

~~~
creep
Haha I enjoyed it very much. I love when the passion and impulse shines
through like that.

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llampx
It is very long, at 2 meters. I can't see that size being easy to maneuver or
park. In Germany for example, scooters and motorcycles can be parked anywhere
on pavements. This would be harder to park and more conspicuous (just by size,
leave alone the looks!).

I'm all for e-scooters replacing ICE scooters though, for the noise and air
pollution benefits. I bought an ICE scooter to putter around in the city
mainly because the cheapest e-scooter was almost 3x the price and could only
be serviced by the manufacturer. I hope the next scooter I buy will be
electric and have a good range.

~~~
C1sc0cat
You can park any motor bike on the pavement (sidewalk) - even a Goldwing ?

~~~
hwillis
I have not spent much time in Germany, but I believe it is not technically
allowed except for specifically marked (signage) sidewalks. It's just accepted
basically everywhere. A Goldwing is very nearly as big as a Smart FourTwo, I
would suspect that if someone complained you would get a ticket. Best case, a
bemused policeman laughing and asking how you managed to get it up over the
curb.

Germans are surprisingly relaxed about rules, despite the reputation. If
nobody will get hurt, then it's usually not a big deal in my experience. This
is the country of the autobahn and Oktoberfest. Compare that to Switzerland
(where I have spent more time); there the police will give you stern warnings
even if you haven't broken the law. They are very "just-so".

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INTPenis
I think it looks rather clunky compared to a modern e-scooter like the new
Schwalbe for example.

Say what you want about those modern city scooters but the design is nimble
and relatively small. The Čezeta seems like a tractor version of a scooter.

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nkkollaw
Looks cool, but £11,000 is almost twice as much of a similar scooter...

~~~
unmole
> Looks cool

That's the whole point. It is marketed as being _chic_. People will pay the
premium in to _look cool_.

~~~
glogla
Not in Czech Republic. We don't have money for that.

And non-Czech people who want chic will probably just wait for Vespa to make
one.

~~~
agilebyte
Yes, Vespa Elettrica is pre-booking for $7,500.

[https://prebookingelettrica.vespa.com](https://prebookingelettrica.vespa.com)

~~~
upofadown
Different class. This thing has a 10 kW motor.

~~~
baybal2
10 kw motor doesn't cost 10 times the 1kw motor.

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trhway
>Power comes via a patented two-way “Sway” throttle. Roll it back as usual to
accelerate, then roll it forward to brake

as novel and non-obvious as they come...

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JohnJamesRambo
Silly question, but how does that keep from falling over when you stop? It
looks like your legs can’t touch the ground?

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JasonFruit
The word _chicest_ doesn't seem right to me; I keep reading it as a typo for
_choicest_ or something like that. Should it maybe be _chic-est_? _Most chic_?
I'd have avoided the problem by saying "The rebirth of a chic communist-era
scooter". Maybe even "a chic Czech scooter".

~~~
monochromatic
I didn’t figure out what that word was supposed to be until I read your
comment.

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_raoulcousins
I really want a scooter, but I'm really afraid of how vulnerable it makes me.
I walk and bus most places I go (in Seattle) and I've wondered how much more
dangerous it would be to ride a scooter than walk.

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ctack
It doesn't look like the headlight can swivel.

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app4soft
> _rebirth of the communist-era_

Look like it started from 2014...

