Questions from a New TravelScoot Owner

Hi Elizabeth,

Well, I’ve had my Travelscoot for a couple of weeks…. It hasn’t changed my life yet… but I’m working on it! How long did it take you to get good at folding and unfolding? I’m still struggling but it’s slowly getting better. I haven’t wanted to go out in the heat and humidity but my first trip was an indoor shopping mall that I had not been to before. That was fun! I just zipped up and down the whole thing.

But I wasn’t shopping. I was just checking out the mall. How the heck do you go shopping with it? My next trip was to a crowded store with narrow aisles. Today was my third trip. The store wasn’t crowded but more narrow aisles. Both times I carried one of those small baskets in one hand but that’s tiring and it keeps getting gin the way. Any suggestions? I paged through the blog posts but didn’t see anything like that.

Thanks for any tips you may have. Will you be going to the convention this year? I plan on it. Should be a lot easier with the scooter. Last time I went, I hurt all weekend just from walking the halls.

JeanMarie




Hi JeanMarie,

Congratulations on getting your TravelScoot! I wish we lived in the same city so I could show you how I shop with mine. But first questions first... It took me a few weeks to be really good at folding and unfolding it. I did that with mine for about a year, and then I switched vehicles with my husband and now I just load my fully assembled into the back of our van. Since I use mine every day it makes it a lot easier.

I remember the first time I went to the mall by myself and I enjoyed zipping up and down the whole thing too. If there are people around I do slow down to their speed, but when no one is near I speed it up.

How the heck do I shop with it? It depends on what kind of store I'm in, but most often I use a tote bag that I hang on the handlebars. I highly recommend that you go to http://think-king.com/ and buy the mighty buggy hook and the cup holder. The cup holder works great for carrying a drink around, OR you can put glasses, camera, and anything else you can think of. I put the hook at the very top of the front steering column, right under the handlebars. I hook my car keys on it, or you can hook a shopping bag on it too. They also have a new product called a jumbo swirly hook. I haven't tried that one yet.

You can also put items in the fabric triangle. Sometimes I use a bicycle basket I attach to the front of my scoot, but that keeps me from being able to pull up to things as close as I'd like to.

Anyway, the tote bag I use is the size of the reusable bags you can get at Target or Walmart for around 99 cents. It works really well for me. I also manage to pull a cart around the grocery store if I need to do big grocery shopping. That's not as easy, but I often will leave the cart at the end of the aisle and just zip down the aisle to get what I need. When I get to the checkout I stand up to unload the buggy. This isn't shopping, but I also used to pull my mother around in her wheelchair at her nursing home. I'd get right up beside her and put my left hand on her right arm rest and off we'd go. It was a lot of fun.

To really make the TravelScoot work for me I had to take on a problem-solving attitude. Two years later and I can say that when I'm using my scoot it feels like an extension of my body. I can turn it tight, I can go anywhere with it that my hips fit. We've folded it up and put it under a chair in a bar (to get it out of the way), and I've had three fully assembled ones in the back of my van.

Enjoy your scooting!

Elizabeth

 

B'racha's Scoot's Accessories

Prius trunk w/ Scoot, battery, & 2, wheeled shopping baskets called Trolley Baskets. Mine are adapted for use with a scooter, but they are also sold to grocery chains, & individuals, for use by walking people as well.

expandable cup holder

Holder can expand even more. I need to move it down so that it is just above the basket.

Water bottle holder attached to basket

From Cynth:

The water bottle holders I purchased will not attach to the upright but they attach to the basket just fine.

Think King Cup Holder and Hooks

I found more information on the hooks Cynth posted about. They're called Think King Mighty Buggy Hooks. They also have a cup holder that sounds like a great accessory.

The Think King website is at: http://www.think-king.com/index.html

Reviews of their products:
http://www.kidbuyproducts.com/2009/05/review-buggy-cups-and-buggy-hooks-from.htmlhttp://www.think-king.com/reviews.html

Think King sells the hooks in packs of 2 on their website for $14.99. They have a drink holder for $14.99 too, that holds more than just drinks.

Bee's Cup Holder

	The first picture is Bee at the butterfly farm. The second one is Sarge and their cruise director racing the scoots. You can see the cup holder on the front of Bee's scoot. The third and forth pictures are taken from the front and side. Sarge said it is mounted [with wire ties] in the front so the scooter can fold up and below the compression ring where the top part of the handlebars telescope in. It was originally mounted with velcro, but Bee said that didn't work well. Thanks for the pictures, Bee!

Cup Holders

Your assignment (should you choose to accept it) is to find the best cup holder out there for our TravelScoots. If you do a google search for "Microphone stand cup holder", "bicycle cup holder" or "wheelchair cup holder" you'll see many options.

I don't think attaching a cup holder to the handlebars is going to be an option, which makes me think the microphone stand cup holder might work best, since it can be attached to a vertical piece. My sister Rae is the one who came up with this idea.

Here's one product that might work. Look at the SwirlyGig II.

http://www.swirlygig.com/htm/products.htm

Has anyone found other accessories that work with the TravelScoot?