Handlebars, saddle, wheels, brakes.
It has everything of a bicycle, except the pedals: you move forward by pressing a trigger or turning a handle, like on a scooter.
This machine is an electric balance bike, a sort of ORNI (Unidentified rolling object) that appeared around 5 years ago on the public highway.
Sold for less than 300 euros in many supermarkets, electric balance bikes are for the most part completely illegal on public roads: "Since they are not approved, in the event of an accident this can be very problematic for the driver" , warns Olivier Schneider of the Federation of bicycle users (FUB). Jocelyn Loumeto, General Delegate of the Federation of Micromobility Professionals (FPMM) shares this point of view, although his organization promotes scooters, gyroroues and other devices of this type: “If these devices disappeared, it would clean up the market, in somehow ”In fact, there are only two brands in France which are approved. But who says homologation, says higher price.
By telephone, the sales manager of one of the brands distributed in France confirms that these machines are in an unclear legal zone: “They are only“ off-road ”vehicles, and we are warning our customers.
But then it is up to them to respect it ”.
Legally, this traffic ban on public roads must be indicated on the notice, but also in stores.
However, as 60 million consumers have observed, this is rarely the case;
we also got to see it in the few stores where we found it.
Around 30,000 were sold in 2019 and 2020, which is quite a few compared to the 650,000 scooters bought each year.
