Can the acceleration curve be adjusted to be more in line with bicycles? Or is it feasible to rapidly toggle the throttle to slow acceleration without making the ride too jerky?
I've only ridden Lime scooters so far---I really want to try a Bird, I hear they're faster---but in my experience the acceleration seemed pretty smooth. It was the braking that was extremely jerky and sudden for me.
The acceleration is very slow, annoyingly so IMHO, but you can augment it by pushing with your foot.
This is intentional, and conserves a considerable amount of battery power. Bird specifically instructs riders to kick push twice when starting from a stop. Accelerating eats up significantly more energy than maintaining speed.
what brand have you ridden? i've only ridden bird and the throttle is very precise with a good "throttle map". lots of control in the starting off / low part of the range.
I don’t live anywhere near these, sadly. Near the end of the article, the author mentioned passing cyclists then being passed again due to the differing accelerations and top speeds. Sounds like it isn’t an issue to slow acceleration to avoid being a nuisance in the bike lane with Bird, at least?
I've ridden Bird scooters (which are just a modified version of this [1]) quite a few times in San Francisco, and while they can usually accelerate a little faster from a stop than most cyclists do, I've found it easy to just match acceleration with the cyclist in front of me. On flat ground you'll probably end up cruising at a similar speed to most cyclists, though there are certainly outliers in both directions.