Kick Scooter vs Bike Which is Better?

A bike is an efficient, convenient, low-cost, fun, and healthy way to travel to work or wherever. And if you want to vary your exercise a little while not sacrificing the benefits, you can try kick scooting and see how you like it. In this post, I focus on the pros and cons of biking vs scooting to see who comes out on top.

Related: Best Kids’ Electric Scooters

Bike vs Kick Scooter, Who Wins?

A bike is better suited for longer distances while a kick scooter works best for short commutes and fun. Both are healthy transportation choices, and they can help you lose weight, but kick scooting actually involves more muscles than does biking. Besides that, scooting allows for a greater range of motion. Also, kick scooters are more comfortable than bikes since you ride the device while standing versus the cycling posture which results in neck fatigue and saddle sore.

Related: Best Mountain Bikes for Kids

What’s more, kick scooting has you riding on sidewalks rather than the road where cars and trucks keep whooshing past as you bike. Lastly, scooters are somewhat easier to maintain compared to bikes because they have fewer moving parts, and their overall design comprises fewer complex components and mechanisms. Overall, kick scooters best bikes in a kick scooter vs bike showdown.

Here’s a more detailed answer.

Bikes vs Kick Scooters: Who Wins the Comfort Battle?

It’s a fact: a bike can take you further than a kick scooter ever could, and it’ll get you there much better because bike wheels are much larger. And pedaling builds up way more forward thrust compared to pushing a kick scooter off the ground. So, bikes win big in the distance department.

But when it comes to comfort, kick scooters blow bikes out of the water. Firstly, a kick scooter doesn’t have a saddle. And when there’s no saddle, there is no saddle sore. Anyone who’s experienced saddle saddle sore after biking for a few hours knows how painful and uncomfortable it is.

With a kick scooter, y0u get no saddle sore because this device doesn’t have a seat. You ride the thing while standing, which is way more comfortable than the usual cycling stance.

However, some toddler scooters have a removable seat. These are typically 2-in-1 scooter designs that allow the youngest kids to ride seated. You remove the seat completely when they become confident enough to ride standing. Here’s a list of 3-wheeled toddler scooters if you’re interested.

Also, kick scooting impacts your knees way less than riding a bike does. And doesn’t less impact translate into less knee discomfort after the ride?

Which is Faster Kick Scooter or Bike?

The average speed on a road bike is between 15 mph for beginner riders and 22 mph for experienced riders. As for kick scooters, the average speed is 8mph to 10 mph. Evidently, the average non-electric bike is much faster than the average kick scooter.

But these are micro-mobility devices, and the city streets you’re trying to conquer are almost always crowded. Which means that speed isn’t something riders want more of when navigating busy and crowded city streets. So, bikes being faster than kick scooters isn’t such a big win.

Which is Safer Bike or Kick Scooter?

Definitely a kick scooter. A kick scooter’s deck sits low enough versus an e-scooter’s deck which sits quite high off the ground. When you’re pushing off from a lower height, you’re somewhat than when you’re pushing off from a higher height.

Another aspect that makes kick scooters safer then electric scooters is that kick scooters mostly ride on sidewalks as opposed to their electrified counterparts which mostly ride on the road or street. When you’re competing against SUVs and trucks, how safe and stress-free do you feel?

Also, because kick scooters don’t travel insanely fast, they’re safer compared to electric scooters. It’s easier and safer to jump off a moving kick scooter than it is to get off a moving electric scooter.  Aside from this, maneuvering a full-size kick scooter in a crowded street is easier compared to navigating a full-size e-scooter on a crowded city street.

Are Kick Scooters More Convenient Than Bikes?

Yes, kick scooters are more convenient than bikes. In general kick scooters are lighter than bikes, which means they are easier to carry up stairs at the subway and stairways anywhere else. Lightweight folding scooters are easier to carry and store than lightweight bikes.

Because lightweight bikes are heavier and bulkier than lightweight kick scooters. When you alight from a train, you want to have a lightweight folding kick scooter handy and not a bike. You just hop on the scooter and ride away, leaving everyone else stranded waiting for the bus.

Biking vs Kick Scooting: Which Exercise is Better?

Both kick scooting and biking make for great workout. Both experiences work multiple body muscles, but riding a kick scooter work more body muscles compared to cycling. When kick scooting, you’re standing up the entire time, and you’re working your glutes and many other body parts the whole time.

If you work the typical office job, it’s pretty much a sedentary job, and you’re sitting nearly all of the time. But that’s not the way it is when you’re riding a kick scooter. Kick scooting has you standing on the deck the entire time, which counters some of the disadvantages stemming from sitting at a desk in a cubicle the whole day.

Here’s my personal experience when I do a bike ride for an hour versus when I scoot for the same amount of time. Riding a bike for an hour really feels like work, like a thankless laborious task that I just had to do because I care about my fitness.

When I scoot for 60 minutes? I feel the burn in every part of my body: in the legs, feet, hands, arms, neck, back, belly, face, head, biceps… pretty much everywhere.

The kick scooting burn is a great experience, one that makes me feel that my kicking efforts are delivering real results.

Not so with riding a bike. Biking feels like real drudgery after an hours workout. Yes, my heart rate is fast, but not as fast as it is when I expend roughly the same amount of energy scooting.

On the whole, kick scooting uses more body muscles versus riding a bike. Scooting tires you out less while delivering better fitness-related benefits. And there’s nasty saddle sore to deal with.

Bike vs Kick Scooter, Which is Better for Longer Distances?

A kick scooter is best utilized for short-distance while you can ride a bike to pretty much anywhere. You can even bike across an entire continent! That said, most people opt into micro-mobility devices for last-mile travel from a train station. Since it’s a short distance to their home or work, they can either scoot or bike.

Which is Easier to Maintain Bike or Kick Scooter?

A scooter is easier to maintain compared to a bike. Some bikes have complicated gearing systems and braking mechanisms, plus bikes have more moving parts, all of which need replacement from time to time. Not only do bikes have more parts to maintain, but some components can be pretty expensive. As for kick scooters, all you do is check the tires for pressure or swap them out for new ones when the time comes.

Kick Scooters Are Cheaper Than Bikes

Yes, kick scooters are cheaper than bikes. The most expensive kick scooters (typically US-made kick scooters) will set you back around $250, but even a $500 bike is an entry-level bike. Decent bikes cost over $1000, which is 4 times the cost of the most expensive kick scooter on the market.

You Don’t Need Special Clothes or Shoes to Ride a Scooter

You can wear anything you like, hop on a kick scooter, and wheel away to your destination. You don’t need any kind of scooter-specific clothes or shoes. Not the same when it comes to riding a bike. Biking is one of the most expensive hobbies you can get into. There are expensive cycling shoes to purchase, biking jerseys to buy, and bike riding shorts to spend money on.

I get it; you’re not into competitive cycling and don’t need all of these cycling supplies. Plus, you don’t need cycling clothes when traveling to work. But do you know what tears clothes and gets grease onto them? It’s a bike’s chain! It’ll catch your favorite jeans and tear them. And you’ll likely fall off the bike when this happens.

Do I Need a Helmet for a Bike?

Yes, you need a helmet when riding a bike. Bikes travel faster than kick scooters, which means falls off a bike are harder. Also, you’re sharing the road with motorists, and there’s always the possibility you’ll fly toward a car’s solid body head-first. It’s best to keep your noggin covered at all times when biking.

Are Helmets Required for a Kick Scooter?

In most jurisdictions, you can ride a kick scooter without a helmet. But it’s always a good idea to helmet up for a scooter ride because while scooter accidents don’t happen every day, they do. Not surprisingly, most of the people who get badly injured in scooter-related mishaps are helmet-less.

Putting it All Together

Both bikes and kick scooters are environmental friendly ways to get around, and each amounts to really valuable workouts. Each has pros and cons, but in the final analysis, kick scooting is the better choice for most people. Why?

It’s because kick scooters are cheaper, less fatiguing, safer, easier to maneuver around cities, more convenient and lighter when getting onto trains and buses. They’re also easier to maintain since they have fewer moving parts.

About the only thing a bike does better than a kick scooter is traveling faster and farther. No matter which option you end up choosing, make sure to helmet up and wear decent pads to protect your knees and elbows.