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There are so many electric scooters these days that it’s becoming hard to keep them straight, so let’s complicate things even more by throwing another one into the mix! It’s time to take a deep dive into the Kugoo Kirin G3 electric scooter and see how it stacks up against the rest of the market.
The Kugoo Kirin G3 is a fast electric scooter, reaching 31 mph (50 km/h) at full bore.
I did find though that when the battery was partially depleted, I sometimes struggled to hit 29 or 30 mph. Even so, it still felt quite fast at those speeds.
You can put the scooter in lower power modes that limit the speed, but I mostly kept it in the highest power mode. You can always limit your own speed by using less throttle, so I imagine that you’ll likely use the highest power level, too.
The only time I can think of that it would be helpful to use a lower power mode is either in the rain when you want to be extra careful, or when letting a novice friend borrow the scooter for a test ride.
The Kugoo Kirin G3 is rated with a maximum range of up to 40 miles (64 km), thanks to the large 52V and 18Ah lithium-ion battery housed in the deck.
The thing about that range, though, is that you’ll likely only see a true 40 miles if you’re riding much slower.
If you’re like me and hitting the top speed on every straightaway that can allow it, you’ll never see a true 40 miles of range.
But if you can average closer to 20 mph, you might actually get close to that 40 mile figure.
The scooter itself actually feels quite well made. You don’t get some of the nicer parts like hydraulic disc brakes, but the mechanical disc brakes still feel plenty punchy. They bite down hard and give good stopping power.
The full-suspension absolutely makes for a better ride, and I even had a blast going off-road with the scooter.
The screen on the Kugoo Kirin G3 is large and easily readable, though I’m not sure I like the idea of a touchscreen. There’s a reason that most electric scooters have physical buttons near the handlebar ends – it’s so you can easily access the inputs without taking your hands off the bars.
With the touchscreen, you have to basically let go of one bar end if you want to play with the controls in motion. It’s also hard to hit the button accurately when the scooter is bouncing around since there’s no physical button to feel for. You’re just stabbing at a moving screen, which feels like a serious miss to me.
Other than that, though, the main build quality and component choice decisions seem on point. I even like the bicycle bell included in the brake lever and the smattering of LED lights spread around the scooter to keep it visible at night.
The folding mechanism is quite robust, which is critical in a fast electric scooter that will surely see some serious jarring around at high speeds.
There’s a massive bolt in the front end that is screwed through the stem, which also does double duty as a reflector. It’s there to lock the scooter in the upright, unfolded position. The only way for the scooter to fold on you while riding is to somehow break through a 1/4″ steel bolt – good luck with that.
The downside is that it takes much longer to fold this scooter than almost any other electric scooter I’ve tested, but if I had to choose between fast folding and secure folding, I’ll take the latter every time.
The only other odd thing about the folding is the way it locks in the down position. There’s an orange strap that loops around the rear kick plate. It works fine, but it doesn’t feel like the most elegant solution. It also means that the strap flaps around while you’re riding, as you can see in my video at the top of this article.
Maybe having a waving orange flag is a safety feature, not a bug. It’s all a matter of perspective!
