Kiwano KO1

Kiwano KO1  self-balancing electric scooter

The basic idea of the Kiwano KO1  is that it has a single wide wheel, a single stem and non-pivoting handlebars. That’s about it. And it’s awesome. It’s like that WideWheel electric scooter we reviewed a few weeks ago, but if it only had one wheel. This thing is seriously a hoot to ride. After you learn to ride it, that is.

Operating the KO1+ electric scooter

When you turn the scooter on it will start up in idle mode. It just sort of stands there, balancing itself. It’s kind of freaky, to be honest. It’s so good at balancing itself that it almost doesn’t even move. It just makes minute motor adjustments to keep itself balanced. To ride the scooter, you click the power button once more and it switches from idle mode to ‘normal’ mode. This causes the scooter to tilt forward 12º. There’s also an ‘advanced’ mode, but you should probably start in normal.

When it comes to riding the scooter

Learning to ride it is really just a matter of trial and error. Don’t expect to just be able to hop onto this thing and ride around like a circus clown. Took around 60-90 minutes of riding before could go both in a straight line and turn on command. In the beginning, it’s probably best to start in an open area to ensure that you don’t have any obstacles to run into. For this is that you’ll soon learn that you aren’t going to be consciously controlling the KO1+.

Build quality

Despite having a 1,000 W motor and 320 Wh battery, it was surprisingly lightweight at just 35 lb (16 kg). If that sounds heavy to you, consider that a lot of 250 W e-bikes with smaller batteries weigh much more than that. The accompanying smartphone app is also a nice addition. You can use it to adjust the scooter’s calibration and riding angle as well as control the scooter remotely.

KO1+ self balancing electric scooter is awesome

When you ride the scooter, the key is to become one with it. Don’t think about it as standing on top of something, think about it like the scooter replaces your feet. When you lean, lean with the scooter, not on the scooter. Look off into the distance. Do not look down. You’ll start going in the direction you look, so always look off towards the horizon. When you want to turn, look towards where you intend to go.