The worldwide best-selling model is Sharper Image's Razor model. Thinner than its predecessors and sporting a practical collapsible frame for portability, today's incarnation was pioneered in the late 1990s by Swiss inventor Wim Ouboter. Predictably, the first Asian country to be infected by scooter-mania was Japan where, at last count, hip youngsters and adults who probably should know better were acquiring them at a rate of 50,000 a week. That's 200,000 extra wheels jamming up sidewalks every seven days. Some Asian capitals have even mooted bylaws to curb the swell of scooters on busy city streets.
Image is a sure factor.
And helmets aren't really necessary. Another reason for scooter success, one suspects, is its generation-spanning appeal. Like any successful retro-craze, the scooter manages to meld nostalgia and modernity. The fact that it's smaller, eco-friendly and is made of superior alloys just brings it up to speed, so to speak.