About us

Hi! Welcome to the iScootbike family!

Born in 2018 in the heart of Plymouth, Britain's ocean city, our mission is to offer a happier, healthier, and safer way of travelling around the city, to everyone, from 2 to 72 years old, regardless of age, height, or physical abilities.

To understand our motivation to create this company and why footbikes and adult kick scooters are becoming a hit in the UK, we first have to tell you a bit about where scooter bikes originated (did you know it was in London in 1819?!), where they are popular and why they are popular.

WHERE SCOOTER BIKES ORIGINATED

Born and bred in London in 1819

The first adult kick scooter was produced in 1819 by Denis Johnson, an English coachmaker who worked on Long Acre, London. He was a pioneer bicycle-maker.

Johnson created an improved version of the German Karl Drais's Draisine, the archetypal bicycle. Johnson's "pedestrian curricle" was patented in London in December 1818, becoming Britain's first bicycle. It featured an elegantly curved wooden frame, allowing the use of larger wooden wheels. Several parts were made of metal, which allowed the vehicle to be lighter than the continental version.

Although Johnson referred to his machine as a ‘pedestrian curricle’, it was formally referred to as a ‘velocipede’, and popularly as a ‘Hobby-horse’, ‘Dandy-horse’, ‘Pedestrian's accelerator’, ‘Swift walker’ and by a variety of other names.

Johnson made at least 320 velocipedes in the early part of 1819. He also opened riding schools in the Strand and Soho. In May 1819 he introduced a dropped-frame version for ladies to accommodate their long skirts.

For about six months the machine had a high profile in London and elsewhere, its principal riders being the Regency dandies. About eighty prints were produced in London, depicting the 'hobby-horse' and its users, not always in a flattering light. Johnson's son undertook a tour of England in the spring of 1819 to exhibit and publicise the item.

In Johnson's machine, like that of von Drais, propulsion was simply by ‘swift walking’, with the rider striking his (or her) feet on the ground alternately. However, it led directly (albeit after a long delay) to the invention of the bicycle in the 1860s, when rotary cranks and pedals were attached to the front wheel hub of the machine based on Johnson's.

PHASE 2: KICK SCOOTERS ARE RE-BORN IN FINLAND IN 1987

Before bicycles became popular among children, steel scooters with two small bicycle wheels and pneumatic tires had been the most useful vehicles for them. Around 1987, many BMX manufacturers produced BMX-like scooters. Most of those initial manufacturers discontinued their scooters, but other scooter manufacturers were established after years, and still develop similar scooters until today.

Some are used in dense urban areas for utility purposes, being faster than a folding scooter and more convenient than a utility bicycle. Some are made for off-road use and are described as Mountain Scooters. Besides commuting, sports competition and off-road use, large wheel scooters are a favourite for dog scootering where single or team dogs such as huskies pull a scooter and rider in the same way that a sled is pulled across the snow.

FOOTBIKES AND ADULT KICK SCOOTERS IN THE UK

After cycling to work for 5+ years, the founders of iSCOOTBIKE were looking for an alternative mode of transport that would bring more health benefits and more fun than cycling.

The main motivation was saddle sores and back pain caused by cycling, and the need to exercise abs and the upper body.

We put our first 2 kick scooters to Plymouth streets at the end of summer of 2018, and we felt like rock stars as every 10th person in the street stopped us and asked what that was - "a scooter or a bike"?

In that day, many asked us to have a go and told us how much fun that was. Women, men, children, even a 76 years old lady who told us she loved bikes, but for decades had not ridden one, because she had problems with balance and was afraid of falling. That same lady rode our scooters for 10 minutes, downhill and uphill in the Barbican.

In that same week, we met 2 families that had autistic children. The parents said our scooters were a solution to their problems, because their kids lacked the balance to ride ordinary push bikes, and micro scooters were too unstable and bumpy for them.

It was the only motivation we needed to head in this direction and launch the company.

Since that day, our mission is to offer a happier, healthier, and safer way of travelling around the city.

RIding a scooter bike is much more fun than cycling. No one believes it until they try it. In fact, so far there is not one person in Plymouth who didn't say a loud WOW after riding one of them. We are especially liked by skateboarders because they can practise their "kickflip" using our footbikes in a safer "environment".

We are also very happy that because of our business we are able to bring smiles to people who have difficulties to ride a normal bicycle, including

People with Down syndrome, autism, low muscle tone, poor balance, arthrogryposis, and cerebral palsy
People undergoing rehabilitation
People who cannot pedal due to an accident or surgery
Older people, to whom a normal bicycle is already too risky (our oldest customer was 70 years old!)

Our scooter-bikes can also be used by

Athletes using it as an explosive power training
Amateurs and professionals practising Mushing (when dogs pull the bikes, oh we love it!)
And everybody else who just wants to have fun.

We have just started.

See you soon. Keep in touch, like the FB page, follow us on Instagram.

Great new things are happening every day.

Vini and Pavel

PAVEL KURZ

I have been passionate about scooters for some time already. Now it is time to share this love with the UK and bring smiles to more people. We really love when a person who was never ever able to cycle gives his/her first kicks, and after 1 hour of training tells us that she feels great, confident, and wanna do it again. Our dream is to bring these scooter bikes to every school and NGO in the UK.

VINICIUS RAMOS

Born and bred in Rio de Janeiro, I have always loved bikes. It was an easy choice when Pavel invited me to try a scooter bike. Since that day my push bike is parked in the garage and I only ride scooter bikes. Riding a scooter is so much more fun! I get the feeling of biking, skating and snowboarding at the same time, just much safer. And I feel my whole body rock solid after 1 hour riding a footbike (which I don't feel in a normal bike even after 3 hours cycling).

Before opening iScootBike, I worked as a Computer Engineer, Finance and Operations Manager in Amazon, Accenture, IBM, CA Technologies, and Avast. With a Master's degree in Computer Engineering and an MBA degree from the University of Pittsburgh, I love taking care of the admin side of the business (IT, Finance, Strategy, and Marketing).