YOU'VE PROBABLY almost been knocked over by one. Every other kid on the block seems to have one. And increasingly their older teenage siblings, and even their parents. It's up there with Harry Potter as the biggest cross-generational and trans-national trend of the year. It is, of course, the new and improved kick-scooter.
This environmentally friendly mode of transport, last popular among 1970s schoolchildren, first appeared in its reincarnation 10 months ago on the streets and sidewalks of Japan. Scooter fever has also taken hold in the United States, Australia, and particularly in Britain where 5,000 are sold every week.
But the revamped scooter actually originated in Switzerland where inventor Wim Jan Ouboter came up with the idea of transforming the original scooter, made with wooden planks and permanent metal handlebars, into the gleaming aluminium collapsible versions being ridden today.
Streamlined, portable, lightweight and shock-absorbent, with folding mechanism, telescopic bar, and a braking system, the new scooter has now become the choice mode of transport for thousands of Hong Kongers. Kids zip their way to school; yuppie commuters scoot in their suits; and grannies load grocery bags on the handlebars and kick off to the market.
They're currently legal on all Hong Kong pavements, legislators having more pressing matters to deal with, than to regulate their use.
It's seemingly only when scooters are being ridden under a roof that eyebrows are raised. Imperious security guards at the airport, in the MTR and in most shopping malls will ask you (politely or impolitely) to step down and fold up.
The trend shows no immediate signs of abating. PCS Development, the local distributor of the leading Razor and Micro scooters, are selling about 4,000 a month.