Oxelo Town 7 XL Kick Scooter: Brake Lever Upgrade

As previously stated, I was not pleased with the braking performance in stock condition. First, the stroke was too short, and there is no free play before the brake activated. Also, there was a lot of resistance when I pulled the brake lever. This is probably due to the friction of the inner cable with the outer casing.

I was going to change just the inner cable and outer casing, but it turned out to be a lot more work than I thought! After pulling out the original inner cable and outer casing, I had already installed the new outer casing. However, when I tried to install the inner cable to the stock brake lever, I found that it could not fit!

Cast head of the new Shimano brake inner cable could not fit into the slot on the brake lever. Even though it can go into the hole, it cannot be rotated to exit at the cable adjust.

Original brake inner cable cast head can be inserted and rotated to fit into the slot.

Upon comparison, I found that the original brake cable cast head is smaller than the standard size! No wonder it could fit while the new one could not.

At this point, I could not go back to the original setup, since I had already cut the original inner cable. My only choice is to change the brake lever, so that I can use it with the new brake inner cable.

First of all, I need to remove the original brake lever. The usual way is to remove the grip first, before sliding the brake lever out from the side. However, the grip was very tightly installed and difficult to remove. I realised that since the handlebar is detachable, I can actually remove the brake lever from the other end!

Brake lever can be removed from this end of the handlebar. Just need to press down the button protruding from the handlebar, and the brake lever can slide off the end.

Remove the clamp bolt from the brake lever, and the elastic band can pass through the slot on the clamp band!

Upon studying the stock brake lever, I found one of the reason why the stock brake feeling was so lousy, with so much friction. If you look at the picture below, see how the lever stays in that position, even though there is a return spring that is supposed to return the lever to its original position. That shows how much friction there is, and how inefficient that pivot is. In retrospect, I am glad that the new inner cable did not fit this stock brake lever, as this gave me a chance to discover this problem and change out the problematic brake lever.

Lever is stuck in this position, even though the return spring is supposed to push it back to the default position. That shows how much friction there is.

The Sora brake lever is black in colour, which matches the handlebar well. Also, the cable hook is located at the "caliper brake" setting which is closer to the lever ratio of the original brake lever.

New brake lever sticks out a bit more, but nothing to be concerned about.

Once the inner cable and outer casing is routed through the frame, the final part is to clamp the inner cable to the rear brake mechanism. This turned out to be the most troublesome part of the modification.

I first tried to clamp the new inner cable while the rear wheel was in place, but this proved to be impossible as the rear wheel prevents the brake shoe from opening up far enough to secure the clamp.

In the end I had to remove the rear wheel to clamp the brake cable onto the brake shoe.

With the rear wheel removed, the clamping mechanism can be accessed more easily for securing the inner cable.

As you can see, clamping the inner cable requires aligning the inner cable under the clamp plate, while tightening the nuts using two wrenches. Quite a tricky job as the space is also very tight.

After securing, I found that there was a clicking sound whenever I pressed the brakes. After studying it in detail, I found that this was caused by the open end of the spring coil sliding along the brake shoe. The solution is to bend the spring coil slightly, and to apply some grease to stop the clicking sound.

Applying grease to the sliding areas to minimize the friction generated during braking.

Finally, the end of the inner cable has to be hooked somewhere to prevent it from touching other areas. You cannot leave it too short, or you cannot tuck it in. Too long and it will protrude out too far.

Final setup with a good spacing between the silver brake shoe and the surface of the rear wheel. This creates the brake lever free play that will allow better control.

New brake lever installed on the handlebar!

Overall view of the handlebar

View of the whole kick scooter. Note that the optional kickstand has been removed due to a design issue, as described below.

With the new brake lever setup, the whole braking feeling and performance has been greatly improved! Not only is the brake feeling much smoother, it is more efficient and effective. What I changed was the brake lever, inner cable and outer casing.

That said, there are limitations as to the effectiveness of the brakes. When going fast or downhill, the brakes are only enough to slow you down, but not stop you completely.

As for the kickstand, I removed it as it got in the way when folding the kick scooter. When folded, the kick scooter is supposed to rest on the front bottom of the platform, and stay balanced. However, with the kick stand in the way, the platform cannot rest flat on the floor, causing the folded kick scooter to tilt over on its side. This is quite annoying and so I would rather remove the kickstand.

Oxelo Town 7 XL Kick Scooter: Introduction

Although a kick scooter is not a bicycle, some components of it work similarly to that of a bicycle, so I shall also write a bit about it since it is the first time I got a kick scooter. I have many bicycles for different purposes, but sometimes what I need is just a simple way of getting from A to B in a fuss free and stress free manner.

Even with a folding bike like the Dahon or Brompton, I still have to "take care" of the bike as those bikes are not cheap, and so I cannot leave it unattended. I can bring the bike along with me, but that makes it cumbersome, even with a Brompton that I can push along.

With a kick scooter, that simplifies things as I can fold it with just one action, and carry it along as it is so lightweight compared to a bicycle. It also does not attract as much attention as when you push or carry a folded bicycle with you. Finally, I will not need to wear a helmet as I am just scooting along the pavement at low speeds. It is not an E-scooter, so I feel like I am in control at all times. If anything happens I can jump or run off the kick scooter easily.

Being impressed by Decathlon's range of kick scooters, I decided to give it a try and get one from Decathlon. After comparing each models' pros and cons, I decided to get this one, which is not too expensive. After all, kick scooters are cheap compared to bicycles!

Oxelo Town 7XL, in a dark silver colour! Comes in an easy to carry box, similar to IKEA furniture.

Includes large wheels for smooth rolling, brake lever for braking (which is very important to me), and also suspension for comfort.

Other features include the optional kickstand (included in box) and a place for you to clip lights if you need to scoot around in the dark.    

Comes folded in the box, almost ready to go!

Detachable handlebars, which I feel is the weakest part of this kick scooter design. More on this later on. At least there are holders for the detached handlebars.

Adjustable handlebar height, and detachable ends for compact storage.

Quick release lever for adjusting of handlebar height. Not really safe or ergonomic to have the end of the lever sticking out at this angle.

The plastic buttons that you press to release the handlebars from the centre handlepost. These two buttons are the only two areas preventing the handlebar from twisting or falling out.

Low platform height makes it easy and effortless to scoot around

I like the wide and long platform that accommodates both my feet easily. The rubberized layer is also useful for additional grip.

Decathlon, being a French company, has this kick scooter designed and engineered in France. As with most things, it is Made In China. It has a weight limit of 100 kg.

Rear suspension, visible through a transparent lens on the platform

Just a simple coil spring and elastomer in the middle, similar to the Brompton rear suspension. Adjustable by turning the nut at the top.

Large 200mm diameter rear wheel (equivalent to 8 inches). Nice spoke design too. Rear suspension arm made of stamped sheet metal.

Front suspension located between the front fork and the head tube. With just a rubber boot covering the mechanism.

It seems like the mechanism is just a shaft suspended within a tube, much like a standard bicycle front suspension. Front fork is also made of stamped sheet metal. Front fenders included.

Braking function can be activated either by the brake lever or by stepping on the rear fender.

Stock brake lever, mounted on the right side of the handlebar.

Using an inner cable, the rear brake mechanism is activated.

When the brake lever is pulled, the inner cable will pull the silver coloured brake shoe, which will then touch the rear wheel.

Another view of the rear mechanism. Rear brake mechanism is suspended on the rear arm, which itself is suspended from the main frame by the suspension spring.

Another way to activate the brake shoe is to step on the large aluminium rear fender. This aluminium fender looks and feels much more sturdy than the plastic ones that are usually used.

Front headset is the threaded type. Steerer tube is threaded, and secured with two interlocking nuts. The long handlepost is then clamped onto the steerer tube by this clamp shown here.

Hollow centre tube section of the platform. Strong yet lightweight.

Folding mechanism at the front. The lever on the left loosens the mechanism, while the lever on the right activates the fold.

Instructions on how to fold shown here. Quite easy to do but needs both hands to work.

Actual weight is 6 kg, which is OK, considering that it has full suspension and also a brake lever.

Optional kickstand

Kickstand attaches to the platform with two bolts and nuts.

Little kickstand activated!

Looks pretty good! I like the design of the wheels and also how integrated the suspension mechanism is.

Overall view of the Oxelo Town 7 XL kick scooter!

The large wheels plus the smooth sealed bearings makes the kick scooter glide so smoothly and quickly! On a smooth flat road, it just glides effortlessly along. It only takes 3 good kicks to roll a distance of approximately 50 metres.

In stock condition, the rear suspension was far too hard for me to feel any effect. I had to loosen the nut by quite a few turns, in order to feel the suspension compressing when I step on it. Sort of like setting the sag on a mountain bike suspension.

As for the front suspension, it was also far too hard to feel any movement when I step on the platform. However, I could not find any way to adjust it.

During actual usage, I did feel the rear suspension work, when rolling over the raised yellow dots on the floor. As for the front suspension, I only felt it activate occasionally, when the front end goes into a depression on the ground or drops over a small curb.

The brake lever is useful for reducing speed, as compared to using the foot to step on the rear fender. It is better for me as I don't need to shift my weight balance when braking, whereas if you use your foot to brake, you need to balance with one foot while using the other to brake. Also, pressing the brake lever requires much less reaction time, compared to using the rear fender brake, where you need to shift your balance, followed by finding the rear fender to step on, then trying to modulate the braking force so that you don't fall off the kick scooter.

With the brake lever, I can modulate the braking force more precisely with my hand, while preparing to put down a leg when I come to a stop. It is safer and more stable to have a brake lever on a kick scooter.

So far, all is good. However, the wobbly handlebars are not the best. As the handlebars fit into the handlepost loosely, you can still move and rotate the handlebar even when you are moving, which is quite unsettling. Although it will not fall out, the moving handlebar still makes me a bit worried. To mitigate this, I try to hold the grips and push it downwards when riding, so that it settles in a fixed position and not move around.

I am not too satisfied with the condition of the rear brake setup, so I will modify it a bit...