Why fit in when you were born to stand out (part 2)

I'm not in the habit of reusing quotes for post titles but as I'm writing about the same product I was before and it seems far more fitting to this post I thought what the hell!

It's no secret that I am an ENORMOUS Micro-scooter enthusiast and if you have been reading the blog for a while then you'll have been following our Micro adventure and be fully aware of the amazing impact the scooters have had on us as a family. The Pedal flow has been taking up most of my scooting time since Christmas and although it is a really fun and interesting scooter it was missing something really important, a splash of colour. The Pedalflow may be aimed at us adults but I find the colour schemes and prints of the children's scooters far more appealing (it must be my playful side).

The pedal flow as it is, is a real head turner and I've been stopped many times out and about because it seems people want to know 'what it is!'. It definitely needed a bit of extra pizazz though so I started looking in to what parts I could change easily on the scooter and after talking it over with the style council about colour schemes, a decision for pink and green was unanimous.

If you are looking to spruce up your pedal flow it's handy to know that the handlebar grips can be replaced with any standard size bike/scooter grips. Micro-scooters have an amazing selection of coloured grips to choose from. Unfortunately the two colours I need we're at that point out of stock. When changing the pedals, any 9/16" thread pedals will fit so I went hunting for some to fit our colour scheme. 

Our plan was to put a snazzy pink chain on the Pedalflow but when I noticed a seller online selling both pink and green chains I couldn't resist buying both, along with a rivet extractor to make the chain stripey (I think it made all the difference to the overall look). I couldn't not have coloured dice for the valve caps to finish it off, all my bmx's had them as a kid.

The scooter looked a lot more fancy but I really wanted to do something about all of that white. I did a bit of research online and a friend of mine told me about Hydro dipping. If you've not heard about it, I'd definitely recommend watching a video on YouTube, it's fascinating. I really wanted leopard print covering the frame but after requesting a quote from a local company, that came back at £200, I ruled out hydro dipping straight away.

We drove past hobby craft a few days back, which got me thinking about découpage and whether there was any way that I could somehow apply it to the scooter. Then I had a eureka! Moment and remembered working with Duck tape on the blog some time ago and thought yeah that could work. So after parting with probably the best £6 I have spent in a long time, yesterday while Opeie played with his friends, I sat in the sun and began wrapping the frame.

The curves were a bit of a pain to get around but after a couple of hours wrapping, some skillful cuts with my trusty x-acto knife and a little help from my awesome neighbour, the Pedalflow diva deluxe was ready to be put back together. Today was the perfect day for its first public appearance and as I pedalled away from the car after arriving at Ironbridge, Mrs M said 'that man just stared at you open mouthed as you rode by!'. I'm still not sure if he was solely taking in the awesomeness of the scooter or whether it was more the fact that attached to that sexy set of wheels was a built, bearded man. Either way it was exactly the first response I was expecting for my new glamorous wheels.

As Dr. Seuss so rightfully put it, "why fit in, when you were born to stand out"

"I'm just sittin' on the dock of the bay Wastin' time"

I can't even begin to tell you how much I am loving this sunshine. Waking up in the morning and seeing it desperately trying to find a way in under the blinds, sets me up for the day and where there is sunshine there is adventure. If you read our previous post then you will know that after a trip to Liverpool to pick up Mrs M's passport we were eager to get back there with the scooters to scoot Albert dock. Well, last weeks sunshine and lack of needing to be anywhere important was all the fuel we needed to pack up the Micro-scooters and head out.

Opeie was the DJ during our journey and with Justin Bieber and Taylor swift being his choice of soundtrack I couldn't get there (and out of the car) quick enough. When we arrived the sun had dulled a little but we were confident that weather wise it was going to be an awesome day. I used our outing to put the Pedalflow to the test as it had not been out long distance and I really wanted to see what it could do.

The thing that was so appealing scooter wise during our previous trip around Albert dock was the flat, smoothness of the area and the huge amount of space to bomb about. On top of that there were ramps to raised levels, which made our scoot even more entertaining. Its great to be scooting around new cities as it gets Opeie asking lots of questions and for homeschooling these kind of days out are a great source of education and experience.

I mean where else are you going to scoot past a picture of the Beatles made entirely of Jelly beans?

Scooting together has really become our thing. That special father/son time where we can concentrate completely on having fun while whizzing around. It has given us an extra level to this amazing relationship that is continuing to be built daily. This awesome bonding time is made even better when Mrs M and Seth are scooting with us.

The evening we got back from our trip, I sent a picture to a whatsapp group of all the cool moms I hang out with. One of the moms recognised the Beatles jellybeans, which started a conversation about the universities we all attended. Emma over at Another Last Story mentioned her time as a student in Leeds and how lovely the city is. Which without thinking got me asking "Whats the scooting like?", it made me chuckle to myself that I have actually reached the point in our family scooting adventure that I am measuring the appeal of a new city solely on the ability to scoot there. That's how much of an impact those wheels have had on our life though.

As much as we love those wheels of ours, the afternoon wasn't all about scooters. With every city scooted we also try to hunt down any museum or educational establishment to add in to the adventure, Its what makes our home education so great. We had visited the Tate and the Museum of Liverpool during our previous visit but this time we headed towards Liverpool's 'World Museum' as I had read some great reviews (and they've got dinosaurs!).

The great thing about all three of the museums that we have visited in Liverpool is the size of the lockers available which comfortably held a Pedalflow, a Mini Micro and our bags and coats, genius! When we were getting them back out before leaving there was a mom with her two children who was very impressed by what we were pulling out, which started a long chat about Micro Scooters and all the benefits to having them and again the impact they have had on our lives. I think that may just have been another customer coming their way.

The museum was great, with lots of different themes to keep us both entertained. The dinosaurs where what had me hooked when I was researching online but there was and eqyptian themed floor, a planetarium, an Aquarium and lots of other interesting things to look at and information for the little sponge that travels with me.

(Get a room Starfish!)

I was expecting the dinosaurs to be Opeie's favourite part of the visit but it turned out to be and exhibition called 'eye for colour - the rainbow revealed!', a collection of information and activities around how colour is formed and how the eye processes colour. Opeie got to learn about how colour is used in art and we went over colour mixing again but this time using light too.

There was a great section on colour in the animal kingdom and how colour was used to attract mates, scare off predators and also how it was used to stand out. Opeie's favourite part was using colour as camouflage to blend in to a surrounding environment.

We could have quite happily spent the bulk of our visit at this exhibition as there was so much great information to keep us entertained. Using the Dog, Fish and Bee heads below you could move them around to look about the room and it gave you an idea of the colours that these animals can see compared to what we do. Opeie of course used them to pretend he was a spy and I had to jump out and make faces while he was looking around.

The museum visit really added to our already eventful scooting adventure and as we pushed off in to the sunshine we were reminded yet again of just how much Micro Scooters has been shaping these amazing homeschooling days together.

"Why fit in when you were born to stand out?"

As a stay at home dad/blogger it can be really difficult sometimes to review a product if I need to be in the photo myself. If these rare times crop up I have to rely on Mrs M to be about because she is the only person I know will get the shots right. There's not a lot of chance of that midweek because she's hard at work and the weekends are usually so crammed full of fun activities. This weekend though we got the chance to head out in the sunshine to get pictures of the thing that is bringing me so much entertainment with the boys at the moment.

Back in December I came home to a surprise package, beautifully wrapped and screaming 'OPEN ME!'. It wasn't quite Christmas but I thought What the heck, (I always was a bit of a rebel). I had mentioned in a post last year that I was really intrigued by the Micro Scooters Pedalflow and after removing the ribbon, there staring up at me was a new toy, Christmas really had come early. When you see the scooter I think its impossible to not be intrigued. The Pedalflow looks so much fun and once you've got over the initial few seconds while you try and adapt to a completely different style of scooting it really doesn't disappoint. You wouldn't believe how many strangers have had a go on this after seeing me pedaling around.

So yesterday we planned to take the scooters down to Ironbridge for a family scoot and as we were just scooting away from the car to head towards the park we spotted Auntie Lottie walking towards us. Shes always up for a spot of adventure and luckily there was a spare set of wheels in the boot for such a scooting adventure, so the five of us made our way towards the park.

With large chunky air filled tyres and a much more beefy frame than any of their other scooters, the Pedalflow would seem like it would be weighty and harder to manoeuvre but once you get going and pick up some momentum this thing is AWESOME. I love using the Suspension scooter everywhere we go and it is great if it needs to be folded and carried about. The Pedalflow is nowhere near as easy to move about but for shorter journeys and for attempting crazy tricks on, this scooter is the best. When I was younger It was all about my BMX (which I took everywhere). The Pealflow gives me that same kind of feeling and is great for jumping of curbs and low walls (don't tell MRS M though, I'll get told off).

This scooter is a head turner and when I am out and about on it, it gets people talking. As I said before I have been stopped many times for people to ask questions and Ive let more random people give it a try than I can remember, a true attention grabber. As expected Auntie Lottie couldn't wait to give it a try, I personally wouldn't attempt riding this in heals (although with by beard I may pull it off) but she threw caution to the wind and jumped on. The only negative about this scooter (pointed out by Lottie too) is that it is difficult to get up a hill if you are starting from a stationary position, but then if you are the scooting equivalent of a boy racer like me you hit that hill with avengeance.

The Pedalflow could be a great addition to physical training or weight loss. In the words of Micro themselves "Riding the Pedalflow will strengthen your thighs, glutes and hamstring muscles. In addition the abdominal and spinal erector muscles act as stabilisers promoting core strength." I can honstley speak from experience that a good session ridding on this makes you feel like you've had an all over workout, which is great.

This pedalled beauty may be heavier and a little more clumpy than all of the other scooters from Micro but it still folds down and fits perfectly in the boot. Adding to all of the other positives that this scooter has to offer.

The pedalflow is not by any means perfect for long distance commutes or lugging around by hand (I'll be putitng that to the test around London soon though) but personally for me so far this is the most fun scooter we own.