This RS Jet is the second Inmotion scooter I've reviewed, and it's night-and-day different from the S1F Inmotion had sent me before. Even though that was only 11 months ago, I feel like the technology is light-years apart.
It absolutely rips. The first stat you'll see on Inmotion's website is "Fastest acceleration: 0-48km/h in 3.5s." That's 29.8 miles per hour. That means you'll be giving a Mustang V6 automatic a run for its money up to 30 mph on this US$2,200 machine. I guess racing a V6 Mustang isn't a whole lot to brag about, really ... but on a scooter?! That's quick.
The RS Jet is one of Inmotion's flagship scooters. In fact, it's a slightly detuned version of the big-dog RS, a scooter capable of 68 mph (109.5 km/h) and 100 miles (160 km) of range. The Jet is onnnllly capable of 55.2 mph (88.8 km/h) according to my GPS. And range-wise, I've not done any eco-specific runs in the last ~320 miles (515 km) of blasting around, but I regularly and reliably get 33-35 miles (53–56 km) of real-world usage per charge without worrying about it.
I wouldn't call it a "pleasure cruiser." While yes, you can cruise along casually on it, the RS Jet is more a high-performance, go-fast-and-take-chances kind of machine. It's absolutely not the kind of scooter I would recommend to a newbie in the same way I wouldn't recommend a Hayabusa as someone's first motorcycle. Can it be done without grievous injury? Sure! But is there a better way? Yes, definitely.
It has no traction control nor anti-lock brake capability. There are no safety nets. It's just raw power at the touch of the throttle ... and I love it.
The RS Jet has a couple of bells and whistles that I've not experienced on other scooters so far, like a touchscreen. And not just any old touchscreen, but one that lets you actually control parameters of the scooter without needing the app, like locking the scooter with a pin number. Should anyone mess with the scooter while it's locked, it starts honking and flashing the lights – which is embarrassing when you're at the grocery store and you did it to yourself – letting everyone know that a baddie is doing baddie stuff. I like this.
It doesn't feature all parameters on the screen – you still need the app for some – but it does take care of pretty much all the things you're going to mess with anyways. You can even change how much power-bias you want front/rear, or set the maximum electronic regen/brake force of each wheel through the touchscreen. That's rad. After much tinkering, I settled on 0% regen on the front wheel and 50% on the rear. That allows me to have finite control at super low speeds with just the hydraulic front brake. I tried 100%/100% ... do not recommend. ;)
And the brakes are good. They will absolutely get you slowed and stopped when you need them. The front brake is on the right, which, as a motorcyclist my entire life, I very much appreciate. Overall, I'd give the hydraulic brakes a solid 8/10, but when you pair them with regen, it's more like 9/10. I sometimes wonder how long those little pads will last on a scooter that hauls the mail like this one does. After 320-plus miles, they seem like there's still a lot of life left.
Specs at a glance:
- Top speed: 50 mph (80 km/h) – Mine does 55.2 mph (88.8 km/h)
- Range: up to 62 miles (100 km) – I reliably get ~33-35 miles (~53–56 km)
- Battery: 72 V, 25 Ah, 1,800 Wh
- Motors: dual 1,200 W (dual 2300 W peak = 4,600 W combined)
- Tires: 11 x 3.5-inch tubeless, self-sealing tires
- Brakes: hydraulic 160-mm disk front and rear + adjustable regen
- Weight: 102.5 lb (46.5 kg)
- Max payload: 330 lb (150 kg)
- Climbing ability: 26°, 50% grade
- Display: 4.3-inch touchscreen
- IP Rating: IPX6 – Hit all the puddles you want!
- Dimensions: 55.3 x 27.6 x 50.8 in (1405 x 680 x 1290 mm)
- UL Certified
The suspension is a little quirky. Well, first, let me say that the suspension is a solid 8/10. If it had progressive springs, it could easily be 9.5/10. But it has that "swoop" factor that I appreciate – where it's soft enough to have some bounce in it so I can launch off curbs and such, but not so soft that it bottoms out very often. It has adjustable rebound damping, though I'm not entirely sure how much is actual valving versus placebo, as I feel no difference when going from one extreme to the other on the clickers, and I know clickers.
Though, on my usual chip-seal, vision-blurring, fillings-rattling pavement test that I customarily do, the RS Jet lands right at the top step of all scooters I've tested, right next to the Navee ST3 Pro. No vibrating eyeballs whatsoever. And the faster I go, the better it gets.
The actual quirky bit is the ride height adjuster. It literally has a little Allen key adjuster (easy on the rear, punch-a-puppy difficult on the front) so you can raise and lower the deck height quite a bit. I leave mine in "off-road" mode – at its highest setting – but if you really wanted to, you could put it in "low-rider" mode too ... or anywhere in between. Personally, I think it's an unnecessary feature that only adds weight and complexity to the scooter, but maybe there are people who like it low, low, low.
Because of this weird ride-height feature, Inmotion has added a telescoping kickstand. Yes, you read that right. I think it's the thing that bothers me most on the scooter, as it jiggles and rattles on what would otherwise be a quiet ride. Having a telescoping kick stand makes sense when the deck height has so much adjustment, but I'd rather have received a longer, solid kickstand that requires me to swap out hardware, personally. And also because of this feature, the rear kick plate is more like a step, rather than a slope, making it not terribly comfortable to rest your arch on ... and with as much go-juice as the RS Jet has, arch-on-plate is a requirement.
For everything I might not care for, there's an equal and opposite thing I like on the RS Jet: I love-love-love the fact that there's an actual button for cruise control. I've been saying it for years now that I'd happily do away with the "maintain speed for five seconds" style of cruise control in favor of a left-thumb button to easily toggle cruise. The RS Jet is the first scootie-scoot I've ridden that has a button, and I love-love-love it. It's a big, bold button situated right between the indicators (which self-cancel after five seconds, a nice touch if I do say so), and nearly impossible to muck up.
Also on the left control is the on/off for the headlight, as well as the ridiculously loud, proper motorcycle-style horn. Not good for bike paths, because it sounds downright rude, but perfect for surface streets when you need to yell at someone in high frequency. The headlight is surprisingly good as well – 45 mph (72 km/h) on dark streets is a-okay with just the stock headlight, and you're not overriding your ability to see. The headlight is mounted low, and it seems like the higher shadow contrast makes the lumens just work better for my old four eyes.
The RS Jet uses a proper thumb throttle like you'd find on an ATV. Or, if you're old enough to remember, an ATC (I have some stories from my old Honda 350X!). Historically, I don't like thumb throttles, but I spent a long time giving it a fair shake to figure out if I like it or not on the scoot ... turns out, I kinda do. On every other scooter I've ridden, I tend to grip the throttle with my index finger over top and my thumb depressing the lever, giving me two points of contact on the drum and the rest of my hand on the fixed grip, maintaining perfect, steady throttle, even over bumps. With the thumb throttle, I sort of wedge my thumb between the throttle and the bar, almost giving me that same finite control, but not quite as good. But the big plus is that the thumb throttle is far less fatiguing on my right hand – especially with that fat cruise control button that, did I mention, I love-love-love?
Things I'm not stoked about:
At high speed, the RS Jet gets a little woobly (my modified version of "wobbly" that contains slightly more panic). It can be unnerving, especially if you've never had the high-speed wobbles before. Being a motorcyclist at a fairly high level most of my life, I've had my share of big tank-slappers. The RS Jet doesn't quite have full-on slappers, but it'll give you the impression it wants to if you're not careful. And just like you would on a moto, a little throttle goes a long way to unslap yourself. Overall, the Jet is twitchy – which is nice when you're doing quick maneuvers at lower speeds, but can quickly induce pucker moments if you're not calling the ball properly.
The telescoping kickstand ... but I already told you that.
Sometimes, when engaging cruise control, for whatever reason, it'll lose a few mph before rolling back up to the speed you'd initially set it to. There's no rhyme or reason to it that I've been able to identify. But that'll probably change the next time firmware gets an upgrade.
It folds, yes, like nearly every other scooter; however, the handlebars don't lock to the frame anywhere ... so picking it up and carrying it (if you're a strong fellow such as myself, as it's pretty dang heavy) in its folded state is a non-starter. And the mechanism for folding it is kind of odd too, as you have to unlatch a sleeve/collar that slides up the dual fork struts to release the hinge. Hard to explain, awkward to use, not my favorite design, but it works as advertised. Thankfully I have almost zero reason to fold my scooters, but if you live in a tight apartment or something where every square inch of space is needed, the RS Jet is going to take up a lot of room.
And this is just me nit-picking, but it's still valid: The wide 3.5-inch tires are pretty sticky, and while that's awesome and they have a ton of grip, they also pick up every single pebble off the road and violently yeet them into the fenders – part of which are metal, part plastic – which means very loud BANG-PANG-PEWM-TING-TANGs as you're riding along. Would I prefer hard tires that have less grip? Absolutely not. But it is really annoying. It sounds like machine gun fire when riding across pea gravel, and I feel a little self-conscious when there are people around.
Everything else about the scoot is an absolute riot. It's not the fastest scooter on the market, but it's close. It runs up there with the big dogs like the Segway GT3 Pro or the Kaabo Warrior 11 Max. Spend a couple more (a lot more) bucks and get the 68-mph (109-km/h), top-of-the-line RS if you want absolute mind-bending (and Sausage Creature-inducing) top speeds where very few manufacturers dare to tread.
I have about the same number of miles on this beast as I do on the Navee UT5 Ultra X, and the RS Jet is definitely ahead on compliments and questions received from strangers, mostly because of how wild looking the Inmotion is.
In all, if you like to go fast, take chances, have a Class 2 Rating* annnd dig the P-5000 Powered Work Loader styling, then you'll love the RS Jet.
Product Page: Inmotion RS Jet
*Just kidding about the Class 2 Rating from Alien
