Balto Assembly

Assembly was very easy for the Glion Balto, I just had to carefully pull out all the contents of the box and set them out where I could see them and work through the simple instructions. Once I got all the accessories out of the box and pulled out the main body I could begin.

The first thing I did was set up the battery to charge. I didn’t want to waste a minute waiting for that if I didn’t have to. I did notice that the standard charger is the same one as for my SnapNGo. That’s handy because I already have two of those, so now I have 3 and can keep them in a few places.

Once the body of the scooter was out of the box and free, I could stand it up and then it was easy to put the handle bar grips on and the mirror on. They just screwed right on with the included tools. Then the seat was quick to clamp into place. I’ll be riding on the seat, as I don’t walk or stand very well. I might try standing to ride sometime, but it will be for a very short attempt.

Riding the Balto

My first ride on the scooter was around the neighborhood about 2 miles and up/down some large hills. I rode without the basket or the rack just like in the picture above. The scooter handled well and reached about 17mph while traveling on level ground. It handled the large paved hills well hover one of them is over 1800 feet long and is very steep. It’s so steep that my 16yo son doesn’t like to ride up it on his mountain bike. Toward the top of that hill I had to give the scooter some kicks with my left foot as the front wheel was losing grip.

Another hill I tried it on was one that I can’t go up or down on either of my other scooters. This hill is a gravel trail under some power lines. It’s also very steep and a bit rutted. I could go down that hill pretty well because of the Balto’s ground clearance, however on the way up I made it, but had to use some leg action on that as well. The Triad doesn’t do gravel roads very well because they are usually a little rutted and the ground clearance on the Triad is only a couple inches. Being a two-wheeled scooter, the Balto can navigate the ruts a little better and it even has a better shock absorbing seat.

Conclusions on My First Ride

Over-all it was a great time out for my first ride and I found that I can get farther off-road. I can now take more gravel roads and trails and being so light weight it’s pretty easy for me to maneuver. It’s definitely nimble compared to my Triad that usually use outside and for riding paved trails and roads.