When scooter companies like Bird started illegally deploying their gadgets in city streets, there was intense interest in both the street value of the components to be found within each of these VC-backed ewaste-in-waiting devices, and tactics for hotwiring them.



Now, with hundreds of these scooters abandoned and rotting in impound lots, likely never to be recovered, maybe now is a good time to invest in a $30 scooter "conversion kit", which ships direct from China, and plugs-and-plays to convert one of these scooters to a "personal scooter," with all recovery and payment components permanently disabled.