Roaming Orlando on a WingFlyer

- Michelle Snow

If you were at the Fireworks at the Fountain on the Fourth of July at Lake Eola, you might have seen a product demonstration for the WingFlyer.

This unique mode of transport is a cross between a scooter and a bicycle, with a touch of a stair stepper exerciser added in. There’s no seat and you ride it standing up, like a scooter. It does have pedals like a bike but instead of a normal circular motion, you step up and down, as if on a stair stepper.

 

We recently received one from the company to try at our office. It arrived in a smaller box than I thought and it took two of us to put it together – we had to unfold it, connect the handlebars and the step pedals. We had the WingFlyer ready to ride within 20 minutes.

There is a bit of learning curve to teach yourself to pedal standing up, but it provides quite a workout once that feat is mastered. It is a lower impact cardio workout than running or jogging, but you still feel it through the thighs and butt.

Another benefit the WingFlyer has over a traditional bike or scooter is that it folds up to a very portable size. There is a clamp grip that opens on the steering portion of the product, allowing you to lift it up and then fold it down across the pedals, making it small enough to fit in the trunk of a car (or even a backseat). This makes it ideal for small apartments or for road trips.

With the exercise benefits of the WingFlyer, we were surprised that the platform part of the pedals were not entirely made of metal. There is a metal bar that runs along the center of the underside of each pedal, connecting them to the WingFlyer frame, but the top platform part for the foot is a hard plastic material. A few of our staff members, who could really benefit from the workout this product, felt a little unsure that the pedals would support their weight once they began the stepping motions needed to propel the WingFlyer.

We were also surprised that the instructions for attaching the pedals to the frame were not in the instruction booklet that came with product. They were on a separate sheet of paper that could easily get lost or overlooked in the box.

The WIngFlyer comes in three models: the Z100 is sized for kids and retails for $249; the Z150 (our tester) is adult-sized and retails for $329; and the WingFlyer Extreme (for those who like to do tricks and stunts) is $289.

Overall, I would say the WingFlyer has a bit of a learning curve, but is fun to ride and a good workout. We also enjoyed that it folded up when not in use to take up less space. It’s a good investment.

Want to try it out for yourself? Keep reading this blog as we’ll be giving away a WingFlyer next week. It’ll be super easy to enter, too.

Have you already tried a WingFlyer? Let us know in the comments what you think.

About Michelle Snow

Michelle is the owner and editor of CitySurfing Orlando. She also owns Zengrrl.com, is a freelance writer specializing in travel and entertainment, has authored/co-authored four guidebooks on Orlando and Florida, and is head editor/writer at TheDisneyBlog.com. She's lived in Orlando near Walt Disney World since 1995, and still finds there's so much fun to be had in Central Florida.

2 thoughts on “Roaming Orlando on a WingFlyer”

  1. Just got my Z150 a little while ago, and it’s been a blast!! It does ride smooth and everything was even more stable than I anticipated, which made me feel safe racing on it. I agree it’s a little different motion than other scooters so you have to get used to it, but I was flying around in less than half an hour with my big bro, who btw is an ex-football lineman who still easily weighs over 260… I had to force him to try it but once he started, he had to admit it was “fun” LOL… So not sure why the people up there were apprehensive about the “plastic pedals” but that seemed to be a non-factor. And instructions? Not sure about others but that’s usually the last thing I want to read when putting something simple together and only needed out of desperation, so whether it was in the packet or bag or whatever, doesn’t matter… this took me about 4 minutes, 5 tops, to snap crackle and fly!

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