Kugoo Kirin M4 Pro Review

A budget scooter that is surprisingly capable – great range and enough power and speed to be fun at the same time.

Having reviewed quite a few Kugoo scooters now – we know what to expect in terms of quality, in build and performance. Kugoo are a budget scooter company – making great scooters that are equally affordable – so accessible to a wider audience.

Usually with budget scooters – there’s that feeling of impending doom when bits start going wrong early on, but so far with the Kugoo Kirin M4 Pro – we’re really surprised at the build quality.

Kugoo Kirin M4 Pro: The Lowdown…

Kugoo sent us a Kirin M4 Pro to review – so we waited gingerly for it to arrive. The M4 pro is mid-range from Kugoo in terms of power output – supercedes by the likes of the Kugoo G2 Pro and Kugoo M5 Pro. The Kirin M4 Pro sports a single, rear drive hub motor rated at 500w continuous.

Most 500w scooters generally top out at around 20mph (some exceeding this – but most around 20mph) – however the Kirin M4 pro comfortably manages 25mph and on a downhill gradient, you could in theory reach up to 28mph-30mph.

Weight and other factors will impact top speed, but more on that later.

Kugoo M4 Pro Specifications

Kirin M4 Pro Cons

Adjustable stem clamp isn’t strong enough

You can’t turn flashing RGB lights off

The handlebar locking screws can loosen easily

Cheap looking suspension and bolts

Kirin M4 Pro Summary

The Kugoo Kirin M4 Pro came to us from Germany – it was shipped quickly and when it arrived, the box was in fairly good condition. We say this because sometimes scooters can be delivered with huge gashes and dents in the box leading to scooter damage – however the M4 arrived and inside the box was untouched.

It was well packaged – everything there and nothing missing – it even came with a little toolkit for assembly. It took a few minutes to put together and just required the handlebar gear arranging and tightening – everything else was good to go.

It came with a 3/4 charged battery which is great – this means that the battery is likely to be healthy (receiving scooters with a fully charged or flat battery isn’t ideal).

The first thing that struck us was how nice it looked for a budget scooter – the andodised red metal components are a nice touch, the deck is a nice (non box shape) and everything was arranged very well for a budget scooter.

Out of the box – no issues! 

Performance Overview

The Kirin M4 Pro is a 500w single drive (rear motor) scooter. So don’t expect to be flying down the lanes or along greenways – any scooter in this category isn’t going to be overly powerful, but, in the grand scheme of things, the Kirin M4 Pro does very well. Remember  – one 500w scooter could be quicker than another – it depends on scooter weight, motor efficiency, battery and controllers. The Kugoo Kirin M4 Pro is definitely a good contender with one of the top end speeds for a scooter in this power category.

The Kirin M4 Pro has enough guts to get up gradients of 20% – although it will slow right down, especially for heavier riders. The optimal end rider weight seems to be 70kg or below, 100kg plus will impact how the M4 climbs hills. 

Acceleration is smooth and steady, no wheel spins here. It will maintain pick up to around 18mph before acceleration slows down up to 25mph.

It’s able to comfortably sit at 25mph continuously without the motor or controllers getting too hot.

Off road the Kirin M4 Pro performed really well, the suspension and tyre combination meant it coped with stony / lose gravel paths and some muddy trails with ease.

Speed & Acceleration

The Kirin M4 Pro offers smooth and steady acceleration up to a top speed of 25mph. On a downhill gradient it is possible to get another 2-3mph out of the scooter – although whether that backfeeds anything into the controller – we don’t know. It’s at the higher end of the speed / acceleration for 500w scooters so you won’t be left behind by other scooters in the same powerclass.

Top Speed

The Kirin M4 Pro has a top speed of 25mph – although technically it is capable of 28mph. Some people claim 30mph+ but the model we received was unable to do more than 28mph on a downhill gradient (which is still more than enough considering scooters in the 350w power class typically top out at 15-18mph). 

Hill Climbing

The Kirin M4 Pro is fairly capable at hill climbs, although being a single motor it will struggle up steep hills, for heavier riders it may even struggle to continue climbing on gradients of 10%-20% plus. A 70kg rider can expect to make it up a gradient of 20% but with speed reducing to a crawl at 3-5mph.

Riders over 70kg will find hill climbing capability falls.

Overall, the general recognised max gradient is 20% for the Kirin M4 Pro.

Battery & Range

The Kirin M4 Pro absolutely shines here when it comes to battery and range. We were utterly astounded with how far the M4 pro went on a single charge. Just remember, this is a BUDGET SCOOTER – Therefore the budget will impact on the price paid for components used in the scooter. Whatever Kugoo have done – they’ve managed to fit a 16AH battery in to the Kirin M4 Pro – yes that’s right 16AH! – that is a lot of battery for a budget scooter. Some Kugoo M4 models ship with a smaller battery (13 ah).

So, the range – well, it’s a 52v scooter with a 16ah battery making a capacity of 832wh – which is impressive.

Now – given the price, we were expecting the battery to be “highly rated” with lesser performance – but, we weren’t left disappointed – the battery performed exceptionally well achieving over 20 miles on a single charge – riding in MODE 2 with most of the journey riding at full throttle.

That’s impressive – very impressive. In theory, riding in MODE 1 cautiously there is no reason why you couldn’t achieve 30 miles on a charge – although it would be painfully slow.

In MODE 3 – Flat out we were able to achieve 18 miles.

Motor Configuration

The Kirin M4 Pro has a single, rear BLDC hub motor – which appears to be generic (unbranded) like most budget scooters. The motor output speed is managed via the LCD panel offering 3 different modes  (speed output). We found the motor performs well, even after hard riding (CONTINUOUS and with Steep Gradients) it got warm but not overly hot. We’re unsure on whether the motor unit itself is impervious to water – we couldn’t see any noticeable seal on the hub. The scooter is rated IPX4 so we’d imagine the motor casing has some form of gasket/seal to stop water getting in.

The motor power cable feed goes in through the right hand rear wheel nut – this has a rubber cap over it to help add additional waterproofing – although we found this to be slightly loose – so worth putting a dab of glue on to ensure it doesn’t come off.

Construction & Quality

The Kirin M4 Pro is a steel framed scooter. It features a rigid folding mechanism which folds at the base of the scooter and not at the stem – making the Kirin M4 Pro’s stem far more rigid – there was literally no play on our model. The frame appears solid with no obvious weak spots or vulnerabilities. 

The overall quality for this price range was very good – better than we were expecting. 

The overall construction is very good – we found the folding mechanism to be very solid, although it can be a tad tricky to fold down sometimes.

The rear suspension is very good – despite being a basic push rod (spring) style, it does a surprisingly good job at dampening. The quality of the rear suspension looked and felt good – there was little to no flex.

The front suspension however – works well but it looks questionable in terms of quality – this was the only area of the scooter that we felt let it down. The front suspension consists of a fork with 2 struts and an outer spring – capped at the top with a cheap – chinese chrome style nut (the kind you used to see on the old mini motors that rust).

The deck was rigid and is shaped with angles to encompass indicators and underneath RGB lighting. The deck is good quality and the rubber deck footplate is a nice touch also.

The stem is another area of concern – although not the end of the world – the mechanism that allows you to adjust the handlebar height (which is extremely useful for taller/shorter riders) doesn’t fully stop some level of rotation. The clamp that stops the handlebar stem (UPPER TUBE) from moving up and down doesn’t do the best job in keeping alignment between the handlebars and front wheel. If the clamp is done up super tight – it does mitigate this issue, but, it’s a weak design and should of used some form of a locator pin to stop this issue.

Whilst there are niggling issues – there are outweighed by the benefits. You get a serious amount of scooter for your money – so it’s to be expected that there will be little things here and there.

Suspension & Comfort

The Kirin M4 Pro has dual suspension – front and rear suspension on a sub £600 scooter with a 16ah battery is just incredible value for money. The Kirin M4 Pro uses a spring based suspension both front and rear. The front suspension consists of a fork with 2 thin bars with a wide open spring encompassing the bars – this works well but isn’t the most attractive – which is ironic and the rear suspension uses really nice closed andodised metal units. 

 The overall suspension performance is good – the comfort factor is good.

Ride Quality

The ride quality on the Kirin M4 Pro is very good – the front and rear suspension does a great job of dampening poor or uneven road surfaces. On our range test we found it to be comfortable and not tiring to ride. The perfect handlebar height (thanks to its adjustability) and deck side + suspension made this a pleasure to ride.

Smooth acceleration with active suspension and a nice rubber covered deck means the Kirin M4 Pro is great for long distance rides.

It was very capable on and off road.

We tested it on loose gravel pathways and greenlanes – it did very well.

The front suspension can feel like it bottoms out if you hit anything hard enough but other than that – it’s very capable on and off road.

Lights

So the Kirin M4 Pro comes with a load of lighting – which is great. Scooter riders should be visible wherever they ride – with the M4 Pro you will certainly be visible.

To begin with – the front light is exceptionally bright. It’s a dual LIGHT/HORN unit with 4 powerful COB style LEDS. The light is mounted very low over the front wheel but surprisingly – it casts a very large beam pattern at night – the light does an exceptional job in the dark – you can ride the M4 Pro in the dark with ease – the front light was very impressive in terms of LUMENS output.

The deck – has, underneath it, RBG lighting strips which flash through the usual green, red, blue colours. This definitely adds some flare and style to the scooter – but, more professional riders would probably have wanted a way to switch these off.

You can’t turn the RGB strip lights off – Kugoo – take note, make them switchable.

As for the next lights – yes, it has INDICATORS – both visual and audible. The indicators are positioned in the back of the deck running around 1/5 of the way along the deck. When you indicate the trail of LED’s runs in sequence to indicate what direction you intend on turning – although these aren’t overly bright.

And rear lights – it has very bright rear brake lights which stand out well in the dark.

Braking

The value just doesn’t stop with the M4 Pro – it has DISC BRAKES! So, we have a feature packed scooter, with full front and rear suspension, full lighting, rubber deck, seat, carry plate, adjustable stem height, horn and more! It comes with cable operated disc brakes.

This is brilliant as they perform very well. 

Something at this price point couldn’t feature hydraulic disc brakes without compromising elsewhere – and to be honest, the Kirin M4 Pro does just fine with the current setup. It has front and rear cable driven disc brakes. The calliper appears to be of some unknown/obscure brand – but it does a great job anyway.

Overall braking performance is very good, you can comfortably stop with gentle tugs on the front and rear disc brake levers.

There is no regenerative braking.

Portability

The Kirin M4 Pro – whilst still lightweight compared to other scooters in a similar power territory – it’s at the point where being any heavier would make it less portable and suitable for carrying up stairs. The M4 pro is portable and you can carry it – although at just over 20kg it would no doubt become uncomfortable to carry any meaningful difference.

The handlebars and stem both fold down – it all folds into a compact enough space to chuck in the back of almost any car / hatchback.

The handlebars fold down also – 2 screw cups allow the handlebars to be folded down. Some riders (including us) found that the screw caps work themselves loose – you can’t fold the handlebars without winding the screw cup to the end of the thread and then pulling the screw cup out to allow the handlebars to fold – so even if they work loose when riding, the handlebars won’t collapse or fold. An easy workaround for this was a quick blast of hairspray on the threads – then doing them up tightly, after that they never unwound again.

Overall the Kirin M4 Pro is portable and perfect for people who live in flats or areas where a scooter needs to be carried through.

Tyres

The tyres on the Kirin M4 Pro are 10″ pneumatic tyres with “anti skid rubber” – although that’s hard to verify. We were able to lock the brakes up and skid with ease. The tyres have a curved inner wall profile – which although it makes the tyre rigid, it also makes them more prone to puncture.

Quite a few Kugoo Kirin M4 Pro riders complained about tyres going down easily or being punctured easily.

Our recommendation is to fill them with slime to add a layer of protection.

Our Kirin M4 Pro had a flat tyre after the 3rd ride out – but, it wasn’t punctured, we filled it back up and it held air with no issues – so it might be worth adding slime.

The tyres overall are hybrid (semi road/off road use) – which is good, they did really well both on and off road.

Deck

The deck on the Kirin M4 Pro is very nice – it has a more curved profile and less of a box profile over other scooters. The deck is a good size – perfect for the type and power rating of scooter. Riding positions that were comfortable were easy to find and the rubber part of the deck did a great job at stopping scratches / stone damage from shoe tread like you may get on conventional grip tape decks.

The deck length and width are proportionate to the scooter.

The rubber pad looks to be of good quality and impervious to coming off or peeling away.

 The rear of the deck features a carry handle / foot bar which is interchangeable with a seat.

The underside of the deck features 2 sets of RGB strip lights.

There is a single GX16 Port on the right hand side of the deck.

Controls & Display

The Kirin M4 Pro features a generic Chinese LCD panel – the same as you would find on most other budget scooters (and some premium).  It does a good enough job as you would expect – it shows modes, speed, trip/odo and battery levels. The battery indicator is inaccurate and the speedo too can be out slightly when comparing with GPS speeds (but this isn’t exclusive as an issue to the M4 Pro).

There is an independent volt meter which is more accurate and can be used to understand the batteries state of charge.

The operating voltage range is between 54v and 38v.

Water Resistance

The Kirin M4 Pro looks well equipped enough to deal with some rain – most of the electronics are tucked away and the deck itself looks resilient against water ingress. The M4 Pro’s IP rating is IPX 4 which means it is “WATER RESISTANT” but not waterproof. So yes you can use it in damp conditions and some light rain – running it in intense rain or through puddles is likely to lead to water ingress and ultimately damage to the scooter.

So if you are looking for something that is water resistant – the Kirin M4 Pro is rated as water resistant.

Reliability

The Kirin M4 Pro appears to be a fairly reliable scooter. Whilst there have been some complaints on Quora/reddit threads about reliability – most of these do not relate to the motor or battery (THE MOST EXPENSIVE PARTS). Overall, the M4 looks like a robust scooter that if used in dry conditions and looked after – should be good for trouble free riding for thousands of kilometers.

The only thing we would want to watch for is battery performance degradation – the M4 Pro is rated for over 500x charge cycles, which even for an avid rider would equate to 2+ years of regular riding.

Warranty 

Kugoo have been around for a while – they have a fairly standard return and warranty policy that states;

Your Products (only purchased on the Website Kugoo-scooter.com) are warranted against defects in materials and workmanship for a period of twelve (12) months.
Battery warranty is 6 month.

We can’t cancel the order if your parcel has been shipped out.

We only refund or replace items when we ascertain the scooter has gone faulty due to defects in materials/workmanship within 7 days (starting from the date of delivery). No shipping fee for returns or replacements in this case.

Customers will only be charged once at most for shipping costs (this includes returns); No handling fee for returning/replacing/maintaining the product, but please contact us before returning a defective item in order to receive the return shipping address and other instructions.

These are fairly standard terms (12 months on the scooter and 6 months on the battery).

As with anything, opening, adapting or misusing your Kugoo Kirin M4 Pro could invalidate the warranty.

Known Issues

Handlebar Stem Clamp (Height Adjustment of Handlebars) – needs to be clamped really tight to prevent rotational play.

Handlebar screw cups need to be done up tight (ideally using hair spray or a weak adhesive) to stop them unscrewing.

Some users report punctures are common / easy on the standard tyres that come on the scooter.

Maintenance

The Kirin M4 Pro is generally low maintenance. The only thing to watch for is:

Keep an eye out for the front suspension – ensure the bolts form no corrosion or rust and that there are no cracks.

Keep an eye out for overall bolts – ensure bolts are checked and tightened regularly.

Avoid storing the Kirin M4 Pro in excessively cold temperatures and do not store fully charged or flat.

Kirin M4 Pro: Is it worth the money and is it worth buying?

I will be honest – I wasn’t expecting much, I review a lot of 500w scooters, none of them excite me massively as I am used to the exhilarating thrill of 8000w+ from my Bronco. But, the Kugoo Kirin M4 Pro really is a fantastic scooter for the money – they really have jammed a lot into something that isn’t even £600.

The range, power and ride quality are all well above what I was expecting for a scooter of this price range.

My ONLY concern would be the battery – they’ve managed to fit a lot of stuff into this scooter, my only worry would be if the battery is up to a good enough quality standard to hold charge cycles – who knows. 

As of the time I am writing this – I’ve clocked up nearly 1000 miles and so far, the battery is doing really well with almost no sign of charging / range degradation.

It’s definitely a star buy!

If you are looking for something practical, capable, cheap and half decent looking – consider the M4 Pro.