HIC vs SCS vs ICS... What scooter compression to choose?
What is Scooter Compression?
Scooter Compression is basically the way in which mechanicaly your bars, forks and deck are all attached together on your pro scooter. The three most popular types of pro scooter compression systems are:
- HIC (Hidden Internal Compression)
- SCS (Standard Compression System)
- ICS (Internal/Inverted Compression System)
What the different types of compression do:
All Compression systems are good in some ways hard in others. One of the toughest scooter maintenance questions is which scooter compression do I ride? Today we will break down each compression system and tell you about the highs and lows of each. Hopefully after reading this you will be able to decide which compression system is right for you.
Compression brake down:
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HIC Scooter Compression
- HIC was basically the first compression system besides threaded. Its been around for a long time and for good reason. It works. All you need to run HIC is a threadless fork with a starnut, a threadless headset, the HIC shim, and oversized bars with a slit. HIC is hands down the simplest out of all three compressions to use. All you do is tighten your bolt to the starnut in your fork, put your bars on, and you're good to go. Its fairly strong and doesn't come loose often. If you're looking for something reliable, easy, and light, HIC is the play. Check out the video below:
SCS Compression
- SCS was designed by Proto Scooters owner Andrew Broussard and now almost every company makes it. SCS is for sure the strongest compression system out there. First I'll tell you the best parts about riding SCS. It’s super strong. You’re never going to have to worry about your bars snapping down a huge gap. Also it looks really sick and keeps your scooter super dialed. The bad thing about SCS is it’s the heaviest compression system. Its not like way heavier than HIC but it is a little. To tighten SCS all you do is tighten the bolt to your starnut then put your bars with out a slit into the SCS and tighten it little by little one bolt at a time until its fully tightened. If you want something beefy, super strong and good looking, go for SCS.
ICS Compression
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ICS is hands down the lightest compression system. It’s also the weakest and toughest to use. To ride ICS you need a long ICS bolt, standard size bars, a threadless fork without a star nut, and a threadless headset. The reason why ICS is a pain is because to tighten it, you have to take off your front wheel. Also its not very strong because the only thing holding it together is one long bolt. If you're a weight freak, and you don't have a lot of money to spend, shoot for ICS.
We hope the couple of pointers about compression helps you find what best fits your riding needs.
Final thoughts:
Remember; make sure to pick the compression system that best fits your riding needs and budget. Make sure to learn how to take care of your ride and it will get you far! As always you can get all of your riding and compression needs from Lucky.