From Atlanta to Zürich, young and old are wetzing their way through urban jungles on a device that blends the ergonomics of a scooter with the manoeuvrability of a skateboard.

Launched in February 1998, the collapsible four-wheeled Wetzer Stickboard is fast challenging the bicycle as a quicker scoot around town. The four-kilogram Wetzer is steered with an aluminium joystick and stops with a patented foot-operated back brake. Downhill, the Wetzer Stickboard rolls like greased lightning. Going uphill requires some calf muscles.

In German, “wetzern” means to walk fast. Today, it’s a new solution in micro-transportation, and a must for the messenger bag and sneaker set. Upon arrival at the arcade, the Wetzer collapses in seconds.

Unlike their imitators, Wetzer Stickboards are handmade in Zürich by Wetzer GmbH. The company uses wood from Finland, wheels from the United States and bearings from SKF.
Each board is fitted with eight sealed deep groove ball bearings 608 2RZ/VK251 – two per wheel.

In February, Wetzer GmbH was awarded the Red Dot for Highest Design Quality by an international jury at the Centre for Design, North Rhine-Westphalia, in Essen, Germany. This award was given to only 37 out of 1,389 entries.

The Wetzer Stickboard is the brainchild of Swiss photographer Patrick Rohner. A few years ago he got the idea to fit a skateboard with a joystick and brake to produce a new form of micro-transport. But it wasn’t easy.

Rohner needed help, so he called on his friend and product designer Philippe Chrétien. It took many long days and nights to refine the idea into a marketable product.

The one-metre-high joystick had to have a joint so it could fold onto the board. Then there were brakes to figure out. It took months to develop a foot-operated steel clip fitted to the rear axle, which would bounce back up when not in use. Other technical problems included what types of screws, bearings and clips to use in mass production and at what price, not to mention patents. Both Rohner and Chrétien now have extensive first-hand experience in taking a homegrown idea out of the garage and launching it worldwide.

“We have deliberately avoided any technical knick-knack,” says Rohner.