Xiaomi M365 Pro Electric Scooter Teardown - What's inside?

The Xiaomi M365 Pro is the successor to the world's favourite electric scooter. When we first got our hands on one, we decided to pull it apart to see what Xiaomi had improved upon. We know many of you might be interested in how the scooter goes together and have opted to share our experience.

Please note: This article is best experienced on a laptop/large screen. The photos have been compressed for fast loading, click them to view larger versions with more detail.

To dismantle the scooter you will need the following hardware:

• 2mm, 2.5mm, 3mm, 4mm, 5mm allen key/hex drivers
• Small and medium sized cross-head screwdrivers
• 8mm, 10mm and 18mm open ended spanners
• Pliers and a sharp craft knife/scalpel are also useful

We recommend purchasing some high quality Allen keys and/or driver bits. Avoid cheap tools that can round off, or worse still, round the bolts on your scooter!

We will be tearing down the scooter top to bottom, breaking the process down as we concentrate on components.

The scooter hand grips just pull off of the bars. Firmly grab them and rotate as you pull them off of the end. Note that they are sided, marked for left and right and feature a groove (along the leading edge of the bar) to retain them.

Begin by releasing the brake cable from the lever. Pull the red brake outer tube away from the lever to reveal the metal ferrule, then pull the cable away from the front of the scooter allowing it to pass through the channel in the front of the lever. Once free you can depress the lever to reveal the round metal head of the cable, lift it up to release it from the handle.

Release the lever clamp from the bars by removing the 5mm hex bolt underneath. Unscrew the two small cross-head screws under the lever and carefully release the sensor door from the bottom.

Rotate the sensor housing 90° to release it from the channel on the front of the handlebar. Pop the small two-legged triangular sensor-cover off, lift the sensor out and remove the housing.

Unscrew the 4mm hex bolt under the front of the bell to release its clamp on the bars. Remove the end-cap off of the bars and slide the bell off of the end, carefully passing the brake lever sensor through the clamp as you do.

Using your nails or a plastic spudger, carefully lift the two plastic covers from the top of the stem. They are held on with foam tape so a hairdryer on a cool setting can warm the adhesive and aide the release if you are having difficulty.

With the scooter powered down, unscrew the three small cross-head screws securing the control board and carefully lift it up and out. Release the cable-tie and pop off the rubber thimble to expose the three control connectors and carefully unplug these. The black/blue/red connector is for the brake lever, yellow/white the headlight and the red/green/black is for the throttle.

Lastly carefully pull the grey cable up from the tube to fish out the black connector and uplug it to release the controller board. If you are having trouble pulling the cable up, back off the four bolts that hold the handlebars to the upright tube as it can often get caught by them.

The headlight unit is held to the front of the scooter with two small cross head screws, one on-top and one below. Removing them both will allow you to pop it from the front, pulling the cable through the resulting hole.

With the headlight removed, you can access the stem cap. Held on with three 4mm hex bolts, it is backed with two locating gaskets. The control cables for the electronic are retained in the handlebar by rubber mounts that sit in the groove. With this removed the handlebar will drop out of the front of the stem so be ready to catch it.

With all of that removed, you can now access the throttle. Unscrew the long 3mm hex bolt that tightens the the metal handlebar clamp. release the cable from the handlebar and slide the entire unit off of the end of the handlebar. Note that you will need to remove the plastic handlebar caps (they just pop off) as the throttle base sits in the channel to resist the rotation in use.

Below you can see the entire handlebar setup with the two electronic control cables.

The stem is held on with the four 3mm hex bolts that you will have installed when you first built the scooter, before popping off the upright.

Remove the red rubber grommet from the brake hose at the top. Remove the red second rubber grommet from the bottom of the tube. Unlatch the folding mechanism to lay the upright down, unscrew the long 5mm hex bolt in the side. Pull the cables through the upright tube to free it.

The rotating safety catch is held on by a 2mm hex bolt on the side, once removed it can be careful prised from its seat around the tube. Underneath the hard plastic seat (covered in grease) is secured to the tube with a 2.5mm hex bolt, release this and slide the component off of the top.

The lever itself bolts through to the front solid catch. If you have ever adjusted the tension on the clamp you will be familiar with this part. Place an 8mm spanner around the spline-d black spacer, then use a 10mm spanner to back off the securing nut half a turn. Leaving the 8mm spanner in place, release the 4mm hex bolt in the front of the latch. On our scooter a lot of thread lock had been applied so it was tough to remove.

You will now be left with a headless scooter as shown below.

Flipping the scooter over, remove the two 4mm hex bolts that secure the folding kickstand to the base of the deck.

The battery cover is secured with twenty-one torx 10 bolts. Removing them by hand can take a while but with a quality driver bit you can use a low-torque electric screwdriver to help. The bolts on the leading edge of the deck may be burred up depending how aggressively the scooter has been ridden over kerbs or rocks.

Please take care when disconnecting electrical connections, the ESC features a large capacitor.

The battery connects to the ESC via a yellow XT30 plug, carefully pull this out. Next take a knife and remove some of the silicon sealant securing the charger socket cable (the white plastic connector with a red and black wire running in and out of it) until it can be disconnected.

Unbolt the two 2mm hex bolts securing the socket to the chassis and carefully pull the loom and connector through the hole.

The ESC is secured to the chassis with three 3mm hex bolts with washers, remove these and the remaining connector cables (motor/control/lighting) before lifting it out. The deckplate doubles as a heatsink and the ESC will have some thermal paste on the backing plate to facilitate this.

With the ESC removed, the battery is still connected to the rear brake light via a connector beneath the rear mudguard. This can be accessed underneath, simply squeeze and pull it out, taking the foam sealing gasket with the cable.

The battery is secured to the deck with four 4mm hex bolts with washers, remove them and lift it straight up and out.

Release the motor cable grommet and pull the four-headed cable through from the deckplate.

Use a scalpel to remove the u-shaped reflector cover (not just the sticker) from the left hand side. Unbolt the four 2.5mm hex bolts that secure the plastic cap.

Under that there are another four 2.5mm hex bolts that secure the trim to the fork, these are shorter than the last. With those released you can pull it away and slip the open end of an 18mm spanner onto the wheel nut. Rotate anti-clockwise to release and slip the nut off down the wire to retain it.

Approach the other side in a similar fashion. Use a scalpel to release the reflective bolt cover, undo the two 2.5mm hex bolts holding the cap and remove it.

Under that there are another four 2.5mm hex bolts that secure the trim to the fork, these are shorter than the last. With those released you can pull it away and slip the ring end of an 18mm spanner onto the wheel nut. The wheel can then be lifted up out of the drop-outs. Note the keyed washer that locates in one orientation.

The wheel hub lid is secured by six torx 20 bolts that were fitted with thread lock. The motor core stays in place thanks to the magnets but can be popped out should you wish to replace it.

Release the 5mm hex bolt through the top and retain the collar and washer as shown.

Undo the further two 5mm hex bolts that cinch it tight and lift off. Note the order of washers and locator components for re-installation.

Remove the 3mm hex bolt retaining the collar cover and slide the plastic cover off of the top. Remove the metal alignment and the metal race underneath that.

Pull the forks downward to release them from the frame. Take care with the bearings rings top and bottom as they aren't self contained.

(This assumes you have already detached the battery cable underneath between the rear deck and the rear wheel)

Use a small flat head screwdriver and remove the rubber bungs on-top of the front of the mudguard, they are keyed so its easiest to stick the tool down the rear-most edge. Remove the three 3mm hex bolts to remove the three bolts revealed and lift the mudguard off

You must remove the mudguard to remove this. The light unit itself is held in place by two cross head screws. The plug head is retained in by a further two cross head screws at the other end, be careful with the plastic plug clip as it is brittle. Sadly the wire is still at risk of wear from the rear tyre should the guard get depressed down whilst riding.

The metal hook is secured to the mudguard with one 3mm hex bolt and washer which can be removed from the underside once the brake light cable has been discarded.

The metal hook is secured to the mudguard with one 3mm hex bolt and washer which can be removed from the underside once the brake light cable has been discarded.

Remove the side reflective insert (to clarify, not just the sticker top but the plastic underneath). Unbolt the two 2.5mm hex bolts underneath. Use a driver to remove the 4mm hex wheel bolt, ensuring you retain the spring washer and flat washer in the correct order.

Flip the scooter over and perform the same task on the other side. Unbolt the two 2.5mm hex bolts underneath the cover. Use a driver to remove the 4mm hex wheel bolt, then slide the wheel out of the horizontal dropouts. The rear disc can be replaced by removing the five 2.5mm hex bolts.

Remove the metal end from the brake cable. Release the cable by loosening the 4mm hex bolt, there is no need to totally remove the bolt, just rotate the catch below to release the cable. Remove the two 4mm hex bolts holding the caliper to the frame.

This can be done in-situ with the rear wheel removed. Use a 5mm allen key to rotate the back cap of the caliper. The resulting piece will fall out the back, retaining the pad with its magnet. Remove the other pad using a flathead screwdriver.

This flows through the wide down-tube then joins a channel through the footplate and emerges to the side of the mudguard. If you are replacing this make sure you run a snake of some sort when removing the cable as it is very difficult to route.

There are two side pieces plus a round front piece that protect the edges of the scooter footplate. There are two cross head screws per piece that need to be removed before they un-clip from the frame.

The metal piece the stand bolts into can be removed when these are clear of the frame.

This is just a sticker, warm it up with a hairdryer and it will unpeel quite easily. You will need to remove the handlebars/downtube and the front forks to fit a new one if you do not want to cut it.

With our teardown complete, here are all the components that go together to create the scooter. If you have any questions regarding the M365 Pro and its construction or repair, feel free to leave them below.