Segways go on sale. No need to walk ever again

BikeBiz.co.uk ^ | 11/18/2002 | By Carlton Reid

[man from mars]

As revealed on US breakfast telly this morning, Dean Kamen's Segway< is on sale from today via the Amazon 'early adoptors' club. Delivery is US-only and your $4950 machine actually ships in March at the earliest (although in a bid for even more publicity, 30 consumers will be hand-picked to receive their Segways before Christmas).

[man from mars]

As revealed on US breakfast telly this morning, Dean Kamen's Segway< is on sale from today via the Amazon 'early adoptors' club. Delivery is US-only and your $4950 machine actually ships in March at the earliest (although in a bid for even more publicity, 30 consumers will be hand-picked to receive their Segways before Christmas).

"Segway enthusiasts who choose to purchase the first Segway Human Transporters through this program will have the world watching them," promises Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway.

A ton of info on Segway technology is on Amazon.com, the first place in the world to offer Segways for sale (and currently the only place in the world to offer the consumer versions of the 'sidewalk interloper'.) News of the sale via Amazon.com was broadcast today on Good Morning America, the breakfast television programme.

Think five thousand bucks is too much for a Segway? Earlier this year an auction on Amazon.com saw the first three Segways built going for $160,100, $104,100 and $100,600.

Despite the fact that the expensive Segway will make fat Americans even fatter, Segway claims that using a Segway is good for your health, and your wealth:

"Enhancing your strength and mobility will expand the boundaries of your neighborhood by enabling you to cover more ground in less time. And it will help you accomplish things that might have otherwise required a vehicle, creating benefits for your household—such as saving money —as well as benefits for your community and society as a whole."

The Segway website stresses that fast, heavy Segways have "no impact on the pedestrians around you." Is this a comment that Segway Corp will come to regret for not only is America the land of the obese, it's the land of the litigant...

In an article in Time last year, Kamen said Segways are ideal for downtown transportation. Unlike cars, they are cheap, clean, efficient, maneuverable. Unlike bicycles, he told Time, with not a shred of irony, they are designed specifically to be pedestrian-friendly.

"A bike is too slow and light to mix with trucks in the street but too large and fast to mix with pedestrians on the sidewalk...Our machine is compatible with the sidewalk. If a Segway hits you, it's like being hit by another pedestrian."

And on the Good Morning America website, Kamen again repeated his claim that bikes are more dangerous to pedestrians than Segways will ever be.

So far, 32 US states have rushed through legislation to allow use of Segways on sidewalks, bike paths, and certain roads. The rest are being lobbied hard, something which greatly worries many bicycle advocate groups. © BikeBiz.co.uk.

Bikebiz.co.uk is mostly trade-only. BikeBiz.co.uk came joint second with BBC.co.uk in the European Online Journalism Awards 2000 and was 'highly commended' in the B2B website

[New Horizon]

[Dimensio]

"Segway enthusiasts who choose to purchase the first Segway Human Transporters through this program will have the world watching them," promises Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway.

This is true, much in the same way that people can't help but look at horrible car wrecks on the freeway.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

When will the first pedestrian be run over by a Segway, and when will the first lawsuit be filed?

[apackof2]

Segways are ugly, you get rained on, no storage and
what is wrong with a little walking for goodness sake!?

[Cogadh na Sith]

Wow, I wish I had two Segways!

One to crap on and the other to cover it up with....

[uncbuck]

Isn't this a wheel chair without the chair?

[Redcloak]

Just don't tell Lizzy W.

(My ankles hurt just thinking about it!)

[Ranxerox]

Where's the air freshener?

[Jack of all Trades]

What, no dual coffee can exhaust tips! Forget about it.

[anobjectivist]

I still have no idea why anyone would buy something like this. As far as not having an impact on pedestrians, segways are made of "hard stuff" like plastic and metal whereas people are made of "soft stuff" such as organic tissue. I'm just throwing out numbers here, but if you took segways seriously you would only really be able to fit about 2 across or maybe not even less on a normal sized sidewalk, effectively making sidewalks congested just like the streets. You can push through people. You can't push through segways without steping onto and over them, I doubt they are easily picked up. Bikes are narrower than segways are and don't cause congestion. Segways are slow moving and most likely will just prove to be a nuisance.

[discostu]

My car cost 5Gs. It has a roof and a trunk. I'm really going to enjoy watching this product fail miserably.

[Chancellor Palpatine]

And in 18 months, you'll be able to buy that $5K segway for $200 at a yard sale.

[LibWhacker]

If a Segway hits you, it's like being hit by another pedestrian . . .

Uhhhh . . . Yeah, sure thing. It weighs 80 pounds and goes 20mph. Have the wascally republicans repealed the laws of physics?

[js1138]

Lot of grumpy old men posting today.

[TrappedInLiberalHell]

If a Segway hits you, it's like being hit by another pedestrian."

Yeah, if the pedestrian is a four-minute-miler wearing riot gear!

[steve-b]

Segway enthusiasts who choose to purchase the first Segway Human Transporters through this program will have the world watching them

Yeah, and the first people who go out in public wrapped in tin foil will have the whole world watching them, for the same reason.

[mhking]

I would love to have my very own Segway, but I don't have five grand to toss away on a toy right now...

[jz638]

"...If a Segway hits you, it's like being hit by another pedestrian."

It's just like being hit by another pedestrian, provided that pedestrian has wheels, carries eighty pounds of extra weight around with him or her, and travels at twelve miles an hour.

[My2Cents]

Same here. I bought a '94 Honda Civic a year ago for $5k. It's peppy, cruises easily at 75 mph, good gas mileage, gets me to work (a 25 mile one-way commute), AND has a CD player.