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).

[RonF]

I bought a Jeep but kept the truck (my wife says it's out of perversity and to annoy the nieghbors) to haul stuff.

Yeah, but the question is - does she consider that to be a bad thing?

[Thinkin' Gal]

Do you chain the damn thing up to street sign when you go get your Latte from Starbucks?

No, I think you roll right in and mow your way to the head of the line. Hmmm, how many Segways can fit inside the average Starbucks? How soon will there be a McDonald's-style spilt latte lawsuit? This invention has such potential.

[razorback-bert]

How do you push your cart while riding around mega-mart?

[js1138]

You've described conditions in which most people won't walk. Move South. The political climate is also better.

[dead]

This author takes quite a few shots at Americans, but I'd bet that if this thing catches on anywhere, it'll be in Europe.

I can just see the Frenchmen tooling around on these to pick up their bread or flee from the Germans.

And the Brits will probably stick their unarmed police on these, just to embarrass them further.

[RonF]

O.K. I've checked out their video of the thing going over snow. And all I can say is, what a joke! They show it running across a relatively level lawn with an inch and a half of snow on it. Try 6". Try 3" of ice/slush. Try scraped pavement with sections of glare ice and blocks of ice. Try it where slush got footprints in it and then froze solid. Try getting up and down frozen curbs.

This is going to cause no end of hilarity when the news cameras go downtown and see someone trying to get around Chicago on this.

Oh, and wait until someone knocks a pedestrian down on one of these. Maybe they'd file a lawsuit in LA or SF. In Chicago, the victim will pick it up and heave it under a moving semi, and the offender will be lucky if he isn't duct taped to it first.

[JudyB1938]

I'm picturing you on one of those things. You're so silly. :0)

[RonF]

I've described conditions under which the streets of Chicago are packed full of pedestrians during rush hour in January. If they haven't moved south because of the weather, they're not going to move south because of some damn scooter.

[Gumlegs]

Maybe he's the perfect segway customer.

[js1138]

No one can predict the ultimate uses of a new technology. Around here there are closed communities that only allow golf carts on the streets. I think that sucks, but they bought it and that's what they want.

My guess is that the younger siblings of the brats that drive BMWs to high school will be the first big market for Segways.

After that, who knows.

[discostu]

Actually people wind up walking in those conditions every winter. Life in the snowbelt is exciting that way. While "move south" might be fine advice (I've certainly enjoyed it), it's not much of a marketing strategy. This thing is simply going to be an abject failure in the winter conditions that are prevalent in most of the nation, in the really nasty places like Chicago it's going to prove fatal. And here's the best part: if you ditch the gyroscopes, give it front and back coaster wheels for stability, give it a grocery store electric cart throttle for speed, and actually make the handle thingy a steering yoke you'll have accomplished two things: the price will be cut by about 90%, and it will actually be remotely useful in winter weather.

[js1138]

I'm listening, but you haven't convinced me they won't sell. Nor have you proven they have the shortcomings you describe. The first customers have been foot police, corporate security guards, and mail carriers. I haven't heard of any injuries or complaints.

Not to mention, they have free marketing on the Simpsons.

[discostu]

It's painfully obvious that they won't sell, 5G's for a scooter is going to be a very limited market (basically rich morons with no respect for the value of a dollar, there used to be a big supply of those, but with the dot-com meltdown they're a dieing breed). As for the safety considerations: watch, wait, and learn. It's a simple matter of how the control system works. Much as how you're car can't detect the difference between a deliberate turning of the wheel and an epileptic seizure, there's no way for this thing to tell the difference between a deliberate body tilt and the result of being hit by the wind. If they've managed to solve that particular puzzle there are about a million much better uses for the technology.

You might not have heard any complaints from the people that have trialed this, but I haven't heard any praise either. All things considered there's been a remarkable lack of sound coming from the trial participants.

[Darlin']

Evidently it does have a battery...

The Segway resembles a scooter, but is based on a sophisticated gyroscope system, with tilt sensors that constantly check the rider's balance at 100 points of the body per second. If you lean forward, it moves forward. If you stand up straight, it stops. It takes only a slight movement on the riders' part to make the Segway move.

The device weighs 69 pounds, travels at speeds of up to 12 mph and runs on a battery. The commercial models, which cost between $7,000 and $9,000 have extra features, such as longer battery life, or pockets where mail carriers can put their mail. Full article

I think they would be great fun for play and in some climates. I'd hate to have to depend on even the commercial models for serious transportation.

[discostu]

here's an interesting couple of lines from the article:

Those who receive their Segways early will also get training on them from the Segway company, which will also deliver them to people's homes.

Kamen says Segway is easy to ride, and that it takes three minutes to get your bearings and about 15 minutes to master it.

Now why would they be sending people all over the country to deliver a whopping 18 minutes worth of training? I think there's something they're not telling us.

[Darlin']

I dunno, I saw the crew on Good Morning America riding them today and they looked pretty easy to master. Diane Sawyer put her foot out and allowed the inventor to ride over her foot and she didn't so much as blink.

[Hildy]

Why is everyone so negative about this thing? I think it's great and I adore Dean Kamen...you know...his father was the writer/creator of SPY VS. SPY in MAD MAGAZINE!!!

[tet68]

When they come out with one that has a 327 cubic inch engine
and 18" wheels, then ........maybe.

[discostu]

But we have no idea what went on before the cameras were turned on (remember NBC's squibs that "proved" some truck had problem with side impacts). Also getting ones foot run over doesn't mean too much, I had mine runover by a Chevy Impala once, given how air filled wheels work very little of the ton plus of the car's weight went onto my foot and what did compressed it pretty evenly which really doesn't do much damage (try the old egg squeeze test), it stung for a couple minutes. Notice they didn't have anybody stand in front of one going full tilt, the human body going 12 MPH is a lot of impact force.

I also notice the shipping price has gone up dramatically. Last year when they "broke" it was only supposed to be 3Gs, now they're 5Gs, 9 for the "full featured" one.

[discostu]

Just goes to show how few personality traits are hereditary.

Really if the thing hadn't had so much buzz about it being "revolutionary" and "reinventing the city" I wouldn't be so negative. But the thing had high expectations and it turned out to be an over engineered Razor scooter with a weedwhacker motor (which actually are really cool). I think Dean Kamen has ideas that are high in "gee whiz" and low in overall practicality. Even that wheel chair he made (and denies it's a wheel chair) could do with a serious reduction in tech and increase in practical solution handling to bring it's price down and make it available for more people. I believe that both will lead to some pretty interesting devices, I just don't think Dean is going to have anything to do with them.