Segway Scooter

I think Segways are a novelty bound to fade into obscurity very soon, unless they do some major improvements. How is it remotely worth it to travel 12 mph anywhere? And who's that lazy that would use them indoors?

I personally actually own a regular scooter, and at least that can get up to 35-40 mph, which is okay for short distances. (great for college) I don't know, Segways just don't do it for me.

 

I was wondering whatever happened to these. Once they unveiled "IT" it was a big deal and then there was nothing.

I think they could be cool for getting around downtown or campus or something. But there's no way to use them in the entire Metro area. Good for around the neighborhood, I would think.

However, it's still pretty hot in Houston to be doing anything outside for that long.

 

You guys are just naysayers. We all know that work is currently underway to redesign our cities for these wonderful machines. That's why you see so much construction as you drive around town. It's all making way for all the Segways that will soon be everywhere.

 

President's Segway tumble seems a tiny bit suspicious



http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/maney/2003-06-17-segway_x.htm

President Bush meant to fall off his Segway. Oh, I'm sure of it. What we've got here is a clever conspiracy — a pre-emptive strike to save the oil industry from a technology that could sap its power.

President Bush falls over the handle bars of a Segway in a shot seen 'round the world.
By Steven Senne, AP

Over the weekend, while on vacation, Bush looked like Chevy Chase doing a Gerald Ford imitation as he stepped onto the platform of a Segway personal transportation scooter and went flying right off.

The first U.S. president to try a Segway supposedly forgot to turn it on, so the gyroscopic stabilizers couldn't automatically balance him.

But maybe Bush wanted to fall. Maybe he understands in a way few do that society is on the verge of a debate that could mold the future of transportation, much like the debate 100 years ago when cars first suggested that horses weren't the only way to travel.

And if the future veers toward little two-wheeled electric-powered personal transporters, where does that leave ExxonMobil and Halliburton and the rest of the oil industry President Bush adores? Probably in the same sad league as the old Pennsylvania coal-mining companies, with Houston as the next Wilkes-Barre.

Bush knows the possible effect of an image of the nation's commander in chief nearly doing a face plant because of an odd new contraption. In 1899, William McKinley became the first U.S. president to try an automobile. Freelan Stanley took big ol' McKinley for a spin in a Stanley Steamer. Imagine if McKinley fell out. The pro-horse contingent would've been in PR paradise.

The conspiracy theory is bolstered by this: It's nearly impossible to fall off a Segway. Seventy-nine-year-old George H.W. Bush didn't fall off the one he got from his sons for Father's Day. Barbara Bush also got one, and she didn't fall off hers.

John Goldsmith, a former TV commentator who lives in Naples, Fla., lets just about anyone try his Segway — and dozens have. "The learning curve to become Segway savvy is somewhere between 6 and 60 seconds," he reports. "I've never had anyone get so much as a scratch."

Heck, I rode a Segway down the halls of venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, which helped back the scooter's development. Staying on a Segway really is a no-brainer. I had fun, too. There is plenty of room to zoom around Kleiner's offices now that the piles of money from the 1990s are gone.

Vice President Cheney — Mr. Oil Guy himself — has had a Segway for some time now. I heard Dean Kamen, the Segway's inventor, talk about how Cheney called his company's office and asked to buy one. Kamen personally delivered a Segway to the White House. Cheney, in his suit and tie, jumped on and started riding it around the White House driveway, with a panicked Kamen running alongside him.

Bush saw them through the Oval Office window and came outside to watch, recalls Kamen, who has photos to prove it. This doubtlessly is when Bush first saw the potential of falling off one.

Cheney might have planned all along to fall off his in front of the cameras. In fact, being the vice president, and thus more expendable, he could've tried something more dramatic, like running into a wall at the Segway's top speed of 12.5 miles per hour. That would've made the Segway look super dangerous, considering all the teeth Cheney would've lost.

But Cheney probably felt conflicted. There's a high-tech stent in his heart that keeps him alive. It was invented by — oddly enough — Kamen. So maybe Cheney couldn't bring himself to fall off and hurt the image of Kamen's Segway. So Bush had to do it.

And, sure enough, the photo and story have appeared in just about every news outlet in the world.

Why would the Bush team want to derail the Segway? Well, the scooter is one of the most inspired pieces of technology this country has produced in years. It looks like it should be as unstable as a unicycle. But step on, and the smarts inside it keep you balanced. Lean forward and you go forward. Lean back and you go back. Twist a handle to turn. It is as intuitive to use as a coffee cup.

The Segway is powered by a rechargeable electric motor. A Seattle owner who commutes on his Segway and keeps a Web journal (www.bookofseg.com) says it costs him $1 a month to charge.

Kamen likes to compare the Segway to the earliest autos, like the Stanley Steamer. When McKinley took his ride, autos were a curiosity only the rich could afford. They seemed to have no discernable place in a world of horses and trains. As Richard Tedlow of Harvard Business School points out, "Nothing would've been less predictable in 1900 than the fact that by 1925 there would be no horses in cities."

It's outlandish to think that 25 years from now, Segway-like transporters would replace cars in cities. But Kamen asks: Why not? Instead of taxis crawling at 8 mph in city traffic, why not Segways moving at 8 mph? They'd use a fraction of the energy and spew a fraction of the pollution.

Maybe Kamen is the Freelan Stanley of this story. Maybe the Segway needs a Henry Ford, who will make a people's version that costs $500 instead of the current price of $5,000.

Unlikely as Segway domination may seem, history shows it's possible. And if it happened, the oil industry could kiss its profits and power goodbye.

Put it all together, and Bush had good reason to fake a fall off a Segway and stir up anti-Segway sentiment. Which makes me wonder: Do you think he had something against pretzels?

 

I sincerely hope this is a joke. If not we better move this to the D&D.

 

It's sad that a guy just can't fall off a scooter anymore.

Personally, I'd rather have an electric or hybrid car than one of these. I couldn't get anywhere in Houston, especially without sweating, without the A/C in a car. I'm sorry, but I don't want to look like I just ran a marathon when I go for a job interview.

The big oil companies can slowly expand and eventually change their business. If you see the demand for gas/oil is going down, are you just going to let your company crumble? No, you change with the times. And if you don't, then you fall. It's been done before.

 

I doubt any one here has tried it before. I have. The guy three doors down from my parent's house sells them for a living.

It's pretty cool. It turns on a dime. You feel a little weird at first, but it does calibrate your balance. I wouldn't buy it, but it's still cool.

 

I've seen several on the Rice campus, one guy let me take his for a spin. Pretty underwhelming.

 

Whatever happened to good old-fashioned walking? America is already fat enough without these miniature lard haulers.

 

If anyone really believes that Bush fell off his Segway scooter in order to quell any non-oil transportation revolution, then he must be a lot more intelligent than most people give him credit for.

 

Seriously, I'd love to have one for messin' around the neighborhood. It's hard for me to ride a bike because of a bad back, which I'd much rather do, so a Segway looks like a way to go around with the wife and kids when THEY go bike riding. But I'd never consider paying what they want for them. Not in way, shape or form.

 

That's funny...you don't see them at UH

 

I rode one of them and I think they are one of the coolest things. Granted they are not as practical as they try to make them seem, but what a fun toy. If i had the money to shell out 5000 on a toy id do it in a second

 

Cuz you need a car to get to UH... That's why they used a call a parking permit a hunting license.

 

That wasn't my point. The point was that most of the people that go to UH (and live there) can't afford one.

How do you not need a car to get to Rice. It's just down the street? Do more people just live nearby or on campus?

And a parking permit is still a hunting license. That's why on/near campus is great! No worries.

 

http://online.wsj.com/public/articl...fyFyoXx9Iw_20090618.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top

Segway Glides as Gasoline Jumps
Maligned Scooter Winning New Fans;
$5,000 Price Tag
By STU WOO
June 16, 2008; Page B2

With gasoline prices and global warming on their minds, more Americans are getting out of their cars and riding to work -- and riding on the job -- on the once-maligned Segway.

Scott Hervey of Yorba Linda, Calif., bought one of the electric scooters on June 7 and has put 150 miles on it commuting to his custodian's job at Disneyland, about 12 miles away. He had considered buying a Segway for four years, and gasoline prices finally drove him to do it. Now he "glides," as Segway enthusiasts say, to work. "I like passing gas stations," says the 54-year-old.

The two-wheeled Segway, a self-balancing vehicle that runs on a rechargeable battery, debuted amid massive hype in 2001. Tech icons like Steve Jobs, Apple Inc.'s chief executive officer, and Amazon.com Inc. CEO Jeff Bezos predicted it would change the way people lived. But critics panned the high-tech scooter for its $5,000 price tag and portrayed it as a toy for geeks and the rich. Some cities banned it from sidewalks because of safety concerns.

Today, the Segway is gaining converts. It plugs into a standard electrical outlet and can get up to 25 miles per charge.

Sales at the scooter's maker, Segway Inc., have risen to an all-time high, says CEO Jim Norrod. The closely held Manchester, N.H., company doesn't release detailed numbers. (A September 2006 recall showed the company had sold 23,500 Segways.) But Mr. Norrod says he expects sales this quarter to jump 50% from a year earlier, versus a 25% year-over-year increase in the first quarter.

Among the new customers are local governments and universities whose budgets have been pinched at the gas pump. New York's Syracuse University and the University of Kansas say they bought Segways for their campus police this year, in part because of rising gasoline prices

Aurora, Ill., bought two Segways in the past month for parking-enforcement officers, to replace a pair of three-wheeled, gasoline-powered scooters now used. Aurora will use the Segways for most of the year -- except in the winter and in the rain, when the gasoline scooters will come back. The city figures its Segways will help cut the $4,000 a year it usually spends on gasoline for the older scooters.

A push for green initiatives in other cites, too, is helping Segway sales. In Seattle, parking-enforcement officials say they began using six Segways this year, chiefly because Mayor Greg Nickels pushed city agencies to go greener. The city plans to buy four more when money becomes available.

And some small businesses are turning to Segways as a marketing tool. A few years ago, Mathew Mitnitsky, owner of Nonni's Italian Eatery in Concord, N.H., experimented with delivering pizza by car, but gasoline and insurance costs made it prohibitive. He bought a Segway a few months ago and customized it to carry a pizza and display ads. It is now making deliveries in the downtown area, he says, and "it saves a ton of money."

Enthusiasts acknowledge the scooters' shortcomings. Their top speed is about 12.5 miles per hour. Commutes of much over 10 miles are less feasible because Segways won't go more than 25 miles on a charge. There's also a safety issue, as riders are exposed to the elements, and hazards like tree branches. They require some coordination; careless riders can fall off, as President Bush did in 2003.

The biggest shortcoming for some is still the $5,000 price tag on a typical model. Buzz Jellett, a Segway dealer in San Antonio, Texas, says that although he has received twice as many phone inquiries about Segways in past months as before, sales have increased minimally because callers balk after hearing the price.

In Millsboro, Del., Cindy and Ross Carlisle, who run a photo and printing business, say they are selling their diesel-powered bus and traveling to more events on their his-and-hers Segways.

And in Keizer, Ore., Joey Serafica's parents offered him two choices for a high-school graduation gift: a used car or a Segway. "The car is more practical for a lot of things: You can cover more distance, you don't get rained on," says Mr. Serafica, 17. "But then, there's also the gas and, of course, the fact mine [would be] the only Segway in Keizer."

After deliberating for several weeks, he chose the Segway.

Write to Stu Woo at Stuart.Woo@wsj.com

 

You bumped a thread from 2003? Really?

 

The police on campus at Arkansas State University have a pair of them. For what, I don't know.