Boy, those Segway Scooters sure have taken the world by storm! I always thought that they’d never live up to the hype, but, boy was I wrong!
Actually, I saw one scooting down the sidewalk the other day (Overland Avenue in West Los Angeles), and, I admit, was impressed. I would love one, and in Los Angeles, the sidewalks don’t seem to be used for any other purpose, so a Segway would be great. Unfortunately, at $5,000 a pop, I guess I won’t be getting one any time soon.
Have any Dopers bought one of these things? Do you know anyone that has? Have you ridden one? What do/did you think of it?
$5K to just “run” quickly with a very short range? I can buy about 5 motorcycles for that!!
And I remember the inventor or someone saying that getting hit by a Segway rider would only like being hit by someone running. Doesn’t that suck pretty bad anyway? Let’s also mention that the “running” person is carrying another 60 or so pounds. Ouch.
Oh, and how do I carry it upstairs like I can my 25 pound bike?
We should be thankful they cost $5,000. Imagine if they were more like, say, $100. Everyone would run out and buy one. And then jurisdictions the world over would install legislation banning them from the sidewalks, which would put them all into traffic, which would cause perhaps far more accidents and generally reduce traffic safety.
The only one I’ve seen in use was at Disney World. (actually Epoct) If you worked in some huge spread out place like that I could see using one. I wanted to stop the lady riding it and ask her to run over my foot to see if you really don’t feel it, but I was too far from her. World Eater Outrun? Yes. Outlast? Probably not.
They have been banned from the sidewalks in San Francisco. Of course, bicycles, kick scooters and those spawn of the devil scooters powered by shrieking 2-stroke engines that you can hear three blocks away are already banned from the sidewalks and nobody bothers chasing them off.
It will be interesting to see if enforcement of the Segway ban is stronger than the bicycle/scooter ban on the assumption that Segway riders will have more money to be able to pay the fines.
I was so pissed off when I saw what it finally was. Here this guy is insuating that he invented a device that will revolutionize the planet…instead we get a $5,000 scooter. Where is my flying car for god’s sake? Isn’t it 2003 now?
Every right-thinking person realizes that the Segways are prototypes for the next-generation mobility platforms to be used by Sony Asimos during their death raids. (Where’s the tin-foil smilie when I need him?)
I don’t have a car, and I frequently walk distances that are just a bit out of walking distance range. Many of the places I go are two to four miles from my house. Sometimes I end up walking eight miles in a single day just running errands and visiting friends. I never got the hang of lugging a bike around with me everywhere I go, especially if I end up wanting to catch a bus home. But a segway would fit on the bus just fine. Plus I gather that a Segway would be reasonable to take into most retail establishments, so I wouldn’t have to worry about locking it up outside.
[sup]I think I’ll wait for Segway IV[/sup][/ul]