I don’t know, but I still want one. Do they make one that works in snow or ice?
If it’s good enough to kill the president of the company, it’s good enough for me!
When I lived in Boston, I’d see individual people cruising on their Segways on occasion, particularly around MIT (including more than a few home made versions). They weren’t super common, but any time I went for a bike ride along the Charles, I’d probably see one or two people on their segways.
Far more often, however, I would see gangs of tourists on Segways along the Freedom Trail (Boston’s official tourist route).
I had forgotten about that, man what a bad piece of advertising. He was hoping that by riding it, he start a word of mouth campaign; it turned out that word was “aaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeee!!!”
Houston has Segway tours. SWMBO and I have been on them, and they are a blast.
Yeah, Minneapolis has a tour company too. My sister used to work for the family that owned it, so my family got free tours.
They really are EXTREMELY dorky. And surprisingly scary, too–I imagine them being a bit like early cars. Early cars only went about 14 mph and were rather clunky…but when you don’t have paved roads, this is terrifying. Segways are like that in that they’re quite slow and cumbersome…but when you’re balancing on two wheels and can very easily be thrown off (we watched a rather harrowing safety video before going out on the tour), you feel like you’re speeding along recklessly at a million miles an hour.
I got to ride one 6-7 years ago, give or take, at the Sun-n-Fun flyin near Lakeland, FL. I had run back to the car to get something or other, and the owner had it out in the parking lot. He was a dealer who brought it along to do demos for a bit, and I think he was ready to put it away and go look at some of the gorgeous aluminum on display, but the line of people who wanted to ride wouldn’t let him.
I only rode it for about 2 minutes - not enough to get any good at it at all. I remember it as being a bit counter-intuitive, and that the learning curve might require a few bandaids or body shops if you tried to learn near parked cars. Still, it was fun, and I’d probably sign up for a tour on one given the chance.
Occasionally, it’s a very good thing there was only one person on the Segway:
That’s because one person could easily get their ass kicked once the Segway rolled to a halt. 
We have the touring Segway groups here in Austin. It does scream “NERD ALERT!” when I see them. Kind of like having a fanny pack on.
They do look fun, but I’m reminded of the joke about plus-sized women and mopeds…
I’ve seen a woman who owned her own Segway riding in public.
I’ve also seen non-security-guard personnel in places like DisneyWorld and some factories riding them. It lets them cover a lot of ground easily and effortlessly.
I had forgotten about that, man what a bad piece of advertising. He was hoping that by riding it, he start a word of mouth campaign; it turned out that word was “aaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeee!!!”
There’s Madison’s Segway Jeremy Ryan, who became quite visible during the 2001 protests at the Wisconsin state capitol.
My thoughts, exactly.
I own a Segway. I just bought a used one a couple of days ago, so I am no expert, but I am learning a lot along the way. I have never been on a Segway, or know anybody that has one. It didn’t work when I got it. It was completely dead. I don’t suggest you go out and buy a used Segway, unless you bring somebody along that knows what they are doing, or you get one that is extremely cheap. The reason being that just about every part that goes bad on a Segway cost an arm and a leg. Luckily, Segways are build to last a long time, the trick is to take care of the batteries. If you let the batteries go dead, or you don’t charge it correctly, the batteries will go bad. The generation 2 Segways come with Lithium Ion batteries. A new set of batteries cost $1800, so if you buy a used one, bring someone along that can check the batteries to make sure they are not worn out. I went with option 2 and bought an extremely cheap Segway. I got a Generation one Segway for $300 that was not working due to dead batteries. They where asking $1000 for the Segway. A used Generation one Segway with good batteries is worth around $2 or $3K in working condition. Once I found out that a set of batteries was going to cost $1800, I made them a low ball offer since it was not worth spending that much trying to get that machine fixed especially since it might have other problems. I figured if I couldn’t get it fixed cheaply, I could part it out and triple my money since every part on a Segway sells for an arm and a leg even in the used market.
To make a long story short, I got lucky. I took my dead Segway to my local dealer. I had them put a set of batteries from one of their rentals on my Segway and it came back to life and worked perfectly. The only thing that is wrong with it is the that the charging port on the Segway doesn’t work. I then had them charge my batteries for me and they are still good. The generation one Segways have NIMH batteries and apparently, they only went dead once, when the charger died, so they came back to life. Next week I will order a new charging port for the Segway, which cost $635, so I will have a working Segway for around $1k. The rest of the Segway looks to be in excellent condition.
A new Generation two Segway cost around $6k. Used ones go for around $4 or 5K, so if you look for one of those, make absolutely sure the batteries are good or you will be spending just as much as a new one replacing the batteries. One thing I learned about Segways, is that when you are not using the Segway, it needs to be plugged in and charging. A lot of owners will forget to plug it in and not use it for a few months and the battery will slowly discharge completely and kill the battery. You then have a very expensive door stop.
I recently saw the same story about the Tesla Roadster. If you let the battery run down all the way, replacement cost is $40K and it is not covered by insurance.
Yes that is true. It takes about 11 weeks of sitting with the car not charging to kill a Tesla battery. If you drove it first and parked it at the airport while you went on vacation for a few weeks, you will have a very pretty and expensive door stop. At that point it is probably cheaper to yank the battery and electric motor and drop in a V8 so you can have a sports car that sounds like a sports car.