In a stroke of continued bad luck for the 22 remaining
Segway supporters around the globe, one of the personal transporter's largest fan organizations, the Segway Enthusiasts Group of America (or SEG), has decided to disband. Group treasurer Fred Kaplan says that inactivity and absence of candidates for its board of directors contributed to the decision, though he also blames Segway Inc. itself, alleging the company refused to share its customer list with the fan club, which led to dwindling numbers. "We had a list that was essentially three years old," Kaplan said, though Segway reps claim they have been otherwise supportive. The company says that the group's demise is not representative of transporter sales, which they report are up 50 percent since 2002. Segway spokeswoman Carla Vallone went on to add that the company is considering launching its own corporate fan club to replace SEG, and then snidely promised that
its email list would be "totally up-to-date."
posted Aug 9th 2007 1:59PM
The segway... ahh the promise of revolutionizing cities, but instead it's just good for segway polo.
The memories...
Yeah, revolutionizing the cities by finding a way to make Americans lazier than we already are. The Segway is an abomination and a tribute to the expanding American waistline. If you're otherwise healthy with no mobility issues but you have or want a Segway, you're nothing more than a lazy bastard.
Call them gay if you like and make fun of the drivers, but my wife and I each ride ours to town all the time. They both have more than paid for themselves in the gas money we save, plus we're not adding to CO2 emissions. Keep feeding oil companies, I'll continue to save money and listen to your close-minded abuse.
Oh and as for lazy, how many calories do you burn sitting behind a wheel? At least I'm standing up...besides, I exercise at the gym. As I was returning from the post office on my Segway not long go I heard a man telling his 3-4 year old son who asked "what's that?" that it was a gizmo for people that don't like to excercise. The guy probably weighed 300 pounds.
If anything CO2 emissions are increased by using the Segway. Unless you live somewhere not generating electricity from coal?
Bill @ Aug 10th 2007 8:14AM sez:
They both have more than paid for themselves in the gas money we save, plus we're not adding to CO2 emissions.
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electricity used to power the Segway was likely sourced from fossil fuels (or nuclear), so waste is being produced somewhere in the running of the Segway.
Environmental impact of the manufacturing operations of the device aside, the need to dispose of (and replace) batteries that have been charged several hundred times and can no longer hold suitable charge also becomes an issue.
A pushbike is a far more sensible alternative, IMO (and pays for itself far faster, and is super cheap to maintain).
Coal? there are western countries that still use coal to produce electricity? WTF
In any decent country you can specifically order green power you know.
Mind you in ANY country you can also buy a bicycle instead of a segway and save a lot of money plus get some minimum exercise of course.
Wwhat @ Aug 10th 2007 8:59PM
Coal? there are western countries that still use coal to produce electricity?
------------
Plenty, apparently. According to this, the US of A produces 54% of its electricity with coal:
http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/coalvswind/c01.html
Australia is far higher (we don't do nuclear). Many many other countries use it as their primary source of electricity, too.
that picture is the gayest thing ive ever seen.
and I'm gay.
so, uh.. can i have your number?
There are a lot of us "Gay Gliders," come out and join us sometime! I'd ask for your number too, except I am partnered. We do have plenty of single athletic gay guys who own Segways. Kills the sterotype there, Segway users, who work out and are in good shape!
2 men on 1 segway is worse then 2 men on a motorcycle or a scooter.
Somewhere between a bike and walking lies the Segway, and those seen driving it look silly. Perceived as either too lazy to walk or ride a bike, it ends up being a rich person's toy. I guess the revolution it was supposed to enact failed. Maybe because the idea wasn't really revolutionary--just the technology.
I glad that walking won this battle.
What's a Segway?
If they wanted to videotape that woman as she rides around on the segway, did the cameraman really need to be on a segway, himself?
Segway Enthusiasts Group of America... Were they TRYING to name themselves after a once-popular video game hardware and software maker?
sales are up 50% eh? so they sold 3 as opposed to 2.
I thought this was an Onion article for some reason.
Wait... Sales are up 50% from five freakin' years ago?
15% annual sales growth? On a product with next to no market penetration (as they define the market)?
That's not exactly saying much. Sales could be up from five years ago, but down from three years ago, and declining more each year. I'd bet anything that there is a trend of downward sales.
Voodoo good news... What else could we have expected from Segway?
actualy i am from europe and i wanted to buy one at america, but i was unable to find any normal shop where i would get a price, i found them only on some news, some of them 2 years old or so. Is there any Segway online shop??? Or a good reseler wou will send me conditions. I would like to do propagation and reselling in our country.
It's so cool how on the internet just making fun of new ideas can kill them. The only problem engadget posters have now is rolling off their computer chair at the end of the "work" day and waddling out to their SUV. It's hilarious for any of you to call a Segway rider, ie a person in an all electric scooter instead of a SUV, "Lazy."
I would call anyone riding a Segway over the short distance that a Segway can travel instead of riding a bike "lazy".
Maybe they should have hit up the insurance companies for lists of Segway owners, since they're now selling Segway insurance. That's the next place I would have gone before giving up. I'm sure they would sell a list of owners at the right price.
Ain't no party like a segway party 'cause a segway party don't stoppppppppp....
(reads headline for post)
DAMN IT!!!
unless you lean back.
There's a company that sells a Steadicam attachment so you can shoot really steady video with one. And I was hoping to see the photo of Bush's 'dismount'.
The SEG's plans for global domination have finally been thwarted. No more shall they roll over our obsolete, fleshy limbs.
Why *would* Segway share its customer list? If I buy an X, I don't want X, Inc., to announce the fact to X Enthusiasts Group.
The guy in front (in the red pants) kinda looks like Johnathan Davis from Korn.
whoa! talk about joy rides!
I'm one of those 'lazy bastards' riding the 'gayest thing' around London day in, day out.
I am on my second Segway. A friend bought my first from me for not much less than I paid for it, and I am about to order the new model. Two of my friends are ordering with me so that we can get some extra discount.
I get up in the morning and work out at home, then shower. I don't want to cycle to work and work up a sweat because I don't have a shower at the office. I don't want to use public transport and I don't want to get stuck in London rush-hour.
My journey to work is about 20 minutes by Segway, or about 45 minutes by car. My company provides me a driver whenever I need one, but I prefer to travel by Segway.
It is a phenomenal piece of engineering that has been extraordinarily badly marketed from the pre-release over-hype through to the poor pricing decisions. It's too expensive and it should be sold on finance like mopeds and scooters!
"It is a phenomenal piece of engineering that has been extraordinarily badly marketed from the pre-release over-hype through to the poor pricing decisions. It's too expensive and it should be sold on finance like mopeds and scooters!"
That's exactly right. People wouldn't be bitching and making fun of Segways if they were actually affordable. My only question is, where the hell do you park them?
There is a slight image issue, all the people I've ever seen IRL on a segway look like a type a normal person would not want to identify with really.
So they tried to have a Segway "Motorcycle" gang and it failed...
LMAO Imagine a whole band of geeks on Segway's with mathcing jackets with the Window's logo, Linux Pengine, or Apple's MAC logo on the back.
"In a stroke of continued bad luck for the 22 remaining Segway supporters..."
Whoops, you put in an extra 2 there. Careful,
Y'all can hate, but it still a pretty nifty piece of technology. Practical? Questionable. Overhyped? Maybe. But tell me your mouth didn't drop for just a second the first time you saw footage of someone scooting around on one of those things.
The retail center I work at here in the UK just bought a couple for their security guards. That must explain the massive rise in sales! Funny thing is, the guys just use them to try and set lap times around the center, hell I even joined them today to give it a go.
I'd only buy a segway when they bring the centaur out, if they ever do. has been a concept for ages but they really should put it into production, even if it will most likely only be a rich boys toy. but i can dream right. me not like segway because they don't know how to make sales:P and because they ignore australia. :P oh and if you want to see the segway centaur concept.... http://www.segway.com/products/centaur/ as it's hard to stumble across it on the site.
The Segway enthusiasts, and the press, never seemed to understand that ANYONE can get a 2-wheeled personal transport, just the 2 wheels are in-line rather than the Segways over-complicated arrangement. In fact they became quite fashionable, at least here in Japan. The "Razor" and other little 2-wheeled motorized or electric scooters, just like kids have been riding for decades. And they cost less than 1/10th of the bulky Segway, have no learning curve, can actually fit in a backpack, and have no complicated control chips and software. They even CAN be ridden on sidewalks without pushing the humble pedestrian out of the way.
The Segway is an expensive toy, the 21st century palanquin for rich and "important" people. It makes a combined statement, "Look at me!" and "Get out of my way, lowly pedestrians!"
I am not a Segway enthusiast, but I can attest that in Washington DC where I live Segways are everywhere. You can rent them for the day or take organized, guided Segway tours of the city. There was even a Segway dealership in the building where I used to work.
My only complaint with them is that when these Segway groups roll through the city they can be menaces, hogging the sidewalks and making unpredictable turns. Also when they idle, people tend to rock back and forth.
I don't think Segways should be allowed on sidewalks, we have bike lanes all over the place. The only reason they are sidewalk-legal is that Segway Inc buys off local police departments by giving them free Segways in return for law changes allowing them on the sidewalk.
My jaw dropped when I first saw it, and have wanted one ever since. I don't see that happening very soon though as the people marketing it (I believe the same people who developed it) have acted like they want some kind of exclusive club. You do have to be determined to get one, and I believe there's a vetting process to be a reseller.
They going to form a corporate club? Doesn't surprise me. They just seem arrogant. I'm going with closet Scientologists. Has anyone ever seen Tom Cruise on one?
What's the hardest thing about riding a segway?
Telling your Dad you're gay!
Still waiting,
*drums fingers*
for the practical jet pack.
One place I've seen a Segway put to very good use is the St. Louis Airport. On my last trip there, an airport police officer was patrolling the baggage claim area on a Segway. He was more mobile than he would have been on foot, the Segway was easier to maneuver through the crowds than a bicycle would have been, and the extra height he gained from standing on the Segway made it easier for him to look over the whole area.
My $0.02...
of course there are scenarios where the Segway seems perfect. Which is why it fills a niche.
But trumpeting it as the revolution it wasn't (and will never be, IMO) is a bit much (which was mostly done by the company itself).
Finally had a chance to try one of these bad boys out in Kansas City recently. Every bit as fun as I imagined! Don't knock it until you've tried it.
And after almost 2 hours, I can assure you that my legs were sore. It may not be the workout that riding a bicycle is, but it does require some small degree of physical exertion.
The guy that created it thought that walking was an evolutionary remnant of the dark ages and should be made obsolete, thats one of the big reasons that I will never use one. And when you get off of it you're sore because you aren't designed to stand still for the 45 minutes of battery life until the machine face plants you into the sidewalk. It would be alot cheaper if the forgo the gyroscopic stabilizers and just add a freakin third wheel and make the platform pivot some to sense your lean.
I'd get one if they weren't ridiculously expensive for what you get.
Instead, I spent MUCH less and got an electric bike. So I have to steer-- Big deal.
Now I know why Im not fat.I don't own a Segway!
I kinda like that centaur thinga majig . I think I'll ride that and gain some weight for fun if it's not stooooopidly priced.