Why segway expensive

Unfortunately, we'll never know. But we do know that Segwaying on a cliff top can kill. Who knew!! No one can be bothered to do the training. So can walking, me, I'm scared of heights anyway, it just seems strange that he would be riding there in the first place. People do dumb things. Look at any "epic fail " video on YouTube and you ask yourself, over and over, 'what were they thinking? Jim was probably over confident. He was a self made multimillionaire, he was a doer and a risk taker.

He had probably ridden that path many times before. But he failed to fully consider all the what ifs. The big one being ' what if something goes wrong when riding a Segway along a cliff top'. Before his death, we could all answer that hypothetically, now we can answer it factually. As the new owner of an existing company , he was not present at any of the meeting of the original design team, 6, miles away and 8'to 10 years previously, in New England, USA, to listen to all the discussions about the problems they were encountering.

And he was not present as Segways rolled out across the world and user reports of errors and accidents rolled in. His insight into the product was probably and yes, I'm presuming here not as thorough as the original management team. Maybe if Jim had watched Segway epic fail compilations, he might still be with us. Most of those fails were on the newer Segway tilting column for whatever reason. I noticed that a lot of those accidents looked column tilt related. I have never tried one of the column tilt models, but I was quite happy with the original rigid column design.

Maybe Segway made a mistake by 'improving it'. From my own experience, and watching some of the videos, I don't for the life of me know why Segway allowed one wheel to spin multiple times faster than the other. I remember complaining to Segway about this around This happens if one wheel hits mud, or any other slippery surface, and the other wheel does not.

In slippery conditions, if the spinning wheel makes it to good grip and stops spinning wildly, the sudden twisting jerk will throw the rider off. I know, it happened to me, but I was pushing it hard across a rough building sight to see what it could handle no cliffs nearby. If only they had programmed something like, oh, let's call it, "limited slip differential" and if the differential rotation didn't stop, I for one would much rather have the wheels slow to a stop and dismount, rather than spin wildly out of control.

It seems that allowing such extreme angles, back to back are a recipe for disaster. I know the wheels have to accelerate fast enough to get back under the riders feet, etc. I'm just wondering if such extreme acceleration could have been kept in check some how.

Better to be dumped on the ground where you are at zero mph rather than down the road somewhere unknown, at speed. But that's true for anything I guess. I have no data, of course, but i think since you actually have to earn riding an euc, it makes you respect it more and be more careful. Whereas most people can ride a segway in relatively short period, which probably gives them a false sense of security.

Not to mention, the control bar looks clumsy as hell. When they start falling they get tangled with it and can't get out of the device, no such problem with euc. EUCs can go crash into something by themselves, and they're heavy, but it seems segways do the same, except they're heavier and they drag you with them.

Additionally, I only tried a segway once and the ride waaaay softer than EUCs, you can lean a lot before it balances you, which I feel, makes it easier to lose control though, it may be just a matter of getting used to it. The only advantage of segways is the redundancy, but other than that, I feel much safer on my EUC. For some reason it's funnier to see people fail on a segway than on euc.

Maybe things that are harder to ride, as in euc's, are more respected rather than something you stand on then push and pull a pole to move. You can post now and register later.

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Paste as plain text instead. Only 75 emoji are allowed. Display as a link instead. Clear editor. Upload or insert images from URL. Reply to this topic Start new topic. Prev 1 2 Next Page 1 of 2. Recommended Posts. Popular Post. Smoother 5, Posted November 9, Posted November 9, edited. Which got me remembering the "good ol' days" when Segway was the only game in town Just my opinion. Link to post Share on other sites.

Greg Spalding Posted November 9, Posted November 9, That is a great post I had an opportunity to ride a couple of the original segways and they were amazing pieces of technology I like your last statement, most of all. Posted November 10, Smoother 5, Posted November 10, Author Popular Post. Posted November 10, edited. Edited November 10, by Smoother. Planetpapi Posted November 10, Edited November 10, by Planetpapi.

Tilmann 1, Posted November 10, Edited November 10, by Tilmann. If wheels could have electronic and batteries redundancy! Smoother 5, Posted November 11, Posted November 11, Tilmann 1, Posted November 11, Posted November 11, edited. Edited November 11, by Smoother. Keith 3, Posted November 11, Frode Posted November 11, Posted November 12, Never miss a post again! Subscribe and follow us to get the latest info, support and special offers!

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First Name:. We were all supposed to be riding Segways by now. The company was supposed to be rolling in cash, the scooter's inventor a modern day Jay Gatsby minus the bootlegging and murder. It didn't happen: Today, the Segway is a punch line, a way for mall security guards to prevent sore feet.

So what happened? It's not that it didn't work: Envisioned as a way for people to get from home to work in urban areas, the Segway is a technological marvel. It can maintain its balance better than a human and is much more fuel efficient than a car, which are a pain to drive and park over a short journey. No, the problems that sank the Segway weren't technological.

They were social. Dean Kamen, the self-balancing scooter's inventor, nicknamed it "Ginger" after Fred Astaire's musical partner Ginger Rogers. Kamen's previous invention, a robotic wheelchair that could climb stairs was nicknamed Fred Upstairs. Before it launched, the Segway was said to revolutionize the way cities are laid out and how people get around them. Kamen expected to be selling 10, units a week by the end of —that's half a million a year.

In the next six years, Segway sold just 30, units, according to Forbes. When a rider steps on, on-board computers, sensors and motors keep it upright. The rider commands the scooter by shifting his weight forward or backward, and steers by pushing handlebar left or right.