Lessons from the awkward life and death of the Segway

Re:Lessons from the awkward life and death of the Segway by buzzert on Friday July 17, 2020 @09:38PM (#23878186)

I was too young to buy into the hype when the Segway was released in 2001. I will never forget the first time I rode one though, I thought it was the most incredibly fun and cool thing. I ended up saving every penny earned from two summer jobs to finally buy one my last year of high school.

It actually ended up being the perfect vehicle for living off campus at university, as I learned first hand watching my friends and roommates struggle with all kinds of other forms of transportation. Cars needed to be parked in expensive and crowded garages, bikes were stolen all the time and uncomfortable to ride in the desert summer (in southern Arizona), busses were unreliable, etc.

The Segway was actually totally rideable in extreme heat as opposed to riding a bike. Something about being vertical made the breeze totally counteract the heat. Obviously the no physical exertion helped with the sweatiness as well.

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Re:Lessons from the awkward life and death of the Segway by rhn_mk1 on Saturday July 18, 2020 @07:19AM (#23880603)

What kept the Segway from getting stolen like a bike?

Did anyone use motorized bikes?

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Re:Lessons from the awkward life and death of the Segway by buzzert on Monday July 20, 2020 @03:00PM (#23900819)

It has a really good security system built in. When activated, it “locks” the wheels by applying reverse torque in whichever direction you attempt to drag it. The key is also a small device that communicates with the Segway cryptographically (pretty impressive for the early 2000’s!).

But mostly I think it’s because it was really heavy and perhaps novel enough. Nobody ever messed with it, even though the city I was living in was pretty bad in terms of crime rates.

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