Segway + motorbike = futuristic dorkmobile
Just when you thought that the Segway "self-balancing personal transportation device" concept had finally had a stake driven firmly through its überdorky heart, it's baaaack. But now you have a place to sit, and not be forced to stand up as must a Segway-mounted policeman, paramedic, or polo player. Taurus concept vehicle …
Human-power transit burns (a few) calories, and food calories are also not free. Best case is eating plants, but the effective mpg is still somewhere between 300 and 1000 miles per "gallon". Worst case (using steak for fuel) is about as bad as an SUV, or so I understand.
Electric-powered gadgets can do pretty well, if supplied with green-sourced electricity.
Any sources for your understanding? A few rough calculations with the Harris-Benedict equation gives me over 400"mpg" for waling assuming a Basal Metabolic Rate of 2200kcal/day and fuel containing 31,548 kcal/gallon. It gets even better if you calculate the mpg based on the increase in metabolic rate due to exercise - after all, you don't kill the human when you replace the walker with a segway or car.
Of course, other factors some into play - how fast do you want to get there? what are the greenhouse gas emissions from the "fuel" production? (that's where using steak for fuel looks bad - months of cows farting to produce your meal) and so on...
Icon - environmentally-friendly SUV driver.
Depends what your source of energy is: coal and nuclear stations can't ramp-up and ramp-down overnight when there is less demand (if they heat up or cool down too fast pipes will buckle and bend) so overnight when there is much less demand, they are still spinning away at full power. Use some of this unused power to charge your electric car/bike and I think you can safely say you're zero emissions.
Fantastic...
You've now tipped me over the edge and am now ordering the DVD set of that 80's series from Amazon. I hope you're proud of yourself!
better than a bike?
(be that a push bike, scooter, motorbike, electric or otherwise...)
One would think that she's missing a full-face helmet, gloves and decent leathers. All for a maximum of 15MPH. Ooh.
There's a reason for putting wheels in-line. Breaking is a pretty good one. Stability's another.
That'd be BRAKING.
Breaking is what you do when you fail to brake!
And stability is easier with wheels side by side - a bike is naturally unstable - in motion you can make continuous corrections which keep you upright, but if you watch carefully you'll never go in a straight line (the back wheel never rolls along the front wheel track).
At least this has instability in the direction it can control (forwards & backwards)
Stuff that you failed to brake in time for?
It's "Braking" FFS!
Second on my pet hate list that, after arsehats who don't pronounce "Nuclear" correctly.
Not quite. In-line wheels offers gyroscopic vertical stability and, as suggested by a different poster, a stable center of gravity that aids in absorbing forward momentum during brea^H^H^H^Hbraking.
I suspect that the amount of force required to maintain a vertical attitude while braking on the Taurus is going to be substantial, unless it has a trivial maximum speed like the Segway. And then, you must trust absolutely that the computer will compensate accurately during such event.
In the Segway at least you are standing up, giving you a chance to position yourself for a fall, were the device to fail to respond appropriately--good luck hitting the pavement with anything but your face if ever your Taurus fails similarly!
-dZ.
Why does this look to me like a ride-back? Fake arms, a flame paint-job and we have a Fuego here. ^_^
http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=6235
Nice and clean, no equipment required and everyone can do it.
Why waste the $$$ on something that takes longer to get dressed for than you will use it? Silly to me!
"and everyone can do it."
You sure about that?
The Segway looks fun 'n all and the self-balancing tech is definitely cool. I can (maybe) see a use in warehouse etc, if it is more efficient than a buggy...but everywhere else? Don't see it. For those who can walk...get a good pair of shoes/boots and walk!
What is this Segbike like under hard braking? Think I stick to wheels front 'n rear ta muchly. Might interest the NABD though!
I lost my legs in a car accident, you insensitive twat.
I can't, but then I do have a dodgy knee.
You sir have discriminated against your less mobile counterparts, I demand recompense!
If you mean this thing, I don't see much need for protective clothing given its maximum speed, almost matching that of the lowest class of mopeds here (which don't require a helmet).
If you mean dressing up for a motorbike ride, that time is more than compensated for by the time gained over your caged lemming cow-orkers, who feel the need to use motorways as parking places.
"everyone can do it?" Oh rly? What about those of us who have a disability and can't, or find it very difficult? Are we not part of 'everyone' - or do you exclude us from the human race? In the same way that certain people (Jews, handicapped people, Gipsys to name a few) were classed as not people by a famous regime in the 1930s and 1940s.
Think again.
You post is insulting to invalids, paraplegics and disgustingly obese gits.
Go drown yourself.
In beer obviously. It is Friday.
You might be amazed how many (millions) of people out here just don't have shank's pony available as a means of transport. A mile to the shops means a car - assuming white van man isn't in the disabled parking space when we get there. Yes there are electric buggies, but they don't suit everyone, don't suit every kind of journey, and they're not that cheap either.
I don't see this particular device as any answer for those with mobility problems, but at least such developments are an encouraging vision of a possibility of 'real' transport that doesn't involve a car for short journeys. But every time a promising light vehicle appears, it's either ludicrously expensive, hugely impractical or it's a concept vehicle that never appears in production.
But we all live in hope...
"What's wrong with bipedal locomotion?"
"Nice and clean, no equipment required and everyone can do it"
Bit of a sweeping statement that isn't it? Everyone can walk? Everyone?
Maybe useful to some people who are unable to walk but dont want to sit in a wheelchair all day?
The very trendiest old people obviously!
Golly. Think you may have over-reacted there a little? Okay, the previous poster made a bit of a rash generalisation. Insensitive, perhaps. By all means join the swelling ranks of people telling him off for that. But comparing the situation to the extermination of millions of innocent people in the early 20th century is (a) a bit silly and (b) a LOT insulting to the innocent people who were exterminated in the early 20th century.
Unless there was an extermination subtext in the original post that I missed, in which case fair do's. Flame on.
(or were you joking? If you were, then kudos to you. You came across as so sincere in your outrage, and you sure fooled me...)
Yes, good. Let this be the last word on that particular bit of this subject.
Thanks for putting an end to that nonsense
Never thought the PC patrol would find us here at El Reg...
Too big for most car boots. Looks like it's bulkier than a bicycle as well, with the side-by-side wheels.
For half the price (asuming it dosent cost any more than the segway) you could get a CG125 that will last longer, go faster, carry more and look alot less silly. Hell, you could get something realy good, like a 1 year old Monster or a two year old Blade.
You need a big, fat arse to fit that thing.
Oh, it's a marketing plus?
"I've gone green, I've bought a Taurus so I can get to MacDriveThru for thier 'buy one get ten free' offer.
> Interestingly, although the Taurus - and, for that matter, its ancestral Segway - are being touted as zero-emissions vehicles, no electrically motivated people-mover will ever be truly "zero-emissions" until power plants stop burning coal, oil, or natural gas.
Not at all a biased point of view then? Does this 'vehicle', or more to the point, any electric vehicle have any emissions? No, they do not. I don't know how else you'd describe 'Zero-emissions', as by your definition nothing can possibly be, as everything will have a emission cost when it comes to manufacture.
When it comes to electric vehicles, what is wrong with moving the power generation away from the populace and in a way which can use a multitude of sources? Plug your car in over night and make use of cheep electricity. It also means our streets are less polluted with fumes and noise. Might not be best suited for everyone, but for a good percentage it would!
"When it comes to electric vehicles, what is wrong with moving the power generation away from the populace and in a way which can use a multitude of sources?"
I'm sorry to see that NIMBYism is still alive and well. So you think pollution is fine as long as you don't see or smell it? No wonder you're anonymous, you selfish bastard.
El Reg biased against anything with a hint of green? Don't you know it's based at the IT department of the Daily Mail?
You sir, are an ignoramus!
Also, I would LOVE to see what your definition of "significant percentage" is.
> I'm sorry to see that NIMBYism is still alive and well. So you think pollution is fine as long as you don't see or smell it? No wonder you're anonymous, you selfish bastard.
So you're saying you like all the traffic pollution then? So you'd rather the fumes and noise than using a gas\nuclear\random 'renewable' power station? Hell how much would extra would our coal stations have to work for an overnight charge of EV vehicles?
Personally I'd like to see more 'local' generation, like the Danes, so NIMBYism this isn't. Its all about having a nicer place to live.
As for a significant percentage, how many people just drive to their office and back every day? Or to school, the shops and back. I'd wager a great deal that the majority of people in the UK do not drive more than 50miles per day, so apart from cost or purchase, why not have a 'leaf' or whatever as 1 car in your 2 car garage?? (Just because YOU drive more, doesn't mean the majority do not!!)
can have their waste heat harnessed and used, significantly improving their efficiency, something you'll find spectacularly difficult with a moving vehicle. Even capturing the CO2 itself is being considered, with pilot tests being run. And I'd rather have a a single power plant being maintained by its team of engineers and technicians (and you can build it right in my neighbourhood, if you feel the need), instead of the multitude of cars it's equivalent to, being kept at whatever maintenance level their owners feel necessary.
Looks like a fanny magnet to me.....
Anyone remember the strip in Viz where Sid the Sexist buys a moped & rides to a bikers pub to try and pull ?
No. The Fanny Magnet is the "Satsuma Castanet XR4 Turbo" I think you'll find....
You steer it by an almost infinitesimal movement of the handlebars in the opposite direction...
I have done 175,000 miles on a motorcycle, and plenty on bicycles. I am having to re-do my license here in Germany, and in the courses that I am forced to endure they pointed this tidbit out. I honestly never even thought about it. The handlebars are just something I hold onto for stability, and don't exert any directional pressure except at very low speeds. Now unfortunately on my cycle rides, I am paying attention trying to notice it, but cannot. Just seems to me like something I did not ever need to know.
The wheels move out from underneath the center of gravity, making the bike want to fall inward into the curve. So you DO steer a bike by leaning, it's just that you usually don't initiate it by flopping your arse around.
Pay attention to what happens, especially on a motorbike.
... it looks cool.
Don't know about the practicalities, but it looks a lot of fun if not a little scary to ride.
Lean to far forward and one nasty face plant.
electrical power plants can stop using oil, coal, and natural gas. Hence, they should do so.
But vehicles that require people to balance them in order to operate are simply silly when an extra wheel is so much safer and more accessible.
...for a price you could buy a small car for?
Environmental concerns (which electric vehicles don't really address anyway) will never be realised until stuff like this is seriously affordable and not just another expensive geek purchase.
.....or how big a lard a$$ is it designed for? Looks like it could take 1 well fed American or 3 generations of a Vietnamese family
"Segway Taurus - and friend"
Paris, cos she's the nearest we have to our EeePc friend in an icon.
It's a two-wheeled, ride-on torch.
Seems a little impractical when you're trying to find the bit off the end of the thingy that came unscrewed and rolled under the sofa in the dark though.....
