Red Seg
07-29-2006, 02:59 PM
Link to article and video: The Oregonian
(http://www.oregonlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/living/1154118324244880.xml?oregonian?lvfp&coll=7)
And away they roll
Segways didn't change the world, but they have a steadily growing following that loves them for a bunch of reasons
Saturday, July 29, 2006
STEVE WOODWARD
The Oregonian
"It" was so secret that many referred to it simply as "It."
"It" was reported to be a personal helicopter, a wearable car, a motorized unicycle, a personal teleporteror a hydrogen-powered scooter.
"It" turned out to be the Segway Human Transporter, which Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos called "the single most overhyped thing in the history of the universe."
Contrary to some expectations, the Segway, a cross between a pogo stick and a motorized scooter, has not liberated humans from their cars or transformed the face of cities. And inventor Dean Kamen's dream -- to enable pedestrians to go farther, move more quickly and carry more -- has not fired the nation's imagination.
But it's not a bad start.
"This is a serious tool"
In recent months, Portland-area Segway owners have begun meeting for group glides. Members of SegwayChat (forums.segwaychat.com) took a rolling stroll through Tryon Creek State Park last fall. Earlier this month, members of Portland Segway Meetup Group (segway.meetup.com/25/) "marched" in the Woodstock Parade.
Before the parade, Portland Mayor Tom Potter borrowed one of the two-wheeled contraptions, quickly mastered it and pronounced himself impressed.
"He thought there might be ways for the city to use them," says John Doussard, the mayor's spokesman.
Last year, in fact, Portland's parking enforcement officers gave Segways a try but concluded they weren't any more efficient than bicycles and shoe leather. (Ironically, parking a Segway itself can be sticky. They can be parked at a bike rack or on a sidewalk within one foot of a building's outside wall, as long as the building owner agrees, says Dakota InyoSwan, spokeswoman for the Office of Transportation.)
The Portland Water Bureau recently bought two police-model Segways for security patrols around the city's Washington Park and Mount Tabor reservoirs.
"I had some skepticism at first about the concept," says David Becker, a water security specialist. "It looks like a toy, but this is a serious tool."
Even loaded with Becker and all his equipment -- a total of 270 pounds -- the Segway is able to haul him to the summit of Mount Tabor at the full speed of 12.5 miles an hour.
Picking up speed
"It's a phenomenal technology," says Nancy Frisch, a Portland psychotherapist, Oregon Ballet Theatre board member and owner of a Segway that she and her son ride around their Southwest Portland neighborhood.
Frisch, a childhood friend of Kamen, was an early investor in Kamen's company. The unconventional inventor holds more than 150 patents on the Segway and other creations -- as well as a Guinness world record for the most consecutive days wearing denim.
Since sales began in 2002, Kamen's New Hampshire-based company says it has sold tens of thousands of units, with sales increasing 50 percent a year.
In Portland, Shawn Karambelas, president of SK Northwest, says he sold about 50 Segways a year when he first opened the local Segway dealership in late 2004. Today, he sells about 100 a year at prices ranging from $4,500 to $5,900, depending on the model.
With Segways able to travel as far as 24 miles on an eight- to 10-hour battery charge, a handful of Portlanders uses them to commute and run errands.
"The whole gas crisis is moving people toward solutions," Frisch says, "and this is one of the solutions."
The Water Bureau's Becker says he recently met another Segway user who had put 1,800 commuter miles on his scooter. Karambelas knows a stockbroker who shuttles between his Pearl District home and his downtown job on one.
Seg up to the deli counter
Stephen Frantz used to take the bus between his Southeast Portland home and his job as director of the Reed College Reactor Facility. But seven months into his new marriage last year, his wife, Marilyn Frantz, bought him the Segway he had coveted for years.
He hasn't taken the bus since.
A month after Marilyn bought Stephen's Segway, she bought one for herself.
"He was having so much fun with it," she explains.
Monthly gasoline bills for their 1995 Saturn station wagon have fallen to about $30. They use their Segways to meet for lunch, go to church and run errands.
"I'll Seg into the Woodstock Safeway and Seg right up to the deli counter," Marilyn says. "Steve will actually go up and down the aisles."
Just down Southeast Woodstock Boulevard from Safeway is Island Creamery, the ice-cream parlor that is spiritual home to the Portland Segway Meetup Group. Dave Glanville, the group's organizer, commutes three miles to the creamery to help his wife, who opened the store last year.
This summer, Glanville rode his Segway to Little League games, where he handed out store coupons.
By strange coincidence, Glanville, a retired computer consultant, also performs as a professional magician -- evoking comparisons with GOB, the magician brother who rides a Segway in the defunct Fox TV series "Arrested Development."
Segways draw gawkers
Last Saturday, Glanville and fellow group member Gregory McKie met for a glide that started near OMSI on the Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade, crossed the Steel Bridge and ended at Salmon Street Springs in Tom McCall Waterfront Park.
The Segways drew looks of amusement, curiosity and envy. Glanville and McKie answered questions about the cost of a Segway, its range, its speed and how it stays balanced.
McKie, who bought his scooter three months ago after getting hooked during a Segway tour in Hawaii, gave several impromptu lessons to onlookers, including a trio of Portland police officers.
Officer Rick Hascall, who usually patrols by car, said he could envision using Segways for special events and community policing. Patrolling by car separates police from the community, he said.
The Segway, he said, "would put them back out there, where they can talk to people."
Ironically, riding a Segway on a Portland city sidewalk is illegal. But the city's Police Bureau and Transportation Office agreed in 2004 not to enforce the ordinance unless Segways become a problem, says transportation spokeswoman InyoSwan.
"The rationale was that there were only about 20 Segways in Portland," InyoSwan says, "maybe 35 in the whole state."
The agencies also gave Segway users permission to use marked bike lanes and to travel on streets where the speed limit is 25 mph or less. On sidewalks, however, the scooters have to keep an even pace with the pedestrian flow, never to exceed 5 mph.
Help for the disabled
Speed isn't the issue for Tom Watson. He just wants to increase his mobility. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis six years ago, the Southeast Portland resident says he intends to buy a Segway within the next six months so he can go longer distances and up hills.
His wife, Karen Watson, says a Segway will enable them to celebrate their 25th anniversary in 2008 in the Italian hill country.
In the meantime, Tom wants to use a Segway to reach a MAX station several blocks away, then load the Segway onto the train for the rest of his commute to his job as a data technical manager.
TriMet allows Segways on MAX trains. But they're prohibited on buses unless, like Tom Watson, the user is disabled.
Despite the Segway's use for mobility, security and commuting, the largest sales category remains recreation, says Segway dealer Karambelas.
"I know it sounds nuts," he says, "but we get people who buy them just for fun."
Steve Woodward: 503-294-5134; stevewoodward@news.oregonian.com
©2006 The Oregonian
(http://www.oregonlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/living/1154118324244880.xml?oregonian?lvfp&coll=7)
And away they roll
Segways didn't change the world, but they have a steadily growing following that loves them for a bunch of reasons
Saturday, July 29, 2006
STEVE WOODWARD
The Oregonian
"It" was so secret that many referred to it simply as "It."
"It" was reported to be a personal helicopter, a wearable car, a motorized unicycle, a personal teleporteror a hydrogen-powered scooter.
"It" turned out to be the Segway Human Transporter, which Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos called "the single most overhyped thing in the history of the universe."
Contrary to some expectations, the Segway, a cross between a pogo stick and a motorized scooter, has not liberated humans from their cars or transformed the face of cities. And inventor Dean Kamen's dream -- to enable pedestrians to go farther, move more quickly and carry more -- has not fired the nation's imagination.
But it's not a bad start.
"This is a serious tool"
In recent months, Portland-area Segway owners have begun meeting for group glides. Members of SegwayChat (forums.segwaychat.com) took a rolling stroll through Tryon Creek State Park last fall. Earlier this month, members of Portland Segway Meetup Group (segway.meetup.com/25/) "marched" in the Woodstock Parade.
Before the parade, Portland Mayor Tom Potter borrowed one of the two-wheeled contraptions, quickly mastered it and pronounced himself impressed.
"He thought there might be ways for the city to use them," says John Doussard, the mayor's spokesman.
Last year, in fact, Portland's parking enforcement officers gave Segways a try but concluded they weren't any more efficient than bicycles and shoe leather. (Ironically, parking a Segway itself can be sticky. They can be parked at a bike rack or on a sidewalk within one foot of a building's outside wall, as long as the building owner agrees, says Dakota InyoSwan, spokeswoman for the Office of Transportation.)
The Portland Water Bureau recently bought two police-model Segways for security patrols around the city's Washington Park and Mount Tabor reservoirs.
"I had some skepticism at first about the concept," says David Becker, a water security specialist. "It looks like a toy, but this is a serious tool."
Even loaded with Becker and all his equipment -- a total of 270 pounds -- the Segway is able to haul him to the summit of Mount Tabor at the full speed of 12.5 miles an hour.
Picking up speed
"It's a phenomenal technology," says Nancy Frisch, a Portland psychotherapist, Oregon Ballet Theatre board member and owner of a Segway that she and her son ride around their Southwest Portland neighborhood.
Frisch, a childhood friend of Kamen, was an early investor in Kamen's company. The unconventional inventor holds more than 150 patents on the Segway and other creations -- as well as a Guinness world record for the most consecutive days wearing denim.
Since sales began in 2002, Kamen's New Hampshire-based company says it has sold tens of thousands of units, with sales increasing 50 percent a year.
In Portland, Shawn Karambelas, president of SK Northwest, says he sold about 50 Segways a year when he first opened the local Segway dealership in late 2004. Today, he sells about 100 a year at prices ranging from $4,500 to $5,900, depending on the model.
With Segways able to travel as far as 24 miles on an eight- to 10-hour battery charge, a handful of Portlanders uses them to commute and run errands.
"The whole gas crisis is moving people toward solutions," Frisch says, "and this is one of the solutions."
The Water Bureau's Becker says he recently met another Segway user who had put 1,800 commuter miles on his scooter. Karambelas knows a stockbroker who shuttles between his Pearl District home and his downtown job on one.
Seg up to the deli counter
Stephen Frantz used to take the bus between his Southeast Portland home and his job as director of the Reed College Reactor Facility. But seven months into his new marriage last year, his wife, Marilyn Frantz, bought him the Segway he had coveted for years.
He hasn't taken the bus since.
A month after Marilyn bought Stephen's Segway, she bought one for herself.
"He was having so much fun with it," she explains.
Monthly gasoline bills for their 1995 Saturn station wagon have fallen to about $30. They use their Segways to meet for lunch, go to church and run errands.
"I'll Seg into the Woodstock Safeway and Seg right up to the deli counter," Marilyn says. "Steve will actually go up and down the aisles."
Just down Southeast Woodstock Boulevard from Safeway is Island Creamery, the ice-cream parlor that is spiritual home to the Portland Segway Meetup Group. Dave Glanville, the group's organizer, commutes three miles to the creamery to help his wife, who opened the store last year.
This summer, Glanville rode his Segway to Little League games, where he handed out store coupons.
By strange coincidence, Glanville, a retired computer consultant, also performs as a professional magician -- evoking comparisons with GOB, the magician brother who rides a Segway in the defunct Fox TV series "Arrested Development."
Segways draw gawkers
Last Saturday, Glanville and fellow group member Gregory McKie met for a glide that started near OMSI on the Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade, crossed the Steel Bridge and ended at Salmon Street Springs in Tom McCall Waterfront Park.
The Segways drew looks of amusement, curiosity and envy. Glanville and McKie answered questions about the cost of a Segway, its range, its speed and how it stays balanced.
McKie, who bought his scooter three months ago after getting hooked during a Segway tour in Hawaii, gave several impromptu lessons to onlookers, including a trio of Portland police officers.
Officer Rick Hascall, who usually patrols by car, said he could envision using Segways for special events and community policing. Patrolling by car separates police from the community, he said.
The Segway, he said, "would put them back out there, where they can talk to people."
Ironically, riding a Segway on a Portland city sidewalk is illegal. But the city's Police Bureau and Transportation Office agreed in 2004 not to enforce the ordinance unless Segways become a problem, says transportation spokeswoman InyoSwan.
"The rationale was that there were only about 20 Segways in Portland," InyoSwan says, "maybe 35 in the whole state."
The agencies also gave Segway users permission to use marked bike lanes and to travel on streets where the speed limit is 25 mph or less. On sidewalks, however, the scooters have to keep an even pace with the pedestrian flow, never to exceed 5 mph.
Help for the disabled
Speed isn't the issue for Tom Watson. He just wants to increase his mobility. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis six years ago, the Southeast Portland resident says he intends to buy a Segway within the next six months so he can go longer distances and up hills.
His wife, Karen Watson, says a Segway will enable them to celebrate their 25th anniversary in 2008 in the Italian hill country.
In the meantime, Tom wants to use a Segway to reach a MAX station several blocks away, then load the Segway onto the train for the rest of his commute to his job as a data technical manager.
TriMet allows Segways on MAX trains. But they're prohibited on buses unless, like Tom Watson, the user is disabled.
Despite the Segway's use for mobility, security and commuting, the largest sales category remains recreation, says Segway dealer Karambelas.
"I know it sounds nuts," he says, "but we get people who buy them just for fun."
Steve Woodward: 503-294-5134; stevewoodward@news.oregonian.com
©2006 The Oregonian