What's your earliest memory of a segway?

[segsurfer]

Reading Bill Paxton's post got me feeling all nostalgic; so in honor of this occasion, I pose to you this question. What is your earliest memory of a segway? For me, it was the Popular Mechanics article featuring a conceptual sketch ginger on the cover. It featured an article speculating all the various details of a segway.

-segsurfer

[BillPaxton]

Reading Bill Paxton's post got me feeling all nostalgic; so in honor of this occasion, I pose to you this question. What is your earliest memory of a segway? For me, it was the Popular Mechanics article featuring a conceptual sketch ginger on the cover. It featured an article speculating all the various details of a segway.

-segsurfer
In 2000 I think, either 60 minutes or 20/20 did a 30 minute thing on Dean Kamen and his island home, how he never watches tv and so on. I remember they were talking about "IT", the device he was working on that would change the world, and it was so secret he could say no more. I tucked it away in my memory and then a few years later I went to EPCOT - I went into one of the buildings to get out of the heat and there were two i167's with an imagineer riding one around and one on display on a 3' pedestal. Wow - I was enchanted, till they told me I couldn't touch it or ride it (I sulked away and went to see Bill Nye the science guy instead).

[segsurfer]

It's ironic that after all the exposure that disney has created for the segway, they certainly have taken a do as I say not as I do attitude towards them.

-segsurfer

[Sharkie]

Well, somehow I missed out on all the hype over "IT" and didn't have any idea of Ginger or anything like that. I was watching Frasier one night, and Niles came in riding one. At that point I was hooked, and had to find out all I could. I was hoping that at some point I was going to be able to get one, and in 2005 it became a reality.

Jim

[fathertime]

It was way back in 2002 and I had heard some rumblings about this unusual device and lots of the pre-rollout hype...then on Good Morning America I happened to see it for the first time. As soon as it was announced that you could actually sign up to purchase one on Amazon.com I ran from the TV in our bedroom down to my computer on the first floor and made the plunge. While I was entering my credit card information my wife called down to me that there was a discussion of the Segway on GMA. When I went back upstairs I told her that I had just ordered one. She said "are you nuts"???
Ultimately, as a early adopter, I was invited to go out to the mothership to receive training but I couldn't go due to other committments and finally took delivery in early March 2003. When I did go to training at a hotel in Northbrook, Illinois I met Brooster and Glidemaster for the first time and became fast friends with them both. When we approached the hotel I saw a tall man roll across the parking lot as if he were on a magic carpet....it was Brooster and that was my first sighting of an actual Segway. As a perk during the training you were allowed to bring along your significant other. I took my wife and she was not having a good day. When I opened the door for her at the hotel where the training was to occur she replied with disgust "The things I do for you!" I thought "oh boy" this is going to be like pulling teeth. As it turns out she was out trainer's best student glider and she loved it. I had to plunk down my credit card once again and we became a two HT family. I got more atta-boys for my purchase than did a fellow trainee who had just purchased a 10 speed bike so that his wife could keep up with him on his HT......I think he is still regretting his mistake.
Shortly thereafter I was invited, along with Brooster, Glidemaster, and X-Man to the robotics show in Rosemont, Illinois to show off the machine. We had the only machines in the midwest at that time. I arrived first and thank god I had done my homework on the engineering of the HT. I was instantly surrounded by 50 or 60 engineers all asking questions and drooling on my machine. I was essentially holding court in the lobby. Soon the others arrived and we were invited, by the promoters, to glide the show at will. Wherever we went we stopped the show cold and became the rock stars of new technology. A few hours later when we were transiting up the elevator to the show's second level the doors opened and Dean Kamen was standing on a "p" series ( a machine that nobody had ever seen at that time) directly in front of us. He said to me "look at my Segway it's smaller than yours". Little did I realize that this was to be the first of many encounters with Dean and how much he would come to influence my life.
The rest of the day we were like Dean's posse following him from one place to another. I think that it was a bit disconcerting for him and quite unexpected. I later found out that he reported back to folks in New Hampshire that there was a very active fan base in Chicago.
Later that year I enlisted the help of Brooster, Glidemaster, X-Man, and my devoted wife Lady Time to put on the first SegwayFesT ever at Chicago's McCormick place. The rest is history! :):D:):D:):D:):D

[segsurfer]

interesting, I didn't know the first segway fest was held in Chicago, I though that it was in coconut grove FL.

[fathertime]

Just as a point of information. The second SegwayFesT in 2004 was held at Coconut Point in Bonita Springs, Florida shortly after the devastation of Hurricane Frances. We were also responsible for this FesT, only the second in history, for Segway Enthusiasts from all over the world. :D:):D:):D

[segsurfer]

Thanks for the clarification.
-segsurfer

[nickyboy]

I've told the story previously, so will abridge it here to avoid boredom!

I had briefly seen a Segway on a TV program, but cannot remember which one. My first real, live, in the wild, sighting was at Orlando airport on August 13th 2006 returning from our family holiday (the weekend following the discovery of the terrorist attacks, no hand luggage etc). A maintenance guy was riding through the terminal and kids had stopped him to talk to him. I became one of those kids!
On my return to the UK I searched the internet to find somewhere to ride one, I was willing to travel and pay. (imagine my annoyance when I discovered my missed opportunities during a three week holiday in Florida!). There was one contact in the UK, which was Segway UK. No official dealers or tours, nothing. Hmmm, to avoid more boredom, you can probably put 2 and 2 together :)

[Sal]

I think I was late to the program on the whole Ginger / IT thing. It was in early 2003 when I read a snippet about this self-balancing thing that was being built in NH. The whole idea of something self-balancing was new to me and I scoured the internets looking for more information when I came upon a Segway-published video of a man gliding in circles, spinning around the circumference of his path... I was fascinated and wondered how this device seemed to defy the laws of physics... As I learned more and more, I knew I had to have one, and soon found my way to SegwayChat (and have been here ever since).

I bought my first Segway from a gentleman on the Chat back in 2003, it was a gently used i167. I still have fond memories of gliding to the grocery store, when people was TOTALLY gawking and amazed at the contraption. Some of the "newness" has worn off, but the magic is still there.

-Sal

[Zorba9]

...... Good Morning America show, "It" was finally unvieled to the world (to the dismay of many - "Its only a scooter!") Dean was gliding and interviewed out in the streets of NYC. He hopped off and the "E" stand held Ginger in place. I said to myself then - "If they ever go on sale to the public I'll have one!" (turned out to be 7) One year later I did exactly like Fathertime - saw GMA and ordered 2 thru Amazon the same morning. Now the only problem was how to explain to my wife!;)

KOG

[pam]

Well, like Fathertime, I saw the reveal on GMA and really wanted one. But that was January, and it was November before they became available for the general public. I took a few days and finally put my credit card info into Amazon, figuring I'd get it in March 2003.

They were having an early delivery contest, though, for 30 people, 75 words of why you wanted a segway with additional PR kinds of verbiage. I took another few days to craft one, figuring I didn't have the proverbial snowball's chance, because SURELY there were a lot of other people out there with more experience writing this kind of stuff than me.

Within a week, I had a call from INC (then LLC), and mine had been chosen - it was the 30th one (the last of the early 30, as I call it) - So, I went up to Bedford on December 20th for my training (which is where I met Frank) and a wonderful weekend it was. Dinner at Dean Kamen's house (with Dean), meeting all the wonderful people at LLC, training (and you can see the video of our training in the "so happy together" video that Frank did, which is posted on the site here). And my Segway was delivered to me on December 24, just in time for Christmas.

As they say, the rest is history. :)

Pam

[jgrohol]

When I applied for the web job in July 2001. I then did all the research I could on what little I had on the company ("Acros") and discovered all they mystery and hype.

The interview was still one of the most absurd experiences I've ever participated in:

Me: "So you need help with building a website. For a product. Will you sell it online?"

Segway: "We don't know yet."

Me: "Do you know what the website has to do?"

Segway: "Umm, tell people about it."

Me: "But you can't tell me anything about it?"

Segway: "No, except we think it's going to change the world."

Me: "Really? Hmmm, sounds interesting."

I was hired and the rest is history.

http://forums.segwaychat.com/images/segwayproto2001b.jpg

Above, IBM Web Design prototype of original 1.0 Segway website. Notice the informative navigation scheme (lol!).

[Mr_Laurenzano]

Jane Paluly 2000
Flash marcomedia sight of the day.
The day after Mick Jaggers solo album sight.
and the rest was history.

Number 1394

I will say John that was a nice sight.
Tony

[SegwayDan]

I don't recall where I first saw one on TV or magazine, but while poking around to find out where to see one in person, I found the dealership in Celebration, FL.

Celebration is a bizarre town which looks like a Disney theme park that you can just drive into without paying admission. The dealership was right there and they RENTED machines! My wife was reluctant, but gave her blessing for me to give one a go for an hour.

I experienced the "WTF jerkies" when I first stepped up, but got over them quickly. After some tense slaloming around plastic cones in the parking lot, I was let out on my own around the downtown area.

After getting a little more relaxed, my "motorcycle throttle" reflex kicked in and I almost lost it when my machine suddenly turned instead of speeding up.

And then I experienced the "cradling" sensation of not speeding up while going down a ramp. After that I finally got into the groove of controlling the thing and scooted around town with a wide grin on my face.

That whole initial gliding experience got me going on owning one. It took a while for my wife to warm up to the idea. But soon after getting ours and seeing how practical it was, she was glad we did it.

We're still working on getting one for her. And it may happen this year!

[BillPaxton]

...either 60 minutes or 20/20 did a 30 minute thing on Dean Kamen and his island home...
hmmm, I've never quoted myself before...anyway, I found the 60 minutes piece that I referred to. Its hard to watch, but its still just as good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqnLDTC6ZaM

[Five-Flags]

Dean's talk at TED from February, 2002.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/9

A little outdated, but the dream is there....:)

[segsurfer]

When I applied for the web job in July 2001. I then did all the research I could on what little I had on the company ("Acros") and discovered all they mystery and hype.

The interview was still one of the most absurd experiences I've ever participated in:

Me: "So you need help with building a website. For a product. Will you sell it online?"

Segway: "We don't know yet."

Me: "Do you know what the website has to do?"

Segway: "Umm, tell people about it."

Me: "But you can't tell me anything about it?"

Segway: "No, except we think it's going to change the world."

Me: "Really? Hmmm, sounds interesting."

I was hired and the rest is history.

http://forums.segwaychat.com/images/segwayproto2001b.jpg

Above, IBM Web Design prototype of original 1.0 Segway website. Notice the informative navigation scheme (lol!).

I had no idea you worked with segway, do you still work with them?

[JohnM]

FYI,

The hype (http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,1000000097,2083717,00.htm) regarding "IT" began with the leaked proposal for Steve Kemper's book in January 2001.

The reveal on GMA was December 3, 2001.

Time also did a feature story in that week's edition, still available here (http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,186660,00.html).

[Desert_Seg]

... The reveal on GMA was December 3, 2001. ....

Dang, I was close. Regardless of what my kids say I haven't yet lost my memory. I need to call them and tell them...if only I could remember their phone numbers. :D

Steven

[GlideMaster]

...... Good Morning America show, "It" was finally unvieled to the world (to the dismay of many - "Its only a scooter!") Dean was gliding and interviewed out in the streets of NYC. He hopped off and the "E" stand held Ginger in place. I said to myself then - "If they ever go on sale to the public I'll have one!" (turned out to be 7) One year later I did exactly like Fathertime - saw GMA and ordered 2 thru Amazon the same morning. Now the only problem was how to explain to my wife!;)

KOG

Yep I saw this show and when the CPD got one I was the first person trained on it and was gliding on it before they started selling them to the public. During this time I met Brooster and let him sneek a glide. And as they say the rest is history. During this time I had yet to meet Fathertime.

May all your Glides be smooth

[Tarkus]

I first saw it on the tube somewhere around 2003, then forgot about it.

Then a year latter I was just beginning to be able to stand after a Spinal Cord Injury when a PT showed me the DRAFT site.

It was cool to see that after almost a year in a wheelchair there was an option for those who can stand but not walk distances. "Standing Wheelchairs" were just overkill for my condition.

Be Big,
Alan

[CovRob]

Married in 2003 & went to Florida on honeymoon...saw them in use by merchandisers around the parks...thought they were brill :rolleyes: