My first article

[florin]

Hi everyone,

I'm proud to tell you that my first article is now published on The Red Key.

You can read the article by clicking on this link: http://www.wingnut.com/theredkey/article.php?story=20050613232044312

I hope you all will like the article, please let me know what you think of it.

Kind regards,

Florin


Visit http://www.florin-webdesign.nl/segwayinfo if you want to stay up-to-date on the situation about the Segway HT in the Netherlands.
http://www.florin-webdesign.nl/segwayinfo/uploads/cavt41287ea7e3ec0

[Sal]

Great reporting Florin. The pictures were superb as well!

Thanks!

-Sal

Think Different
www.apple.com

[KSagal]

Great job.

Part of the reporters job is to keep you reading. I had planned to read it very lightly, since I am at work... I could not stop. I read the whole report start to finish...

Thanks for a great article...




Karl Ian Sagal

Each road you travel should be just a bit better for having had you pass.

[florin]

Hi Sal and Karl,

Thanks for the compliments.

Kind regards,

Florin


Visit http://www.florin-webdesign.nl/segwayinfo if you want to stay up-to-date on the situation about the Segway HT in the Netherlands.
http://www.florin-webdesign.nl/segwayinfo/uploads/cavt41287ea7e3ec0

[legpain]

There must be something wrong with the thinking as to the weight thing with Segways. The Segway can handle, per Doug Field, a 7 ton drop. So, what are we talking about weight on a Segway? Is it really that in order to get the mileage that Segway LLC says that the batteries can get you must be a within a certain range of weight? What, can the Segway really handle MORE weight? Come on folks, we need to ask Segway to re-state the weight requirements for the Segway. Florin couldn’t ride because of how it’s stated?? Somethink is wwrroonngg!! Segway LLC please weigh in here, can it be stated that a heavy person can ride an HT but would have diminished miles? Rental companies are refusing service because of what’s printed??

Come on let’s hear it for us over weight people; we want to ride Segways too!!!

John

[Brooster]

John, a lot of it's due to stopping-distance concerns. Riders need to be able to bring the Segway to a safe stop in a relatively short distance in a pedestrian environment, and obviously the more you weigh the longer the distance required. The Seg itself can handle a lot more weight than its stated max.

Florin, nice piece ... enjoyed it.

Brooster

[florin]

Brooster,

I don't know if your theory is completly correct.

Heavy people (like me) can in worst case jump back of the platform (while holding tight the handlebars) and we will work like an anchor, I don't think you can get an quicker emergency stop. Light weighted people can do the same but will just be dragged along by the segway.

I'm joking around, LLC will probably have some logical reasoning for it, although I think that the limits could be a bit higher without risking the safety, personally I have the impression that my stops are even a bit quicker then of someone with average weight.

Kind regards,

Florin


Visit http://www.florin-webdesign.nl/segwayinfo if you want to stay up-to-date on the situation about the Segway HT in the Netherlands.
http://www.florin-webdesign.nl/segwayinfo/uploads/cavt41287ea7e3ec0

[Segway of St. Louis]

Lets just say that the weight limits are all about safety. As we all know LLC errors way on the side of safe and I don't think any of us would have it any other way.

I have seen people far over the limits use HT's and put lots of use on them. But I don't see these listed numbers changing.

I don't expect the rentals to have a scale either!

Jeff Bach
Segway of St. Louis
636-754-4000

[Stewbonz]

Isn't the weight limit 260lbs + 75Lbs cargo?

JEFF JARVIS
http://www.thailandsegwaytours.com/

[JohnG]

Nope, according to the specifications here:

http://www.segway.com/segway/specs_i180.html

The weight is 260 lbs. total. Segway arrives at that number taking a bunch of factors into consideration, most importantly safety, but also things like durability of components, stress testing, even warranty service repairs. Just like weight restrictions for a car or anything that carries a load, those numbers were arrived at through hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of design engineering and testing.

John


--
All views expressed here are my own, not necessarily those of my employer or others. Check out http://grohol.com/.

[KSagal]

Florin and others...

Again, I go back to my knowledge of weight and momentum in other regards...

My square parachute is really a self inflating wing... Like most wings, the faster it flys, the more lift it generates. Also other forces increase.

Because of my mass, I command a a significant attraction to the mass of the earth... I don't really care what Galileo intimated, big, fat guys fall faster... Anyway, because I weigh over 200 pounds, my parachute would fly faster forward than someone that was in the exact same parachute but only weighed 150 pounds. My parachute has more forward speed, but also a faster vertical speed. I generate more lift, but that is because I have more mass, and more mass requires more lift to keep it aloft...

With segways, more mass translates into more difficulty in stopping. More weight requires a greater force that needs to be used to stop that greater momentum. We can all agree that a truck or even a train has more powerful brakes than a car, because of their greater mass. Florin's suggestion that a heavy person could stop a segway faster does not take this into account. I know his comment was toung in cheek (Half kidding) but is like stepping harder on a car brake system to stop a train. The system just does not have that capacity.

Weight above the target will require more distance and cause more mechanical stress on the machine...

THe big question, as I see it, is what are your personnal limits for how hard you push your segway. Some people push much harder than others...


Karl Ian Sagal

Each road you travel should be just a bit better for having had you pass.

[florin]

Hi Karl,

Ofcourse I was half kidding, you're absolutly right about this all.

Regarding your question on hard you push your segway: Although I really like the red key speed and want to go as fast as possible (if the environment allows it) I always go so far that the Segway won't push me back. After a few glides I got the feeling of how far I can go before the segway starts to push me back, I like to keep that as my personal limit.

Kind regards,

Florin




Visit http://www.florin-webdesign.nl/segwayinfo if you want to stay up-to-date on the situation about the Segway HT in the Netherlands.
http://www.florin-webdesign.nl/segwayinfo/uploads/cavt41287ea7e3ec0