Segway Rental Business

[Steve-n-DC]

I am very seriously conisdering starting a business renting Segways. I am particularly focused on renting them on an hourly/daily basis for novelty reasons and for tourism purposes.

If anyone is interested and/or has information that might be useful I would love to hear from you.

Steve

steve_rao@yahoo.com

[GyroGo]

Steve,

There is a guy named Tim in the DC area interested in Segway rental, I'm e-mailing him about your post.



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[pkpaul]

I am exploring the DC rental market as well.
See www.GlideSegway.com
I have many ideas to share.






pkpaul

[tpkanaley]

Hey all...I think this is a great idea and think DC is a ripe market for it...I am also thinking there could be a market in trade shows and other demo environments.

My email is tpkanaley@yahoo.com...

Tim

[Lohja]

I'd worry about liability. You can't buy one without being trained. Why should you be able to rent one without the equivalent training? Not everyone can easily ride it. Rent bikes.

Visit my Blog page at http://www.Lohja@blogspot.com

[pkpaul]

"Common Knowledge":
I think until gliding a Segway becomes "common knowledge" like driving a car, riding an escalator, riding a bicycle, or operating a VCR (2 year-olds can do this while 80 year-olds can not), training will be required. Having said that, if the buyer/renter is tech savvy or already has been trained, then you might get away with it (see experience below). I think right now it would require a 1 or 2 hour training session. This restricts the market potential to periods of a week or longer. Right now I am guessing that 90% need training. As time goes on, that percentage will drop and then the hourly and daily rentals would become practical. Eventually most people will have been trained or otherwise have learned the skills.

Consider This:
If you can't operate an automobile and try to, it won't move and you won't get hurt.
If you haven't ridden an escalator, you might get scared or unbalanced, but it shouldn't hurt you.
But you attempt to ride a bicycle without training you will most likely crash at some point. That is about the worst case scenario for the Segway. But you have to keep in mind that when learning to bicycle that you are also learning to balance. Once you learn that you can remember how to do it forever. That's why we say "it's like riding a bicycle". Also most of us learn this "one-at-time" as we grow up (as opposed to everyone learning a new technology at once). There is definitely a learning curve here.

Risk:
If someone sees a bicycle rider on TV, they can see that it requires some effort (pedaling) on the part of the operator, Yet if they see a Segway glider on TV, it looks like no effort at all is required. That's where the danger is. Somebody might attempt to board an unpowered Segway and then fall.

Experience:
I did sell a Segway to a buyer who had no hands-on training (but I did). I gave him the training manual and training video tape and emailed my training experiences to him. I primarily covered the balancing issue and the wheel spin/slip issue, that I learned from hands-on training. So far, no problem.

Happy Gliding!

GlideSegway.com


pkpaul

[BillM]

pkpaul... I respectfully disagree.

Having now trained a lot of clients, salespeople, cops, retirees and kids too, and providing 10 times that in quicky demos, I can honestly say allowing someone to attempt to train themselves is extremely hazardous. Everyone has reacted differently and some more violently than others. I know, violently, seems a harsh word, but consider the cop I demoed for 5 minutes this evening. I wish you could've seen him. First thing he did, even though I told him otherwise, was to take a death grip and create that oscillation we all see in first-timers. He pushed and pulled as fast as he could, but the HT is much faster at reacting than any mortal. And I let him, for just a moment, cause otherwise you can't fully understand that it's your feet - heels and toes - that effect it's movement. Then they really listen and do everything you say. When you demo someone there's a required position to stand, things to tell the demoee and a particular way to grab the bars. Then you're supposed to move through a few specific exercises while spotting them and spot them again the same way they got on when dismounting and of course telling them of the hazards of dismounting. Face it my friends, people MAY watch the videos, they MAY stay awake and pay attention, but nobody and I mean NOBODY will read the book and be capable of understanding the feel. Engineers read books, but they are the least likely to understand the whole "Feel thing". Could anyone write a book that would teach someone how to ride a bike? NOT a chance! It's a "Feel Thing" (my grammar is aweful, sorry).

Mr. Kamen is right IMHO and I'd like to see training offices in major cities all around the country and be able to issue Segway Authorized ID cards in addition to maintaining a database. These training offices could write up purchases and then the units could be drop shipped directly to your home without the need to maintain an "in store" supply. From there we could branch out as we take over the world! Supply proper bad guy maniacal laughter please...

Have a great day!

Bill Mullen
JM Lexus
Margate, FL 33073
800 805-3987
billm@jmlexus.com

[GyroGo]

quote:Originally posted by BillM


Mr. Kamen is right IMHO and I'd like to see training offices in major cities all around the country and be able to issue Segway Authorized ID cards in addition to maintaining a database. These training offices could write up purchases and then the units could be drop shipped directly to your home without the need to maintain an "in store" supply. From there we could branch out as we take over the world! Supply proper bad guy maniacal laughter please...


Bill:

When you say "Mr. Kamen is right", could you please clarify exactly what part of the statement following are you quoting him as agreeing with?
1) "training offices in major cities all around the country and be able to issue Segway Authorized ID cards in addition to maintaining a database."
2) "These training offices could write up purchases and then the units could be drop shipped directly to your home without the need to maintain an "in store" supply."

Thanks,

Gary







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[pkpaul]

Training/Observations Notes:
I trained 7 new people yesterday and today (30 April and 1 May 2003) both inside and outside. Here's what I observed.

Wobble:
They all had the "newbie wobble" even though I explained the body's natural tendency to "fight" the Segways ability to balance. Though having heard it explained I believe that it helped in not letting the Segway get-away from them or falling.

Lean:
Then they had to learn to lean on the turns and hills, even though I taught them to so, still had to learn by doing. Again, having heard it explained I believe that it helped in not tipping the Segway or wiping-out.

Crash:
I had two of them attempt a hill and a speed bump from a level grad at full speed. This in dangerous and counter intuitive. I did not not try this because I read the manual or was to reserved and assumed others would be as conservative. But being younger, more aggressive types, they tried it and the Segway reacted then over-reacted causing some near crashes. I observed one try to speed up in order to take the hill. That is a normal course of momentum and physical dynamics, but unsafe. Its is better and safer to slow down to approach a hill or a bump.
Also had 2 minor incidents of wall-climb, one inside and one outside by the newbies.


Addictive:
The biggest surprise to me and the newbies was how absolutely addictive the Segway is. I can envision the Segway "pusher" offering free training/ride for a few minutes, then charging $10.00 for a five minute ride after the user comes back begging for more. You still have all the legal/liability issues to worry about though.

Show off:
People who thought that they would look silly on a Segway in public, would get addicted then go out and actually show off. And the cars would slow down or stop (the real danger). Pedestrians and drivers all said the same thing, "There's one of those things!"

Conclusion:
It's easy to learn but hard to master.

Rentals:
No revenue rentals yet, just inquires.
Is anyone having success at rentals?


PKPaul
www.GlideSegway.com



pkpaul

[segwayusersgroup]

SegwayRentalCompany.com is for sale all you renters.

Get the domain that sells the point clearly and have a blast will ya.

SUG

email offers.

http://www.segwayusersgroup.com - aka: SUG

<h3>"Don't just Ride, Glide"</h3>

[bottjustin]

I'm looking at the rental aspect in South Carolina, on a recreational basis, and I think the biggest hurdle that I'll have to overcome is the liability. I don't think demand is a problem and I don't see too many other logistical problems, but the liability is a biggie. It's just so crazy with people suing (sp) for a broken show lace. You have to wonder how other people do it though. I mean, jet ski rentals and the like have to have the same liability problems that we would face.
Any ideas or rental people on here??? Any ideas from anyone else?
Thanks and it's a great site.:D
Justin