Great fun so far at SegwayFest Sacramento

[SegwayUtah]

I attended a few of the seminars at SegwayFest this morning. I caught the end of the New Model Q&A, where Doug Field, Ron Reich, and Jeremy Lund gave a lot of great information. I also saw part of Jeffrey Spencer's presentation on the new easyconnect program and using Segway HTs as an inner-city, multi-modal transportation solution. I heard positive comments aftewards--great stuff.

Then, a lot of people got a chance to see and ride the Centaur up on the parking lot roof. It was awesome. There were a lot of Centaur smiles, and it's cool to see an "unfinished" Segway product. I imagine that the HT we all know and love felt very "unfinished" before its public showing, so it's neat to see that stage on the Centaur.

A few dozen people from the group left for a lunch glide around the town, and there's a whole lot more coming up this afternoon. I haven't seen a lot of people with laptops (or the time to post here), but we should see some comments from the attendees.

[Also, the Sacramento Bee ran a great story about SegwayFest this morning, and the local UPN affiliate came out and did three live spots with the Centaur, the XT, Segway Polo, etc.]

Chris

[wwhopper]

Those of us who are just wishing we could be with you - appreciate the laptop journey to SegwayfesT Sacremento that you just took us on!

Will W Hopper
DCSEG Member
Mid-Atlantic Regional Segway Enthusiast's Event - SegwayfesT - DC Sept 23-25 in Washington DC - The Most Segway Friendly City in America!

[wwhopper]

Any chance you can snap a few photos and post them? It would make us even more jealous that we are in the land of fesT TO BE, instead of the land of fest that IS!

Will W Hopper
DCSEG Member
Mid-Atlantic Regional Segway Enthusiast's Event - SegwayfesT - DC Sept 23-25 in Washington DC - The Most Segway Friendly City in America!

[SegwayUtah]

Wow, there's a lot of interest about this event today. We have been asked to give additional local and national media interviews.

I know that a few people have been taking photos. I forgot my camera! There's a class going on right now where people are taking apart HTs and putting them back together. It's great fun.

By the way, lots of people had a chance to ride the Centaur. Wow, what an incredible machine. And the new XT is a blast to ride. We had it up on the parking garage and riding it is like riding on sponges, if that makes sense.

Chris

[SegwayUtah]

We finished up the night with a glide around Sacramento. Jeffrey (from the CA DOT) gave us a personalized tour, and about 30 people went on the glide. It was great fun.

Plus, Doug's keynote was great. We got to see some early, early prototype footage of the Centaur, and learn more about Segway's vision.

Overall, most everyone seemed to be quite pleased with how the event turned out. I heard compliments to the Knight family for how well they had organized the event--kudos and much thanks to Neelix and the family.

Chris

[wwhopper]

Thanks Cris - and John for keeping us up on the event via two threads!

Will W Hopper
DCSEG Member
Mid-Atlantic Regional Segway Enthusiast's Event - SegwayfesT - DC Sept 23-25 in Washington DC - The Most Segway Friendly City in America!

[KSagal]

Great News! Thanks

Karl Ian Sagal

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

[yosgof]

Karl,

For the rest of us who couldn't attend, will you be posting pictures?

- Yossi
http://gallery.photo.net/photo/3365119-lg.jpg

[Mr. Protocol]

I just got home from SegFest Sacramento. Made the Sacramento to LA run in seven hours. I had to miss SegPolo (waaah!) because I'm taking off for a week in Utah in the morning.

It was a small (~50) relaxed and VERY well-run gathering. The Q&A with the engineering staff was quite open and quite valuable. Not once did we hear "Sorry, we can't talk about that", mostly because the audience was smart enough not to ask about futures. It's really true that the Saphion batteries don't need a breakin. All keys cut after the release of 14.0 will cause a 14.0 machine to not time out.

The Centaur is wicked fun to ride but feels "tetchy" to a newcomer. This is one machine that's going to take practice to master - assuming we ever get the chance. Everyone who wanted to try it out got a chance.

People who attended the "hands-on" demo now know how to dismount batteries, wheels and fenders, and replace a kickstand. The early i180s do not yet have the newer kickstands.

And for those who remember my posting about my "noisy" 180, well, it's well within normal limits, it turns out. Doug Field mentioned that the more miles a Segway racks up, the quieter the gearbox gets. The Segway that complete "America at 10 MPH" is R-E-E-E-A-L quiet now. Oh, and we got to see a couple of clips from the film that the 10MPH boys are putting together, thanks to their generosity. It's gonna be great. I really hope they didn't have to pay for running that tractor into that motorhome...

[pam]

Thanks for the report, Mr. Protocol... Sounds like great fun.
Pam

[Brooster]

quote:Originally posted by Mr. Protocol


The Segway that complete[d] "America at 10 MPH" is R-E-E-E-A-L quiet now.

Good report Mr. Protocol, thanks to you and all for the news of the Fest. Sounds like all had a good time.

But I must say ... I've ridden Josh's coast-to-coast i-170, fairly extensively ... both in Chicago and in Boston where I took it about a mile away to my hotel room and then back to the finish line gathering. It just sounds like any other i-Series Seg. It was pretty beat as one might expect, and I couldn't get the CS to stay all the way up. Karl rigged a tightly-wound shock cord for me around the CS just above the adjustment collar, which helped.

I don't buy the argument that Segs get quieter with use. Mine definitely isn't any quieter, and I've had it since late February of 2003.

Brooster

[SegwayUtah]

One of my favoite parts of SegwayFest Sacramento was Doug Field's keynote speech. He showed us product development videos of the evolving Centaur concept. We saw an engineer riding an early prototype inside, made out of Segway parts and some "items from Home Depot." :)

I felt really lucky to see some of the "inside footage" from product development. I wasn't expecting that at all.

We learned a lot about how Segway comes to make a prototype, and how they proceed from a general idea to a more specific one to early working prototypes, industrial design, and (in the case of the Centaur) something to show the world. What's amazing is that they're able to build on the robust and safe "drive-by-wire" Segway HT platform so easily to create entirely new concepts--and make them safe enough even in concept form for people to ride around.

SegwayFest Sacramento is something I will always be glad I didn't miss. And I hear that there are some pretty amazing events being lined up for the Manchester/Bedford event and the Washington DC event, both of which are coming up very soon.

Chris

[KSagal]

I agree with the requests for photo's !

For those of us that could not go, watching others having fun is almost as good!

Let's see some faces and machines!



Karl Ian Sagal

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

[JohnG]

Yes, I know I'll be getting some more photos later this week from the event and they'll also be posted at:

http://www.segwayfest.com/gallery/

Also, anyone can register an account there and post their own personal photos from the event.

John


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