Question on regular maintenance
 

Hi all,

I don't have a Segway yet but hope to some time in the future. I've rented a couple of times and enjoyed it immensely.

When I buy one, it will be to help me get around as my hip gets worse. Getting up and doing things is easy, but walking long distances is problematical and getting more so.

I'm guessing from everything I've read that there is little ongoing maintenance for a Segway other than (1) charging the batteries and (2) keeping up the tire pressure. Am I missing anything here?

I'm pretty handy with simple maintenance and have lots of tools, but I'd prefer to leave big jobs to a dealer. Only, there is not a dealer close by. The dealer 50 miles away seems to carry Segways as a secondary (or tertiary) business, so I would guess that they are not up on any serious maintenance. (Anyway, I might buy on ebay after doing the due diligence to see that the unit isn't stolen.)

I have searched the posts for "maintenance" and there are not a lot of things posted, which indicates to me that there is not too much to do. If I'm wrong about that, please correct my thoughts.

When I buy, it will likely be an i2 (or i3 if I can wait long enough). As a secondary question, how long should the batteries last if properly cared for? It seems a shame that it costs mega-bucks to replace the batteries or have them rebuilt.

Thanks in advance,

after 1500-2000 miles, you can replace the elastomer coupler.
after 2-3 years (perhaps less), you can replace the 2 batteries.
Buy a electrical clock to shutdown the plug when you don't use the segway (like 1 hours on grid in winter season per day, when you use 1-2 time per week).

Actually, the problems with the elastomeric coupler have supposedly been solved. And I have 3050 miles on mine, with no sign of a problem, which supports that.

Interesting. I have 4k on my base and the elastomers seem fine- I don't even know what the symptoms would be other than perhaps noise and increasing backlash and a sloppy drivetrain.

YO noobs... dude wants to buy a segway and needs to know how much trouble they are, thats all.

you guys are talking about stuff i don't even know (elastomeric coupler's) oO
what the heck!
you are scaring me and i've had one for years :thumbsdown:

okies, i will help you with the homey report :rolleyes:

ebay :eek:
a good segway runs like a radio. there are no tools other than a set of allen wrenches, go beyond that and you start to sound like these guys. tires wear slowly (too slow so buy the soft ones). any ATV shop can swap your tires on an all terrain for around a buck fifty a set.
tire pressure controls tracking (pulling left or right) and the distance you can get. short hops low pressure and smooth ride, long haul you might pump them up.

batteries, love them like they talk about here. never wash them off the machine (moisture and L-ions not good bed fellows). as for waiting for the next generation of segways to come out... the dealers here are not trying to hear that.

good luck bro :thumbsup:

Thanks, everyone, for the feedback. I like the comparison of a Segway to a radio.

It's the stories about batteries on the net and all the lovely parts (e.g., gearboxes) offered on ebay that made me wonder whether there was ongoing maintenance.

I imagined that you just go on the Segway whenever you want and plug in the charger regularly and voila(!) not much more to care for it.

Happy gliding!

O'Really... ebay has parts for my gen1 ?
Segway either already discontinued or intends to discontinue parts for my machine :rolleyes: i better start looking at some of these hot ones... LOL
sorry i'm not much of an Ebay fan, every since i saw pictures of my seg for sale repeatedly. I got tired of tryng to contact the biders to tell them. Ebay seems like a level of stress comparable to cable TV or your phone company. i would never consider buying batteries from anyone other than a dealer, those things can be working and still have faults.

If Segway is discontinuing parts for your gen1 machine, where other than ebay would you look for parts? I guess you could call around to big dealers, but that sounds like too much work.

There are several Segway dealers selling on ebay, and you might get a bargain on your parts there.

I have purchased many things on ebay, though nothing as expensive as a Segway.

There is nothing wrong with buying from reputable people on ebay. If the seller feedback is less than 99.5% or if they have less than, say, 25 feedback, then forget it.

PayPal through your bank or credit card is also supposed to guarantee your purchase (or get your money back), but I haven't needed to try that (since I look for reputable sellers).

If auction bidding is too stressful, then you might just bid your highest offer price and then forget it. If you get what you want, that's great. If not, well, there are something like 15,000,000 active ebay auctions. Segway batteries, gearboxes, and whatever come up regularly.

Hard to find parts? You can set up a search in ebay that will send you an email when there is a new auction with what you want. Ditto for something, almost anything, that hasn't been made in 20 or 30 years -- maybe that favorite thing you remember from long ago.

Look closely at the feedback, too.

I've seen instances of clearly faked feedback. It's against the TOS, but it's done. Often it'll be obvious by looking at the dates (and times) of the reviews. Or common elements (like bad spelling and grammar).