Well I finally made the trip down to Melbourne and had my first Segway experience thanks to Michael (dbgint).
It was amazing! Being insufficiently articulate to describe the experience, all I can say is... amazing... wow... unbelievable...
I had three main concerns about the physical requirements and whether or not the Segway would be suitable for me.
1. How much arm strength is required in holding onto the handlebar. My main concern was when leaning forward do you need to "push" the handlebar, and when leaning backwards, do you need to "pull" the handlebar.
The experience of this was fantastic. Such little effort is required by the arms when leaning forward and backwards, it was great.
2. I was concerned about extra effort required by the legs when turning or traversing ground that slopes perpendicular to the direction of travel.
The area of Melbourne I was gliding was very flat, without perpendicular sloping pavements and wasn't able to check this out extensively. Most of the turns I was making was at a lower speed, and didn't often need to lean into the turns by bending the legs. I did some gliding at Caulfield Park with some small areas where the ground slopes perpendicular to the direction of gliding.
All in all from my limited initial experience, this seems to be okay.
3. My last main concern was regarding the strength required to operate the steering control. This is the area that I had most difficulty with. (With my condition, I don't have difficulty doing stuff, I just get sore for extended periods afterwords if too much effort is required).
After probably gliding for the best part of an hour, my arm was sore until the next day. (Definitely worth the ache though!)
At present, my arms are in an "average" phase, and during bad periods, I would find the effort required to turn the steering control somewhat prohibitive. However, I'm confident that there will be a way to modify this even if it means voiding the warranty. (A Segway without warranty is better than no Segway at all).
(I will be starting a thread about steering modifications if anyone is interested in the main discussion area)
Ronny
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