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Segway General Discussion General discussion related to any model of Segways, miniPROs, or Ninebots. Please do not post non-Segway technology posts here; use the technology forum instead.

Old 08-27-2018, 11:26 AM   #1
Segisland
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Lightbulb Is there such a thing!? - 'Freelance Segway Maintenance Technician'

Greetings and good day to ALL here on this forum!
I have been in the Segway tour business for over 8 years now - and currently own about 40 Segway X2 machines, in various states of repair, lol..

This question has plagued my mind for quite some time - and I just cant seem to find any resources on it out there.. Is there really no such thing as a freelance Segway Technician? I mean, there has got to be a demand for it, I would have expected that by now this would be a service offered. I have searched and searched and cant seem to find anyone, so I decided it best to join this community and see if I may have just been searching in the wrong places...

If anyone on here knows of someone they can recommend, or thinks that they themselves are capable, it would mean a trip out to the Caribbean on contract -and possibly something more long term if interested..

Looking forward to your thoughts on the matter!
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Old 09-01-2018, 01:30 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Segisland View Post
.. Is there really no such thing as a freelance Segway Technician? I mean, there has got to be a demand for it,
Not that I've heard of, if you find one let us ALL know.

Have seen/read several DIY posts here on repairs owners can do with the correct tools, skill, and courage. Try running forum searches for things like Wheel Hub, Transmission.

Recall at one time some dealers had minor repair support and there was talk of a western US repair depot . . . but as far as I've heard those never happened or are long gone.

Guess Segway was trying to keep the technology secrets secret . . . but NineBot reversed engineered the SEG anyway, got rich selling one offs, and bought Segway . . .

= = =
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Old 09-02-2018, 04:14 AM   #3
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Many people on here are quite handy....all I need is the software, the eectrical/electronic stuff I can handle!
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Old 09-02-2018, 02:29 PM   #4
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There was no need for Ninebot to reverse engineer a Seg. Stabilizing an inverted pendulum is a standard project for controls engineers. The genius of Dean Kamen was in applying the concept to a two-wheeled “personal transporter”. There was also a lot of great hardware and software engineering in turning the concept into a reasonably reliable product. Nevertheless, many examples exist of home made “segways”, and these were certainly not reverse engineered.

Any independent tech would be hamstrung by not having Segway diagnostic tools, not to mention the fact that almost all the more serious diagnostics and repairs were/are performed at the Factory in New Hampshire. I think there have never been a lot of repair technicians at the factory, so you have a small group of skilled people, at best.
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Old 09-05-2018, 11:48 AM   #5
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Thanks for the input to all who responded.. This is pretty much what I suspected the case to be. Proprietary technology doesn't lend itself well to independent solutions, lol..
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Old 09-05-2018, 08:59 PM   #6
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Take a look here: http://www.segway.com/locations

And in particular, this outfit claims to be "independent": http://mmtran.com/products
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Old 09-07-2018, 10:46 AM   #7
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The second link is to a legal document - created by Segway Inc - stating that the retail dealer is a fully independent legal entity from Segway, Inc. This is done to protect Segway, Inc. from liability arising from any actions of the retailer, and I suspect every full-on Segway dealer has a similar legal arrangement.

I don't think this is what was meant by "freelance". Not to mention that the retailer doesn't seem to offer any technical support. Even their product links go directly to segway.com
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Old 09-08-2018, 12:21 PM   #8
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Originally Posted by Civicsman View Post
The second link is to a legal document - created by Segway Inc - stating that the retail dealer is a fully independent legal entity from Segway, Inc. This is done to protect Segway, Inc. from liability arising from any actions of the retailer, and I suspect every full-on Segway dealer has a similar legal arrangement.

I don't think this is what was meant by "freelance". Not to mention that the retailer doesn't seem to offer any technical support. Even their product links go directly to segway.com
Yes, I understood that - I did say "claims to be independent". Perhaps that's not what was meant by "freelance".

My PERSONAL experience with M&M Trans is documented elsewhere in the forum.

And - in the bigger perspective - there are giant legal battles going on in the automotive and farm equipment world, regarding whether you (or anybody except the dealer) is allowed to maintain equipment that you own.

See, for instance: https://www.theguardian.com/environm...hn-deere-apple

That has a direct bearing on whether there could (legally) be a freelance repair person - or even whether YOU could legally replace some part of your Segway.
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