The Segway Is Stupid

The Segway pisses me off. It is not only inefficient, complicated and expensive, it's slow too. The max speed of 12.5 mph is doubtless on flat, smooth ground and the device cannot travel faster than that on a downhill. Even if a Segway beat a fit cyclist up a steep hill (which I doubt it could), the cyclist would easily pass the Segway going down and then continue for up to 100 miles or more without stopping to charge for 8-10 hours. They also do not say exactly how far the Segway will go with riders of different masses. Could it be that the Segway's impressive 24 mile estimated range has been achieved with a 125lb rider going downhill with a brand new battery at the ideal operating temperature which was charged at its ideal charging temperature with no wind at all? Hmmm. With the rider fully upright, the Segway suffers from tremendous aerodynamic drag. Climbing a steep hill would probably devour a huge chunk of its battery and it would not travel anywhere near its max speed. Unlike an electric bicycle, a drained Segway cannot be pedaled home or to a charger. At 100 lbs it's a real porker too--even the heaviest bike is nowhere near that heavy. It bet it would be fun to drag a large 100 lb hunk of aluminum into a car or down the street. Speaking of weight, how much weight does one lose while riding a Segway? None at all would be my guess. A bicycle relies on a most elegant and simple use of gyroscopic forces to balance and stabilize itself perfectly. The Segway must use heavy metals, glass, steel, silicon, batteries, software, firmware and hardware. Ugh, I deal with that enough at work. The Segway does not even address the chief problems of a bicycle: limited payload and limited all-weather capability. It seems that the Segway has none of the advantages of a bicycle and all of the disadvantages. The Segway is merely another shiny, expensive object that only the upper middle class can afford--$3000-5000! That's a lot for a big toy with batteries! A $500 bicycle is a brilliant piece of lightweight simplicity; reliable, beautiful and much the same as the bikes professionals race all over the world. The name "Segway" bugs me too. It's just not that clever. Another big benefit to the Segway is the absolutely idotic posture of the rider. Standing erect and moving around on 2 wheels is a scene out of a bad sci-fi movie.