DailyDirt: Rideables Aren't Quite Ready To 'Change Lives, Cities And Ways Of Thinking'
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Personal transportation comes in an ever-growing number of forms these days. Sure, we've had bikes and scooters and skateboards for a while, but now we can add motors (and the internet?) to anything with wheels. This progress could be revolutionary, but so far, no one has lived up to the Segway hype of changing how city planning is done.- Wired has tested a bunch of rideables (PhunkeeDuck, Hovertrax, zBoard Pro and Solowheel Extreme) so you don't have to. However, only you can decide if you prefer motorized skateboards over electric unicyles. [url]
- The Bolt electric bike is essentially a modern moped with big batteries instead of a gas tank. Interestingly, it doesn't require a motorcycle license to operate, but that could change if more kinds of personal transportation devices like this start clogging up the roads. [url]
- Companies like Ryno Motors and Airwheel are trying to make motorized unicycles fun and popular. Does this mean there will be another sequel to Paul Blart: Mall Cop with different modes of transportation? Imagine a Fast & Furious version of electric unicycles.... [url]
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Filed Under: electric bike, electric vehicles, ginger, hovertrax, personal mobility, phunkeeduck, rideables, segway, solowheel, transportation, unicycles, zboard
Companies: airwheel, bolt, ryno motors
Reader Comments
The First Word
“City planning is already a joke
For all the talk of making cities more pedestrian/bicycle friendly the reality is that cities are still centered on automobiles. Sidewalks are still too narrow for pedestrians let alone anything wheeled. Even Las Vegas' strip sidewalks are too narrow for what they have. And any form of mass transit is only useful for rigid schedules; you'll find a lot of employers and employees demanding flexible schedules. And even with rigid schedules if mass transit takes 3x or longer to get there than a personal conveyance, guess what? Personal conveyance wins.And I haven't even gotten to zoning issues; I'll save that for another time.
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$500 can get you a pretty sweet bicycle
With that price point, I'm not sure if I'm ready to spend $900-1500 on something motorized until I actually have a physical mobility problem that prevents me from riding a $500 bicycle.
I expect in time, these devices are going to get better and cheaper, so I'm not an early adopter but I may be late morning adopter.
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Re: $500 can get you a pretty sweet bicycle
"physical mobility problem that prevents me from riding a $500 bicycle."
While the devices reduce the amount of exercise the rider gets, they are fun. This SEEMS to be a possible opening for people with mobility problems, and I've had a few such people approach me to discuss my devices.
The problem is that, while physically easy to ride, the devices REMAIN physically demanding in peak-load surges. That is, they require balance and smooth roadways, and when those are compromised, sudden falls WILL occur. Your ability to survive those falls is dependent on physical athletic ability.
I've seen my devices cause all sorts of injuries to me and others. I figure it's worth it -- many sports I play cause me a variety of injuries, this is no different. But here is an important piece of knowledge that one only learns from experience with these motorized scooters:
Any fall you endure is complicated and accelerated by the device. Consider that, as you fall, your feet are still giving the device "instructions" with their angle or lean. This means that, as you fall, the device responds by accelerating one way or the other. This introduces a faster fall, and often a twist with the fall. A simple forward fall where your natural reflexes tell you to put your hands in front of you can rapidly become a backwards fall onto your tailbone or head. Or a simple loss of balance can turn into a twisting wreck. Seen it happen; sent at least one friend to the hospital.
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Five thousand dollars‽ I could buy a decent used car for that!
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Bad news, everyone! Looks like Pirate Mike has given up posting at SuprBay! (As predicted.) Let's just hope that the near two-week pause ends soon...
Now, ain't it odd that by me trying to promote him on his home turf, he's up and run off from SuprBay? This here two-way internets thang still has some surprises for you kids, eh?
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Horrible news, everyone! Looks like Pir ate Mi ke has given up posting at SuprBay! (As predicted.) Let's just hope that the near two-week pause ends soon...
Now, ain't it odd that by me trying to promote him on his home turf, he's up and run off from SuprBay? This here two-way internets thang still has some surprises for you kids, eh?
Lucky this will continue to be topical, as trouble getting it in!
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Re: Horrible news, everyone! Looks like Pir ate Mi ke has given up posting at SuprBay! (As predicted.) Let's just hope that the near two-week pause ends soon...
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Re: Horrible news, everyone! Looks like Pir ate Mi ke has given up posting at SuprBay! (As predicted.) Let's just hope that the near two-week pause ends soon...
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Re: Re: Horrible news, everyone! Looks like Pir ate Mi ke has given up posting at SuprBay! (As predicted.) Let's just hope that the near two-week pause ends soon...
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Re: Horrible news, everyone! Looks like Pir ate Mi ke has given up posting at SuprBay! (As predicted.) Let's just hope that the near two-week pause ends soon...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Horrible news, everyone! Looks like Pir ate Mi ke has given up posting at SuprBay! (As predicted.) Let's just hope that the near two-week pause ends soon...
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More banality
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City planning is already a joke
And I haven't even gotten to zoning issues; I'll save that for another time.
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