Electric balance scooters (segway type thingy)

Ive seen loads on Aliexpress and ebay ranging from £200 – £1000

does anyone have any advice or recommendations ?

does anyone have any advice or recommendations ?

Go home and have a long hard look at your life? 😳

Definitely illegal that as it had two wheels, so can be categorised as a personal transportation device, which the dept of transport has categorised after considering them for something like 7 years.

The unicycle ones you might get away with as, with one wheel, they aren’t caught by that definition.

Most coppers seem relaxed about it though, but then again several I have asked don’t know what the speed limit is for a mobility scooter on the pavement either.

Buy one and come back when you can squat 315 on one!

I saw a guy trying to use one yesterday. Seemed the most pointless thing ever – he struggled to get on it then when he did, it wouldn’t move up the very gentle gradient he was on. He ended up picking it up and walking off.

There’s a young lad (early teens?) round here with one, I presumed peeps like him were the target market.

They’ve made the short list for the kids suprised Christmas present. Not the grand version though 😯

My son has mentioned one of these segway things a few times.

Personally they make me think they are the teenagers version of a disability chariot. I can just see hundreds of obese kids choosing not to walk anywhere.

Anyhow, if i am to buy one, where is the best place and how much am i looking at

IIRC they’re illegal to use on pavements and roads in the UK, so not a lot of point in having one.

Says on the websites i have googled they are just not allowed on the road. Why are they not allowed on the pavement. Is it any worse than a skateboard?

does anyone have any advice or recommendations ?

Yes Casey Neistat does.

Watch from 0:50

$200 US apparently, ordered directly from China.

We have a few in Shiny Town (Canary Wharf) bu the single wheel variety. A few folks use them to get to-from work and I spotted one this lunchtime, a dude wearing earphones and chewing gum. Looked fine TBH, in control amongst masses of lunch crowds and folks just move out of the way. Even the Security Guards here don’t really care and the Police seem to turn a blind eye too, well today anywhoo’s.

The single wheel ones are funky enough to go on pavements IMO, but the two wheeled ones take up too much space on crowded pavements.

No idea what the Law is and honestly CGAS either.

My eldest has asked for one for Xmas.

They can be bought on Amazon so I’d give the risk of using Ali Express a miss.

Walk.

Why are they not allowed on the pavement.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/8267312/Segways-banned-from-pavements-and-roads-as-rider-fined-75.html

That ones not quite what my son mentioned. The one he looked at didnt have anything to hold onto and seemed no bigger than a skateboard. Much smaller wheels.

They had a load of ones similar to that black thing in op in Costco last week. About £300 I think

I saw a guy on one of those yesterday. Wasn’t moving very fast if at all.
Did get mrs_d & i talking about segways though

Another aid for the lazy brigade.

What if it’s quicker than walking and the alternative is a car or bus etc?

Personally I’d get a monowheel one, but I gather it’s takes some getting used to.

As with anything available from 100 Chinese factories try to find one that has long term feedback from a user. Batteries may well be awful quality on some.

I thought they looked quite a laugh! Saw one in town at teh weekend, guy was manouvering through pedeestrians with no trouble. Certainly better to control than a skateboard.

Casey Neistat adapted his with a couple of clips over his feet so he could hop it up kerbs – that looked a good idea!

Also was someone using one of teh one-wheel ones to get to our office recently. That seemed to move pretty quick, although its a downhill run to the office where I saw him a couple of times. Just hopped off, picked it up and strode in through teh doors.

I imagine the control of it would be quite good for core muscles, to all the nay-saying-moaners above (who I bet use cars/bikes over walking or running to work/shops anyway)

I’m just being a miserable bastard.

They look like fun so I don’t want anyone to have one.

But legally they’re classed exactly the same – I’m fairly sure that also applies to the single wheel ones. To some extent then it depends what you can get away with – I’d think the single wheel ones are best from that perspective as they have a smaller footprint. Certainly I don’t seem to have any problem taking my (leg powered) unicycle wherever I like, including places I’m probably not supposed to be (have pushed it around supermarkets, haven’t yet worked up the courage to try riding in one – TBH my low speed and reversing skills probably still need a little work), and I suspect one of those would be seen in much the same way – they’re definitely not faster as I overtook one when out for a ride a while ago.

I watched a grown man at the weekend (security guard) on a car sales forecourt at night, trying to look casual as he rode backwards and forwards on one of these. He had his hands in his pockets and was trying to look cool about it but he really hadn’t quite got the hang and was constantly catching himself from falling backwards.

He was spotted by a group of yoofs who were walking past and they mercilessly took the piss to the point he went and sat in his portacabin. 😀

They weren’t taking the piss. I just felt like a cup of tea, that’s all. 😥

Saw a young guy at Heathrow last night on one, cruising up to the car park ticket machine.

However as they are much wider than the single wheeled units I think they are less socially acceptable – meeting a single-wheel rider on the pavement isn’t a lot different from meeting a walker as they are no wider, but meeting someone on one of these is different.

And from reports I have seen people do seem to be quite accepting of riders on the single wheeled versions. I can’t see the same reaction if they have to step aside to let it past.

And another issue is obstacles – their wheels are much smaller so obstacles will be more of a problem, and I have seen people complain with the double wheeled unicycle versions that obstacles tend to cause the unit to try and turn itself, which is a PITA.

If I was to get a device like this I would be looking at the ninebot ones.

What if it’s quicker than walking and the alternative is a car or bus etc?

Skateboard?

They are the first thing I’ve seen to make a micro scooter appear a reasonable form of transport.

I have seen a bloke on one in Harrods and a bloke on one in Harrogate.

Both were going significantly faster than walking.

The guy in Harrods worked there, the guy in Harrogate used it to commute, plus he thinks he looks cool 8)

Anything that eliminates physical activity from our increasingly sedentary lifestyles can only be a good thing, right?

An amusing (to me, anyway) test of the different models:

http://www.wired.com/2015/07/rideables-video/

Isn’t it all about Boosted Boards now anyway?

Here is Casey on his (watch from 6:15 onwards):

24mph long board – what could go wrong?

well the guy in the hospital bed over from me will tell you differently – open tib and fib fracture from one and about 6months before he gets the full length pins put….

A guy came past me in Les Get town centre this summer on one of the single wheel ones, looking pretty cool, lost his balance, hopped off and it ran off down into a stream. He looked considerably less cool climbing back out with it. It did look fun up to that point.

But legally they’re classed exactly the same – I’m fairly sure that also applies to the single wheel ones.

we did this when the airwheel appeared on dragons den – they would all clearly be trapped by the clause in s72 of the 1835 Highways act (the one that bans bikes) that:

“If any person shall wilfully ride upon any footpath or causeway by the side of any road made or set apart for the use or accommodation of foot passengers; or shall wilfully lead or drive any horse, ass, sheep, mule, swine, or cattle or carriage of any description, or any truck or sledge, upon any such footpath or causeway; or shall tether any horse, ass, mule, swine, or cattle, on any highway, so as to suffer or permit the tethered animal to be thereon.”

theres no getting away from the fact that NOBODY looks cool on a segway*…..

I doubt kris holm could even make it look cool -and he makes unicycles look cool which is no mean feat 😀

*or derivative of.

hammyuk – Member

well the guy in the hospital bed over from me will tell you differently – open tib and fib fracture from one and about 6months before he gets the full length pins put….

He should do something completely safe, like cycling.

it’s just the beginning.

it’s just the beginning.

Depends what they replace doesn’t it?

If everyone decides to use “Ridables” instead of walking then maybe, but if they use them instead of driving then it would probably have the opposite effect.

Also, I can’t walk at 24mph.

We had our first experience of these thing yesterday.
A pair of tragically hip cockwombles rode into a restaurant (OK, it was Nando’s but you get my drift!)
They proceeded to ride them round and round, even going up to order their food riding them.

Other than the etiquette issues, they looked like pathetic attention whores.

Now if they had been riding them on the street/pavement/wherever then I wouldn’t have a problem with them.
Given the confined space they were riding in they seemed pretty stable and easy to control.
I’d have a go for sure! (Just not in a busy restaurant, Tossers!)