Away for a while

It *has* been a while since I updated this blog! At the moment I am away from home and in a place where there are no Segways :-( Well, maybe I should say no Segways yet.

Silly Questions!

It has been a while snce I had put up anything on my blog again :-( I guess we've been too busy with other things that kept us off-line for a while. Anyway, we're back and we've got 'stuff' to blog about! :-)

While out at Johsonville one afternoon, someone approached me; after asking about FrankenSeg and the technology behind Segways, he asked 'what is the silliest question you've every been asked?' And to be honest, the silliest one I've ever had, well, actually, I got it a few times, is 'what is wrong with walking?' It really puzzles me! To be honest, there is 'nothing wrong with walking! Or least as far as I know, maybe someone somewhere knows something I don't about walking! :-)

Another question that gets asked is: “is it true that you can't fall off a Segway?” That, of course, depends on how much you 'want' to fall off! Of course you can fall off a Segway and there are dozens of examples of people doing just that! More often than not they are deliberately putting themselves in danger by doing, what I consider to be, silly and moronic things. To be fair there are also clips of people actually getting into real accidents and falling off. But like a car or a bicycle, you can crash or fall off if you try hard enough! Try it if you don't believe me! :-)

The most difficult question to answer, maybe only because I am a 'tech' at heart and like my 'hard-data', is 'how far can you go?' The short answer is roughly 24km on a full charge around the Wellington area. I feel it is import to specify that because of the unique environment we have here, we have lots of hills! For example, when I go into the Wellington Central Business District, which is about 12.4 km from where I live, it'll 'cost' 2 battery bars to go that distance. However, the way home, same route, except that it is up hill will cost around 6 battey bars. And just to add to the fun, there are days when it 'costs' even less to get home when there is a good tail wind! Like in strong enough to push you and the Segway uphill fast enough of the speed limiter to kick in.

Not with-standing there are the questions as to “how is easy is it to learn?”, “where it can go” , “how steep a hill” and “how does it handle 'off-road'?” These of course, have all been answered here in this blog at some point in time, now in the past or in the future.

In general, people are curious about the technology that makes the Segway 'go'. I always make the time to stop, answer questions or explain how it all works. Others have even thanked me for allowing/letting them see a Segway 'in real life'.

FrankenSeg on the Western Hills

With FrankenSeg dressed up with the x2 kit and Betty ready for a bit of a adventure, we packed up and went off to explore a new track. However, Wellington wasn't really cooperating with us today, over cast skies and strong cold winds prevailed, but, the thirst for adventure was stronger!

A the end of the road near the Wilton Electricty sub-station is a 4-wheel drive track leading up to the Western Hills ridge.

From the top of this track one can see the wind farm out over in Makara to the East and Wellington to the South.

The track up ahead, narrow, very narrow!  Just past the top is a fork in the track, the left going towards Makara and the other to Mount Kaukau. Due to the worsening weather conditions we had to turn back not far past the summit.

And now a video of the trip down, enjoy!

A Time to Blog - Grenada North

Time passes quickly when you're busy! Have managed to do some really great off-road glides and haven't really sat down to blog about them, so here goes..........

Grenada North
North of the city of Wellington lies the suburb of Grenada North, at the end of Caribbean Drive there is a goat track which leads into the Belmont Regional park. Starting off as a 4x4 track it quickly becomes very steep and the track/path is mostly overgrown and almost non-existent.

We managed to go as far as the middle bit, halfway towards the Horokiwi Bridleway, but had to turn back as very steep and the track almost invisible under the growth of brush and grass. Maybe another day.....

On the way down we found another track to follow, and follow it we did! After a couple of kms we reached a dead-end and had to turn back.



The way back was just as fun and exhilarating with Betty leading the way back down to Grenada North.

FrankenSeg meets a BMX Track

Somewhere out there in the Internet is a video clip of some dude gliding an x2 on a Supercross track. It looked like fun so I went to find one here. The best I could find was a BMX track, not as 'clean' or as trimmed as the other one, but, fun! Feels like what the x2 was meant for...

We had visited this park on a previous trip, but now we're back equipped with a video camera :-)

And here's the first take on the track.......



After a quick trip around the area, well....we just had to come back :-)



And Little Black Dog took a breather and met some of the boys at the skate tube... :-)

Segway Regulatory Information

In New Zealand owners operate their Segway PT as a Mobility Device, the same category as a mobility scooter or electric wheelchair. Mobility Devices must be operated on footpaths whenever they exist and are reasonably accessible, otherwise along the side of the road with traffic (in which case road rules must be obeyed). On footpaths, operators must ride at a speed that does not endanger others, and give way to pedestrians.

Kids on Segway -

It was a fine day and off to the local school grounds we ventured.



Clarinda showing off her Segway skills!



And here's Isabella going for a cruise along the sports field.