Why Buy a Segway? (one might ask)

Well, for me, it's part environmental concern, part "social coolness" factor, and partly to save fuel costs.

For the environmental part, the Segway uses electricity for power, and that is generally cleaner to produce than gasoline, and the emissions are much lower.

For the "social coolness" factor, well, I am a nondescript 42 year old guy with mostly gray hair and an ever-so-slight belly paunch, and I'm raising two kids under 10 yrs old. My social opportunities are EXTREMELY limited at best, and completely nonexistent at worst. If people talk to me on the street and ask me about my Segway, that's more social interaction than I normally get, and I appreciate that.

As for the saving fuel, well, the cost of fuel will NEVER repay the initial outset cost of purchasing the Segway. But based on the 400-450 Miles Per Gallon equivalent which the Segway achieves versus a car, (even my 48.5 MPG Hybrid car) I'm saving between 25 and 31 cents in fuel cost every day that I commute on the Segway. So that extends the gas tanks in my car and means fewer $2.50 per gallon fillups. At the end of the year, I hope to save between 1200 and 1500 miles of driving on my car, so that slows the depreciation value of my car for resale purposes. So it helps in numerous ways.

In addition, I take my kids to Texas twice a year to visit family. When we do go, taking the Segway will be fun for all the family to glide on and it will enhance all the lives of those people, even for a short time and in a very minor way. It's at worst a conversation piece.

I hope those are not broad rationalizations but instead are genuinely good, sound reasons why a Segway is in my care at this time.

Segway Comedy

Last night we had an interesting bike/Segway ride, my two kids and me. We took a 3-mile one-way trip to Denny's for dinner. My son's bike had been having air problems in the tire (slow leaks) but we checked and he had plenty of air when we left home.

After dinner, when we started home, his rear tire was almost all the way flat. His front was low. It was 7:15 pm and already dark, and there was only one place between Denny's and home to buy any "air in a can" tire filler stuff, and that was the Food City which was about 2 miles from Dennys. So off we went into the night.

About 1/2 a mile from Food City, my son had two full blown FLAT tires. I decided to carry the bike with me on my Segway and let my son walk. So I propped the bike up on the side carry bag and held the frame with my right hand (which you don't need for Segway usage) and off we went. At Food City, we got the Fix-A-Flat, but alas, Stevie's rear tire had a hole in the stem, so it would not seal. It aired up a little, as did the front tire, but not much. We started home again with Stevie riding again.

After about 1/4 a mile, TWO FLATS again. So I had another idea: Let Maddie ride on the Segway with me, and carry the bike again on the sidebar, and let Stevie ride Maddie's bike. So for the last 3/4 a mile, that's how we rolled. Maddie standing in front of me on the Segway, Stevie riding Maddie's bike, and me holding Stevie's bike with my right hand. Very comical scene, and I wish I had a picture. Surprisingly, I felt completely safe and secure on the Segway that way, as I had told Maddie to just stand straight and not worry about leaning to slow or go, that I would do all that for us. It worked wonderfully. Segway was RIGHT AT the 260 pound rated limit, with my 190 and Maddie's 45 and the bike, which I would guess to be 25-30 pounds.

Oh, the adventures we have had and are going to have on the Segway. Stay tuned !!!

Interesting Segway ride Saturday the 25th of March....

Took my Segway to the Phoenix Park-n-Swap and into Downtown Phoenix for the Home and Garden show. About a 20 mile roundtrip - more on that later.

At the Park-n-Swap, I rode into the gate and stopped at the first food court to get a breakfast burrito. After parking the Segway and ordering, I heard an announcement over the loudspeaker system: "As a courtesy to our guests, no rollerblades, skateboards, scooters, or other motorized vehicles with the exception of motorized wheelchairs are allowed inside the Park-n-Swap." That was obviously intended for me. Someone had seen me and ratted me out. So I used the power assist mode and walked the Segway around until I was on my way out, and I rode it out the last 100 feet. Nice to be noticed, eh?

Later, downtown, I had just turned off the sidewalk into the shopping area where the AMC 24 movie theater was located, where I was going to see "Inside Man" (very good movie, long but lots of high drama and comedy.) I heard someone shouting "hey, you, stop come here, stop!" and looked behind me and a security guard was trying to flag me back to the street area. I turned around and headed over when another, older and wiser guard told the other guard, "No, he's OK, he's fine" and they let me proceed.

At the movies, I bought my ticket and was walking the Segway up to the ticket taking girl and a manager came over to open the door for me. After I got my ticket torn and was walking away toward Theater #2, I heard the manager say to the ticket girl, "Police Vehicle." They thought I was a cop !!! I should have asked for some free coffee and doughnuts !! LOL. Anyway, inside the theater near the exit door to the outside was a wall outlet, so I charged my Segway for the two hours I was in the movie. Worked out great !!

As far as the cruising range on a charge, I think something is wrong with one of my batteries - it's either not holding a charge or is depleting too fast. I ran out of juice about 5 blocks from home and had to pull the Segway the rest of the way. Not an easy task !! The Segway dealer is going to swap both my batteries for two from his shop to see if things get better. I'm sure they will. I'll likely be getting a new battery out of this issue, maybe two. I want my 19-24 mile range !!!

Well, the Segway gets a new handlebar and handlebar guard installed today. The parts are getting delivered at 12 noon and I'm heading over as soon as Jake calls me and tells me the parts are in.

On my commute time:

Set a personal record yesterday afternoon: 20 minutes flat. It was within 5 seconds of EXACTLY 20 minutes from the time I pulled out of the Thornwood plant until I was at the front door at my kids' school.

If maps.google.com is correct, the distance is 3.6 miles from work to school. By the sidewalk route, and because I have to change sides of the road three to four times, I bet my Segway distance is about 3.7 miles. 3.7 x 3 = 11.1, so it appears I averaged 11.1 miles per hour for the 20 minute commute. That's pretty darn good, considering I stopped a couple of times for red lights and I have to slow down at every intersection and driveway.

So I guess I need to reduce my "penultimate time" since I already beat the other one. How about 18 minutes as the ultimate goal time? That would be averaging 12.4 MPH, and since the max speed of the i-180 model is 12.5 MPH, that would be indeed hard to beat. 18 minutes it is !!!

My thanks to the sponsors of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Because of this act, almost every curb in Phoenix has a wheelchair on/off ramp.

In the 30-40 miles I have glided on my Segway so far, including much of that through construction areas, I have only had to negotiate 1 curb. Just 1. That's amazing to me.

Another long Segway glide this morning, from the U-Haul dealer to my work, about 5 miles. Took about 33 minutes. No problems.

Something else I wanted to mention is my minor frustration with the Segway's "speed limiter" function. It makes it difficult to "push" the Segway along at TOP SPEED, which is what I want and need to do on my commutes. If I lean too forward in attempt to gain and maintain top speed, the handlebar is pushed back to me by the speed limiter function. I found that if I bend my legs more and dont lean too forward, I can hold a pretty good speed without engaging the limiter, but I need to work on it to find that SWEET SPOT which allows me top max speed without engaging the limiter. Things that make you go HHHMMMMMMM............

Well, I had planned to install my new hitch onto my car last night for hauling the Segway, but I could not get it done. Not enough tools and/or mechanical experience. Going to have to hire someone to install it for me.

My first commute from my kids' real school was this A.M. Took 28 minutes, was battling my briefcase for part of the time. I'm gonna trim that down to 25 minutes this P.M. and after the construction is finished on Washinton street, I should be able to trim a couple of more minutes off the time. I'm shooting for 21 minutes as my final, penultimate goal time.

More on the Segway and how it is affecting my life:

My son said last night, "Dad, are we going on another Segway and bike ride today? That was one of the FUNNEST THINGS we have ever done !!"

That coming from a materialistic little boy who last Christmas was not very excited at all about the $800 or so in giftage that his mom and I bought him.
Funny, but remember when they said "the best things in life are free" and you laughed about it? It's semi-true in some cases. The Segway itself was definitely NOT FREE, but some of the FUN it is giving us afterward is 'somewhat' free. So that's maybe a wash.

Regardless, the Segway so far has been almost a completely positive experience, and I would recommend it whole-heartedly to anyone who might think they have a good use for it. For short trips near your home, why use a 3000 pound car to carry your 150 pound body? By the way: The Segway gets about 450 miles to the gallon, converting gas cost to the electricity cost for charging it. Sorta nice, eh?

So I made it to work with the broken handlebar. Right forearm muscle was almost cramping due to holding the bezel in place, but I made it.

After getting settled into work, I took some large 14" cable ties and a hose clamp over to the Segway and secured the bezel to the handlebar, making it pretty tight. It seems to be very solid, at least as solid as a broken Segway handlebar CAN be made to be.

I contacted the dealer with my sob story and he said the replacement handlebar is $380. OUCH !! He also said he would sell me a "handlebar guard" at his cost, $145 plus tax. So the total damage for my little crash will be $567.00 after tax. Expensive little mistake/accident/incident, huh? Yeah, duh.

So there I was, still a couple of miles from work, with a broken Segway handlebar, Segway covered in mud, the tires with about an inch of mud caked between them and the fenders, and 40 degrees outside. Segway in an unknown state, possibly unrideable.

Quite a pickle indeed.

Here's where my training as a Marine and a Dad came into play. I calmed myself and realized that the electronics inside the broken handlebar APPEARED to be intact. I realized that the front bezel was intact and was one SOLID piece that fit across the handlebar. With a little imagination, I put the handlebar back together at it's jagged edge and when I held the bezel on front, it LOOKED like it would be stable enough to hold things together if I could keep it that way while in motion.

Got my Segway keys out and tried to start the Segway. Nothing happened. DEAD? I tried again, being more careful to make the key contact all the connectors in the keypad. IT STARTED !! I had my first semi-positive sigh of relief since the crash. By holding the middle of the handlebar with my right hand around the bezel, pulling it toward the handlebar, I could keep the handlebar in place and ride the Segway !!

I started again.

Segway Blog continued

OK, here is the UNCOOL part:

On my first commute, I was in an area with no sidewalk and no real bike lane, so I was up on some rough gravel beside the road, just cruising along. We had just had some rains the weekend before (this was Monday 3-13-2006) and the ground under the gravel was a little muddy. No problem, because the gravel was giving the Segway enough traction to operate normally. Or so I thought.

I approached this area where the gravel thinned out and I did not really notice it until the Segway started to slip and by then it was TOO late. I tried to lean back and slow the speed, but the tires slipped and OFF I FLEW. I actually had slowed down to about 5 to 8 mph at the time, so I merely took a step left and off the Segway platform, while the Segway itself crashed to the ground HANDLEBAR first into the mud.

When I looked over at the Segway after I had recovered myself, I saw the plastic handlebar bezel FLY off and land about 10 feet in front of the Segway. First indication of bad news. When I looked back at the Segway itself, it was doing the "flashing beeping emergency shutdown" routine and I noticed a detail with HORROR: The handlebar had BROKEN almost directly in the middle. I almost crapped my pants. I had just bought this thing three days before, and I already broke a major part. I was incredulous, disbelieving, surprised, and SHOCKED.

OK Ladies and Gents: I bought myself a

Segway HT i-180 Human Transporter

It's really, REALLY cool. ( Expensive and probably not worth it if you are MERELY judging it on the finances involved. But how can you put a price on COOLNESS? )

I'm going to use it for "partial commuting" from my kids' school to my work. Their school is 3.8 miles from my work, so the plan is to leave my car parked there at their school every day and take the Segway from there to work and then back in the afternoons.

This will only work for about 5 months out of the year when the weather here in Phoenix is not smoking hot and too hot to ride a Segway in the afternoons.

Another way I'm going to use it is to go on "bike rides" with my kids. They are 7 and 9 yrs old, and they love to ride their bikes. Up to now, I only really could let them ride in the cul-de-sac outside our garage door and maybe a little over on the sidewalks by our minuscule park. But now, we are SET FREE because I can go on the Segway while they are riding and we can go wherever we want to go.

The Segway has given me more quality time with my kids and more "outside fun" rather than always watching Cartoon Network or playing Nintendo games. How cool is that?

Purchased a used 2004 Honda Civic Hybrid on July 9th 2004, picked it up July 10th with 4823 miles on it. Miles on car were 4823 when I got the keys. Lifetime MPG was 34.4 on the Trip B meter. Here is a synopsis of my first six plus tanks, as I annotated it each day along the way:

General consensus on Edmund;s Town Hall is that the A/C costs about 1-4 MPG. First tank 38.43 (car computer read 37.8)
Second tank read as high as 47.1 in the first 50 miles when I had driven mostly highway miles......dropped to 44.6 after 124 miles with normal commuting....down to 43.5 after 7 days in the tank......Second tank ended up at 40.66 (car computer read 43.1) - short end of stick on that one !!.....
Past midway through the third tank and computer reads 44.2 .....so far, same tank, 449 miles, 44.6. Has been much cooler last few days, have been able to run w/o A/C a lot, thus the 44.6 number.....Shooting for a 500 mile tank !!! Next day, 475 miles, still 44.6, low fuel light came on then went off...will definitely get 500 for this tank !! Ended up with 42.98 for 506.5 miles calculated. Third tank was 45.0 on computer...
Fourth tank read as high as 87.8 (not a typo) for the first 2.6 miles, driven East on Indian School from Sam's Club to 44th street. Read 56.3 after 17 miles. LOOOKKIINNGG GGGGGOOOOOOOODDDDDDDD !!! Reads 54.1 after 23 miles....Reads 51.0 after 98.1 miles.....dropped to 50.3 and then I increased it to 51.0 again after 140 miles.....dropped to 50.7 again after a trip to Mesa Peeds and Holdeman and back to TFMI - going to try tonite to get it back up to 51.0.........193 miles, sitting at 50.3, actuall dropped to 49.9 a couple of times, so it's FIGHTING me to go down !!! After trip to Payson (started 49.2) we came back at 48.8. not bad after 4000 rpm climbing in third gear....back down to 48.4 by Tuesday that week at 498 miles on tank and 4-5 bars left on fuel gauge. Today, 9-1-2004, we are at 48.0 and 519.7 miles, two bars left on gauge, but no low fuel warning yet. My guess is 47.6 by tomorrow and warning light will be on.....NOPE - it went UP to 48.4 again because I was able to avoid A/C usage Wednesday afternoon. Low fuel warning light came on ar 538 miles and 48.4 on the FCD. I'm going to Sam's in Gilbert tomorrow night - going to PUSH it this time !! Ended up 48.4 (48.56 on calc) and 587.5 for this tank.
Fifth tank is sitting at 53.3 after about 345 miles after trip to Cottonwood/Prescott/Wickenburg. Down to 52.6 after 390 miles. A/C usage this week is going to bring it down, because we are in a High Pressure heat wave phase right now...Still on 52.6 after 405 miles.......holding at 52.9 (barely) with 420 miles....53.3 with 528 miles....Still 53.3 at 538 miles....holding at 53.3 after 545 miles....STUCK MYSELF in a jam between broadway and baseline on priest and had to turn A/C on for a few seconds, and the battery ran all the way down, so we dropped to 52.9 at 560 miles, with low fuel light coming on at 559.1..........going for 600 BAYBEE !! Also going to try and get that back up to 53.3 GGGGRRRRRR !!!!!! BACK UP to 53.3 after some good driving, at 575 miles..... BOO-YEA !!! Holding at 53.3 at 600.2 - MY FIRST 600 MILE TANK BINGO DADDIO !! Bars went back up to two bars and low fuel light went out all the way up to 604.7. This tanked ended up 619.2 and 49.71 - BOO HISS !!!
Sixth tank is looking BAD for some reason? 48.0 but struggling - have not used A/C at all. This is strange..... Have milked it up to 50.3 after 60 miles.....looking better.... 51.0 after 76 miles......GOING UP !!.......holding at 51.4 after 94 miles, BARELY-has fluctuated down to 51.0 and up to 51.8, but holding at 51.4.......got it up to 51.8, but a struggle keeping it there.....it has dropped down to 51.4 with only a LITTLE BIT of acceleration usage....hoping to keep it at 51.8 but we'll see.....without the kids this weekend I should be able to get it higher. And on the way to get them Sunday morning, with any luck I can hit the lights good at 37 mph down University and get it up 0.8 just on that trip alone !!! Took the kiddos car seats to Holdeman Friday 9-24 and jumped it from 51.8 to 52.2........we'll see how long it stays !!!! BIG NEWS: I moved the mpg for this tank up to 55.6 by a University Drive drive to Tracy's and back. Caught a lot of lights, maintained 37-42 mph, and it went from 52.2 to 55.6 and is still sitting at 55.6 at 190 miles after my Monday morning commute......BOO YEAH !! Gonna get my first 650 mile tank and my first 50+ MPG tank?????? Holding at 55.6 after Tuesday morn commute at 219 miles.......holding at 55.6 after my Wed morn commute....not moving up or down.....no change after Thursday morning commute, around 250 miles now and 55.6 is the reading. I have started turning the car completely OFF when I have a long coast, hoping to help MPG when I can.....so far it has not gone DOWN, so I do think it is helping....going for my first 650+ mile tank this time...would only have to average 50 to use 13 gallons....If I'm REALLY getting 53, I could go 689.....DROPPED to 55.2 after AGAIN getting stuck in traffic on 48th street b/n Broadway and Baseline....still 55.2 after my Friday morning commute at 265 miles now........going to Rosa's in Mesa today, so I'll bet I can increase the MPG on that trip - maybe up to 57? 57 is the goal !!! Still going, 340 miles and still at 55.6 for now...not much gain from the Rosa's trip, for some reason.....maybe too many miles on the tank now.....LIFETIME on Trip B meter is up to 37.8 now !!! BOO HISS Update: Down to 55.2 for some reason - have NO IDEA why. UPDATE 10-5-2004: ran over a "stop strip" dropped by a local pickup and got two sidewall punctures on passenger side. Trying to get dealer to locate replacements... GGGRRRRR!!!!! EEFFIN Dealer service guys - I had a solid 55.2 and when I got it back from service, it was 54.8 and staying there.....going to try to get it going up again by the end of the week......I now have two new 185/65/14 tires on the back, one size smaller than the front....interesting.....still STUCK at 54.8 after 402 miles - I upped all 4 tires to 40 PSI last night, hoping to help....we'll see !!!.............FCD is TRYING HARD to go down to 54.5 - has done so twice but I got it back up to 54.8. Sitting around 430 miles now.....OK, I milked it up to 55.2 briefly but it is back down to 54.8 after about 460 miles.....Milked it back up to 55.2 after a SOLID drive to Holdeman to give Tracio the car seats...Boo-YA !! OK, all weekend it hovered around 55.2 ro 55.6 and is PRECARIOUSLY sitting at 55.6 right now after my Monday Oct 11th morning commute....I'm betting it's back to 55.2 by the time I get home today....Well, I was half right - it is indeed 55.2, but not until this morning (Tuesday 10-12) did it drop to 55.2 on the commute to work, about 545 miles...OK I milked it back to 55.6 with a trip to Compass on Thomas and to Sams' Club on 20th and Indian School....still at 55.6 after my morning commute on Wednesday the 13th and sitting at 594 miles and THREE FUEL BARS on the fuel gauge. BARELY holding at 55.6 after dropping to 55.2 Wed night after getting caught in traffic going East on Thomas to Hayden to go to Fish N Chips....Fuel warning light came on this morning at 631 miles with one bar left....sitting at 634 miles and 55.6 right now...Going for 700 miles !!! Holding at 55.6 BARELY again at 650.1 miles....Going to give in and fillup tonite at Sams' before getting 700 miles, darnit !! Made it to 683.9 miles, 12.69 gallons. So if you assume I got 54 MPG (which it calced to) then at 631 miles I got 53 miles after the light came on. So at a 13.2 gallon tank, I had one and a half gallons left when the light came on.
Seventh Tank: Filled up Friday 10-15-2004. First 3.1 miles read 93.1, going 30mph North on Kyrene towards Tempe - took a Pic !! After the first Monday commute on 10-18, we are at 57.1 and 38 miles. BOO HISS - after the Tues 10-19 commute, I am down to 56.3. Seems like the coldish weather (<70 degrees this AM) combined with the use of headlights for part of the commute dropped me quickly. We'll see how well it holds up over this coldish snap over the next few days....I calculated that if I get three more 54 MPG tanks including this one I will be at 48.58, making me a HYPERMILER !!! WOO-HOO !!! We'll see....

Reunion was REALLY FUN. A Good one. Some are good, some are average, some are crappy - this one was fun. The kids ran around blasting one another with water pistols and water balloons. The grownups got to munch on some of my famous home-made salsa and eat Julio's chips, and we had Cuervo Gold frozen Maggies. Good darn deal !! We played Cranium, and flew kites (even at nite) and got to swim once at the Motel pool. Not too many flies, not too many skee-tos, not too awfully hot to stand it.

OK Closing in on the reunion....Taking the tent and we are ROUGHING IT !! First time I stayed in a tent since 2000 - should be interesting...The first test if the sis and her kids and me and my kids can "live" together without problems....

Well, I still need things done to the house and I need more dinero to do those things, so I followed up on a mailer and got a loan at CitiFinancial at 27% interest....WHEW that's high !! I can pay it early and not pay that interest, but for now, it was my only option. I'm going to use some of the money to pay down on two other loans, and use $1000 to get a roll shutter for my back patio door. Get a backyard sprinkler system installed too. And get a quote on a whole-house water softening system. Nuff fer now......

MY MY HOW LIFE CHANGES !! New life, new home.

So last time I blogged, I was married with five kids, two of them BLOOD kiddos, all of my family living 935 miles away from me and my jobs. I was working two jobs to support a lying, cheating wife who was taking full advantage of the "freedoms" of living 935 miles from the husband she despised.

Now, that marriage is history, my two kids are here with me, I just bought a new house and am filling it with new stuff. I live 5.3 miles from my job (thus a streets-only commute - no FREEWAYS !!) and my kids are enjoying the freedom too.

More later - stay tuned......

Finally got back here.....This service seems to be a lot of work.....login.....logto....signon.....

Anyway, bought a washer today - $814 for the CHEAPEST Frigidaire front-loader. Lowes. No interest for 7 months. Should be able to pay it off interest-free.

Laterz.............

More than just a tad irritated that I must go to blogger.com and login first to get to this blog editor......the price you pay for "FREE" weBlogs I suppose........

Boring weekend ahead. Probably will not get to work at the Spa on Sunday - still waiting for my "interview."