People will stop walking and start Segway-ing. They will not stop driving/riding and start using this. Net result MORE energy used.

Do you have any data to support this? The product has been out for some time now.

On the motorbike question: the comparison is entirely valid as posited as price points are being compared.

Oh, so let's compare the Segway with a nice vase of the same price. That damn vase! Can't go very fast, very little storage capacity, so fragile, and hard to ride. Advantage Segway! Let's just keep making more meaningless comparisons!

Oh and bike emissions are going to change radically in the next few years

Like "clean diesel", wake me up when it's ready. For now, can we examine what's currently on the plate?

You going to give up a car for one of these? No they are there to make walking about easier. That's obvious.

We are comparing transport methods that any consumer can purchase at the same price point. If you wish to discuss crockery then go ahead. But comparing a 5k mode of transport with another 5k mode of transport is perfectly valid.

Well motorbike emissions are. The legislation is in place and all the big manufacturers are already developing toward it. Go do some research.

Oh and clean diesels are in the marketplace. Define clean? If you mean US levels of NOx then no but they are in the market over in Europe. On I know let's set a zero NOx limit now everything's dirty: define clean!

If you're talking about particulates then Stage V Euro emissions sorts that out. And gasoline GDIs suffer from particulate problems too so the Stage V gasoline regs have particulate limits too.

Here's an idea: why not cross certify like the Europeans do and allow EU to US certification equivalence eg Euro certifies LEV2 as EUIV.

You going to give up a car for one of these? No they are there to make walking about easier. That's obvious.

So "obvious" that you don't have any data to support it? I thought as such.

We are comparing transport methods that any consumer can purchase at the same price point.

I realize what you're doing. But it doesn't make it a valid or meaningful comparison. Like I said, I can run as fast or faster than a Segway in my bare feet, which costs me nothing. So, by the logic used here, we should all run around barefoot.

Are you grasping yet that things have their own niche? That a Segway can do things that a scooter, or a motorcycle, or a car, or a bicycle can't do? That there's a difference between movement which requires great physical effort and that which doesn't? In the real world where impacts actually matter and people behave as people do, which is by trying to minimize effort, it's worth looking at something for what it can do instead of making meaningless comparisons.

I can go out and get a $500 1980 Rabbit Diesel. Functionally as fast as a motorcycle, faster than a scooter, faster than a Segway, faster than a bicycle. Again, by the "rational" logic applied here, everyone should run out and get a 1980 Rabbit Diesel. Because, as we all know, parking doesn't matter, insurance doesn't matter, bike paths and sidewalks don't exist, emissions don't matter, and technology and ease-of-use (and fun) all don't matter.

Well motorbike emissions are. The legislation is in place and all the big manufacturers are already developing toward it. Go do some research.

So funny. I love seeing that sort of comment. "Go do some research." Why don't you just provide the links for us? Again - show me motorcycles and scooters CURRENTLY FOR SALE with these "clean" emissions. Or is this discussion now so inane and all over the place as to be about price only and ignoring time itself?

Oh and clean diesels are in the marketplace.

Name all the MY2007 diesel-fueled light vehicles that will be available for sale in all 50 states.

If you mean US levels of NOx then no but they are in the market over in Europe.

Great. I don't live in Europe, so it's meaningless from a practical standpoint. And is this the "clean European paradise" you're referring to?
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/03/urban_pollution.html

Again, let's try the "novel" approach of comparing apples-to-apples (ie, acknowledging the pluses and minuses of each mode choices, esp. with respect to how real humans will deal with a technology, and how it may fit into the larger transportation picture -- like the "last mile" model with respect to transit as I referred to upthread). And let's also be "novel" by discussing products available for sale, not something in the future.

This thread is hilarious The Segway haters hangout - 1001 reasons the Segway sucks.

What your all missing is that the Segway is a "Human" transporter. It keeps you, the rider, at a human scale and human level. It could be used on sidewalks, inside buildings, inside anywhere - big farmhouse, Home Depot, Ikea, grocery store, museum, convention center, neighborhoods. If your worried about being "run over", do people in electric wheelchairs run you over? No, they stay at human-speed and act like responsible adults - if someone is driving recklessly they will eventually crash and get sued and problem solved - if you want to worry, worry about getting run over in your zippy motorcyle by a Ford SUV at 60mph.

and the ANSWER IS.......
Fewer People-more Segways
so,Human Surplus,quit breeding like Rats.
The uyltimate Answer to all our Problems!!

I would love to see the research showing that Segways are displacing automobiles. Thousands have been sold, and I bet that very few of those are replacing cars. Some are replacing walking, some are replacing horses and I bet many are gathering dust.

The whole human scale argument is silly. Human beings are human scale, strange scooters are not. Bulks machines do not belong on city sidewalks, people do.

It is perfectly valid to compare a Segway to other transportation options when considering the same tasks.

Contrary to it's hype about changing the world, the world would probably either be the same or might even be a better place if there were no Segways in it.