Sit and Ride?

Certainly looks like it could be a bike seat.... unicycle the Segway.

Either that or it is going after the kiddie market.

So a brisk walker will overtake these.

Not a good selling point.

I suspect that the smaller two models have you holding the central column between your knees or thighs. So skateboarding might be a close analogy - hands free, anyway!

S/M/L. Small, Medium and Large.

Presumably aimed at kiddies, tweenies and teen/adult respectively.

What practical use is there for a vehicle with little capacity to carry luggage that only travels at walking pace?

Unless I'm very much mistaken, that's a fairly gentle walking pace. So what's the actual point of these things? Presumably disabled people can't use them, because they require you to stand up anyway.

So I'm sorry, but I don't get it.

Toyota or Toshiba (as shown in URL)

"All three models have a maximum cruising speed of just over 3mph"

Slower than walking, then. Fantastic. So you pay a load of money for something that can't go over kerbs or gravel, isn't environmentally kind in manufacture or disposal, means you take longer to get anywhere, requires storage space and is awkward to transport in any other vehicle - all just to do away with what last dregs of physical activity you retained by walking round the block to the burger shop on your fat creaking legs.

Truly, I have to congratulate Toyota on this milestone innovation: Finally something has taken the title of Mankind's Most Pointless Invention from the leaf blower.

Still, at least the 'S' model means you can buy one for your cat as well, so it can be as fat and lazy as its stupid owner - who will happily no longer have to chase partially-disemboweled mice around the kitchen, because Tiddles will be too slow to catch the damn things on his electric lard chariot.

> electric lard chariot

Well played, sir! <polite applause>

Title says it all.

Good idea? Bad? Assuming said person's disability actually allows them to lean forward and backwards of course...

> electric lard chariot

Titter :)

Penis control. Obviously. In the future of mass transporation, it won't be penis size that matters, it will be penis deviousness.

And they wonder why people are obese. Perhaps they should sell little outriders to stop your flab dragging on the ground.

I've discovered another type of personal mobility device. You sit on it and make it go forward by moving your feet in a circular motion, it can go a lot faster that 3MPH and has a lot further range than 10Km.

There are also specialist models that can go over rough ground. It's could a BI-Cy-Cle. Has any othe El Reg readers come across this innovative mode of transport?

Penguin, because if we all stop buying/using pointless electrical gadgets it might actually mean that there will be some parts of Antartica left for them to live in.

"Perhaps they should sell little outriders to stop your flab dragging on the ground."

Ah, yes. Maybe the 'S' is for carrying the driver's sweaty, puckered flabsack of distended digestive organs; the cakeaholic's equivalent of Buster Gonad's wheelbarrow.

I think you've just coined a new phrase and I shall endeavour to use it whenever possible.

that El Reg seems to shy away from the term 'paraplegic'.

Can't think why. It's legitimate medical terminology for someone who has lost, or lost the use of, both their legs.

The S or M versions look like they could be used by someone suffering this type of disability.

Or is there a problem perceived in using the term 'paraplegic' in the same comment as "lazy short-arsed fuckers".

Or was it the "Dwarfs" reference.

Or is it just OK to mock the fat.

If you're gonna mock one group, it's gotta be open season all round (as it were).

"It’s not clear how users control the Type S and M models...."

Surely we just have to ask the motoring supremo, Max Mosley!

still the same old problem about where to use these things?

do we travel on the road and get run over or do we travel on the pavement and run pedestrians over?

electric cars please!

cheers,

bill

stuff and nonsense: http://www.eupeople.net

"Um, says who?"

<Yes, I AM wearing my flameproof pants!>

That's what we'll be like soon. All floating about on our electric lard chariots (well coined), barely able to stand because of bone wastage.

As for the chance of running pedestrians over, I wouldn't worry about it. You've got to catch up with them first.

And to the guy squaring up for a row with the Moderatrix: good luck, I'll pop back in from time to time and check on the carnage.

I like Friday afternoons. Do you think there will be a Lego mock-up of some interesting news story today, or has Lester not got back from the pub yet?

PS - Wall-e is a very good film, by the way.

I can't see that anyone skirted the issue of whether these were designed for para's or not. Your rant notwithstanding, these appear to be totally useless devices designed to move otherwise capable people at less than a walking pace for limited distances. Even my grandmother, bless her, walked slowly but surely and doubtless would have had no desire to waste time, effort or money on using one of these.

I thank Bes for the "electric lard chariot". I think it's funny (and yes, I know I'm overweight and out of shape) and in this case most apropos.

We went on the Segway tour of Eiffel tower recently which was great, they really do zip along. People don't buy segways because they are too expensive and I was told they have to be sent to the States for fixing, eg after a mulfunction or crash. These are just too slow and unless they can fly or something, I can't see them taking off...

Its crap then.

...to the first person to create a fusion of Segway/Laptop/Brain in a Jar (any species) that is able to auto-recharge and self replicate at will.

Or at least order another of itself off the internet.

The mind reels at the implications of a prehensile penis.

O! M! G!

There's some other 'transport' devices circulating out there, other than the Segway and this latest from Toyota. I've personally spotted our local Montréal police cruising on these things called "T3"; according to the article below they are capable of 40km/h and are pretty good on efficiency.

http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=96e9128b-30a6-41f0-838a-0388136b2e70

Love your first commemnt in this section. Great writing.

That means you can use them (at least in the UK) on the pavement without a licence, insurance etc.

Ah, yes indeed I have heard of the BI-Cy-Cle. I believe it was in a history class. From the ancient Romanian for curious about both or either gender and having to do with sexuality.

Not sure what that's got to do with the article though.

Paris, because...

for Bez.. nicely phonetic. rols off the tongue. so to speak..

i wonder if they'll do a flat-bed version.

Does nobody have any LEGS?

<apologies for people who don't have the use of their legs. Or have no legs. Or people who have legs where their hands are and walk on their hands. Or snail people.>