CARPE DIEM
Professor Mark J. Perry's Blog for Economics and Finance
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Link.About Me
- Name: Mark J. Perry
- Location: Washington, D.C., United States
Dr. Mark J. Perry is a professor of economics and finance in the School of Management at the Flint campus of the University of Michigan. Perry holds two graduate degrees in economics (M.A. and Ph.D.) from George Mason University near Washington, D.C. In addition, he holds an MBA degree in finance from the Curtis L. Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. In addition to a faculty appointment at the University of Michigan-Flint, Perry is also a visiting scholar at The American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C.
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15 Comments:
as a long time urban cyclist, there is no way i'd ride one of these.
first off, it's really slow. limited to 20kph, you'll get mauled in traffic.
second, this is a manifestly unsafe configuration in a head on crash. imagine something pulling out in front of you and you hit it. in a conventional bike configuration, you have a wheel as a crumple zone and arms to help you soak up the force. here, you lead with your knees and then get your head whiplashed forward. that's a likely crippling and possibly lethal situation.
third, this portability issue is just dumb. for the over $5000 that this costs you could buy a 14 pound bike that you could carry anywhere.
finally, that 10km range is very, very short and under city conditions (starting and stopping) i'll bet it's more like 4-5km.
it may be neat, but this thing is pretty much useless.
Liberals are known to have ideas. No one says their good.
Like the segway, it's destine for the trash heap of failed "The New Urban Environment" ideas.
It reminds me of the vehicle Mr. Garrison invented in South Park.
Like the segway, it's destine for the trash heap of failed "The New Urban Environment" ideas.
For better or worse, the Segway isn't dead - yet
Nissan, I think, has one up on them.
I don't think there is anyway to get the PUMA street legal in the US. But like the Segway, the government is bound to buy a bunch of PUMAs for government.
I could see a bunch of Yikes zipping around the capital building with pages on them.
What an insanely silly idea for $4,450!
Who buys Segways besides government entities?
...I did see a "tour of DC on a segway" thing the other day.
I think its a great idea.
All of the safety concerns mentioned come from the antiquated idea that these sorts of things are "vehicles", when they're really just pedestians with wheels.
I don't care what kind of bike you're on. If you tangle with a 2 ton car, you're going to loose. You want safety? Get rid of the bike lanes in the road and make the side walk wider to accomodate these sorts of things.
I believe in free enterprise--although inventions like this one make shake the faith a little.
That, and rap music. I might accept state control of media if we could get rid of rap music....
> "That, and rap music. I might accept state control of media if we could get rid of rap music...."
If you're still calling it rap music, you're making yourself sound like Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino.
Try hip-hop or urban. ;)
Clint Eastwood?
I'll take it!
You made my day.
Though not explicitly stated it was implied that this thing has regenerative braking, which would help with the city-conditions range issue.
It was explicitly stated that is has anti-lock brakes, which combined with the low top speed suggests a pretty short stopping distance.
It fails as a car replacement because it is not protected from the weather (I noted how nice it was while they were filming...), and it's carrying capacity is limited to what you stuff in a backpack or satchel.
Looks like fun to ride down East Beach in Santa Barbara. Not so much in traffic.
It's the Apple of transport - high zoot design, pretty costly and looking to have a limited market share.
But probably fiercely loved the people who pony up for it.
I forgot about the urban planning movement. They're hoping to get rural areas like NYC to at least quadruply their population density so transportation like this would be viable.
That's really cool.
Unfortunately, it's also seriously gay. NTTAWWT, but it's going to limit the market share to those who also buy 'european shoulder bags'.
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