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Direct Link To This Post Topic: Segway first impressions
    Posted: 21-March-2006 at 03:26
Well lads - just to let you all know that the new venture is up and running.  Did the Golf Show in the RDS and the response was fanatastic. Debating about the Punchestown one at the moment.

Standard Irish questions - "how much????" without even understanding the technology, but funny that once you got them up on the Segway, they actually understood why they cost so much. Oldest test pilot was 79!!! and had no bother.

Huge security / response team interest. Took one home on the Dart as an experiment and the Dart driver spent 5 mins hanging out the window chatting about it. Max speed 20km/h and max range with gentle tail wind 40km.

Anyway - website is www.segway.ie Still adding to it but pass on the link as it will bump me up on Google ratings - not even showing at the moment but it can take a considerable time for Google to re-index.

There you go - no new BMs for me till I recoup some of the spend, sometimes I wonder if I should be certified
Martin
In BMW exile at the moment (Shame on me for lurking!!!)
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21-March-2006 at 03:43

Best of luck with it Martin - tis a cool bit of kit. Shall we be seeing how useful they are for getting around the pit lane on April 29th?

I'll start the Segway chain mail my end..

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21-March-2006 at 03:46
looks good.
have a look at this and this to increase your ratings
Add your site to as many directories (Irish?) as possible...
www.dmoz.org
www.search.ie
www.whoisireland.ie (towards bottom)
www.finditireland.com
www.browseireland.com
www.niceone.com
etc.
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Previous: 1989 E30 320i SE
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21-March-2006 at 03:55
Might do - my office is just at the Naas / Newbridge turn off on the Naas side so I'm only round the corner from Mondello.

You might be seeing them there in another guise as the ambulance crews were completly taken by them. They were talking about fitting them out - de-fib on one side, medical supplies on the other and using them as response units for big events as they can manouvere through crowds and narrow paths very efficiently.

It will be interesting to see how it develops.
Martin
In BMW exile at the moment (Shame on me for lurking!!!)
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1996 E36 M3 Evo Individual
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21-March-2006 at 03:56
Cheers Killian - I was going to run a Google adword campaign but need to see where we position first to structure it correctly.

Will check out the other links
Martin
In BMW exile at the moment (Shame on me for lurking!!!)
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21-March-2006 at 04:21
I think we should have a test drive days for the club
Richie


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E39 525i Sport Individual

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21-March-2006 at 04:26
naw Richie - we should have a Segway Track Day
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21-March-2006 at 04:37
More suited to Auto test than Trackdays - electronically limited top speed kills the racing but the handling in tight spaces is much more entertaining.

Martin
In BMW exile at the moment (Shame on me for lurking!!!)
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21-March-2006 at 04:49
We'll leave that action item down to you so Martin.

I'm really lookin forward to the auto test and slalom comp!!!
It will look great on your website too...."BMW CAR CLUB give thumbs up to Segway"
Richie


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21-March-2006 at 06:39

Good luck with the new venture, Martin.

What's the pricing like - couldn't find it on the site!

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21-March-2006 at 07:08
Fey - didn't put it up as it would scare to many people away and not give me an opportuinity to present the benfits to them.  This way they have to get in touch to get the answers.

But lets put it this way-
2 x PC's
5 x BAE Gyroscopes
6 Point Tilt Sensor
2 x Servo motors - highest torque output for their size ever put into production
2 x gearboxes
10,000 lines of software code
100% latent redundancy - won't fall over due to component failure
64 bit security encryption key

So the price is € lots (more than 97 Passat estate cost) but that includes 21% VAT and 6% Duty from outside the EU. Hence our target marget initially will be commercial applications.

Martin
In BMW exile at the moment (Shame on me for lurking!!!)
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21-March-2006 at 07:21
I think segways are really crazy-cool! and I always love to see someone taking a risk for a really interesting business venture.

However, I usually feel tricked or misled when the LAST thing people tell me about their product or service is the price. Its like they're trying to justify what they're ABOUT to say instead of letting their product or service speak for itself. I usually feel that they think I'm not capable of deciding if their service/product is worth what they're asking.

I'm not saying this to insult you Martin, but I feel that you may be going down a road that could lose you customers when your intentions by going there is to gain.

I mean, Segways look amazing... If they work as well as they claim to then they will sell themselves by people actually experiencing using one, and the price will take 2nd place to the desire to own one because of the immediate tangeble merits. My opinion is to let them sell themselves because they are clearly good and be upfront about the price. Give your potential customers all the info and let them decide.

Anyhow rambling rant over. I REALLY WANT ONE!!!! Best of luck.
Paul
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21-March-2006 at 07:32
I see they are around $4500 in the states. So will you be adding VRT
Richie


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21-March-2006 at 07:58
Cheers for the comments - it was interesting at the show and its an Irish thing I think - everyone thinks they know the price of everything, and while anyone with an interest can understand the value the exact opposite is true also.

70% of the people asked the price first and immeadiately dismissed them as a joke - that was untill we got them up on the machine. Once up and on them they started to understand the value. Funny then how the price issue dissapperaed, but initally all they saw was two wheels and some coloured plastic so a price tag of almost 6k made no sense whatsoever to them.

i180 in the US is USD$5k plus the sales tax. Here €5,750.00 inc VAT. Initially we will hold off on putting the prices up but it will happen once the publics awareness of the technology develops the value and costs are more understandable.

As for VRT - if they implement that we're screwed!!!
Martin
In BMW exile at the moment (Shame on me for lurking!!!)
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21-March-2006 at 08:15

Best of luck Martin, grab the bull by the horns and go for it, lifes to short.

On a different not   "knights to the ready one joust each" now that could be interesting. 

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21-March-2006 at 11:08
Martin 5750 euro sounds faily ok to me.

A decent scooter once you include protective gear, insurance, tax, a lock, servicing costs etc would easily be approaching the 5k mark in the 1st year.
And a segway would be much handier say on a business/college campus or a city centre.

Paul
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21-March-2006 at 14:47

Best of luck with it Martin - it looks like a pretty cool piece of kit.

I expect they'll do great this year, especially the golf ones with the Ryder Cup on.

John

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