Hacker News Reader

Comment by ohlol | Hacker News Reader

I disagree with the assertion that the reason people dislike Segways is because they make the rider look smug. I think it's because the people you see riding them ARE dorks. It's more of a guilt by association issue than anything.

View on HN

I'm with pg. Take the recent movie with the mall cop. I only saw the trailer (I swear!) but a cop in uniform, even the rental version, isn't really dorky. But put him on a Segway and hilarity ensues!

Another thought experiment:

1) Cop on a horse

2) Cop on a motorcycle

3) Cop on a mountain bike

4) Cop on a Segway

I've ordered them, I think, from toughest to dorkiest. Maybe you could swap the horse and motorcycle (though horses are huge). But is there any doubt the Segway is in last place and by far?

Mmm, I think rental/mall cops are plenty dorky. They don't have guns, or for that matter any other tools to subdue perps, do they? That makes them pretty harmless in my eyes.

Have you seen the Segway tours? http://bit.ly/4J4yJ

Throw some dubs or spinnas on those bad boys, and they'd still look like dorks.

edit- But I do agree with your list. Horses > motorcycles, for sure.

I think it's the mall as context. Is a security guard at a dark warehouse dorky? They're not especially cool, but I don't get negative thoughts.

That Segway tour pic is pretty funny. It may be the helmets and manpurses, but funny still the same.

Throw some dubs or spinnas on those bad boys, and they'd still look like dorks.

Funny, personally I think that cars with spinners and huge rims looks quite a bit more dorky then Segways.

The big difference between the two is that the Segway never had a sufficiently counter-cultural fan base, and therefore had exactly the wrong sort of exclusivity.

Dorks are counter culture. It's just that nobody has any desire to emulate their bad taste.

Exactly--20" rims and spinners got popular because of the people who initially bought them. If you started seeing rappers riding Segways, things would be a bit different.

Case in point: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=geIsWq5xOSE

Scraper bikes are all over Oakland. Do they look cool? Nope.

I'm pretty sure (from the background) that the photo is from the Segway tour in the distillery district in Toronto (Ontario,Canada)... and I've seen people on them that _don't_ look that dorky, but they do look touristy because there was a tour guide leading them around IIRC. They might have looked a bit smug too, but not just because they were on the Segway, I remember them being dressed sort of yuppie-like which is only contributed to the fact that they are on an expensive-looking vehicle. (I'm really pulling on my memory here, this was probably around 2006 or 2007 and I just happened to see them go by. Not necessarily something that is burned into my memory.)

I see tourists doing Segway tours all the time here in SF. Personally, I prefer the Go Car tour. Instead of having to wear a lime green vest for protection and tool around a few blocks, you get to ride in a GPS-navigated car. You can take it where ever you please as well, but I digress.

I would buy a Segway if it looked like something from Mad Max.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com