[design219]

mental_floss Blog : The Uno

It runs on electricity and is controlled by body language. The only controls are an on-off switch. To go forward, you lean forward. Lean further to go faster. Lean back to go backwards. The Uno has two gyros, one to control forward (and backward) motion, the other for turning.

I didn't think a motorcycle could get any more dangerous. Or is it just me? I like that it is electric, however.

[Dakar the Fourth]

*facepalm*

[Eug]

Stupidest? Maybe, but then again all motorcycles are stupid from a safety point of view, and I say this as someone who owned one for a while.

Note that it does have two wheels though.

[ajprice]

Paint it black and call it Batman's Segway.

[- - e r i k - -]

The BATWAY!

[- - e r i k - -]

And on a more serious note: It was about time someone took the segway technology forward from it's current derided "haha-scooter!" point.

[PB2K]

He's humping the 2 legged horse !

[vmarks]

Actually, this is very very cool.

(a) the dude who made it is 18 years old. What were you doing at 18?

(b) probably going to be harder to ride with a passenger, since leaning is going to affect course and speed, and most passengers I've ridden with don't follow the instruction "lean exactly where I lean"

(c) I don't see how this is any more dangerous than a motorcycle at highway speeds - laying a bike down on the side versus endo-ing still means you're on the ground and liable to get run over by whatever traffic is behind you.

(d) I wonder how the DMV would classify it - if it's in the same class as a 50cc scooter, then it can be ridden without any license, tags, or insurance on public roads. (The DMV does this so that people who have lost their license to DUI/DWI offenses can ride scooters to work.)

[Doofy]

Lean further to go faster. Lean back to go backwards.

Oh dear. That's not going to be very quick with the average fat biker chick sitting on the back of it.

[Big Mac]

Since it uses gyros the guy probably got the idea from Mr. Garrison's IT.

[vmarks]

Actually, it's lean backwards to decelerate. Course, you have to be moving forward in order to decelerate. Only from a stop would leaning backwards cause reverse.

Doofy's 'fat chick' on the back just causes you to go slower (both by mass, and by the act of leaning backwards.)

[Eug]

Originally Posted by vmarks 

Doofy's 'fat chick' on the back just causes you to go slower (both by mass, and by the act of leaning backwards.)

Not necessarily. You might just accelerate slower.

[nonhuman]

Depends on how fat she is, and how far forward you can both get.

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by Eug 

Not necessarily. You might just accelerate slower.

If one is riding one of those things and one has a fat chick on the back, one has been accelerating pretty slowly for all of one's life.

[Doofy]

OK, puzzled.

On a conventional bike, when you stop your body weight transfers forwards due to the laws of physics and the like. Hence "stoppies". But on this thing, leaning forwards actually accelerates the thing. So, you lean back to try and stop the thing and the sheer act of slowing down makes you lean forwards, which then accelerates the thing. Which throws your body weight backwards, which then tries to stop the thing. Which throws your weight forwards, which then makes it accelerate. Etc., etc..

They really didn't think this one through, did they?

[nonhuman]

I assume it doesn't go fast enough for that to really be a problem. Otherwise the same would be true with segways.

[design219]

So you lean back for brakes? What happens when you are going down a hill?

[nonhuman]

I assume the gyros would keep you up relative to the direction of gravity regardless of the grade of the road.

[design219]

Yes, but how would you slow down going down a hill?

[nonhuman]

Same was as on the flat. Because it's gyroscopically stabilized it should feel no different to you (although you'll be at greater risk of the tail hitting the ground).

[design219]

So there must be some sort of resistance on the wheels? Maybe the motors generate when not powering? The article doesn't say anything about brakes, just leaning to go forward or back.

I would be really worried about brakes on something like this...just a tap and POW!

[nonhuman]

It's exactly the same as a segway, you just sit on it instead of standing on it.