Dude, my honda 4-wheeler has just been put to some serious shame. Trade in time....

That is wild! And it looks like a ton of fun!

Wow! Dean Kamen has done it again!

He's... he's... *gasp*

He's invented the ATV!

First he invented the two-wheeled motorized scooter and now he's invented the four-wheeled motorized ATV.

Okay, he's added his Segway technology to it, but it's still an ATV.

I wonder if he's going to do the same thing he did with the Segway.

Kamen hired a whole bunch of lobbyists to get legislation passed exempting his motorized vehicle from the regular laws prohibiting motorized vehicles (including scooters) from sidewalks and parks.

All the common sense and bad experiences that engendered laws to keep motorized vehicles away from pedestrians and bicyclists got swept aside with some slick lobbying, glitzy demos, and a lot of techno-babble.

...like "human transporter". That one still gets me. A Harley-Davidson is a "human transporter". So is a Corvette. So is a Winnebago, probably more so than a Segway. I wouldn't want to see any of those "human transporters" driving on the sidewalk.

Gyro-stabilizers and "lean" steering doesn't change the fact that a Segway still a motorized scooter (it has two wheels and you ride it standing up) and it is motorized (it's not "people powered").

So, in other words, if you go down to Urbanscooters.com and buy a ZZ Cruiser, you can't take it on the sidewalk or in the park. Why? It's a motorized scooter!

But if you buy a Segway you can. Why? It's Dean Kamen's motorized scooter!

Somehow, all the inherent danger to pedestrians and bicyclists magically disappears because the Segway has a stabilizer to keep its rider upright when he bumps into you.

Now we've got Kamen's latest invention: a four wheeled motorized ATV. Let's see if Kamen tries to convince everyone it's not a four wheeled motorized ATV, it's a Centaur.

What happened to that store in the mall?
Guess Midland Texas ust didn't have the market for the Segway.
After all, when it first came out, there were only 3 cities in the US that had a segway store, and Midland was one of them.

Bert, as far as I can tell, only one person in Midland bought a Segway, and I don't know if he even bought it from the local store. It's just not a very practical product for a spread-out, car-centric community like ours, and it's $2,000 too expensive.

Mr. Freen, I agree with your perspective on Segway's marketing techniques and the foolishness of putting these vehicles (which is what they are) on busy sidewalks.

I don't see the same potential for the Centaur. In fact, I don't see a lot of practicality at all...but that's what gadget-envy is all about.

The Centaur is a pretty cool looking gadget. Hard feelings over Dean Kamen aside, I think most people would love to have one of these. Can you get spinners for the wheels? Bright, shiny, chrome spinners? That would be cool.

Bright, shiny, chrome spinners?

Now that's what I'm talkin' about!