We’ve probably all heard of “IT”, seen them on TV or even might have been lucky enough to see them when traveling abroad; but now the wait is over! The Segway has reached our shores and are set to make a splash in the Tourism tour market segment.

Brain child of Eliot Bailey, the founder of Lucianstyle (www.lucianstyle.com) which is a tour operation that is located next to Rehab bar on the strip in Rodney Bay. Twelve top of the line Segway X2 models were imported and are in use for both training and guided tours within the Rodney Bay area. The Segway X2 is the off-road version of the original PT (Personal Transporter) version that was invented by Dean Kamen and introduced to the world in 2001 amidst much hoopla.

Kamen was way ahead of his time and pronounced that the Segway “will be to the car what the car was to the horse and buggy” and announced that they expected to sell up to 40,000 units per year. Unfortunately for Kamen his company found it difficult to sell the units due to most countries banning the vehicle from both the roads and sidewalks. As a result they only managed to sell approximately 30,000 units from 2001 to 2007. However things are improving for the company as many countries including the US are relaxing the restrictions on where the vehicle can be legally operated.

The X2 is the second generation model with the biggest improvement being “Leansteer” which allows the steering column to be leaned from side to side which makes for more natural steering compared to the 1st generation.

The Segway is built to stay balanced in one place and designed to mirror the process of human walking. If the rider standing on an initially balanced Segway leans forward, therefore offsetting the balance, theX2 moves forward to regain balance just as in walking a leg moves forward to retain balance. With the Segway, changes from a balanced status are first detected by gyroscopes, and signals are passed on to the onboard computers which then direct motors to regain balance. This process occurs about 100 times per second, so small adjustments to maintain balance occur almost immediately after the balance is offset by the rider.

The side effect of this balancing system is that as the Segway balances itself the entire unit changes position in the direction it has moved to restore balance. (For example, if the rider leans forward, the entire Segway will move forward from its original position, until the rider restores an upright position on the unit.) This is precisely how the Segway X2 is controlled, the balancing and movement is essentially one combined system.

Steering is accomplished by moving the handle bars to the side in which direction you want to, this also causes your body to lean into the turn thereby helping you keep your balance and aiding traction. The X2 can turn on a dime just by leaning the bars all the way to one side without moving forward or backwards.

Learning to operate a Segway is almost second nature and quite intuitive, anyone that has ridden a bicycle will almost immediately feel comfortable aboard. Lucianstyles has a large open grass covered lot next to Rehab which is used for training and they offer 20 minute sessions which is enough time to get operators familiar with the vehicles.

Within a couple of minutes I was moving around the field and after 10 minutes I could slalom around the cones and generally feel very comfortable. To the totally uninitiated I believe it could be a bit intimidating but with confidence and the right training, pretty much anyone should be able to learn how to operate a Segway in fairly short order.

Apparently Segway’s have been in use in Puerto Rico, Barbados and Antigua where they have become a big hit, particularly with the Cruiseship passengers and it is Mr. Bailey’s hope that the same business plan will be successful here in St. Lucia. To that end he has developed a series of trails on Mount Pimard which is the mountain at the end of the Reduit beach which is just a short ride down the road from Lucianstyles. Twice daily tours are run to this area and included is a 20 minute training session, 10 minutes traversing to the trail head and then another 60 minutes exploring and then back to the start. This is priced at $70.00 US dollars but there is a discount for locals.

There is also a sunset tour and a tour that starts and finishes at Pigeon Island. And if you just want the experience of learning the ropes, 20 minute “Learn to ride” training sessions are also available.

Well after taking up enough of Mr. Bailey’s time, I had a close up look of these wondrous machines. The fit and finish is excellent and in addition to both a pleasing design exercise, the build is very robust and should provide many years of heavy use. Power is provided by Lithium Ion batteries that can provide up to 12 miles of off road range and at speeds of up to 12.5 mph which is plenty fast enough! It takes approximately 6 hours to recharge the batteries from fully discharged. Weight is a quite reasonable 120 LB’s. The tires are 21” in diameter and are a semi-knobby design for traction both on and off road, in operation a Segway is virtually silent.

The one major flaw in the whole thing is the cost. It has been estimated that over $100 million US dollars was spent developing the Segway and with the relatively small numbers that have been sold, this has caused prices to remain high. Stratospherically high in this case as these units retail for approximately $7,000.00 US dollars!! And that is FOB, landed here in St. Lucia with shipping and duty paid would add considerably to the cost. A quick search via E-Bay unfortunately does not reveal much in the way of bargains to be had, ex rental units going on for three years of age are selling for $4,000.00 US!!

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