I admit it: I would love to have a Segway. Yes, I realize they’re not really all that practical for everyday life in Columbus, OH. Yes, I realize they make you look like a total nerd. I’m prepared to reconcile both of those facts against what I perceive as the unadulterated fun of riding such a contraption. Unfortunately, I don’t have the cash to buy a Segway. If I had bothered to take shop class in high school, though, maybe I could make this DIY balancing scooter to fulfill my Segway lust.
Although the site doesn’t provide step-by-step build instructions, it does provide enough nitty-gritty to get any motivated maker into gear to assemble their own two wheel balancing scooter. I suspect riding around on a homemade scooter will earn you way more geek cred than riding around on its expensive commercial cousin.
Before you run off to make one of these things for yourself, though, you should read this warning from the creator of this balancing scooter:
The commercial one has a lot of safety features, redundancy and fool-proofing. Mine has none whatsoever (Well, it does have a kill switch so it doesn’t go zooming away if I fall off, and it does shut down if it finds itself tipped more than 45 degrees.) Those details are kind of important, and you should think about them carefully before considering building such a thing yourself.
And if you think two wheels are for sissies, be sure to check out the DIY electric unicycle! “You lean forward to accelerate, lean backwards to brake, and gyrate your arms wildly to turn.” Perfect!