And I thought the Segway was bad...

[trainzmainiac]

How would you like to patrol an event on one of these? I thought the segway was bad, but I'd much rather use that than this!

Portland police will soon be cruising community festivals on a single wheel, following a deal with Ryno Motors to lease the company's one-wheeled electric vehicle beginning next summer.

The bureau will lease two micro-cycles for one year, said Christopher Hoffmann, CEO of Portland-based Ryno.

The arrangement will cost the Portland Police Bureau $1 for two of Ryno’s prototypes, targeted to retail at about $4,200 each. Despite the fantastic deal, the arrangement is a win for Ryno, which will get considerable exposure as police scan the streets and navigate the beer festival on their design inspired by a child’s videogame.

Gawkers are proving critical to Ryno’s ramp-up to production. The company is looking for $600,000 — modified from $1.6 million in January — to start putting micro-cyles on the streets. It’s the first-of-its-kind as a single-wheeled vehicle, designed with a patent-pending auto-balancing system, steering and an integrated, software-controlled disc brake system.

The deal with the Portland Police Bureau follows weeks of interest in the Ryno cycle, which will be featured as the ride of choice for musician-***-actress Carrie Brownstein in an upcoming episode of Portlandia. It also has a cameo in a patent office in this season’s final episode of Leverage, was recently profiled for a yet-to-publish article on the hugely popular AOL-owned engadget.com and landed one of two coveted “future” spots in the London Transport Museum for a history of transportation exhibit. One of Ryno's prototypes will be on display there for a year.

Add to the fanfare ongoing negotiations with two manufacturers interested in producing the micro-cycle, and Hoffmann maintains that snowballing interest could usher Ryno quickly to the streets.

The lease with the Portland Police Bureau, “validates the bike as being rugged and reliable and seen as having a useful purpose,” said Hoffmann.

That the micro-cycle’s early riders are police officers is no coincidence. The law enforcement and campus safety communities were early targets for the vehicle, which is also intended for recreational riders and as transportation in urban settings. The Ryno rivals the Segway in navigating dense urban settings, such as campuses and crowds, with top speeds of 20 miles an hour and a range of 30 miles. A high-powered charger can charge the vehicle in an hour and a half. A laptop charger can do it overnight.

A former operations manager at a company that designed headsets for firefighters, Hoffmann said he understands the extent to which a good review in the tight-knit community of first responders could advertise the product.

So far, officers who have tried the micro-cycle like it for several reasons, he said. “The most important thing for them is that when you stop, you put your feet down,” he said.

“They really feel like you can run out of this easy,” he said, with exit options on three sides and a bar out front that allows a quick tilt forward to park it. Riders are at eye-level in conversation, also a perk for police work in community settings.

Hoffmann said it will take four months to build the micro-cycles for the Portland Police Bureau. They’re likely to hit the streets next spring or summer.

http://sustainablebusinessoregon.com...nd-police.html

[retdetsgt]

Yeah, I read about that in the paper here a few days ago. Why not? The downtown area in Portland is a b!tch to get around in and it looks more versatile than a bicycle.

[JustJoe]

That looks quite futuristic. I wonder how easy it is to maneuver such a device? It looks like it would be a bit hard to steer and keep balanced, but then again that could just be me!

[Joeyd6]

They had a demo of it on Discovery Channel or something where they showed it being used. Did a race with a guy on foot, guy on a mountain bike, guy on this and guy on a motorcyle. They had a "path and wanted to see who could handle the "path" the best. It included all different little obstacles including stairs and hairpin turns. This thing kicked everyonss rear. It beat the bicycles by gaining in the straight areas. It killed the motorcycle on the stairs and hairpin turns where the guy had to practically walk the bike through.

They were presenting for a military and law enforcement use more than Jobe Blow civilian.

Looked pretty good to me.