Segway Riders Get High on Mount Washington

TacticalJack writes "Rob Owen, a retired clown, and two other riders surged up Mount Washington at 12.5 mph, the AP reports. It took the Segway riders two and half hours to complete the 7.6 mile endurance test. The team used six batteries, fought off 50 mph winds and battled bitter cold to reach the 6,288-foot mountain summit. All of which begs the question, why not buy a motorbike?"

Comments

*gasps*

[Exiler]

He asked why. On a segway article. I'm at a loss for words.

What happened to the standard geek, 'How?'

Re:*gasps*

[bersl2]

All of which begs the question, why not buy a motorbike?

Remember, this is the same crowd that will build antennae out of Pringles cans and will try to put Linux on every conceivable device with a microprocessor. We're geeks; it's because we can, and we'll do it with geek style while we're at it.

Re:*gasps*

[CurlyG]

Well yeah, it's a cute toy, but the Segway just seems like such a pointless, expensive, inefficient and above all inelegant solution to something that wasn't a problem in the first place... to me that makes it profoundly un-geeky.

Re:*gasps*

[euxneks]

Yes, to you or I, walking is no big problem. But we're not talking about the _average_ computer user geek here are we? =P

Imagine a huge guy who stays on his computer for days on end.. Or even the malnourished walking stick variety. Is he going to want to actually walk around when he can get some computerized device to do it for him?

I didn't think so either. =D

Re:*gasps*

[MegaFur]

Actually, I think segways do have a point or a certain niche in which they would be useful. Unfortunately for the manufacturers, this niche is way too small to support a product so expensive. (I don't think they'd be very good for mountain trails)

I mean, sure it would be nice to take the car down to the downtown area, find a parking space *somewhere*, then just segway around to wherever you need to be, but... problems:

1) Almost no one has a segway so there aren't any special parking accomodations set up for them for when you get where you wanted to be.

2) Segways cost over $1000. That's waaay too much for something that will be used so little. Also, since it is so expensive, you don't dare let anything happen to it. Safest place for it is in the closet, actually...

IIRC, the guy that made segway tried to set up a sort of "master plan" (like get it guarenteed street legal everywhere, get a number of business organizations with $$$ to be early adopters, build up a lot of hype before revealing the device, etc) but the plan backfired in various ways. One example: I don't think he ever intended for the IT campaign to go nearly as far as it did. The resulting disillusionment hurt badly: "Oh..." (long pause) "So it's a... it's a scooter..."

Re:*gasps*

[Anonymous Coward]

The average speed of a car in a major city is 6 mph.

Care to site that? At any rate, segways are designed for sidewalk use. People walk on sidewalks. Crowded cities have crowdes sidewalks (New York as an example). People are slow. Whole hell of a lot of good that does there, huh.

If anything, I'd take a lesson from big city messengers: use a mountian bike. It's bunches smaller, can go between cars to get around the trafic, and is pretty much acceptible to use on sidewalks. It uses your own power (get in shape at the same time), is pretty light, etc etc.

Segways are, as another poster so aptly pointed out, a poor solution to a problem that dosen't exist.

Re:*gasps*

[MegaFur]

(I'm agreeing with you)

If anything, I'd take a lesson from big city messengers: use a mountian bike.

Mountain bikes are also much cheaper. :-) Or, you could use a conventional "non magic" scooter--although they can get tiring rather quickly. Yeah, go with the mountain bike.

Re:*gasps*

[Golias]

The average speed of a car in a major city is 6 mph. A segay can do 10 - 12, at least.

The "average" speed of cars driving on downtown roads during rush hour includes stopping for traffic lights and slowing for congestion... both of which a Segway would need to do on a crowded urban sidewalk (assuming the city even lets them on the sidewalk, instead of on the street with the bicycles where they belong.)

In other words, you just compared the Segway's top potential speed to the real-world speed of cars in traffic. A completely invalid comparison. A Segway in the city during rush hour will go at almost exactly the same speed as the cars... and on a cold Minnesota day, with sleet pounding down on you, that would be completely intolerable.

Not to mention the fact that most cars are out of downtown traffic and flying down the interstate highway in a matter of blocks, at least in the Twin Cities area. A Segway might get me from the Metrodome to the Target Center in 10 minutes, but can it get me out to Lakeville (a distant suburb) in under 45? Obviously not.

Take notes, inventors who wish to change the world. No personal vehicle will ever replace the car for daily commutes in the US unless it offers the following:

1. A comfortable enclosed cab to protect from the elements.
2. A top speed that at least approaches one mile per minute, and do so reasonably safely and under control.
3. Enough passenger space for a mother of two to drop her kids off at day care on the way to the office.
4. Luggage space allowing enough room for a laptop case, a gym bag, maintenance parts for the vehicle (just like cars almost always have a spare tire, a jack, and jumper cables in the trunk).
5. A convenient way to keep it powered on demand - extended downtime to recharge batteries is not acceptable.

Until the "Segway 2.0" or whatever meets all five of those points, anybody who wants to buy it would need to own both that, and a car... which means that it will remain nothing more than a toy for yuppies.

Re:*gasps*

[tiled_rainbows]

The average speed of a car in a major city is 6 mph.

Wrong. Not often I get to argue from a professional standpoint on /. but IAATPT (I Am A Traffic Planning Technician) in London and I know for a fact the average speed of vehicular traffic in this unusually congested city is a speedy 9 mph. Sure, that's 1 mph less than what it was when we were all using horses and carts, but it's still more than you're claiming, and enough that I would guess that a Segway with a top speed of 12 mph would not be able to get an average speed, in terms of a complete door-to-door urban journey, much faster than the average - the ability to weave through traffic etc would be outweighed by the short stretches of open road you get, even in rush hour, where everyone else accellerates to 30 - 40 mph.

Never thought my transport-geekery would ever come in handy. Just don't get me started on buses...

Answer?

[sokk]

"All of which begs the question, why not buy a motorbike?" Because then they wouldn't have hit the press.

I was thinking more like...

[hangareighteen]

It begs the question: Why mention that he's a retired clown?

Re:I was thinking more like...

[secolactico]

Because only a clown would ride the segway without being snickered at.

Would he have done better time in a monocycle? Or a tiny VW with other twenty seven clowns? Now *those* questions should be answered!

Note: I like clowns. A great deal better than I like mimes, at least.

When I was a kid...

[hypermike]

I had to ride my segway to school uphill in the snow without TIRES! gosh darn young wippersnappers - no respect at all!

Begging the question

[LadyLucky]

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Re:Begging the question

[Dr. Evil]

Oh the irony.

Re:Begging the question

[miu]

"Begs the question"

The only person I've ever seen use the term correctly was Darl McBride, and he used it to say the kind of silly crap he always says.

12.5MPH, 7.6 Miles, 2.5 hours?

[colnago]

huh? Somebody school me please.

Re:12.5MPH, 7.6 Miles, 2.5 hours?

[localghost]

7.6 miles at 12.5 MPH would take ~37 minutes. Are you suggesting they spent 4 times as much time lunching, resting, pissing, and falling over as they did riding?

And another thing, what would they possibly need rest from? All that strenuous leaning forward?

6 batteries?

[Anonymous Coward]

hrrrm. i wonder if they had to carry their batteries... because, we _all_ have 6 specialty batteries lying around just incase the first 5 die.

Another example of...

[Arae]

... People with too much money AND time.

Six batteries?

[msobkow]

Wouldn't carrying six battery packs on a Segway be even more absurd than as trying to carry a couple five-gallon gas cans on a motorcycle?

What's next -- a shoebox on rollerblades as a "trailer"?

Re:Six batteries?

[r00zky]

The difference being that the Segway eats 6 battery packs in 7.6mi and the motorcycle can walk that with the gas inside a Zippo.
Segway: useless tech for senseless people.

Re:Six batteries?

[tessaiga]

Also, at some point, wouldn't the increased capacity of carrying more and more big heavy batteries be offset by the fact that you need more power to haul all that weight uphill?

I suspect that they had someone/thing else pacing them carrying the extras.

Re:Hah

[Exiler]

For how much they cost they should make pancakes, serve them to you in bed, have an included coffee maker, come with several gigs of mad lesbian pr0n, and have a small kitchen sink in-dash

Simple Math

[saider]

7.6 mi / 2.5 hr = 3.04 mi/hr.

The way the article is written, they make it sound like it breezed up the mountian.

Still, 3 miles per hour is a pretty brisk pace for mountian climbing.

Astroturf?

[SunPin]

Any chance that this was engineered by a marketing firm? Will we see it in Mountain Dew commercials?

Segway hacking?

[RajivSLK]

If a segway can go 12.5mph up a 12-18% grade then it must have enough power to go considerably faster that it's advertised 12.5 mph top speed on flat ground.

How long until people start hacking their segways to achieve maximum speed?

Re:Segway hacking?

[KiwiEngineer]

You could always take the simple road and get yourself the "go-faster" speed stripes favoured by drivers of preludes, or alternately paint it red, because red cars go faster.

Geeks, already used to chipping their playstations will take with glee to the project of modding segways for speed.
Wait for the segway case mods to come into vogue at lan parties

Re:Motorized

[damiam]

Nope, sorry, it's a road. Never been to Mt. Washington, have you?

Short grammar lesson

[meowsqueak]

There is a time when one may be pedantic and in some cases it can be quite interesting:

What 'begs the question' really means [worksafe].

You can mod me 'flamebait' or 'troll' if you like but consider this - I'm just trying to enhance and improve your grammar-life, with no money down!

It is amazing.

[pr0ntab]

It is amazing how difficult it is to form an intelligent response to this article.

I can understand slashdot's collective interest in all things Segway, but I think at this point there's probably nothing more that can be said about the subject.

I see this as a parallel to a prophetic article in which the Hurd is used to power the next Furby, thus sounding the death knell for both technologies.

Furby = nearly dead retired clown, and Segway = The Hurd, in case you didn't get my analogy.

It's an interesting technology looking for a market that doesn't exist. People in densely packed cities are doing just fine with inexpensive bikes. Americans like their cars. The Segway is the butt of a lot of unfunny jokes, and publicity stunts like this.

I predict that someone below this post will undoubtedly compare this to George Bush's run-in with the Segway, claiming he is less intelligent than a clown, and less fit to run the country.

Go at it slashdot. You'll only find +1 Funny posts here.

Segway Riders Get High on Mount Washington

[Lord_Dweomer]

"Segway Riders Get High on Mount Washington"

Personally, I think a slightly more literal interpretation of this headline would be a lot more hilarious/interesting than the real story.

Stoned Segway Rider: "Whoah man....like, I lean and it moves and I don't fall over.....I wish I could do that on my own....."

New Segway target

[TACD]

Hey, if they're not going to redesign cities around the Segway, maybe now they'll redesign mountains around them...

What did they do all that time?

[ttyp0]

Is anyone else confused by the fact that it took them 2 1/2 hours to go 7.6 miles at a speed of 12.5 mph? With those numbers it works out to be 36 minutes... okay, i'm a dork.

Anti SCO T-Shirts donates to the Open Source Now Fund.

Dotcom Era Fads...

[B747SP]

Oh yeah, Segway, that's the other now dead fad that was missing from yesterday's Dotcom Era Fads story on Slashdot :-)

Meanwhile ...

[DogIsMyCoprocessor]

the fastest time running up Mount Washington is 58 minutes 20 1/2 seconds -

Mount Washington Records

The only thing more pathetic than a clown is a clown riding up Mount Washington on a Segway.

[OT] Short linguistics lesson

[achurch]

As any linguist will tell you, language changes. The dictionary is not the final word (so to speak) on word usage; real live speakers are. If the vast majority of current writers and editors say that "begs the question" means "provokes us to ask", then it does, no matter what some huffy dictionary author may try to convince you.

Re:[OT] Short linguistics lesson

[jpatters]

There are some things in language that evolve in the way you describe, but using "begs the question" incorrectly just sticks out like a glaring billboard that says "I am an ignorant boob."

In any case, how much harder is it to use the phrase "raises the question"?

...like a fetishist on his way to the sex dungeon.

[Jeff DeMaagd]

I wonder if they were trying to harken to the roots of the US interstate system (although I think Germany's Autobahn predates it).

I recall a small expedition done by the military to show that an truck caravan can be used to cross the continent. Everyone thought it was stupid because, well, anyone who is anyone carried their freight by rail. Eventually some people realized that the interstate highway system could be used.

But, even in light of this, I would rather hike all the way up that mountain than ride one of those dorkmobiles.

Here is a fun article:
http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20 030810-081 911-2985r.htm

I quote:
"Anybody who rides around on a Segway is a mewling pantywaist passive-aggressive dork with arrested-development issues who probably saves his e-mail in tidy little folders organized with happy-face icons.

I already feel better."

and:

"One thing that makes me very very happy about the current political debate is that most lawmakers agree that Segways should require a helmet. Since an actual motorcycle helmet would conflict with the eco-friendly coolness of the Segway experience, they're tending toward some kind of modified bicycle helmet that looks like one of those strap-on leather jobbies worn by the Fighting Horsemen of Notre Dame. Put a computer programmer in a tieless linen suit on a Segway with a leather football helmet on his head, and he looks like a fetishist on his way to the sex dungeon."

Not the question I had in mind...

[Guppy06]

"All of which begs the question, why not buy a motorbike?"

No, it begs the question "What the heck is this doing on the front page?" I can see how the Segway was at one point an interesting piece of technology when it first came out, but that was a long time ago. It's less "technology" and more "silly fad." I would sooner expect an article about who is going to win such-and-such "reality TV" show than this on Slashdot. What next, world's larget pet rock collection?

Heck, if anything the Segway is a shining example on exactly why the bottom fell out of the 90's IT economy. And the fact that mention of it still makes headlines in Slashdot demonstrates that people in the 21st century are still just as gullible and short-sighted as they were ten years ago.

Mt. Washington Auto Race(hillclimb)

[SuperBanana]

Slightly off topic, but this might be of interest to readers tonight, so what the hell!

This reminded me of the Mt. Washington Auto Road Race. To be a little more on-topic, one year they had a Geo Metro electric car 'do' the race- it looked really funny, because both driver and 'navigator' were required to wear helmets since it was a sanctioned race. Unlike some of the 600hp cars, the starter didn't exactly have to jump out of the way with them).

The hillclimb is the US's oldest motorsport event, believe it or not- however, it's also one of the most troubling. Despite attracting a healthy crowd every year, Audi pulled sponsorship after Frank Sprongl(driving an Audi S2 rally car) stopped winning, despite numerous VW and Audi entries.

The final straw for Audi, sponsorship-wise, was most likely the guy in the Legend car(motorcycle engine, 4 wheels, micro-sized chassis) who went off, clipped a rock, and was pulled from his car by a 16 year old cornerworker, right before the car burst into flames from a severed fuel line(the engine compartment was severed from the car by the rock). Long ago Audi had stopped their factory rally teams after a slew of deaths in the Group B category in various rallies; Piesch, now head of Volkswagon Audi Grouppe, declared at the time that he "never wanted to see rings stamped on a spectator's chest". Audi of America management were probably sneaking the Mt. Washington race under the radar of the parent company, but all that changed with the big crash(the kid even got a medal from the Governor).

Another factor is that Audi now considers rallying a been-there-done-that(Audi dominated rallying in the early 80's with the first Quattro Coupes and Sport Quattros), no-longer-cool kinda deal; their customer base just doesn't care, or so they think; guys who drive A8's don't like hanging out in the rain watching cars go by throwing rocks into their faces; they like sitting in a hospitality tent in cool comfort. So that's why Audi threw themselves into LeMans and ALMS(American LeMans Series), along with the Speedvision(er, SPEED Channel) SpeedGT(S4's, last year) and ProGT(RS6's, this year) races.

Mt. Washington management has given a variety of excuses for not continuing the race; first it was Audi, because they couldn't find another sponsor(rumor was they were looking for 1 million- an ABSURD amount of sponsorship money; it may be the oldest motorsports events, but it's also one of the lowest profile). Then it was because the road needed resurfacing(although honestly, having driven it myself three times as well, it WAS getting really bad). Then it was because the lodge, which had absolutely nothing to do with the race, burned to the ground and was 'behind schedule' on being rebuilt, or some such nonsense.

There are rumors going around that the race will continue next year. The local region of the Audi Club of America might attend(as it has for many, many years- we were the yahoos with all the Audis parked to the left of the starting area). Depending upon how solid the Audi+VW marques are represented, I'll be there- our little sub-event is a great family affair and I've always enjoyed myself; it's pretty gosh darn cheap, and getting there and back is half the fun(there are some GREAT roads in the area). Spectators can do whatever floats their boat- you can go up to any of several points on the mountain via van to watch the races(warning- you're limited as to when you can get back down!), you can hike the mountain(not for the inexperienced), you can watch from the start line and see trap speeds etc...and you can also watch from a nice point that's just a few minute's hike and gives you about 20 second's view per car.

The basic idea, if you're wondering, is simply to get up the mountain as absolutely fast as possible. Frank Sprongl was a regular winner, but his S2 is no longer competitive against some of the cars that started showing up- Jerry Driscoll(sp?) kept building meaner+meaner purpose-built tube-frame cars with insane engines in 'em until he started winning, despite not having all wheel drive(which is a MAJOR advantage, to the point that it's a seperate class in any sanctioned rally).

Why? Ya ain't from around here, are ya?

[babbage]

Segway / DEKA Research is a New Hampshire company.

Mount Washington is the highest point in New Hampshire (or New England for that matter, but not -- as is commonly believed around here -- the highest point on the US east coast: that title goes to North Carolina's Mount Mitchell).

As a popular landmark & attraction, Mount Washington has great appeal in New England. The "This car climbed Mt. Washington!" bumper stickers are ubiquitous, and driving up the mountain's wind-swept road in the family minivan or station wagon has been a rite of passage for generations of New Englanders.

That is why they had to drive Segways up the mountain. This is a New England transportation invention, but that just wouldn't be complete without the obligatory drive up Mount Washington.

The real question is whether or not the Segways they took up the mountain have any space for the bumper sticker :-)

I don't know about you

[appleLaserWriter]

I want mine lowered first.

Is Slashdot getting paid for these Segway articles

[Jagasian]

Is Slashdot getting paid for these Segway articles? I mean, really, this was the most overhyped toy EVER! Not only that, but Slashdot has been guitly of posting blatent plugs for this overpriced scooter. Astroturfing if lame. Slashdot backed asrtoturf is even worse.

Saw a Segway for the first time today...

[berniecase]

It was actually quite intriguing to see it in person. This old guy was crossing the street in Seattle's Wallingford neighborhood. My friend commented "is that legal?"

The old guy made it across the street in a jiffy and was a block and a half away by the time the light turned green. From the looks, if an older person can master a Segway, then they shouldn't have as big a need for a car, particularly in urban areas. Perhaps it'd be safer for them to have a Segway (so long as they're not falling off it and breaking a hip)?

Guerrilla marketing

[MillionthMonkey]

It is amazing how difficult it is to form an intelligent response to this article.

Well what can you say about it? If this were merely a case of entertainment posing as a news story, that would be one thing. But this is advertising, pretending to be entertainment posing as a news story. It's not even infotainment, it's advertainment.

So far all the Segway stories I've seen on Slashdot (aside from the San Francisco sidewalk controversy) have had the character of guerrilla marketing. "Hey, we got to play with a Segway for a week, here are some movies of us having fun with it!" Other products appear on Slashdot this way, but usually only when their users have made strange or noteworthy modifications that the designers never intended. Like creating a case for it made of Legos, or incorporating it as a part in a rail gun, or running a free operating system on it.

This thing has been on the market for years now. At this point we should only be seeing Segway stories when people do similar things to Segways. If someone modified a Segway by installing a feeding tube, so that the rider could suck a high calorie substance like gravy through the tube while simultaneously avoiding exercise, that would be a cool Segway story. Another newsworthy modification might be converting the Segway from electric to diesel. Using the product normally, in the manner that was intended by the manufacturer, is simply not worth our attention. (Dressing up like a butler while you do it is cute, but hardly changes this.)

I think stories that are essentially guerrilla marketing, or that are about guerrilla marketing, should have their own icon. I'm picturing a gorilla on a Segway.

walking machines, and the people who need them

[SolemnDragon]

These are machines that can provide a small amount of fun and ease for most people, and a LOT of extra function and ease for a small segment of the population. For most, a hike up a mountain is a lot of good exercise. For me, it's impossible. So my two cents says that field tests like this are incredibly important to people in that minority. Like me. I watch for stuff like this.

I have a wheelchair. I can walk just fine- for distances of a mile and a half or less. Any more and my joints can't take it, the inflammation gets too bad and i'm out of commission. So i can get through my workday, but i have the wheelchair for group adventures where it's more fun if i can keep up. Great for museums, but more difficult outside, especially on hills. My arms aren't any better than my legs, so it needs to be pushed, rather than wheeled by me. It works out great, we all take turns, and while i can't push anyone in it, everybody gets a chance to ride and that way i can walk for a little of it and still be part of the adventure. For them it's novel and fun; for me, it's my chance to take part in these excursions. Without it, i'd miss out on a lot.

A segway would be a great thing to have, but before i spend that kind of money on it, i need to know how it does in real-world operation, with real-world surroundings like dirt and tree branches and so on. So i watch for things like this. It's not a wheelchair and it's not a walker and it's not a little red wagon to be pulled in- it's a scooter that you don't have to propel on your own. Believe me, the energy it saves will be put to use elsewhere. I would love to be able to keep up on a hike!!!

Re:walking machines, and the people who need them

[Jah-Wren Ryel]

Forget the segway, get yourself an ibot. The ibot is what Kamen was really working on and the segway was just a an offshoot. Since the FDA finally approved the device, it should soon be commercially available. Convince your health insurance or medicare or your rich uncle that you need one and you'll be ten times the geek a segway would make you.

Re:walking machines, and the people who need them

[SunPin]

uh... probably to just get on with his life. We all make choices. If he hadn't dealt with his condition in comparison to what he wants out of life, I'm sure he'd still be trying to use a cane or a walker. I was in a similar quandary 10 years ago. Flat out exhaustion would win many points in the "poster child" category but gain nothing in every other aspect of life.

Re:Use a bike, it's faster

[CottonEyedJoe]

Considering Tom Danielson, one of the best climbers in the world took 49 minutes last time around... "About an hour" makes you a very fit cyclist. The average chainsmoking cheeto eating nerd would probably have a coronary after a few hundred meters. At any rate... 2.5 hours is very generous for the average person.

simple solution to math problem

[meekg]

they were 3 people.
their combined speed was 12.5 MPH.
Hence about 4.2MPH each.

2.5 hours, but at least 5*10=50 minutes changing batteries, so 1.6 hours

so 4.2MPH * 1.6Hrs = 6.7 miles.

So why 7.6 miles? someone switched the digits!

Solution looking for a problem

[Siergen]

I think that the Segway has some interesting technology, but I also think that it is still "a solution looking for a problem". For the same weight in batteries, a simple foldable inline scooter could go much further at lower cost. The extra energy expenditure for balance gyros /motors is simply not needed to move ordinary people around on level surfaces...

Linux port for segway

[lars_boegild_thomsen]

Speaking of this - anybody working on porting Linux to the segway? Would enable all kinds of neat stuff - like wireless networking, built-in VoIP soft phone and IM client.

correction...can't increase maximum speed that way

[GlenRaphael]

A little more web research finds that one can increase rotational responsiveness a bit by changing the key coding, but apparently the Segway ignores forward speed settings above the maximum allowable value. So you can set the speed value to "FF" if you want - and some have tried it, but you still get the same 12.5 as the next guy.

$5,000...

[DavittJPotter]

Wow. For $5,000 you could buy:

38 pairs of fairly nice (~$130) hiking boots

a decent used car and the tank of gas

Or.......

A nice used motorcycle that can go way faster than 12.5 mph!

Nope, don't know the guy, just getting an example... :)

Coming soon..

[Channard]

The world's first Segway tractor pull. Possibly. Though I can't help but feel that any Segway could be decimated by even the weediest competitor off Robot Wars.

Re:6288 feet.. whoopidedodah

[zakezuke]

What you call foothills the people on the east cost call mountains. I noticed this perspective diffrence between the east and west cost a long time ago. Not that the east cost doesn't have a mountain range, they are NOT the Rockies.

But hey, since you live in a place with much more in the way of impressive peaks, why don't *you* get your own segway and test to see how well it works in your enviroment.

They did it because....

[vudufixit]

.... "it's there?"

You forgot number 6

[twoslice]

6. It is something chicks dig and you actually have a slight chance of getting some action if you own one.

Why not buy a bike??????

[pestel]

The Segway could not have been going 12 mph when it took over 2 1/2 hours to get to the top all told!!!! See this article.

The current human bicycle record up Mt. Washington is 49 minutes and change. Yes this is a professional cyclist, but the majority of people who get into the one day ride to the top make it in under 2 hours.

So your questions should not be, "Why not buy a motorbike?", but why not just buy a bike?!?!?!?!?!? It's cheaper, less maintenance cost, and with a set of panniers can make your weekly run to the store/work/play.