Many owners of Segway Personal Transporters (PTs) across New Zealand use them for mobility. If a person can stand, and step up the height of a standard stairwell step (~20cm) then they can almost certainly use a Segway PT for mobility.
Some such individuals use one or two walking sticks to walk around when not riding their Segway PT. This poses the issue of how to conveniently carry them with you.
Fortunately, this problem is easily solved!
Below we show you examples of how to fit clamps to your Segway PT's LeanSteer Frame into which walking sticks or crutches can simply be clicked into place.
Some crutches can be hung over the handlebar using the wrist supports, and they settle in place behind handlebar (with or without a front bag fitted), possibly further secured with a velcro strap. Here's a photo of Charlotte Allen getting around Rosehill College (Auckland) illustrating this method.
Read our full Case Study 'PT good for Cerebral Palsy' (backed with 'Cauda Equina Syndrome: Alan Maccini's Segway PT') to learn about how Charlotte benefited from using her Segway PT that was funded by Ministry of Eduction to help her overcome her difficulties getting between classrooms at school.
If a user finds this approach doesn't suit then it is very easy to add clamps to the LeanSteer Frame (LSF) that crutch(es) or a walking stick can clip into.
Suitable clamps include those used to hold garden tools such as rakes to the wall in a garden shed, or hold fishing rods to the side of a boat. These can be purchased from a hardware store or boating supplies shop. Simply rivet or screw them into the sides of the LSF.
One of our customers, a Kiwifruit grower from Bay of Plenty who uses his Segway PT to get around his orchard, attached two pairs of such clamps on either side of the LSF on his original Segway PT (which was funded by ACC). Here's what they look like.
Recently, after a decade of daily use, his original Segway PT reached the end of its useful life, and was no long economic to repair. ACC promptly funded a replacement, and we delivered his brand new Segway PT this week.
Our customer has also changed his crutches from a pair that had a cylindrical profile to a pair with an oval profile. For these to stay attached securely while riding around his orchard he needed a revised clamping design, and here are photos of what the new system looks like.
