On Fri, 09 May 2008 11:43:24 -0600, Werehatrack
<rault00@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>On Wed, 07 May 2008 13:20:09 -0600, carlfogel@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
may have
>said:
>
>>No-seat segway-style police tricycles?
>> http://www.veoh.com/videos/v8733726p68KcyTj&source=embedVideo
>>
>>What's the advantage (real or imagined) of these odd beasts?
>
>Stable with the power off, unlike a Segway.
>No dismount delay (no need to swing a leg over) unlike a bicycle.
>No fitness issue, unlike a bicycle.
>No sweaty officers to offend the sensibilities of the easily annoyed.
>Probably very maneuverable.
>
>I get the feeling that this was shot in France. If so, what reason
>would they truly need other than "They're French, therefore we will
>use them!"
>
>Had this been in a US city, I would cynically posit that the most
>crucial benefits were twofold; first, a well-connected individual or
>company made a tidy profit selling the vehicles to the police
>department to begin with, and a second sale will be made later of
>something else to replace them, possibly by the same well-connected
>seller, when these prove to be less useful than anticipated.
Dear Werehatrack,
The tricycle segways do look a bit French, as Wodehouse sometimes
remarked.
But (alas for Francophobes!) the video was shot by James Lileks in
Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota:
"Today I went downtown to shoot photos for buzz.mn – mostly to see
what it was like on the first good warm spring day in the city. It was
as I expected: some office workers walking around, some people waiting
for a bus, a smattering of bummage, and cops on their spiffy new
patrol trikes."
http://www.lileks.com/bleats/archive/08/0508/050708.html
I do like your points about stability when parked, no
leg-over-top-tube, no fitness needed, and maneuverability.
Maybe I'd understand the attraction better if I had to carry all the
stuff that cops hang on their belts and stuff a kevlar vest under my
****rt.
Cheers,
Carl Fogel
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