Cape Town - It’s a lovely day for a peaceful stroll along the promenade. A slight breeze moves the leaves of the palm trees along the Milnerton lagoon bank and the sun warms a wintry Cape Town.
Temperatures are on the low side, but who cares. The prettiest city in the world is nestled against its famous mountain in the sunlight, the sky is blue and the water laps calmingly against the bank.
Then, David D’Aguiar appears along the cycle path. He’s moving along at a relaxed walking pace, but something’s wrong. His feet aren’t moving, his legs are still.
It looks as if science fiction has become science fact and the future has arrived in one huge leap to change human mobility forever.
Well, maybe that’s overstating matters a bit, but an enthusiastic response to a machine that will ease the effort of mall-ratting for ever-ageing limbs should be understandable.
It’s simply some rather complex technology, now packaged within reach of the middle class; D’Aguiar has begun to import the Flyboy.
“A while ago, my family and I experienced the already well-known Segway, that two-wheeled transporter with the high handle bars, and we absolutely loved it,” D’Aguiar said. “That‘s the bigger machine often used by security guards who have to cover lots of distance on their patrols in places like malls.
“It was fantastic. But it is expensive. A Segway now sells for R85 000 and that alone makes it too expensive for the average person.
“So I did some research and I found the Flyboy. It’s designed in the United States and made entirely in China and it works a treat.”
According to the official description, the Flyboy is a self-balancing, battery powered electric vehicle suitable for low-speed personal transportation.
TILT AND GO
The Flyboy does not have a handle bar and is more like a skateboard, except that it has only two wheels, next to each other with the foot platform in between.
To get on the Flyboy is a bit tricky - you have to step on it with both feet in quick succession, because it moves immediately in relation to the tilt of its deck. Tip forward and it will move forward. Tip backward and you will reverse.
How do you turn? With the Segway, the rider leans to the side towards which he wants to turn. The Flyboy, however, turns when you tilt your one foot forward and the other backwards, in the direction of the foot tilting backwards.
It is possible to do this because of the clever design - the machine has a swivel point in the centre.
The machine has a neatly moulded body and is available in a range of colours, some very bright.
D’Aguiar is not yet marketing his imports through retailers. Instead, he involves resellers all over the country.
“Just get on one of these around town and see how people stop you to ask about it,” he said.
“In the Far East it is very popular with commuters who use it to cover the so-called ‘last mile’ of their daily journeys to work or home. When they get off the bus or train, they get on their Flyboys and cover the last distance to where they want to go.”
D’Aguiar said the 10kg Flyboy has been governed to go no faster than 10km/h and that it could cover as much as 18km on a single charge with a device similar to that of a cellphone.
But it is not a toy. With the lithium ion battery technology, several miniature gyroscopes and rare earth magnets in the electric motors, the Flyboy will set you back around R8500.
D’Aguiar is also testing a larger prototype for more robust work that has larger wheels and will cost more.
Cape Argus