David Martschinske and Steve Wozniak

I was really excited to meet Woz and yes, his player number is 3.14  If you line up the whole team (STeam) in a row they all spell out pi to the 16th number.  That gives you an idea of the kind of people I was running in to on a reglar basis at the Woz Cup 2011.  Speaking of meeting interesting people, a lot of you may know Smosh. Ian does a lot of YouTube video parodies and made a pretty interesting video of what he thought of the Segway Polo Cup 2011.

And before we start the SBU Polo league, I thought I’d give it a trial run.  I may have looked like a dingus out there but at least I had an awesome time playing polo with the Segs4Vets crew while on the SBU!

Self Balancing Unicycle Polo

If you’d like to see more images of our trip go here

Many of you SBU enthusiasts know who Trevor Blackwell is but you might not be aware of his most-recent endeavor, the Anybot (a personal robotic avatar).  As we traveled through California on our Left Coast Tour we had a chance to meet Trevor along with a few of the Anybot engineers and some people from the Y-Combinator (including Olark).  The whole crew was able to pick up the SBU fairly quickly and before long we were SBUing along the street with them at close to top speed – all while carrying the stedicam to our 5dmk2 for our daily vlog. It was really cool to meet and speak with a bunch of like-minded entrepreneurs and of course to see them lovin’ the SBU!

On Thursday, we went to a really cool company in Emeryville, CA and hung out with a ton of their employees. They had a huge indoor atrium and we were able to ride in there and train a lot of their employees. We also met up with one of our past customers and made plans for dinner. Woot Woot. It was awesome to re-connect with him.

Later we visited Segway of Oakland and had a bomb time with the workers and owner there. They were pretty laid back and all of em got on the SBU and gave it a shot. They definitely liked it and will probably also become an SBU dealer shortly. Woot!

For those of you who keep asking, we are finally accepting applications for dealers. Shoot an email to sales@focusdesigns.com to see if you qualify.

-N3rd H3rd OUT!

People picked up the SBU rather quickly and we loved watching them learn it in under 3 minutes.  It was especially awesome, however, to run into people that already knew who we were.

In preparation for the Woz Cup 2011 we met up with a whole other h3rd – a Segway n3rd h3rd. Rob Ross and the great people of the Folsom Breakout Segway Polo Club let Daniel and I rock out on some loaner Segways while playing Segway Polo with them. Rob and a few folks took us out for Mexican and we discussed the possibility of Focus Designs refereeing this year’s Segway Polo Cup 2011 (AKA: The Woz Cup).  Rob also told us that we’re going to actually meet The Woz (Steve Wozniak, Co-Founder of Apple) who sounds like a pretty laid back dude.  I’ve been told he likes pranks so I know I’m gunna try to greet Steve with a great DMart classic.

We knew we were in Eugene when  the fixie to road bike ratio exceeded 13:1 and half of main street was quarantined off for bicycles only.  After sifting through rows of bicycles we parked right outside of American Apparel and started ridin’ nerdy.  We met up with our buddy, Alan who took off on one of the SBU V2 demo units and began chattin’ it up.

Tomorrow we will be in downtown Sacramento (by the capital building) around noon giving demos and spreadin’ nerdiness like it’s goin’ out of style!  If you want to meet up with us go ahead and contact us:

360.3CYCLES (360-329-2537)
info@focusdesigns.com

We’ll also be stopping by some bicycle shops on an impromptu basis.

Feb 22nd – Sacramento, CA (We’ll be at the capital building around noon)
Feb 23rd, 24th – San Francisco, CA (Pixar, Google, Stanford)
Feb 25th – Santa Cruz, CA
Feb 26th – Los Angeles, CA
Feb 27th – Huntington Beach, CA

♫ “From Oakland to Sacktown, The Bay Area and back down, Cali is where they put they mack down, Give me love… California Love!”"♫

No, Focus Designs hasn’t turned gangsta’ (we’re a “n3rd h3rd” not a “gang”). We’re just planning our SBU Left Coast Tour dates. The SBU was born to be wild, and keeping it cooped up at the Focus Design’s HQ just seemed cruel and against everything we stand for. We’re doing the right thing and letting the caged bird loose.  You know what they say, “if you love it let it go”. We’re doing just that, and wer’e letting it “go” to you (for a test drive) – Hence, the SBU Left Coast Tour.

What is the Left Coast Tour?
Our plans include stops throughout Oregon and California to bike shops as well as a few other places to let you guys give the SBU a test spin. Aside from special stops at University of Oregon (go Ducks!), Stanford, Google, and Pixar, here’s where we plan to ride (so far) and hopefully meet a lot of you guys:

8.5″ x 11″ Posters

Here at Focus Designs, we are proud to announce the release of our much-anticipated and improved SBU V2.0.  Aside from a sleeker look, a safer ride, and more power – the new SBU V2.0 is much easier to learn and guaranteed to be an instant crowd-pleaser.

So what’s new?

Increased Torque:
A significant improvement comes in the SBU V2.0′s newly designed motor. Boasting 1000 Watts of power, hills will be handled with much more ease when compared to V1.0′s smaller 350 Watt motor.

More Battery Life:
With a more powerful motor comes a higher-capacity, 5 Amp-Hour 38.4V LifePO4 battery compared to the 4 Amp-Hour 32V LiFePO4 battery on V1.0.

Smoother Turning:
Additional sensors provide a smoother balance response when turning, requiring less effort and increasing comfort. There are now 3 gyro sensors monitoring pitch, roll, and yaw of the SBU V2.0.

More Comfortable Riding Position:
One of the major structural refinements in Version 2.0 is the lowering of the foot pegs. This modification has shown to give novice riders increased stability and greater ease during the learning process. Consequently, the learning time has significantly decreased and most people can ride the SBU V2.0 in just 20 minutes!

New Internal Hub Motor:
The most significant improvement is in our all-new redesigned motor – now more robust with greater visual and functional appeal.  This internal hub motor also conveniently houses all of the electronics, making for a much sleeker look.  The old SBU V1.0 external motor, chain, chain guard and sprocket have all been single-handedly replaced!

No maintenance:
What can be better than this?! The sealed brushless motor never needs to be worked on or adjusted.  Version 1.0 required occasional chain tightening and possible motor brush replacement.

Regenerative Braking:
The more-efficient regenerative braking feature recaptures energy when the rider goes downhill or stops.

Most parts built locally:
The SBU V2.0 moved two more vendors to local companies which mean less money spent overseas and wasted on shipping!

Get your SBU 2.0 Today

Orders begin today and will ship this November on a first-ordered first-shipped basis.

SBU Version 2.0 Brick Wall

Daniel SBU'ing while Cindy is Running

SBU V2.0 at Portland Waterfront

SBU V2.0 at Portland Waterfront at Night

Click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdhw-MnbbHA to watch it in HD, rate the video and comment on it.

You’ve probably seen Honda’s new U3-X “segway unicycle” all over the internet and compared it to the SBU…well here is my take on it:

The U3-X is cool, I like it a lot and wouldn’t mind having one (for free, Honda want me to test it?). But there are some drawbacks compared to the SBU (what? I’m not biased at all). For example, it only goes 3.7MPH, that’s 1/3 the speed of an SBU. It has a third the range at only 3.7 miles, the SBU goes 10 miles on a charge. It appears to have a very small ground contact and would not fair well with minor defects in the road surface.  The U3-X appears pretty fragile compared to the SBU which has front/rear bumpers and scuff guards.  They weigh about the same. Also, the SBU is in production, available now for only $1499. I can almost guarantee the U3-X won’t sell for less than $1500. Okay, okay, I’ll concede one point to the U3-X, they used much prettier models in their photos. See, I’m not biased.

The Interbike show was amazing. Our booth was about 20 feet away from the demo area, which was pretty surreal with a constant flow of crazy new contraptions, bikes, scooters and SBUs of course.

We always had two SBUs in the demo area ready for people to test out, and did they ever. We trained 100+ new SBU riders while at the show. Being a bike expo, most people had good balance which meant that new riders were learning the SBU in about 10 minutes. It was definitely the hit of the demo area, said the demo area coordinator. We were the only exhibitor that had a line of riders waiting to ride. The SBU is something that you really have to test ride to understand and appreciate, and it was great to have a space for bike shop buyers/owners and the media to take it for a spin and really kick the tire. It was also a great testament to the durability of the SBU. People were pretty hard on the SBUs, crashing them into other bikes, dropping them and trying new tricks. We didn’t have a single issue with any of the SBUs.

While in Vegas three of us took the SBUs out on the strip and got quite a bit of attention. People were stopping us asking where they could rent them and how they worked. It also demonstrated how well the SBUs work in large crowds, we felt confident riding between people knowing that we could stop on a dime by putting our feet down and wouldn’t run over their ankles because the SBU tire is safely between our legs. An SBU rider basically has the same footprint as a pedestrian. Also they were a breeze to carry up stairs or take on elevators and escalators. Overall the Interbike show was a great experience. We got our name out there and showed everyone that the SBU is a legitimate product that is fun, useful and durable. And the orders are already starting to come in. Thanks to David Martschinske and Alan Ecoff for helping make it happen; and everyone else with thier encouraging words and willingness to try the SBU.