Two-wheeled tourism

Heads turn when Reno Fun Tours files past seven strong, standing on Segways, two-wheeled motorized transports.

The machines initially saved steps for employees at vast warehouses and for security patrols at sprawling malls. But the contraptions also provide a fun ride for the tourist trade.

Reno Fun Tours owner Cinda Heron got the business idea last fall while visiting San Antonio, Texas, where Segway tours are in vogue.

"I decided Reno would be a perfect town for tours," she says, and so she took another tour in Austin, Texas, just to get a better handle on how it's done.

Back in Reno, Heron began due diligence. "I discovered they're allowed anyplace that's wheelchair accessible," she says. She leased eight machines for about $1,200 a month and placed an ad for tour guides on Craigslist.

"I got 28 responses the first day," she says, and hired two part-time employees.

"We look for outgoing people," she says. "And problem solvers. If they're on a tour and something goes wrong for instance if it starts to rain they must be able to shift gears."

When the summer tourist season rolled into Reno, Heron was ready to roll with a mini-fleet of the machines.

She and business partner Walter McMath both have day jobs, but guide on weekends. Reno Fun Tours runs three trips a day on weekends, two on weekdays.

The tour covers a 7.5-mile route in 2.5 hours. The itinerary includes Nevada Museum of Art, Wingfield Park, Idlewild Park, and such famous Reno culinary landmarks as the Awful Awful Burger and Peg's Glorified Ham 'n Eggs.

While the machines can go 12 miles per hour, tours begin with a half-hour training session before taking off in turtle mode, 6 miles per hour, until the riders grow proficient. Tours top out at six people, who stand single file behind their guide.

Each tourist pays $65, and ponies up a $250 damage deposit. Already, says Heron, one man opted to take off solo, but fell off his machine.

The concept appeals equally to locals and tourists, she says. But while the visitors tend to be a younger set: 20- and 30-somethings, among the locals nearly half are retirees.

And on tour, says Heron, "Even the locals say, 'Gosh, I didn't know that!'"

Heron, who holds a teaching credential, educated herself on Reno history, buying old books from Dharma bookstore and collecting pamphlets such as one on the divorce trade in Reno from tourism

agencies.

She also did her marketing homework. Starting mid-winter, she chatted up the concierge crowd at area hotels and forged a working relationship with Silver Legacy Hotel and Casino, which allows tours to launch from its Adventure Desk.

"From the beginning, the Silver Legacy was supportive," says Heron. The hotel puts promotional rack cards in rooms. Reno Fun Tours ads appear in tourist booklets stocked at the four large downtown hotel properties. Silver Legacy even equipped a room outfitted with electrical connections to recharge the Segways' batteries.

"But the most successful marketing tool is just being out on the tour," says Heron. "When we're out, our customers are pulling for us, calling

out, 'You've got to do this, it's so much fun!'"

And when the tour rolls past and people call out questions, she simply hands out pamphlets along the way.

"I can't stop to answer questions," she says.

However, starting the business hasn't been entirely a joy ride. Getting a Reno business license took a long six weeks. And because there's no local authorized Segway dealer, she must haul the machines to a

Sacramento dealer for repair.

And marketing remains a constant chore. "We must stay on top of marketing daily because people don't even know about it until they get here," she says despite a link on the Silver Legacy Web site and information at renofuntours.com.

When autumn ends and icy weather grips Reno, Heron plans to put the venture into hibernation.