Wheel Chair tires

[Kathy Shaw]

My husband has a regular push type wheel chair. I am looking for some kind of tires that will allow us to go in rougher terrain. For instance, yesterday we went out for breakfast. There is a lake with a nice path around it. I started to push him around it, nice on the paved part, the wooden walk way, then we hit the gravel. I couldn't go any further with him.

Are there wheels that we could add to his regular chair that would help with this?

[Burgerman]

Not really.

The whole point of hard thin tyres, and small thin caster wheels is to give someone in a manual chair an easy to push and manoever chair. There are things like beach chairs that use much fatter tyres for more floatation but they are worse and harder to push the rest of the time.

I suggest looking at outdoor powerchairs.

[Step]

Well...
There are some things you can get to make it better on bad roads...
There's add-ons that make your chair a trike with a large frontwheel like this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2u-T4Oc4_M
I've tested it in my pre-powerchair days... I refer to that period as my ignorance era
They do work. Add a couple of wider rearwheel rims with mountainbike wheels and the chair gets better on very mild offroad.
Gravel, the beach, sloping forest paths... they'll always be a challenge for your stamina and his shoulder cuffs.

A handbike might help too.
Good workout and easier to keep up without killing your arms.
This one's got power assist:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9O8S7_JRDo&feature=related

They have it all here:http://bike-on.com/

Remember to take your valium before reading the prices on mobility products

[Step]

forgot these: http://www.roughroller.com/
look a bit odd but they might work.

[Fulliautomatix]

A set of 2.5" mountain bike tyres and one of these;
http://www.gofreewheel.com/

[ex-Gooserider]

I just had a short trial with one of those FreeWheel devices (Easter Seals has a "technology loan program" - this was the only thing they had that I could use...) I had mixed reviews on it at best... I only actually USED it for a few minutes, and did not feel any desire to own one after that...

Mounting was a bit tricky to figure out, but was pretty straightforward - in order to accommodate the various sorts of front footrests, there are three shim strips that adjust the clearance to the clamp (My chair didn't use any) a shim on the clamp itself that I had to take off, and two different rear clamp bits that fit different width platforms... Once you figured out what combination of parts to use, (and the manual is pretty helpful at starting to do this) the mounting is straightforward. Once the device is adjusted putting it on an off the chair felt clumsy to me, but probably would have gotten much easier with practice...

Because the device puts a lot of extra torque on the footplate, if you have a clamp on plate like I do, it is necessary to get it adjusted just right and then "pin" it in place (no more adjusting) to keep it from twisting in use.

Build quality on the device was very mixed... The clamp and arm parts were nicely machined and welded, but a lot of the clamp parts appeared to be raw aluminium, not anodised or painted. The exterior looked like it had a decent powder coat. The wheel itself was TERRIBLE - looked like it was sourced from the same place that they get kids tricycle wheels - the sort where you want the kid to burn lots of energy w/o going all that far or fast... There was a lot of easily felt play in the wheel bearings, both radial and axial... Spinning the wheel resulted in audible clicking that could also be felt in the arm. The spokes didn't look like they were mounted at a uniform angle, and the rim was not dimpled at the spoke heads. When spinning the tire, I could also see about 1/8" of side to side wobble and about 1/16" of up and down.... However if it weren't for the wheel I'd have given reasonable to good marks on build quality.

In use, I found that it seemed to help, but only in a relatively minor way, and had it's own very disconcerting handling properties... Pushing was slightly easier on all surfaces but the narrow solids on my drive wheels still didn't deal well with our lawn or the rough pavement on our street. I suspect that off-road tires would have helped, but not all that much - IOW, it would still be a lot of work to get across rough surfaces....

Handling was strange... The wheel has a lot of caster to it, but can spin 360* with an adjustable detent when the wheel is pointed straight forwards or backwards. You mount the unit with the wheel forwards, which effectively lifts it a little so that the mounted unit's wheel just barely touches the ground, and the chair is supported on the front casters. You then push forwards and slightly to one side to make the wheel spin around to the "normal" position which lifts the front of the chair and puts the weight on the Freewheel. It is then very easy to go straight as the wheel self-centers in a straight ahead position. On a smooth surface it is almost possible to go straight ahead while only stroking one wheel! Turning a small amount is fairly easy (though much harder than in stock trim), but a bit odd feeling as the turn lifts the front of the chair slightly... However turning more than a slight amount causes the wheel to go past the "balance point" where it shifts between wanting to point forwards and point backwards. As the wheel "falls" into one position or the other it puts a lot of side force on the front of the chair, pushing it either sideways or back towards center. Especially if falling sideways, it pushes hard enough that there is a range where it is difficult to steer in that direction without ending up pointing to far one way or the other...

Reversing while "on" the wheel is possible for very short distances, but you are having to fight to keep the chair balanced on the wheel, so it's difficult as the wheel will snap to the other position given the slightest amount of side excuse, again pushing the chair to one side in doing so...

Bottom line is that the Freewheel made the chair easier to push in a straight ahead line, but at a cost of making the steering very much harder and less predictable.... I did not feel any desire to own one after trying it...

ex-Gooserider

[dannos85]

How about a trekinetic?

Basicly drags the little wheel behind. I guess this is better on gravel?

http://www.trekinetic.com - enter the site and look at CUSTOMER PIX

Google images will give some ideas also.

Good Luck

[rollingcowboy]

Kathy,
the first to try is to adjust the chair so that there is more weight over the large back wheels.
depending on what model chair he has you may be able to simply adjust it and this will help a lot.
when you are pushing then try to keep the small front wheels from digging in - normally the fronts are the biggest problem in soft or rough wheeling.
you can make it so the wheelie happens with the fronts only 2 or 3 inches off the ground and then you can help/push without digging in the fronts.
but it means the chair will be easier to tip back so beware! does the chair have anti tips?

the depending on the chair you could put on larger front wheels and tires.

let us know what kind of chair he has.

( the BM has the best advice - ultimately anyone that needs a wheelchair would benefit from a powerchair)

[Burgerman]

Quite...

Power or manual?

http://www.wheelchairdriver.com/power-o ... lchair.htm

[Kathy Shaw]

Thanks for your suggestions. Dave uses his manual chair, with my power, in restaurants and large areas. He walks around the house and to the car.

I bought us a side by side tricycle several years ago, only to find out it was way too hard to pedal on our gravel road. We have to take it to paved areas for riding. That means we don't do it that much. I have a bike I like to ride, so that handbike looks interesting.

Well...
There are some things you can get to make it better on bad roads...
There's add-ons that make your chair a trike with a large frontwheel like this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2u-T4Oc4_M
I've tested it in my pre-powerchair days... I refer to that period as my ignorance era
They do work. Add a couple of wider rearwheel rims with mountainbike wheels and the chair gets better on very mild offroad.
Gravel, the beach, sloping forest paths... they'll always be a challenge for your stamina and his shoulder cuffs.

A handbike might help too.
Good workout and easier to keep up without killing your arms.
This one's got power assist:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9O8S7_JRDo&feature=related

They have it all here:http://bike-on.com/

Remember to take your valium before reading the prices on mobility products

[Kathy Shaw]

forgot these: http://www.roughroller.com/
look a bit odd but they might work.

thank you, I like this.

[Kathy Shaw]

How about a trekinetic?

Basicly drags the little wheel behind. I guess this is better on gravel?

http://www.trekinetic.com - enter the site and look at CUSTOMER PIX

Google images will give some ideas also.

Good Luck

Thanks for your input. I am quick to buy him something, to later regret it. The side by side tricycle is one of these regrets. I do most of the pedaling, plus can't use it on our road, must haul, so use it little.

[Kathy Shaw]

Quite...

Power or manual?

http://www.wheelchairdriver.com/power-o ... lchair.htm

manual. I'm going today for them to change his to air. The company where we bought it is changing it. Hope we like it. they can put it back to regular if we don't. It will be about $120. I'll gamble that for hopes it will be better.

[Kathy Shaw]

Kathy,
the first to try is to adjust the chair so that there is more weight over the large back wheels.
depending on what model chair he has you may be able to simply adjust it and this will help a lot.
when you are pushing then try to keep the small front wheels from digging in - normally the fronts are the biggest problem in soft or rough wheeling.
you can make it so the wheelie happens with the fronts only 2 or 3 inches off the ground and then you can help/push without digging in the fronts.
but it means the chair will be easier to tip back so beware! does the chair have anti tips?

the depending on the chair you could put on larger front wheels and tires.

let us know what kind of chair he has.

( the BM has the best advice - ultimately anyone that needs a wheelchair would benefit from a powerchair)

He doesn't qualify for a power chair. I had someone come out just to see. She said he can walk around the house, so insurance won't help.

[Burgerman]

By accepting the "he doesent qualify" you are accepting a restricted life with less mobility. You can get used powerchairs for practically nothing. They are on ebay, local papers, adverts in shpo windows, or just abandoned in neigbors garages after the owner no longer needs them... A set of batteries and theyb are usually good to go...

I needed a powerchair. I actually scrounged one, bought another from an aquaintance, and 2 from ebay. The most expensive one was 500. Now I have 4...
The US system is even worse than the UK one. But why do people just accept what they are told or stick with something just because its "free" which it actually isnt. You pay for it with taxes or insurance...

What price mobility.

[malamar]

I too was powered in my manual by wife, (me hemiplegic), until an old car crashing of her started to show up and she couldn't push me any longer. Then I just got a speedy power chair and regained self mobility: yesterday we made a 5 km outing but she was not able to keep my pace bare walking and asked for a ride home on my legs....now she wants a cheap scooter to keep me in sight at least..! Hand bikes and motor trikes are dear but lovely....

[malamar]

Thinking. Kathy, your man seems more fit than the average of us here: involve him in his mobility problem refurbishing second hand powered chairs etc . Its great for morale, self esteem, distraction, and the only serious way to go when serious permanent problems strike,the power assistance.
In this Forum we have , say , a genetic scientist who builds chairs for his lovely daughter turning the wrenches with nonchalance, or Burgerman, our brave leader, who builds state of the art chairs cheaper and from his bedroom!

Forgive me if I dare to give my opinion, but here we all try to help.
Best

[Burgerman]

or Burgerman, our brave leader,

Or hooligan, depending how you see things!

[malamar]

let's keep private things that way...!!