for the first time in 10 years in the forrest/nature

[wheelboy]

Since iam in a wheelchair i never went to a forrest ,.i was always afraid to get stuck with my hand wheelchair ore that it was to heavy rolling in loose sand ore mud .Now since 2 months i have a powerchair and the weather now is real good .I had the flu the last weeks and a lung infection so i didnt come out of the house for weeks .Well yesterday i went rolling outside the house .Near my house is a small forrest and some wild nature(no not like in the us just a few square kilometers lol) .Teh weather was real good apox 18c and sunny .

it felt real great to go rolling around in the forrest .The only bad thing is lol the bumps sometimes my thorso got launced in the backseat again (i have full control over my thorso) .Te shockabsorbers underneath the chair (if you can talk about shock absorbers)are very hard every bump you feel .

But when i found a nich spot i stopped and really felt great .i tilted my chair in the middle of a bridge over a small river sat there in the sun relaxing .When i came home i felt so relaxed(not my back fom getting for and backwards deu to holes and bumps).The weather stays nice here so tommorrow i will go again .near the forrest there is also a small kinderfarm with all kind of animals .Well at first when i heared that i would get a powerchair i wasnt glad it made me feel even more handicapped .now to be honist i dont wanna mis it anymore .

Greetings fram the netherlands

Mario

[Burgerman]

Welcome. Its good to get out! Manual chairs suck...

[rollingcowboy]

hey Mario!
It is great to hear you took the powerchair out into the woods!

I hope you take some of the knowledge from this forum/website and start a plan to have a chair that will take you out more often.

[geordie graham]

Hi Mario I have found nature to be a great help to get you out of those times when problems really start to get on top of you.Forests have always been magical places to me but unfortunately also the least accessible.I am going away for a few days soon to a place which has lodges in the middle of a forest which have more accessible tracks where I know I am also going to see lots of nature (birds,badgers,foxes etc) and even have a hot tub so you can sit in warm relaxing water whilst being at one with nature.As far as shock absorbers are concerned,the manufactures of my chair have fitted a spring (well if you could call it a spring ) and no form of shock absorbing.The motor industry are probably the major experts in how suspension works and how many cars both past and present have been fitted with springs but no shock absorbers.Ok powerchairs are a lot smaller than a cars but you can get small shock absorbers.I know BM prefers shock absorbing to be done through they rear tyres, but even with mass produced powerchairs surely they could come up with some form adequate suspension when you think a lot of users have spinal problems that don`t need bouncing about.I can guarantee whoever designed my chair must have road tested it on the smoothest surface they could find or more likely didn`t test it at all

[Burgerman]

Fat rear tyres, with low pressures and much floatation are great for vibration reduction, and rocks etc. But suspension AS WELL would be better still.
#
But suspension as well needs more width... More weight, more complexity, and because the extra tyre width means the motors are very inboard and means less effective track, and also adds more "suspension" movement, the chair will be laterally unstable.

Not that it will fall over, but it will allow a front caster to leave the deck as it leans about, or be loaded very lightly, much of the time on a lateral slope. Possibly causing caster chatter problems.

So would need some front caster suspension, or a beam that tilts laterally to keep them on the ground like the old pride blast had. That was a big heavy chair because of this. This all adds complication, weight, and goes against the old KISS rule...

Added... Sticking a heavy car style seat, which raises C of G on its own, and sits the occupant higher still like a bar stool, makes this worse still...

[geordie graham]

Having read your last post I now understand it is not as simple as just putting some springs and shock absorbers on a chair.I have just been out for a couple of hours to enjoy the sunshine and have had to literally map out the smoothest route,I am not talking going offroad,I am talking badly laid ordinary paths.

[ex-Gooserider]

Any thoughts on trying a torsion bar between the suspension arms? I've seen some applied to sidecar rigs that were quite impressive... Usually it is necessary to fit extra heavy suspension on the bike in order to handle the weight of the chair, and keep the bike from pitching side to side when going over bumps that only hit one wheel.

With the torsion bar the owner was able to use lighter suspension and thus get a lot of travel over bumps that hit both wheels, while a bump that only hit one wheel effectively tried to compress both shocks, giving less pitching...

ex-Gooserider

[Step]

Forests are great!
I only switched to power last year and remember going into the forest the first time after 20(!) years.
I live 2 minutes from this forest and played in it all my childhood.
The time I've lost avoiding anything but flat terrain because I thought a manual chair was 'less handicapped' then a powerchair...
I'm 39 now and any free time I have, I go out to play in the forest again! lol

Whenever I see someone in a manual chair now, who looks at me like I'm a lazy bum for using a powerchair, I ask him what was the last time he was in the forest or anywhere not flat for 10-15-20K or more and then pity the poor ignorant soul.

[Burgerman]

Quite!

Have a read...

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

[Burgerman]

Any thoughts on trying a torsion bar between the suspension arms? I've seen some applied to sidecar rigs that were quite impressive... Usually it is necessary to fit extra heavy suspension on the bike in order to handle the weight of the chair, and keep the bike from pitching side to side when going over bumps that only hit one wheel.

With the torsion bar the owner was able to use lighter suspension and thus get a lot of travel over bumps that hit both wheels, while a bump that only hit one wheel effectively tried to compress both shocks, giving less pitching...

ex-Gooserider

Like a cars anti roll bar? Not considered that. Would stop the rolling about!

[nandol]

http://www.actiontrackchair.com/Default.aspx might be a good option for forrest or gun lovers.
i like forrest too....huge forrests of babes in string at beach!!

cheers,fellas

[wheelboy]

I cant make any ajustments on this chair .Here in the netherlands they lease the chair .in my case i got a handchair from my town and the powerchair is from my social security fund and is used for to go to my work and i can use it @home .All ajustments are made by the compagny they lease the chairs from .All maitnance is also done by them .

I got the best of both worlds now a powerchiar and a handchair both have their pros and neg .For in a forrest a handchair to hard to ride in if you dont get stuk in the mud ore in loose sand .I had it few times on a cemetary were my grandparents are burried .I always got stuk in it and had to ride on 2 wheels most of the time .One time a front wheel broke off had to drive with 3 wheels for weeks before the fixed it .

I have a small river here with some forrest i never been there since its all loose sand and litte muddy .I had been in the house for weeks deu to a flu and a lung infection .So when i felt better and the weather turned good first ting i did was going to the forrest .

Yes when there the silence the rest it maked me feel more relaxed .Also saw what i missed .today its sunny and apox 20c and iam off work so i take my chair and go back again .When i was sitting in the middle of that bridge over that river i was enjoying it very much .i stayed there for half an hr watching the birds and the nature .Yes when in the nature all alone you can get the mind free of all kind of negative things .When i got home i felt more relaxed

[Burgerman]

Better still get a camera and take pictures! I do.