Custom Wheels (and other things)!

[Glittercat]

Originally Posted by BillSears

I've been using the standard Quickie Mag Wheels for about 20 years now. They're not fancy but they're very durable. I used to have spoked wheels when I got my first chair 35 years ago because that's all that were available. But those spokes were a lot of trouble, the spokes would break or they would loosen up and constantly need adjusting. Once I got my mags I never considered going back. They are a bit heavier than the spokes but so much more useful to me.

You can sort of see them in this pic:



Maybe I should get these wheels. But I hate spending $430 on wheels, it just seems extravagant.



If I could change one thing? I'd make it sturdier, it's really bad when my frame breaks. It happens about every 5 years or so. So far I've been lucky enough to make it home with the broken frame.

For looks? I'd like a nice looking frame. Because of the way I load my wheelchair into my car I need a folding wheelchair. Because of the ways I do transfers I need removable footrests. So my chair isn't as smooth/modern looking as some of those cool rigid frame chairs. But it's what I need and need overrides looks.

BTW here's my first chair back in 1977. My Senior Prom pic. Wheelchairs sure have changed a lot in 35 years.

Bill~ Your wheels look great! Those colorful ones look fun, but ouch what a price! *winces* The lovely man who helped us measure for my new chair recommended Spinergy, but I just don't have that kind of cash. I'm happy with my Shadow spokes for now, as I had a very clunky chair before, and and any little change is a grand thing! You have such a brilliant smile it's hard to focus too hard on the chair! :D That is a good thing in my opinion. Your first chair looks painful. Yay, for improvements to design and comfort!

[seidelhd]

My DD has a purple wheelchair with front light-up wheels. We got these spoke covers for the back wheels.

[bouncycat]

My favorite character is Tigger, and my hubby paints my AFO braces and the bottom of my powerchair orange and then draws on the black stripes. I'm on my phone so when I can I will post pictures. Hubby does what he can to make me feel the least self conscious as he can since I'm young and my issue is mostly invisible, with the exception of the braces!

[WheeledTraveler]

My chair is old enough that the maker, TiLite, wasn't offering different frame colors and had maybe 4 colors to choose from for the back. I didn't like any of the colors so I stayed with basic black. I keep meaning to make covers for it, but I never get around to it.

I do actually have the X-Core wheels, but I think those were still only basic black, without the color choice. I really like them and the weight is worth it for me. (They were also much cheaper 8 years ago, if I'm remembering correctly )

The only real benefit to the basic black and silver chair is that it doesn't clash with clothing so I don't have to think about that.

[50surgeries2012]

Originally Posted by SueM in MN

Wheelchairs have changed!

My DD's first few chairs had spoked tires. They do take some maintenance.
She switched to Mag tires about 2 chairs ago and have been happier with them.
We offset the weight with lighter footrests. She had angle adjustable metal ones - heavy, and always out of adjustment. (She also broke them in ways Quickie had never seen before).
When she got the Mag wheels, she changed to composite flip up footrests. We also went with a rigid front, without swing away footrests. That took down the weight also.

One thing I would highly recommend would be foam filled no flat tires - never have to worry about air or finding a new tire tube.

One thing we got talked into and would never get again - air filled front casters. Those were awful - hard to add air and when they needed a new tube, it was hard to find and expensive.

I have mag tires on my manual wheelchair too, and the mag wheel tires have flat-free inserts in them. The seating specialist of the first DME company that I went through was a wheelchair user himself due to paraplegia, and he was able to give me a few pointers on what to have, and what not to have with a manual wheelchair because of having to constantly keep maintaining them.

He said that going with the mag-type wheels would be better because they would be less troublesome than the spoked-type wheels. I have the smallest front caster wheels on my manual wheelchair that are flat-free too. I think they're about 2", or 4". The only downside to them is that if my husband hits a crack, or bump in the sidewalk that's really deep, and he hits it really hard when he's pushing me in my manual wheelchair. It makes the tire pop off the wheel.

That happened when we were in Las Vegas a few years ago, and we were flying back home to PDX the very next day. The timeshare place we were staying in had no manual wheelchair available, and the maintenance guy couldn't do anything to fix my wheel. I had to wait to get home to call my current DME dealer that I go through now, and the service technician was able to make a house call out to my house to fix the tire. He had to replace the whole wheel because he said that the tire couldn't be popped back on. It wouldn't work with the size of wheels that I had.

-Samantha

[KPeveler]

I have had spoked wheels for years and I have never had a problem with maintenance on them. Mine are much lighter than my old mag wheels, so it made quite a difference to me. I am not very kind to my wheelchair (I am at DL constantly, up and down hills on rough ground, etc), so I don't know what I am doing right, but apparently I am doing something because other than needing to replace tires, I have had no problems.

I just replaced my tires with new Kenda knobby tires with blue sidewalls. I am excited they started making 1 3/8" tires that look cool, because I was getting sick of plain grey ones!

My chair is black, but I am thinking of getting a dark purple one next time, or keeping it black or silver and getting blue "accents" (like blue Spinergy spokes)


The thing I want most are Natural-Fit handrims - not only do they look cool but they are so much better for your hands!

[SueM in MN]

Originally Posted by KPeveler

I have had spoked wheels for years and I have never had a problem with maintenance on them. Mine are much lighter than my old mag wheels, so it made quite a difference to me. I am not very kind to my wheelchair (I am at DL constantly, up and down hills on rough ground, etc), so I don't know what I am doing right, but apparently I am doing something because other than needing to replace tires, I have had no problems.

I just replaced my tires with new Kenda knobby tires with blue sidewalls. I am excited they started making 1 3/8" tires that look cool, because I was getting sick of plain grey ones!

My chair is black, but I am thinking of getting a dark purple one next time, or keeping it black or silver and getting blue "accents" (like blue Spinergy spokes)


The thing I want most are Natural-Fit handrims - not only do they look cool but they are so much better for your hands!

When DD had spoked wheels, we did find we needed to check and tighten the spokes occasionally. It wasn't a job that needed to be done often and was not hard to do, but was something else to remember to do.
I don't know if there have been advancements since then, but that may have improved.

My DD did get the Natural Fit hand rims with her last manual chair. They are quite nice, but are painted and the paint does scrape off firly easily. ( they looked so nice when they were new).

[peemagg]

I also have the Natural Fit hand rims, and love them!! It is nice for when you are going any speed and need to slow that you can use your thumb as a brake (as long as you have gloves on. Painful without them! Learned the hard way ). I have not had any issue with the paint peeling yet.

[SueM in MN]

Originally Posted by peemagg

I also have the Natural Fit hand rims, and love them!! It is nice for when you are going any speed and need to slow that you can use your thumb as a brake (as long as you have gloves on. Painful without them! Learned the hard way ). I have not had any issue with the paint peeling yet.

I should clarify.
The paint hasn't peeled off. It has scraped off - mostly from trying to get close to things, like on WDW buses.

[WheelieBigDisFan]

I have the red Spinergy LX wheels with Natural Fit handrims. I don't think my NF's are "painted" but rather anodized. I have scratched my NF's on numerous occasions on things like concrete, brick, etc. and have had sharp burrs occur in the process. I take a fine sandpaper to make them smooth again, but despite scratching and sandpapering my handrims I have not had problems with paint coming off. The areas that are a little silver from being scratched I could fill in with sharpie and they look "new-ish" again.

[SunshineTaradise]

I have Spina Bifida(lesion is T12) and I've been a fulltime chair user my whole life. After dealing with spoked wheels for the longest time, I got Spinergy LX wheels on my newest chair (rigid TiLite ZR). My chair is so light and getting my chair in and out of my car (i have a mazda RX-8) is really easy! I have not had any issues with my spinergy wheels at all. No loose or broken spokes ever! I also have Kenda tires on my chair. They're air-filled but they have a layer of Kevlar underneath which makes it's nearly impossible to get a flat! They also provide a much smoother ride than a lot of solid tires out there. Only drawback is they're really hard to change because they are wire-beaded.

[SueM in MN]

Originally Posted by WheelieBigDisFan

I have the red Spinergy LX wheels with Natural Fit handrims. I don't think my NF's are "painted" but rather anodized. I have scratched my NF's on numerous occasions on things like concrete, brick, etc. and have had sharp burrs occur in the process. I take a fine sandpaper to make them smooth again, but despite scratching and sandpapering my handrims I have not had problems with paint coming off. The areas that are a little silver from being scratched I could fill in with sharpie and they look "new-ish" again.

You are right.
I took a closer look at DD's hand rims and what I thought was paint scratches are actually scratches in the metal.

What can I say, she is tough on her wheelchairs.

[WheeledTraveler]

I've never figured out how to not scratch up my pushrims. I have annodized normal push rims and within a year of getting them they had some scratches. None of the scratches are deep enough for me to feel them, just I can see specs of silver. Some of this may be how I load in/out of my car since I have to take my wheels off and depending on my balance/angle/energy, this can mean tipping the chair on its side (my parents really have never figured out how to take my wheelchair apart to load into the car without tipping it on one side; it's kinda funny since I can do it without fully tipping, just it takes a little more energy and strength than I necessarily have every day and my parents don't have the physical limitations I do).