4 replies to this topic

[russ1]

Well had a go with one at the Mobility Roadshow and was sufficiently impressed that I've ordered one. It'll be very much a second chair for use outside and I managed to get an Access to Work Grant to pay for the majority of it as I'll be using it to access building sites as part of my job.

Had no trouble jumping in, it's a bit strange at first but it's easy to see that it'd be very good in the environment it's designed for. Car transfers look awkward but definitely possible but I'm comfortable with putting it in the boot separately if necessary. It's clearly not an everyday chair but as an outdoor chair it seems like a quantum leap forward over current chairs. Not perfect and there are trade offs (eg very steep slopes (and I mean very steep) that can be backwheeled balanced would be very difficult - but longer shallower slopes that would need a long backwheel balance could be dispatched with ease. Flights of steep steps would be near on impossible but how many of us tackle them anyway. Kerbs more than 2 or 3 inches need to be taken backwards if you can't lift your feet but that'd be a small price to pay.

Just need to wait 12 weeks now to get to the other end of the waiting list and I'll let you all know how I get on with it but I'm really looking forward to getting out and about the countryside round my village a little more. Couple of local hills/viewpoints that I've not been able (well ok, prepared to struggle sufficiently enough) to get up to since I was injured that I'm looking forward to getting up to.

[Smudge]

Hi Russ,

I bought a Trekinetic K2 in April last year, (there is a picture on here somewhere of me in it at Badminton Horse Trials the day after I collected it), not as an everyday chair as I have a Quickie Argon Ti as my everyday chair.

That said I ended up selling it last month as I just got fed up with some of the chairs idiosyncrasies!

In heavy mud, you will find that the rear fork clogs with mud between the top of the wheel and the underside of the fork, causing the rear wheel to stop rotating completely, (there is not enough clearance between the rear wheel and fork).

I know it’s petty, but something that always annoyed me was the method for retaining the rear strut in the ‘folded’ position, a stretchy hair band, (and no, I am not joking). In my personal opinion, this piece of mickey mouse engineering really lets down the chair, and as the hair band is not strong enough to actually hold the strut in the ‘folded’ position, the top of the strut is free to move up and down the back of the seat whenever the chair is moved, (i.e. in and out of a car) and scratches the rear of the seat at the top, not the end of the world I know, just annoying.

However, the thing that caused me the most problems was the hand rims. Instead of using an industry standard (if it can be called that) method of fitting the rims to the wheel, Mike came up with his own method, which in my case just did not work, and ended up causing many cut and bruised fingers. The rim was mounted too close to the wheels/tyres and did not give enough room for me to even get my finger tips around. Also, the brackets that are used to fit the rim to the wheel are at such an angle that I was always getting my fingers caught by them, and subsequently, there was not a day that I used the chair where I did not end up with cut and bruised fingers, (using gloves did not help). Unlike most rims which allow for wide and narrow fitting, the Trekinetic rims could not be adjusted. I spoke with Mike about this, hoping that the rims could be modified, and his answer; ‘well no one else has complained, and what is wrong with using the tyres to push on?’ (Mike’s standard answer to the few queries I raised, was that no one else had ever complained about whatever it was I was querying). As the rims are specific to the Trekinetic, I could not even buy a new set and change them out.

Mike Spindle is undoubtedly a great engineer, but unfortunately, he will not accept any criticism whatsoever, no matter how well intended. I tried to discuss a few matters with him, and offered to pay for some alterations to my chair, but he would just not accept any of my personal observations, and was adamant that he was more knowledgeable about wheelchairs than me, (I accept fully that he knows more about engineering than me) but at the end of the day, he is not a wheelchair user, (which shows when he is insistent that the K2 can be used as an everyday chair, which again, in my personal opinion, it is not suitable for).

Anyhow, sorry for the long ramble, but these are just my own personal opinions (as someone who actually paid the money and bought one) and I would never attempt to dissuade anyone from trying the chair for themselves, and perhaps some of these issues (no matter how insignificant they may seem) have been addressed since I last spoke with Mike in April.

I sincerely hope that the chair works out great for you and gives you years of service.

Smudge

Edited by Smudge, 02 July 2009 - 10:36 AM.

[monkeyman]

Hi Russ,

Hope you find it liberating and have great fun with it.

Sorry to say that my experience is like Smudge, i found Mike very attentive during the purchasing period but a far as aftersales go he leaves alot to be desired. The Trekinetic brakes broke on my very first use of the chair... well before that actually as i was getting the chair out of the car after taking delivery. I rested it on its rear camber bar and then couldn't get one of the wheels on, apparently i had been too rough (Mikes words, i thought this was supposed to be a go anywhere, rough and tough off road chair?) with it and popped one of the brake pads out of sync, i had to take it back to the dealers to be fixed before i even used it! I had various other issues to but probably the biggest being the footplate. As i have no movement of feeling in my legs i couldn't slip the footplate up when i was going over rough ground... this constantly caused my feet to bottom out and basically prevented me from going over ground with bumps bigger then 2/3 inches?
The other real pain was going up hill on loose ground (e.g. gravel), i kept losing traction and found it difficult to get enough weight over the front drive wheels to stop them spinning?

Finally i bit the bullet and order a Top End Crossfire All Terrain which has proved to be one of the best buys i have ever made... it has enabled me to access areas that i never believed possible and (for me at least) has provided me with every thing that i expected the Trekinetic should have done... but sadly didn't.

Saying this i hope your experience is positive and it gets you places a "normal" chair can't.

Cheers, S

[Steviewo]

Smudge and Monkeyman - why dont you ask Mike if he'll post your above reviews on the testimonial page of his website

I must admit that having never met this guy I was (rightly or wrongly) sceptical of him from when I first read about the chair.

I never really take to somebody who is not or never been a wheelchair user, telling us what is best and it was always obvious that this was never going to be an everyday chair anyway. From what I remeber somebody on here even went to an exhibition and was told that they were "too disabled" for this chair because they could not lift their feet to go up kerbs!

To be honest judging by some of this Mike's previous comments and from what you guys have also said, he seems like a bit of an arrogant dick.

[ADP-10-08-63]

That goes with their customer service also.