23 replies to this topic

[Corrib]

Hi all,

I know this may seem like a stupid question, but i was wondering, are there any tyres i can get for the chair , that would enable more grip, my current and previous tyres have been virtually bald. I have asked my O.T., who was to come back to me with an answer, but has not yet.

The reason i ask is that i intend to return to skiing next month, and trying to get around now on ice is extremely difficult and frustrating!

Imposter

[Edinburgh Colin]

You can get some knobbly off road tires for the snow, ice? I don't know.

I got some 24" x 1.75" knobbly tires with wheels and axles for 55 pounds on e-bay a month ago, real bargain.

[edlee]

They are definitely available,,, but what you gain in traction,, will be offset by the added difficulty when pushing these things inside or on pavement. They also carry a lot more mud, in with you ( my wife will atest to that part). I have a couple pait of knobbies,, but have come to prefer the narrow, nearly bald, solid tires. A lot easier pushing ( 99% of the time),, and a lot cleaner.

There was a thread last year about making chains for the tires. If I was adept at such things, I would post a link,,,,, but I'm not. Perhaps someone will.
ed


PS,,, use the search feature and enter "wheelchair tire chains"... Boggs and I had a discussion, there.

Edited by edlee, 02 December 2010 - 06:53 PM.

[Tinbasher]

I have tried "Mountain Bike" type tyres in the past but found they didn't help much and they tore up my gloves and hands.

Tin

[guido]

The thread is here: http://www.apparelyz...__1#entry159152

YouTube seems to come up with very little apart from this silent video clip:



And eBay (both .com and .co.uk) comes up with nothing. Maybe it's an opportunity for CT to put the shoelaces down for a while and do something else.

If you want, you can sell them via DisabledGear.com!

[twisted_ophelia]

Sunrise Medical/Quickie Wheelchairs has just added a set of knobby tires to their product catalogue. I use them in snow and for any off-road type terrain ie. beach. They are a seperate wheelset so you can interchange them for your regular set when you don't need them and if you run 24" wheels (like I do), they will put the tires, which are 2" on a 22" rim for you so that it doesn't change your dump. They've got a really aggressive tread that looks like a mountain bike tire. If you contact Sunrise, they should be able to help you out. Also, http://www.sportaid.com has a knobby tire wheelset for about $300 US I believe. I will be honest and admit that pushing the knobby tires around all day is not fun. They're great on terrain but not that great for everyday indoor use. The tread tears up my hands but if you're outside and it's for a few hours or whatever, it's not really a problem. I don't think you'll be able to get through snow on regular slick tires. Maybe an inch or two but for 'real' snow, you'll need tires unless you want someone pushing you when you get stuck!

[guido]

Sunrise Medical/Quickie Wheelchairs has just added a set of knobby tires to their product catalogue. I use them in snow and for any off-road type terrain ie. beach. They are a seperate wheelset so you can interchange them for your regular set when you don't need them and if you run 24" wheels (like I do), they will put the tires, which are 2" on a 22" rim for you so that it doesn't change your dump. They've got a really aggressive tread that looks like a mountain bike tire. If you contact Sunrise, they should be able to help you out. Also, http://www.sportaid.com has a knobby tire wheelset for about $300 US I believe. I will be honest and admit that pushing the knobby tires around all day is not fun. They're great on terrain but not that great for everyday indoor use. The tread tears up my hands but if you're outside and it's for a few hours or whatever, it's not really a problem. I don't think you'll be able to get through snow on regular slick tires. Maybe an inch or two but for 'real' snow, you'll need tires unless you want someone pushing you when you get stuck!

Thanks, TO. Always interesting to see these products - just seen the Fatso 24" Off-Road Wheels !!! (But look at the price....)

[twisted_ophelia]

Sunrise Medical/Quickie Wheelchairs has just added a set of knobby tires to their product catalogue. I use them in snow and for any off-road type terrain ie. beach. They are a seperate wheelset so you can interchange them for your regular set when you don't need them and if you run 24" wheels (like I do), they will put the tires, which are 2" on a 22" rim for you so that it doesn't change your dump. They've got a really aggressive tread that looks like a mountain bike tire. If you contact Sunrise, they should be able to help you out. Also, http://www.sportaid.com has a knobby tire wheelset for about $300 US I believe. I will be honest and admit that pushing the knobby tires around all day is not fun. They're great on terrain but not that great for everyday indoor use. The tread tears up my hands but if you're outside and it's for a few hours or whatever, it's not really a problem. I don't think you'll be able to get through snow on regular slick tires. Maybe an inch or two but for 'real' snow, you'll need tires unless you want someone pushing you when you get stuck!

Thanks, TO. Always interesting to see these products - just seen the Fatso 24" Off-Road Wheels !!! (But look at the price....)

Those fatsos seem like you'd need someone to push you which wouldn't be good for me even though they have hand rims. It seems like it'd be super hard on the wrists and shoulders to push those. Plus the price! Yikes!! Definitely try and contact Sunrise Medical and see what they are offering if you want a good off road tires. Prior to using the Quickie tires, I was using Kenda's hybrid tires (from Sportaid, it's the 2" one I believe) and had it on 24" spinergy rims which made the full size 26" and totally messed with how my chair feels (normally run 24" wheels). Plus the tread just wasnt aggressive enough for really snowy days. There doesn't seem to be a decent tire for sheer ice though. I've always found it extremly difficult trying to cross those big ice sheets.

Edited by twisted_ophelia, 10 December 2010 - 05:28 AM.

[guido]

Hmmm... For the sheets of ice, you'll need a subtle blend of husky dogs, a whim (yes, whim not whip, although you can use one of them too) and a prayer. Get it infused with a massive dose of patience and humour.


If you can't get hold of any of the above, stay in by the fire.... it's warmer.

[wheelywendy]

pats freewheel attatchment makes wheeling much easier in snow and ice. http://www.gofreewheel.com/default.asp

[twisted_ophelia]

Hmmm... For the sheets of ice, you'll need a subtle blend of husky dogs, a whim (yes, whim not whip, although you can use one of them too) and a prayer. Get it infused with a massive dose of patience and humour.


If you can't get hold of any of the above, stay in by the fire.... it's warmer.

LOL, indeed! Sitting by the fire on a cold winter's night sounds nice to me! Especially in the holiday season! BTW, they are selling the freewheel attachment on sportaid now, just saw it when I was looking at some stuff on there last night. I might also add that when I took my chair to Quickie's little headquarters here in Toronto, I asked them to switch out my front casters for me for something that'll be better on terrain and quieter indoors. I use 5" casters since I find they dont get snagged on rocks and cracks that easily. They put on casters that are, I believe 5.5 inches, which works for my forks since my Q7 has the one sided fork so I can stick fat casters on there. They're the soft roll casters too. I haven't used them much out of doors since I got them put on barely two days ago and I've just mostly been going from door-to-car but I'm really curious to see if fatter front casters help with ice and snow. I also want one of those cross country sit skis. Now THAT will be perfect for snow, lol.

[eyelookok2blindgurls]

I use 24x2.5 inch maxxis hookworm tires on 24" 507 rims (the ones that take 24" mountain bike tires ) , makes them to the eqivalent of 25" diameter tires they dont have any knobbly tread but due to the width float over soft and slippery surfaces , as long as you can figure out the correct air pressure I generally run them at anything between 20 & 50 psi depending on the terrain . not as good as Fatso's but they are much lighter less bulky , cheaper and very useful

[Corrib]

Hi everyone, thanks for all the great advice, maybe my question was not the stupid after all! even tough I'm over 2 1/2 years sitting somethings are still new to me.

Imposter

[Doodle]

Has anyone used the Schwalbe Downtown tyre? I just ordered some wondered if they were any good in the snow and offroad terrain?

[greybeard]

Has anyone used the Schwalbe Downtown tyre? I just ordered some wondered if they were any good in the snow and offroad terrain?

Hiya Doodle. I haven't tried these, but a close look at the photo of them shows they have a slick centre strip that might make things difficult on compressed snow or ice. Probably OK for grip on soft ground.

[eyelookok2blindgurls]

Has anyone used the Schwalbe Downtown tyre? I just ordered some wondered if they were any good in the snow and offroad terrain?

I experimented with them but they did not meet my expectations , maybe I was expecting to much from them though

[russ1]

I use a narrow mountain bike tyre with a semi aggressive tread for the snow

[rosafin]

You made a real qood question, Imposter. I have no idea about tyres, because I use only Schwalbe Right Run tyres.

Excuse me my off topic. Have you tried Freewheel? It just quickly clamps to the footrest of a rigid-frame wheelchair. The product allows you to push your wheelchair also in the nature and so on. Please see more: Freewheel pages.

Here is a somehow objective video about the product. YouTube The video is only in Finnish, sorry. Just wait for few seconds, and you'll see how Freewheel works.

Edited by rosafin, 17 December 2010 - 01:11 PM.

[clicheskate]

Wow, that even looks quad friendly! Price?

[Mike (c4-5) & Lorena]

This may be a bit late, but, on my Quickie P-222, I have found snow/ice chains. My rear tires are 4.00x350-6 and I found chains to match on Ebay and Amazon. They go on easy and with my torque set on high, I get through most ice and snowie conditions. I bought mine through a lawn mower supply company.

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[megatrig]

I really like the look of the Freewheel. Is it new? I haven't seen it before.

Anyone tried one?

I just emailed Gerald Simmonds .. to see if I can try one out.

£375............. not bad in comparrison with most disability related things either!!!

More Anon

[rue2you]

I really like the look of the Freewheel. Is it new? I haven't seen it before.

Anyone tried one?

I just emailed Gerald Simmonds .. to see if I can try one out.

£375............. not bad in comparrison with most disability related things either!!!

More Anon

YES!! I have the FreeWheel and LOVE it. I just made a little homemade video today of me using it in the snow. I am not a snowbird but it is very nice if you have to be out. If you love to be out in the snow, then you must get one. I do not represent FreeWheel in any way. Just a VERY happy customer! It cost me $500. It is the best money I have spent. Not just in winter, but in any weather, it is wonderful over any uneven ground, on the grass, in gravel, etc. You can buy it here - Sportaid

Here is my FreeWheel snow video -

[Rockupandroll]

Hi, last year I bought the Top End Cross Fire off-road chair mainly to use at festivals and was delighted to find that it is great in the snow too. Ok it's not perfect and still takes a bit of effort but is so much better than an everyday chair and also the Freewheel which I've tried too. If you want to know more about my off-road chair I blogged about it recently and you can read that post here www.rockupandroll.com/post/2062444714/grrrrrrr-not-brrrrrrr. As you can tell from the blog I'm not great in the snow as I had my accident sledging so I have a hate hate relationship with the white stuff. This chair though allowed me to get out and about in the snow and I loved the freedom it gave me to carry on with only minimal disruption.

[megatrig]

hmmmmm I think I'm off to try and almost certainly buy one!!!