21 replies to this topic

[wheels5894]

Well, I have a Quickie Ti, as illustrated and it is great except for the wheels. They are OK, but the creak rather a lot. I was thinking that next year I might try and get something better, probably from Sportaid in the US. So....

What wheel would you suggest to replace my standard 26" ones?

My dealer suggested X Core but I am not sure I like them.

Thanks for any help

[nomis]

I recently got Spinergys and have no complaint so far. They're light, easy to handle, wide spokes don't cut into fingers when removing and are widely popular so have excellent back up.

[russ1]

Spinergy's get my vote too but if your wheels creak it sounds like they're just poorly built, take them to a bike shop and ask them if they can tension up the spokes - should stop all the creaking.

X-core look great but are heavier than spinergies for no apparent gain elsewhere.

[wheels5894]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I think I'll start by getting thew present wheels tightened. We have a good cycle shop who should be able to do it for me.

Sportaid
Has anyone bought wheels from Sportaid and how did things work out. So far as I can see they are about half the UK price and there should not be any duties.

[silone74]

Hi i have bought from sportaid before and they are very very good i also have a pair of spinergy wheels for sale LOL brand new as it goes and you are liable for import duty on items from the US .



Silone74

[wheels5894]

Silone,

What import duties are levied on this sort of disability product when imported to the UK?

Also do you remember what carriage cost from the US?

I have 26" wheels and i believ you are selling 24" ones or else we might be able to do a deal.

[silone74]

Hi i have ordered smaller parts like hubs and no duty paid but i have ordered wheels and the duty as stated in an email from sportaid is up to me to pay i have not received the wheels yet but the carriage is $260 which i think works out at roughly £128 i hope i am wrong with the duty but just going on the email from sportaid themselves looks like the duty will have to paid.
Yes the wheels i have are 24" nice though lol


Silone74

[russ1]

There's no duty or vat to pay on items imported where those items are specifically and exclusively for disabled use. This would include wheelchair wheels

Technically there's a slightly involved procedure to go through to get your import pre approved and guarantee no duties but in practice if you get the sender to mark the paperwork and the box with something along the lines of 'wheelchair parts - duty and vat exempt' then they'll get through ok.

I've gone thro the involved procedure for importing a handbike and some wheelchair parts just to be safe but also didn't bother on other occassions and never been charged.

Chapter and Verse here

[wheels5894]

Thanks, Russ, that's very helpful. I've downloaded the file and will have a good read later.

Meanwhile, I took my wheels into a bike shop this afternoon and should have them back on Saturday. I'm using the wheels from my Health Service chair pro tem. I'll let people know how quiet they are - or not. :-)

[silone74]

Thanks from me too sorry if i got it wrong i was going on sportaid email thought they would have known to be honest.



Silone74

[Texaswheelz]

The spinergy spox roxs! They are so quite, light and smooth, can't believe I went 16 1/2 years without a pair, I'll never go another if I have anything to say about it

[Hype62]

I'm using Spinergy LX (12 spokes) wheels on both of my chairs and have zero complaint about them. They are quiet and also the lightest wheelchair wheels out there. I like the cutouts in the hubs and the 12 spokes design, very minimal and clean looking. I got both my sets from pushblack.com; they are the cheapest I found on the net. Pushblack used to sell them for $380, luckly I got them during that time, now they are $425. I know Sportaid will price match any price so its probably better to get them from sportaid as they are reputable.

I love my white LX!

[wheels5894]

silone74, on Sep 27 2007, 04:51 PM, said:

Hi i have ordered smaller parts like hubs and no duty paid but i have ordered wheels and the duty as stated in an email from sportaid is up to me to pay i have not received the wheels yet but the carriage is $260 which i think works out at roughly £128 i hope i am wrong with the duty but just going on the email from sportaid themselves looks like the duty will have to paid.
Yes the wheels i have are 24" nice though lol


Silone74

Interesting... Stacy at Sportaid, last night, quoted me $340. Now the box will be bigger that you as these are 26" but that is quite expensive!

[silone74]

That is alot more i cant see why just for the wheel size what whels are you getting they may be heavier than the ones i am geting. The LX is the ones i have ordered same as the pic above they are lghter than spox if thats what you wanted thats the only reason i can think of.

Silone74

[wheels5894]

Interesting Silone. I think I might go back to Sportaid and ask again. You don't happen to know who you dealt and gave you the price?

You mention the Spox and LX and that had me puzzling. Now some internet stores like EPC seem only to sell the Spox while others only sell LX / SLX. I had been wondering if the Spox was replaced by the LX but I suppose not. Is there much difference between the models?

[silone74]

Ye i think the spox are still the wheel sold generally, the lx so i gather is pretty new out i dont think i have seen them in the UK i dealt with a women called Keirsten at sportaid the lx has fewer spokes 12 as compared to 18 the spox has and the slx is stronger with 18 thicker spokes for sport use i think. The spox are a really really brilliant wheel though i just wanted something that was a little different.


Silone74

[Rotarymotion]

While everyone is talking about wheels please could people answer the following questions that I have. I am fairly new to using a wheelchair (less than two years) and have only used conventional metal spoked wheels, all 24 inch. I am looking for lower rolling resistance; I already use high-pressure tyres at over 100 psi.

1. Are Spinergy and Spox the same wheels, or are they two different companies?

2. I understand Spinergy wheels are lighter to lift, but do they have a significantly lower rolling resistance, and if so how?

3. Spinergy wheels are very much more expensive, but I note that a lot of wheelchair users fit them, so I reckon there must be significant advantages to justify the much higher price. What are these advantages? I am willing to pay more for my wheels if I can significantly lower the rolling resistance, but I don't want to spend a lot of money and then be disappointed.

4. I have heard that larger wheels than 24 inch, i.e. 25" or 26" have lower rolling resistance. Can anyone who has used both sizes give me the benefit of their experience?

5. Does fitting 26 inch wheels mess up the alignment of the wheelchair?

6. How much difference to the rolling resistance do different castors make, and which type give the lowest rolling resistance?

Sorry to have so many questions, but I guess this is the best place to ask more experienced users.

[russ1]

Rotarymotion, on Oct 2 2007, 10:42 AM, said:

While everyone is talking about wheels please could people answer the following questions that I have. I am fairly new to using a wheelchair (less than two years) and have only used conventional metal spoked wheels, all 24 inch. I am looking for lower rolling resistance; I already use high-pressure tyres at over 100 psi.

1. Are Spinergy and Spox the same wheels, or are they two different companies?

2. I understand Spinergy wheels are lighter to lift, but do they have a significantly lower rolling resistance, and if so how?

3. Spinergy wheels are very much more expensive, but I note that a lot of wheelchair users fit them, so I reckon there must be significant advantages to justify the much higher price. What are these advantages? I am willing to pay more for my wheels if I can significantly lower the rolling resistance, but I don't want to spend a lot of money and then be disappointed.

4. I have heard that larger wheels than 24 inch, i.e. 25" or 26" have lower rolling resistance. Can anyone who has used both sizes give me the benefit of their experience?

5. Does fitting 26 inch wheels mess up the alignment of the wheelchair?

6. How much difference to the rolling resistance do different castors make, and which type give the lowest rolling resistance?

Sorry to have so many questions, but I guess this is the best place to ask more experienced users.

Spinergy are the manufacturers - spox is one of the models they produce. Their rolling resistance is no lower than a standard wheel - rolling resistance is a function of the tyre and the ground surface.

Weight is the main reason that spinergy market their wheels but to be honest most users get them for the 'bling' factor. However the biggest advantage IMHO it the open spoked nature makes them a lot easier to handle when removing / replacing wheels when getting in/out of the car. Another advntage is that they're generally well made so retain their true longer than most spoked wheelchair wheels which are generally very poorly made. This can however usually be corrected very cheaply by a trip to the bike shop to get a spoked wheel tensioned up properly. Keeping the overall weight of the chair (and it's load) down is important in reducing rolling resistance and the spinergy wheels can help with this (but to be honest eating a few less pies is usually a cheaper option). There's also the issue of rotating weight, a lower rotating weight helps make accelerating the chair easier, generally this is a good thing and makes pushing easier and hase the effect of reduciung apparent rolling resistance.

The thing is that a well made spoked wheel with the right hub / spoke / rim combination can be made to perform just as well as a spinergy with an almost negligable weight penalty at a much cheaper cost but unless you're prepared to build it yourself finding such a beast is almost impossible as most spoked wheelchair wheels are made with budget components so buying a spinergy is a sure way to get a quality wheel.

Yes a larger wheel does theoretically have a lower rolling resistance but the difference isn't marked on smooth surfaces, on bumpy surfaces or surfaces like grass it's more noticable. Fitting 26" wheels will mess up the alignment of your chair unless you can adjust the axle height to suit in which case after the proper adjustment it will be fine.

Castors will make quite a big difference to rolling resistance but again it depends very much on the surface you're on. On smooth surfaces a small rollerblade type castor will be best - on bumpy surfaces like cobbles you want a larger but still narrow castor and on soft surfaces like grass or snow you want a wide castor.

The other big factor which effect rolling resistance is the condition of the bearings in your wheels and castors - clean and well maintained bearings will make a huge difference over dirty or old bearings. Try cleaning the hair out of your castor bearings regularly if you don't already do so and you'll notice the difference.

However the single largest factor affecting rolling resistance is without doubt tyres, their profile, condition and pressure. My advice would be to spend some money on decent tyres, I recently changed from worn cheapo primo's to a good bike tyre (same pressure) and the difference was night and day. With 24" wheels you don't have that option but go for a good schalbe or continental wheelchair tyre and you'll see a big difference.

Hope that all helps - sorry it's not a simple answer.

[Rotarymotion]

Hope that all helps - sorry it's not a simple answer.

Thats a fantastic answer Russ; very many thanks. This is beginning to make sense. I have recently changed to Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres because of their smooth sidewalls and puncture resist layer, but I didn't notice any significant reduction in rolling resistance compared to cheaper taiwan tyres at the same pressure.
I will try some different castors next. I have two chairs, a Quickie GPV supplied by the National Health Service and a RGK titanium which I managed to get very cheaply second-hand. It is the castors on the latter that seem to take a lot of force to reverse direction, but not to just change direction through small angles. (I have checked the castor bearings and they seem ok). This makes me wonder if the castor offset is too small. Unfortunately this is fixed. These castors are 4 inch diameter but the centre 3/4 inch of the tyres are worn smooth so the contact area will be larger than when they were new.

Thanks again for all the information.

[Allimax]

Spinergy Spox........Awesome wheels !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Randall

[silone74]

Ok guys i have just taken delivery of my new wheels spinergy LX and they are awsome i was asked at the door to pay the tax on these and as stated above which i did not know until it was posted on here you dont have to pay it on wheelchair parts and so i informed the delivery guy who got on the phone to his boss and they said give the wheels to me and gave me a number to phone if i get a bill now this is an on going thing as i ordered some axles and got a letter the other day saying tax is due and they wont be delivered till it is paid so i phoned customs and sure enough no tax to pay but as the delivery agent had paid it already i have to pay and then claim it back now this is fair enough but quick to take the tax slow to reimburse springs to mind and i am sure that the customs themselves should be on the ball and know not to charge the duty to start with as the wheels where clearly marked wheelchair parts and i have ordered before with no problems from the same company and the package always states wheelchair parts,ok rant over lol back to the wheels they ROCK get spinergy wheels they are the best in my book and now i have my old spox from this chair for my old chair 2 that i use for my hand bike to fit on and it transforms the way the old one looks just by puting them on it.


Silone74

[OmniLee]

I've been considering Spinergy or X-Core 3. While the Spinergy are lighter, the look of the X-Core 3 is IMHO far better. Has anyone used both types of wheels? If so, could you tell me which you like better and why? I appreciate any information that you can offer.