'Off road' wheelchair for child?

justlikethat_2

Yes we had a mountain buggy three wheeler which was great. We used it till she was six and really thought that was the limit for a few reasons

• I felt there was more danger of it tipping the heavier and taller the child using it was.
• we couldn't use the canopy and therefore the raincover once she got too tall
• it is basically a buggy and we felt it made her look a little 'babyish'.

I got a reply though from Trekinetic http://www.trekinetic.com/ who say that their chair comes in three leg lengths (short, standard, long) and that their youngest customer so far is seven!. This seems encouraging so I will try arrange a try out with their agents in Glasgow during the Easter hols.

justlikethat_2

pazza wrote: »

I’ve just had a nice email back from the makers of Hippocampe.

It come in 4 sizes, (small, medium, large and XL) the only difference being the length of the frame.

The large/XL (adult size) is £2325! Which seems ridiculous considering a bespoke wheelchair costs less. Plus I’d only use it for a couple of hours every year. Plus it looks like it cost about £20 to make! :mad:


Shame really , because it looks like a decent product.

Wow when we tried one out about 18 months ago we were quoted a price around £1500 for the smallest size. That was when the pound was high however and as it comes from a French company the new euro exchange rate might explain a lot of the increase!

The Trekinetic is not cheap either £2295 is the basic model and if we decide to get one we might need to spend another £400 on extras!

Do you have any contacts or ideas about sourcing a bespoke chair as I hadn't really thought about that option yet.

justlikethat_2

Just to note that we have arranged to try out two chairs in the next couple of months, one is the Trekinetic http://www.trekinetic.com/ which looks like the best offroader. The other is the Cheetah from R82 http://www.r82.com/Default.aspx?ID=472 which can have a three wheel version but does not look as good off road.

If anyone has any other ideas / experience all suggestions gratefully received!

pazza

Hello again Justlikethat,

I'd agree that the Trekinetic looks like the best off-road chair, however using it indoors would be a nightmare. Its big heavy tyres would make it hard to push and difficult to manouver. Also its big wheel at the back makes it impossible to back-wheel balance, so getting up and down kerbs would be a problem. I think even Trekinetic would admit this would be a useless everyday wheelchair.

I've just had a look at the Cheetah and it looks good. I like how the seat height, width etc are all adjustable, making it ideal for a growing child. It looks absolutely fine for an indoor/everyday wheelchair. However with its thin wheels and small castors, using it on rough terrain would be very difficult, I'm not sure if the three wheeled option would make that much difference.

The problem is, as far as I know, there is no such thing as a manual wheelchair for both indoor and off-road use. The main problem being wheels; for indoor you need thin, solid tyres, and for off-road you need big bouncy mountain bike tyres.

What you could look into is buying a second set of off-road wheels for the Cheetah. Use it as it is for indoor/outdoor (pavement NOT off-road) home, school etc, and when you go anywhere with rough terrain just change the wheels.

Anyway, try them out, see what you think. Try both wheelchairs indoors and outdoors.
And let me know what you think of the Trekinetic, I hope it's as good as it looks!

Funnily enough, I've just bought myself a Top End Crossfire All Terrain Wheelchair (http://www.invacare.com/cgi-bin/imhqprd/inv_catalog/prod_cat_detail.jsp?s=0&prodID=CRFAT&catOID=-536885222)
Glastonbury here I come!

All the best.

justlikethat_2

Thanks Pazza for the input. You can get a spare set of wheels for the trekinetic which could then have any 26inch tyres you like on them. My daughter does not self propel but that still means kerbs would be a problem! The back wheel does have a sort of gas suspension (like you get on office chairs) but this still wouldn't help it to tip back, I will ask the rep about that one.

The idea would be that she would still have her NHS chair (Blade) for in the classroom etc. but if we went outdoors / camping etc. with her new chair I would still like to be able to use it when stopping off at a cafe or the shops on the way home. Having to take two chairs is not an option, I would rather it was easier 'offroad' even if that meant it was a little more difficult indoors.

Hope Glastonbury turns out fine (dry at least!). We were all at the Wickerman Festival near Dumfries last year and it was great (used a Moti Activ three wheeler made by JCM which is sadly too small now and out of production!). Your new Crossfire chair looks the business!

skipsmum

I'm running the kids area at glastonbury this year, so make sure you come and visit me!