Wheelchair auxiliary snow chains

A creative Berliner

has mounted tie-wraps to his bicycle tyre so that he can better ride on snow and ice.

Self-made tie-wrap wheelchair snow chains

This probably works with wheelchair tyres as well.

He also rides on Schwalbe Marathon tyres, like most of the wheelers.

Have a look yourself, ingeniously simple and cost-efficient!

Link: Video at Spiegel-Online

Just try it out and write a comment.

In Frankfurt there is no snow anymore, so I can’t test it!

Thanks to Hajo for the info.

However, I wouldn’t ride across the parquet floor any more.

Read this old blogpost and exchange in winter right and left wheelchair tyre if necessary:

Link: Running direction of “Schwalbe” tyres

I assume no liability for this tip!

Translator BL

It’s all a question of hardware…!!!

Today I was on tour with my Minitrac (see older blogposts) for the first time in the snow.

With its tractor tyres it is a perfect technical aid.

Translator BL

Low Budget Wheelchair Lighting

It seems to be the general opinion that all wheelchair bound folks have got to be home before dark, which is currently in the wintertime at around 4 pm. Otherwise, those intelligent people who design wheelchairs would show a little more concern about the visibility of wheelchairs in the dark and in traffic.

I can’t fathom that hand-operated wheelchairs only have two tiny red reflectors in the back.
With a little luck there may be some reflective lights somewhere or better yet reflective tires.

I find it controversial that no active wheelchair that I know of comes with a reflector to the front, let alone a front or rear tail light.
I wrote about this problem in former articles (click here).

I recently installed a small red LED tail light that flashes when needed, at the rear of my chair frame. The light is quite bright and it is called Froglight.

Frog or Froglights

Froglights are originally made for handlebars and seats on bicycles. They are available in red and white LEDs and they flash.

For us wheelchair bound folks these little lights are great, because the rubber bands can simply be wrapped around the frame tubes and easily switched on by pressing on them.

They are available for a mere 3.00 € and up on EBay or Amazon.

In addition I attached the reflective tape of a 2.00 € safety vest to my backpack and the backrest of my chair.

Click on the image below to watch a small video that shows how bright the Frogligts are.

Translator BW

Low Budget Wheelchair Lighting

It seems to be the general opinion that all wheelchair bound folks have got to be home before dark, which is currently in the wintertime at around 4 pm. Otherwise, those intelligent people who design wheelchairs would show a little more concern about the visibility of wheelchairs in the dark and in traffic.

I can’t fathom that hand-operated wheelchairs only have two tiny red reflectors in the back.
With a little luck there may be some reflective lights somewhere or better yet reflective tires.

I find it controversial that no active wheelchair that I know of comes with a reflector to the front, let alone a front or rear tail light.
I wrote about this problem in former articles (click here).

I recently installed a small red LED tail light that flashes when needed, at the rear of my chair frame. The light is quite bright and it is called Froglight.

Frog or Froglights

Froglights are originally made for handlebars and seats on bicycles. They are available in red and white LEDs and they flash.

For us wheelchair bound folks these little lights are great, because the rubber bands can simply be wrapped around the frame tubes and easily switched on by pressing on them.

They are available for a mere 3.00 € and up on EBay or Amazon.

In addition I attached the reflective tape of a 2.00 € safety vest to my backpack and the backrest of my chair.

Click on the image below to watch a small video that shows how bright the Frogligts are.

Translator BW

I have nominated the FreeWheel 2012 as technical aid of the year.

I don’t want to repeat the whole blogpost here, so please see yourself the Blogpost 2012 FreeWheel.

It is a spoked wheel in the size of a children’s bicycle which you can clamp to the footrest in front of your wheelchair. This thing is ingenious and in permanent use for me.

Uneven paths, curbs, cobble stone, sand, gravel, grass and of course snow are no barrier anymore with the FreeWheel.

In the past the FreeWheel was only available for rigid frame wheelchairs. I bought from the inventor Patrick Dougherty his sample wheel for the trade fair and clamped it by magic on my foldable wheelchair with end-to-end footrest.

I sent him the pictures of my variant of wheelchair adaption, and he gave some thought about an adaptor.

After 2 years of development there is officially a FreeWheel Adaptor for foldable wheelchairs available since spring 2014.

Unfortunately only for wheelchairs with split footrest, as far as I understood.

FreeWheel adaptor for foldable wheelchairs

For questions as usual please contact: rollinator@eigude.de

Translator BL

It is rumoured that I am a bit like a woman with a quirk for shoes with my collection of various wheelchair tyres.

Well… ok, I confess guilty… see older blogpost concerning the subject wheelchair tyres !!!

It is difficult to explain to a pedestrian how much the driving characteristics of a wheelchair can change if you only change the tyres. Plus according to my opinion a wheelchair may also look nice.

The wheelchair mirrors a bit the soul of the driver!

Show me the wheelchair, and I prepare a complete psychological profile of the owner.

You need the right tyre for each occasion, or would you go into the opera with hiking boots… ehhh… mountainbike tyres???

I was somehow missing such an opera tyre…

Like girls fancy pink and bling-bling, boys have always been crazy about chrome.

Of course I have this Y-Chrome-osome as well.

When I saw in the depths of the internet this blinking wheelchair tyre with more than 140 spokes

and the mighty racing nut in the middle I immediately had to think of James Bond and his Aston Martin DB05 from Goldfinger and Thunderball.

Source: jamesbond.wikia.com

My second thought was, these wheels with their white sidewall tyres want to be put on my wheelchair quickly.

I think they look great, the chrome trims on the dress guard were there before. The blue steering forks will of course be exchanged.

What do you think, a chrome radiator grill between the legs is already under discussion

Translator BL

For me a dirty and squeaking wheelchair is an absolute NOGO…ehhh… NODRIVE…!!!

Even shoes are every now and then cleaned and injected with impregnation.

A wheelchair may also look nicely (see older blogpost).

Quite often the small plastic parts on the frame e.g. on the joint of a foldable wheelchair are the squeaking originators which are stressing my nerves a little.

Inject all moving parts with silicone spray*…!!!

Attention: If possible use silicone spray only outside, because if the silicone film gets on e.g. laminate this becomes so smooth that the next pedestrian can fall badly. Also use a mask over mouth and nose!!!! (see additional security advice below)

For wheelchair maintenance I recommend to clean the wheelchair beforehand with common cleaning agents. This may also happen more often than only before Christmas and Easter. At the same time you should also put oil or grease on the axes (see older blogpost).

Stainless steel cleanser is due to its lubricants not recommendable for footrest and hand rims, unless you would like to go downhill without braking the wheelchair.

Tips for hand rim covers click here

If the wheelchair is a bit more dirty only the car wash will help…

It is not my wheelchair which you can see on the picture above, but its brother, last shower about 2 years ago. If you have a closer look, the wheelchair is not dirty, but has a protective coat

I got stuck in the mud once in Austria with my wheelchair… to see the blogpost click here

But seriously, the guys from the car wash almost all have a steam blaster!!!

Security advice*:

Allegedly silicone vapours can accumulate in the lung. As a precaution you should use a mask or at least put a tissue on mouth and nose.

With a clean and de-squeaked wheelchair you can even go again to the opera

Translator BL

You can always find something new on the Rehacare in Düsseldorf.

However you have to look closely at some vehicles to recognize the range of use.

Quite often you see things from the past coming back. This supposed-to-be new technical achievement is obviously a medieval upgrade.

An

Offroad Palanquin Chair

with a battery-powered supporting middle wheel is quite special.

It is made by: www.ferriol-matrat.com and makes trekking tours through virtually every terrain possible. The company also makes other innovative technical aids.

There is also the variant of a

Semi-palanquin Offroad Chair

with two middle wheels so that the wheelchair doesn’t fall over, for just one pusher.

You can rent such a wheelchair in various places in Germany for trekking tours. For more detailed information please contact the producer!!!

Now I just need two sherpas, and I can climb the Taunus mountain range again via the north face

Translator BL

I am asked frequently how it is to be “bonded” to the wheelchair…???

Usually I look down at me, smile and say, I don’t see any bonds.

The other day I was with my wheeler mate David in the new skate park next to the European Central Bank in Frankfurt when we heard that question again.

We were both grinning because just in this moment he really “bonded“ himself to his wheelchair to turn a round…

Frankfurt East meets Frankfurt West

David “Dat Lebbe” Lebuser,

the future German ChairSkating legend

For all who missed the report “To the limit in a chair ” on German television

Here the direct link to the media library.

He is one of the pioneers in our country who are shredding with their chair through the half pipe and do some tricks in the skater park.

When he rolls to the edge of the halfpipe he has enough space most of the times because the skaters and bikers stand still and watch extremely interested if the guy with the chair really wants to get down there.

“ChairSkating”

is already popular in the USA for some time, and even kids have fun with it.

Just have a look into Youtube under WCMX, there are a lot of cool videos.

Some weeks ago, the German Wheelchair Sport Association has organized a workshop for “Chairskating” with young people and of course David.
You should be quite fit to try out this sport.

When you pursue this sport reasonably with appropriate protection equipment and special wheelchair, the risk for injuries is manageable.

A hand cycle is fairly inappropriate for the half pipe

I have decided to engage in the future instead of Chair skating into Extreme Wheelchair Origami.

Translator BL

I have already pointed out several times that you are hardly seen by the car drivers as wheelchair user in the dark, and that the upgrade with reflectors on the wheelchair can actually prolong one’s life (see older blogpost).

For the 18-year-old kids who think their highly tuned 65 hp small car would need apart from the blue-red blinking footwell area illumination an absolute highlight on the outside there are luminescent valve caps.

When the wheels are turning the battery-driven lamps in different colours are starting to glow or blink.
It’s quite impressive and immediately attracts the attention of the police… wasn’t there something about road traffic regulations…

For us wheelchair users these little lamps are great. You are turning the wheel a little bit, it is blink-blinking, and you are well noticed in traffic and also at street fairs by pedestrians.

You can buy them for just a few Euros in Ebay, partially even directly from Hongkong. So far all shipments from China have arrived undamaged at my home.

These lamps are working for months without changing the batteries.

I am using them on my beloved FreeWheel (see blogpost), a single spoke wheel which is clamped to the footrest of the wheelchair.

I have given a set of these lights to my wheeler friend, and he screwed them directly onto his wheelchair.

He was really stopped by the police when he was just coming out of the pharmacy, and he should have paid a ticket because of the illegal illumination of his wheelchair.
For each running wheel 5 Euro fine because of blue instead of orange illumination, and because the valve caps didn’t have an off-switch another 2 x 5 Euros on top.

What a nonsense… these are the regulations for a bicycle…

20 Euro fine because the police can’t distinguish a wheelchair from a bicycle…!!!

My friend asked the officers to send him the ticket with the corresponding paragraphs home and announced the probable publication of the incident on the EIGUDE internet blog.

Unfortunately we are still waiting for the ticket to be sent since a couple of months now

Translator BL

During my last stay in the wheelchair hotel Mar y Sol in Tenerife (see older blogposts) I wanted to do some physical training when I met the Scotswoman Mary.

On her wheelchair two aluminium tubes were fixed with hose clamps which made me a bit curious.

Even I didn’t know what to do with this construction!!!

On my enquiry it turned out that you put those sticks into the tubes with which you push the rocks at wheelchair Curling. Curling is a very common sport in Scotland. If the term Curling doesn’t mean anything to some of you, it is a sport similar to ice stock sport, but Olympic.

When she took out a black bandage glove which looked a little as if she wanted to enter the boxing ring with me for twelve rounds instead of spreading the ping-pong balls broadly in the gym she started to scare me.

With this special velcro tape glove type Hand Grip she is holding the stick at wheelchair curling with which the rock is pushed, a ping-pong or badminton racket or hockey stick tight in her hand. This is working excellently even though she is quadriplegic like me and has very limited finger functions.

You can use the glove especially well for working out with weights, or supposedly for playing with the “Wii”.

Maybe I should start with a 500 gram weight first, but I do everything for a good shot

The glove is from the English company active hands, who are specialised in gripping aids for handicapped (as well for kids).

www.activehands.com

I have ordered such a glove in England. It was delivered within a week. The price is quite high with 65 €, but justified.

When you order the glove online beware that the check mark is set for “left glove”. But you can put the left glove on the right hand without problems

The English have always been a little “twisted”, this is probably because the genetic pool of the islanders is exhausted

Now I can finally hold a little hammer when I urgently need to consult my piggy bank.

Translator BL

Strictly speaking, a wheelchair is nothing else than a shoe!!!

It is not owned by yourself, but by your medical supply store.

Refurbishment and reconstruction are only allowed to be done by the medical supply store for insurance reasons

Except for cleaning you are not allowed to do anything officially…!!!

However I also recommend regular greasing and oiling (see older blogpost).

With a newly prescribed wheelchair you are usually allowed to select the colour, but this is the utmost individuality you can get.

Of course a wheelchair has to fit primarily from a medical point of view, but where is it written that it should not look stylish as well.

The look of the wheelchair reflects the soul of its owner… ommm…

I really have to work on my meditation… eh, medication, well, this is a little bit right however…!!!

The easiest way to change the appearance of your wheelchair is to fix spoke protector discs with motif on the running wheels.

The original reason for spoke protector discs is that such a “buckled finger” like me doesn’t clamp his fingers in the spokes.

Children get these quite expensive discs with logos from football clubs or motifs from Princess Lilifee and other kids characters paid by the health insurance, and the kids are very proud how great their wheelchair is looking.

As old guy you have to pay the discs yourself or drive around with the original health insurance shopper look.

Depending on the company, you have a choice of dozens of motifs “ready-made”, but you can get almost every picture printed on the discs as well.
Believe me, I have seen quite weird things.

You can let your creativity “run wild“.

I have now got my own discs produced, in fact according to my own design with personal reference:

With such an eye-catcher the wheelchair is not so much seen as medical device anymore and can even ease some situations. Especially kids react unbiased to the motif and don’t have any fear of contact.

I have got the discs produced at an innovative family company (contact on request at rollinator@eigude.de).

If you are on 25.-27. April 2013 visiting the REHAB in Karlsruhe, keep the eyes open if you discover my motif at one of the booths

A physiotherapist noticed once with expert’s eye that the lion is an above-knee amputee…
I was just in this moment in the swimming pool, forgot to move the arms and was almost drowning.

Translator BL

Next Blogpost on 01.03.