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A real rarity:
Bought by a German in the USA and photo taken by me in Spain, an
This scooter is completely foldable. With its two batteries it has coverage of around 15 kilometers. Basic but functional.
The grey colour reminds somehow of the military!
Translator BL
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Los Cristianos in the south of Tenerife is exceedingly accessible, but quite hilly and only to cope for fit wheelchair users or with extreme pusher.
Wheelchairs, rollators, crutches and rented scooters or electric wheelchairs belong to the townscape.
An alternative to electric wheelchair or scooter is an approximately 60 kg heavy, little tractive.
I call this thing a mobile cider crate.
With some practice the docking is quite easy. The tractive power is remarkable. I didn’t have any difficulties with gradients, provided that the floor plates were not too slippery.
Curbs are no hurdles at all. The docking bar in the mid of the wheelchair can be de-installed easily, even with a foldable wheelchair.
The some year old Minitrac has passed my 10 day test quite well. Although it was mounted to my wheelchair in a little unconventional-creative-spanish way, it was technically absolutely alright.
The Minitrac a German and the Swisstrac a Swiss product are quite similar. I only heard good things about the Swisstrac, but haven’t tested it yet. I have seen the new Swisstrac on a fair, the new docking station is easy to handle for quadriplegics.
I like these small things, and they fit into any trunk, if a well-trained pedestrian is found to lift it.
The colour was disgusting: pinkish red with glitter effect! Ugh…
There is one comment worth to be translated from the chief engineer of Swisstrac
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When I was at the last rehab fair I have tested an assumed new wheelchair drive. It is called
NuDrive
and is basically not a bad idea. For para- or quadriplegics like me without abdominal muscles and a disposition to fall forward out of the wheelchair it might not be suitable.
By pulling on two handles the driving wheels are turned independently from each other, and by pushing the brakes are applied. Unfortunately these things only have one gear so that you only get faster if you are “paddling” faster.
Even if I wouldn’t purchase this drive, it makes driving considerably easier if you don’t have much power. I like it that it has been thought about us quadriplegics as well with wristbands.
Somehow I think to have seen something similar on age-old wheelchairs…
Translator BL
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After two weeks
 Technical Aids Testing
on Tenerife I am online again!
Here endurance test of the wheelchair tractive “Minitrac” in high temperature range.
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I think that this special pen might be quite helpful for many fellows who can’t grip very well any more. It is also available rubberized. This pen was probably developed by a concerned person.
I think the
is great.
If you don’t have much power to write I recommend DVD labelling pens.
Translator BL
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The market for technical aids is huge.
There is almost everything you can imagine in the broadest sense. The problem is not only that this stuff is unreasonably expensive, but also apparently nobody has ever tested it.
The Taiwanese fabricate a basically ingenious key holder, like a Suisse Army Knife.
This can be found in almost every catalogue for technical aids.
Because of its size the key holder can be grasped even with limited finger functions. If the key is stuck in the lock the holder is bent by 90° so that you can open the lock due to the big lever with your “little finger”!!!
Attention: If someone else wants to open a door with your key holder please point out to him that a key can be broken off quickly with this technical aid.
The bad thing is that our European keys are a little thicker than the Asian ones and therefore don’t fit in. Such technical aids disappear in the cupboard, like the food processer from the home shopping channel. I have adjusted my
accordingly (filed the slots and provided with a longer screw), and I am using it daily.
Last year on the rehab fair I have pointed out this deficit to the Taiwanese. Yesterday I was at the Rehacare in Düsseldorf, but I didn’t see the key holder any more.
Translator BL
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Every now and then even I am speechless.
It’s not a secret that I am football fan of Eintracht Frankfurt.
My cousin has given the official
Eintracht Frankfurt Fan Rucksack
to me as a present. Of course I have positively noticed that the rucksack has plenty of reflectors.
This rucksack has additionally two hangers on the side.
The only logically use of these hangers is to be able to hang the rucksack over the handles of a wheelchair.
Simply great, it fits!
Wheelchair hangers
Was it a manufacturing error, or did they have a wheelchair driver as designer?
This rucksack is of course “not“ available for other football clubs.
Translator BL
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With my
“Buckled Fingers”,
I know politically correct it is of course just an impairment of motor skills of hands and fingers, it is
not possible for me any more
to start a fire with a customary
lighter or matches.
A couple of years ago this was still essential for survival.
Nowadays it is fortunately not that important any more, provided that you are in possession of a functional microwave and central heating.
I had quit smoking a couple of months before the accident so that I didn’t bother specifically about making fire in the last 2,5 years.
Rather by coincidence I noticed that these
long gas lighters
can be operated without any finger function.
Now even I can light a tea candle again.
Translator BL
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As wheelchair using quadriplegic rainy weather simply sucks!
With wet rubber hand rims it is hardly possible for me to turn the driving wheels so that I can’t move any more.
It would be just a bit inconvenient to take a shower undesirably for the second time in a day, but if I am standing on a hillside the braking gets a bit critical respectively almost impossible.
Such a big
rain cape for cyclists
is in my opinion a good and low price solution.
It doesn’t always have to have a medical device number.
My hand rims stay dry to a large extent.
The cape should be shortened appropriately.
Be careful that it doesn’t get in the wheels.
Spoke protector discs are beneficial.
Ducks like water, but I haven’t seen something like this before.
It is raining day and night there.
This duck probably has
neoprene feathers
Translator BL
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If you as quadriplegic like me or for which reason ever don’t have any power in hands and fingers, such a
turning knob on the inside of a toilet door
is getting a real challenge.
Closing the locks is “going“ rather well, but then!!!
If you are not particularly interested to meet consistently your friend from the fire brigade it is beneficial to always have a
Silicon cap
with you which you usually use to open bottles (see older blogpost).
This
excellent turning knob
I have discovered on a disabled toilet in Bregenz (Austria).
Did actually somebody put good thoughts on it, or was it all about the design?!
Translator BL
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Each supposed holiday with like-minded people turns inevitably into a workshop of a
Support Group of medical device marred
wheelchair drivers and prosthesis wearers.
It is unbelievable what is screwed together by some experts (luminaries) in the medical supply stores.
Even I don’t have these special
Spinergy driving wheels
in my tuning equipment.
Such a specialist actually has fiddled a set of tyres type
Nan** Speed 80 Plus
on these precious wheels, what a sacrilege!
Words were dropped, it would be like a Ferrari
driving with Trabbi tyres.
** NAN, like grandmother 
Translator BL
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Because of the paralysis of my legs the muscles of my thighs are flagged in such a way, i.e. flat, that they meanwhile form a quite acceptable transport table. The biggest difficulty is just to convince the legs not to drift outside when they are used as deposit for e.g. a bottle of non-alcoholic beer. The dropping rate is considerable. I am not alone with this kind of issue.
Many wheelchair drivers build a rather symbiotic relationship with their knee tray.
I have already seen a self-constructed knee tray coated with green felt, with which at night probably a game of poker is played for the small pension.
So far so good!
At the Swedes with the big yellow and blue shopping bags I have discovered an excellent
knee tray type BRĂ„DA (new name BYLLAN).
Officially it is a laptop knee table with mobile phone pocket on the side.
The shape nestles ergonomically against my
six-bake belly. 
A non-slip reel has to be put on it still!
Safety instruction:
The BRĂ„DA (new name BYLLAN) is not a medical device.
No liability is assumed for falling parts.
It doesn’t have a medical device number and can’t be prescribed by the doctor. The immense acquisition costs of 14,95 € have to be completely borne by the patient and are not tax-deductible.
Translator BL
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Before my accident 2001 my hobby was the restoration of old mopeds of the former GDR (German Democratic Republic).
Amongst other things I still own a hand throttle operated
Handicap vehicle type:
Simson/Brandis Duo 4/1, year of construction 1982.
I have rebuilt the DUO a “bit” to West German standard.
The vehicle has a 50 cc engine and makes officially 50 km/h.
As you can see there are no pedals. Gears are changed with the left arm without clutch, with the right arm the handle bar is pushed for gas, and when brake is needed the whole handle bar is pushed forward.
With the Duo I drove after almost 4 years of restoration (1024 working hours) with my wife to the town hall in Frankfurt to get married.
I am still hoping that my strength and upper body stability will increase some time in that way that I can take a ride again.
If somebody needs technical support with Simson mopeds or spare parts, I still have around 600 kg.
Officially the DUO is a vehicle for handicapped .
Translator BL
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I have mentioned already several times that I am again an
active car driver.
I have already introduced the wheelchair loading system of my car, but I have completely disregarded all the special modifications inside the car.
To begin with, basically driving a car is very, very simple, if you only have obtained your wheelchair car driving licence.
(see older blogpost).
The wheelchair is placed on the side of the driver’s door of the car and one glides from the wheelchair with the help of a
foldaway slide board
across the gap called door sill to the driver’s seat. The door sills are getting wider and wider due to the side-collision protection. It facilitates the process if the driver’s door has been opened completely before.
Then as reported 2x click-clack (see older blogpost) and the wheelchair is loaded behind the driver’s seat with the wheelchair loading system!
(Well, at least roughly, if the agency for technical relief or the fire department are nearby to help.)
There are the most different
hand throttle systems,
depending on the needs of the driver. Usually the car has an automatic gearbox. A relatively common equipment is that you have a transmission mechanic near the thigh with which the foot pedals are pressed with arm and hand.
In my case it is working like this that for accelerating a perceived
door handle (hand throttle)
is pushed downwards, and for breaking the complete construction is pushed forward. This is quite fun if the “sport button” is pushed, you have 140 horsepower beneath the butt and you just have to bend your hand. This happens approximately once in 6 weeks because afterwards my butt is always hurting.
The small black switch
is pure luxury. With it you can blink, honk, activate the windscreen wipers and turn on the emergency flasher. With the second switch you can turn up the headlights. The button on the left is the fixing brake. Light and rain sensor go without saying.
For steering I am using a
steering fork,
It is comparable to a tuning fork in which I can lay my hands, and I turn the steering wheel with my arm, because I can’t grab a turning knob which is known from a tractor (see first picture above). Instead I would still be allowed to drive a tractor with hand throttle (see blogpost wheelchair driving licence).What a joke.
The modification of the hand brake
reminds a little of modern art, but works when needed. Good that my car has a “P” (parking) position.
In front of the pedals there is a removable plate mounted so that nothing happens if my body decides to kick with the legs what actually happens from time to time.
• A set of harness belts is a must due to my missing abdominal muscles.
• I have set a speed control button next to the hand throttle.
• An air condition is not bad if one can’t sweat any more.
• A remote-controlled park heating should be installed as well,
because scraping ice in the winter is quite difficult for a wheelchair driver.
In spite of these modifications any pedestrian can drive the car as well if he removes the safety plate from the pedals.
Thus the value of a boring Astra increases suddenly, and nobody notices it, if you are not “posing” with your wheelchair loading system.
A small lottery winning does not harm to help financing the car.
Translator BL
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When you like me don’t belong to the desirable society of occupational accidents* it should be well-considered which special equipment is chosen in addition to the health insurance wheelchair and has to be paid by oneself of course.
The hospital wheelchair which I was using then was a new special edition and was very good to drive.
I applied for this model in a slightly slimmed-down version and got it approved.
The aluminum steering wheels were a must, aren’t they cool?
The steering wheels have hard rubber tyres and are slim.
The tyres were great in the hospital. Really smooth, such a corridor.
For someone like me who wasn’t able to move anyway and can’t ride on the rear tyres these wheels were
like hell out in the wild.
At the smallest joint, hole or best cobble stone the wheelchair abruptly stopped. I didn’t like that at all that I was sometimes faster than my wheelchair. Additionally the bearings have conked out after 6 months even though I rarely left my flat.
I changed from hard and slim 4 inch (10,16 cm) wheels to soft and broader
5 inch (12,70 cm) steering wheels.
Now even I can go to the old town to drink a coke.
Unfortunately I have to see something like this consistently!
Get a prescription for repair from your physician, and the medical supply store “should” take care about the exchange.
You don’t drive your car with bald tyres either.
* Expenses covered by employer’s accident insurance
The employer’s accident insurance pays almost everything, e.g. a carport so that you can reach the house dry-shoed from the partially sponsored car over the new ramp to levitate like a little angel through your staircase with a wheelchair suspension track.
Great society, I’ll join in!
Translator BL
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