Engineering for fun

[plantmom]

I'd noticed that one of the people at work who use wheelchairs didn't have any tread on the tires.  I'm guessing they're always like that, but I asked Rob, "Isn't that difficult in the snow?", and the response was a heartfelt "Yes

Comments

[firynze]

I'm pretty sure they DO make snow tires for wheelchairs, but it's quite the process to change out your tires and they're not exactly cheap, either. If the zipties work, great!

[plantmom]

I'm sorry about my inaccurate statement. Yours makes sense, though, about the cost and effort involved. This guy is hoping to get a new chair sometime - to the tune of $26K. Yeah, I bet new tires aren't cheap. :-/

The other neat thing about the zipties? They're easily removed when they're not necessary any more.

BTW, I just Googled snow tires for wheelchairs, and you're right,they do exist, but I also found a forum where people write about such things, and it's evident it's a difficult situation for many such people. Someone else suggested wrapping bungie cords around the tires. Lovely idea, but can you imagine if one of those suckers let loose while you were wheeling somewhere? OMG, it could take an eye out! At least the ty-wraps won't be a hazard in the waiting.

[firynze]

And that's for a manual chair. A very good friend of mine has to use an electric - it's ungodly expensive.

I wonder if you could get mountain bike tires and wrap them around the wheelchair tires?

[plantmom]

I don't know. I think I've thought, and done, enough about this. Rob doesn't have a reliable computer; he couldn't look up the pics I saw. Under the circumstances, I think he's probably lucky that I did what I did.

[bill_sheehan]

Great idea, and I'm delighted it worked so well.

[ellettra]

Go you! Way to be awesomely inventive! You probably made that guy's day/week/season!!

[plantmom]

Darling elletra, thank you. As I said to someone else just now, that kind of info should be freely available, somehow. I just don't know how/where to post it.
I don't want credit, I just want to make as many people's lives better as I can.

[cordelia_sue]

Oooh, I saw that tip for DIY snow tires too! Unfortunately, it only works for people with disc brakes, and it's wasteful if you remove them when it's not snowing. But I still think it's a very cool idea.

Your modding it for a wheelchair is AWESOME. I'm so glad it worked well for him too.

[plantmom]

You mean on cars? Holy crap, I can't quite see how you'd do that, but hey, I'm proud as heck that it worked for Rob. I hope somehow someone publishes it in such a way to make it readily available for the people who need it.
That kind of information should be freely available, in my opinion.

[cordelia_sue]

No, no, on bikes. We bike exclusively for transportation, and I've considered jury rigging some kind of snow tire setup, since it doesn't snow often enough here to make it worthwhile to purchase a set of snow tires (really, you'd want a whole new set of wheels to swap on and off quickly).

I just make do with riding my mountain bike, which has fairly fat tires. I deflate them slightly, go slow, and am always ready to put a foot down. It works okay, since again, we don't get that much snow. No big hills for me most of the time either.

Kudos again to a job well done!

[plantmom]

Thank you. When I started doing research, I encountered an anecdote posted by someone who uses a power chair. She slid sideways down a curb-cut and fell sideways in the street in front of an oncoming car. Holy shit. Luckily, the driver was paying attention and stopped in time.
We who are able totally take for granted our abilities, in my opinion.