Custom Wheels (and other things)!

[KPeveler]

I have had spoked wheels for years and I have never had a problem with maintenance on them. Mine are much lighter than my old mag wheels, so it made quite a difference to me. I am not very kind to my wheelchair (I am at DL constantly, up and down hills on rough ground, etc), so I don't know what I am doing right, but apparently I am doing something because other than needing to replace tires, I have had no problems.

I just replaced my tires with new Kenda knobby tires with blue sidewalls. I am excited they started making 1 3/8" tires that look cool, because I was getting sick of plain grey ones!

My chair is black, but I am thinking of getting a dark purple one next time, or keeping it black or silver and getting blue "accents" (like blue Spinergy spokes)


The thing I want most are Natural-Fit handrims - not only do they look cool but they are so much better for your hands!

 

[SueM in MN]

I have had spoked wheels for years and I have never had a problem with maintenance on them. Mine are much lighter than my old mag wheels, so it made quite a difference to me. I am not very kind to my wheelchair (I am at DL constantly, up and down hills on rough ground, etc), so I don't know what I am doing right, but apparently I am doing something because other than needing to replace tires, I have had no problems.

I just replaced my tires with new Kenda knobby tires with blue sidewalls. I am excited they started making 1 3/8" tires that look cool, because I was getting sick of plain grey ones!

My chair is black, but I am thinking of getting a dark purple one next time, or keeping it black or silver and getting blue "accents" (like blue Spinergy spokes)


The thing I want most are Natural-Fit handrims - not only do they look cool but they are so much better for your hands!

When DD had spoked wheels, we did find we needed to check and tighten the spokes occasionally. It wasn't a job that needed to be done often and was not hard to do, but was something else to remember to do.
I don't know if there have been advancements since then, but that may have improved.

My DD did get the Natural Fit hand rims with her last manual chair. They are quite nice, but are painted and the paint does scrape off firly easily. ( they looked so nice when they were new).

 

[peemagg]

I also have the Natural Fit hand rims, and love them!! It is nice for when you are going any speed and need to slow that you can use your thumb as a brake (as long as you have gloves on. Painful without them! Learned the hard way ). I have not had any issue with the paint peeling yet.

 

[SueM in MN]

I also have the Natural Fit hand rims, and love them!! It is nice for when you are going any speed and need to slow that you can use your thumb as a brake (as long as you have gloves on. Painful without them! Learned the hard way ). I have not had any issue with the paint peeling yet.

I should clarify.
The paint hasn't peeled off. It has scraped off - mostly from trying to get close to things, like on WDW buses.

 

[WheelieBigDisFan]

I have the red Spinergy LX wheels with Natural Fit handrims. I don't think my NF's are "painted" but rather anodized. I have scratched my NF's on numerous occasions on things like concrete, brick, etc. and have had sharp burrs occur in the process. I take a fine sandpaper to make them smooth again, but despite scratching and sandpapering my handrims I have not had problems with paint coming off. The areas that are a little silver from being scratched I could fill in with sharpie and they look "new-ish" again.

 

[SunshineTaradise]

I have Spina Bifida(lesion is T12) and I've been a fulltime chair user my whole life. After dealing with spoked wheels for the longest time, I got Spinergy LX wheels on my newest chair (rigid TiLite ZR). My chair is so light and getting my chair in and out of my car (i have a mazda RX-8) is really easy! I have not had any issues with my spinergy wheels at all. No loose or broken spokes ever! I also have Kenda tires on my chair. They're air-filled but they have a layer of Kevlar underneath which makes it's nearly impossible to get a flat! They also provide a much smoother ride than a lot of solid tires out there. Only drawback is they're really hard to change because they are wire-beaded.

 

[SueM in MN]

I have the red Spinergy LX wheels with Natural Fit handrims. I don't think my NF's are "painted" but rather anodized. I have scratched my NF's on numerous occasions on things like concrete, brick, etc. and have had sharp burrs occur in the process. I take a fine sandpaper to make them smooth again, but despite scratching and sandpapering my handrims I have not had problems with paint coming off. The areas that are a little silver from being scratched I could fill in with sharpie and they look "new-ish" again.

You are right.
I took a closer look at DD's hand rims and what I thought was paint scratches are actually scratches in the metal.

What can I say, she is tough on her wheelchairs.

 

[WheeledTraveler]

I've never figured out how to not scratch up my pushrims. I have annodized normal push rims and within a year of getting them they had some scratches. None of the scratches are deep enough for me to feel them, just I can see specs of silver. Some of this may be how I load in/out of my car since I have to take my wheels off and depending on my balance/angle/energy, this can mean tipping the chair on its side (my parents really have never figured out how to take my wheelchair apart to load into the car without tipping it on one side; it's kinda funny since I can do it without fully tipping, just it takes a little more energy and strength than I necessarily have every day and my parents don't have the physical limitations I do).