Wheelchairs given design makeover (BBC) {"Formula One", off-road}

[eppur_se_muova]

By Geoff Adams-Spink
Age & disability correspondent, BBC News website

A designer who has spent most of his career working on parts for Formula One cars has come up with a new, off-road wheelchair.

The Trekinetic K2 dispenses with the old tubular chassis and uses a carbon fibre monocoque instead.
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The K2 has three wheels - two large ones at the front that can take mountain bike tyres - and a smaller one at the back.
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The wheels have an easily adjustable camber so that the chair can have a slimmer profile for going through doorways and a wider - and more stable - 24 degree camber for outdoor activities.

The wheel tilt can be easily altered by rotating a cross shaft underneath the seat: at its slimmest, the K2 is 710mm wide and when fully adjusted it broadens out to 870mm.
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more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5063672.stm

I always wondered when someone was going to try the 3-wheeled design. Bucky Fuller fans know this is the way to build cars, too.

on edit: The rest of the article is interesting, but I squeezed most of the technical details into the post. (Nice of them to incude dimensions!)

[Kutjara]

1. Its about time.

I've often wondered why wheelchairs, canes, crutches and prosthetics have to look so utilitarian and ugly. In a world where everything from toilet roll holder to teapots is designed to within an inch of its life, why have products aimed at the disabled been left out? There have been some moves in the right direction, principally in the form of 'racing' chairs and prostethic legs for competitive runners, but the mainstream is still pretty much hooked on matte aluminum and grey plastic.

Surely the market for these products is big enough for a major designer to get involved. We gimps like to look cool too.

[eppur_se_muova]

2. "Mauve armrests!"

For those who remember a particular Bloom County cartoon.

[dropkickpa]

6. That is the first thing that popped to mind!!

Remember what they eventually came up with? Hilarious!

*edited for my horrid typing

[eppur_se_muova]

7. Fat dragster wheels on a La-Z-Boy...and didn't it have a built-in cooler?

:hi: welcome to DU!

[acmejack]

3. This is so excellent!

Chairs have been such pieces of crap for so long, now people will be granted new boundries.

[eppur_se_muova]

4. Side view (pic)

This was on the Technology main page http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/default.stm

[eppur_se_muova]

5. They have a web site -- "temporarily exceeded its bandwidth"

http://www.trekinetic.com/

This link is off to the right of the article in the OP.