The Independent in the UK writes in its technology column July 2 about Mike Spindle, the inventor behind the new Trekinetic wheelchair.The column explains:
The most obvious difference between the Trekinetic wheelchair and conventional designs is that it is built around a moulded carbon fibre seat to which the other main components are attached; older chairs use a tubular steel frame across which canvas is stretched to form the seat. But the Trekinetic wheelchair incorporates not just one major innovation but half a dozen, each the subject of a separate patent filing; collectively, they turn established thinking about wheelchair design on its head.
The world's most modern wheelchair didn't, of course, spring fully formed from the mind of its inventor to the wheelchair dealer's showroom. It was the result of six years of intensive development, involving 14 separate prototypes and hundreds of drawings and minor modifications. Apparently insurmountable technical challenges were overcome by Mike Spindle's faith engineering's ability to solve everyday problems. Spindle worked largely alone and without official help, funding the project from his own resources and those of his small Uxbridge-based engineering company.
Spindle says he got the idea for a new hipper, cooler wheelchair after seeing a trendy young man in an airport who was using an un-cool, old-style wheelchair.
Here's what wheelchair user James Foster, 36, says about the new wheelchair:
"The Trekinetic is an awful lot faster than a standard wheelchair and a lot better once you get off paved surfaces as well. I'm always camping, fishing and kayaking and I'd never get to some of the places I go without it. In a conventional wheelchair you are always looking down at the ground, taking care to spot possible obstacles such as stones or tree roots, but in the Trekinetic, you don't need to bother. The drum brakes are great for holding the chair back and steering it when going downhill. The chair is good at getting over kerbs, as well; with the large wheels at the front, you don't need to use the "wheelie" technique you would in a normal wheelchair to get the small wheels over the kerb. It also helps break down a lot of barriers. People won't normally approach someone in a wheelchair but everywhere you go in the Trekinetic, it leaves a wake of turned heads and quite a few people come up to ask you about it. At the Isle of Wight Festival last year, I could hardly move because of the interest in
it. I for one wouldn't go back to using a conventional wheelchair."
