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The iBOT 4000 Powerchair TEST - Stair
climbing and tyres...
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 8.
Stair climbing
This is one of the main reasons lots of people want this
chair. Lets get something straight. Its not an
alternative for proper lifts and ramps in say your home.
Too fussy, too much strain on carpets, components, your arms
etc. You wouldn't want to use it full time to go upstairs
and down every day. It is not a substitute. What
it really does is give you access to the shop or pub that
you cant otherwise get in on occasion. Sometimes!
It really takes it
out of the batteries and is not easy to do. It does
NOT require or use the iBOT Powerchairs balance system, and
is basically just a simple mechanical system. The rear
wheels rotate as a pair over each other. You do need
hand rails or rail and some upper body and arm strength.
Or an assistant The only thing balancing the chair is
yourself! You decide to lean it back and forth to
climb or descend. The wheels just follow your lead.
We had a small
problem when I tried to get into my local hotel, via 3 large
concrete steps. It overheated and halfway up step
three it just froze! A warning light (actually a
thermometer on the display) came on and the chair refused to
do anything further. This was NOT the chairs fault, as
it specifies only up to 17.5 stone. I am obviously
heavier than that and it freaked out the chair! We had
to disengage a brake, and manually allow it to descend the
steps again with a push... But now it would only allow
Normal mode to be used and displayed a spanner on the
screen! Service required...
Now I am on a
diet!
 9.
wheels/tyres
Here is a big problem. In an attempt to keep its
width narrow, and to make it look "non threatening" they
chose to use some GREY tyres that are more normally seen on
kids bicycles, or toys. They are very thin, (1.5
Inches?) 12 inch diameter weak tube type tyres.
This would be bad
enough on the puncture front alone! (weak thin
construction MANY punctures!) But 4 wheel drive mode has a
big problem turning as it uses skid steering.
This literally
tries to rip these feeble skinny tyres off their narrow
wheel rims! Again who would choose this setup?
Its plain silly!
One look at the
tyres as you start to turn, and you will rapidly decide its
a bad idea! It actually renders the 4 wheel drive mode
almost useless unless in snow, or on wet grass or loose
surfaces.
It means that as
you go up a ramp in the street for example and have to turn
tight at the top so as to miss the wall and to go along the
pavement you are tearing the tyres off the wheels! It
looks horrible!
 HERE
is probably what I would use to replace them.
Although IF I could find tubeless tyres and rims that would
be better still.
A
quick look on the internet found these wider stronger tyres
that are far more suited to curb climbing, skid steering
etc. They are 6 x 3 inch So they need a wider
smaller diameter rim. They are the same overall
diameter as the iBOT ones at 12 inch, while giving a better
ride due to much bigger sidewalls. They are heavy
construction, so less punctures, and generally tougher and
better suited to the urban jungle! The bigger sidewall
gives a better ride and is more suited to 4 wheel drive mode
in both skid steer situations, and when climbing curbs or
rough surfaces. Its not for fun that 4 x 4 off road
vehicles use big fat tyres with large sidewalls!
They would of course need some new smaller but wider 6 x 3
inch wheel rims!
Well A quick search on the net finds these alloy, polished
ones, that are ideal, and twice as wide as the iBOT wheel
rims.
 They
are pretty cheap too. It would take me about 2 hours
to make a "hub" that fits these wheels to the iBOT and
allows me to fit these tyres - Back to the review!
Now I once decided
to build a 4 wheel drive Powerchair base (here)
and thought that it would have exactly the same problem.
So I chose to use MUCH stronger construction wheels and
tyres so that skid steering was no problem. These are cheap,
strong and best of all are tubeless. But with my 18
stone on top they show little sign of twisting or ripping
from the wheels even spinning on the spot!
So apart from
being about 5 times harder wearing, more plies and belts
used in construction so stronger, they are both easy to get,
complete (with wheels) from almost any scooter or trailer
specialist. They cost about £15 each compared to the
iBOT £7 plus a tube!
Why tubeless?
Because once upon a time I had a standard Powerchair.
It used to get punctures about 3 times a week due to broken
glass from drunks and smashed bottles etc in and around the
town centre. I got very sick of this because being
paralysed you cant just get out and fix it..
Have you noticed how few cars get punctures nowadays?
Well that due to modern tubeless tyres.
The tube in a
normal Powerchair (iBOT) tyre, is like a balloon blown up to
30 psi, and any sliver of glass or a thorn etc can pop it!
You can get hundreds of small things like glass, thorns etc
in a tubeless tyre and never even know. The hole just
springs back closed and does not leak in most cases.
Tubeless for me is essential.
Those iBOT tyres,
on both models are simply too weak and small, and fitted to
rims that look too narrow to be any good in the urban
jungle! I would rip off a tyre, or come home with a
puncture about 3 times a week! Not good enough on a
£17,000 chair. They even know it because you get free
extra tyres and tubes with it! And instructions on how
to fix it.
And I hate grey
tyres. They look like a refugee escaped from the
hospital, and they wear out MUCH faster! This is
because the black in modern tyres is carbon. Its
essential, in making rubber sticky and flexible and in
improving wear. Grey tyres dont have this, (so the
cant mark floors) but they crumble away instead due to lack
of flexibility in the rubbers compound. I have never
had any problems with black tyres marking the floor
anyway...
Since fitting my
stronger tubeless tyres to my own Powerchair 4 years ago I
have NEVER had another puncture. And they are still not worn
noticeably! To see these trailer wheels fitted look at
the bottom of
this
page. The iBOT NEEDS something
similar urgently if I am to use / want one.
|
Seat Height (now
lower): |
Rehab Seat: 18 inches |
|
Maximum Drive Range: |
12.4 miles (20.4 km)
max |
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Max
Speed: |
6.8 mph (10.9km/h)
programmable (too damned slow!) |
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Drive Wheels: |
12 inches
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Casters: |
6 inches
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Ground Clearance: |
3 inches
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Minimum Turning
Radius: (Meaningless but here it is) |
Standard: 39.8 inches
(1012 mm)
4-Wheel: 29.9 inches (760 mm)
Balance: 30.6 inches (776 mm)
Remote: 31.6 inches (803 mm) |
|
Length: |
42.9-46.9 inches
including footrest
varies with seat size (too long) |
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Overall Width: |
25.2-28.7 inches
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|
Battery: |
Two x 67.2 volt;
7.2ah Weight 24 lbs each;
recharge time 8 hours |
|
Weight: |
289 lbs |
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