An email from Marion about her puncture problems

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Hi John

Thanks for replying with all the info.
 
I have been using Green foam filled on the rear and foam ones on the front
on my present Storm XC chair and find this fine for the travel I do each day
on our roads - about 2 miles in all.

Foam are awful they wear and are heavy and soft. They are available in 3 x 4 size so you could use these on the front too?

The chair is only used outside to get from my home to the town and shops, etc. and into 5 buildings in Orkney [the
Disability Discrimination Act doesn't appear to be being recognised here

Or here much either! Wait until 2004 - should be fun!

yet and 5 buildings is the total I can enter so far!] It isn't used inside the home. The front foam tyres wear badly of course but at least no punctures.

I never, ever, wish to tip sideways off a pavement into traffic on the road again - did me and the chair a lot of damage. The chair was off the road for a total of 6 months and cost £900 to repair!!! There's also the wobble especially when the foam tyres start to wear badly but that doesn't bother me as I just get new foam tyres fitted.

I would only get a few days from each set! And the "wobble" is caused by the weight as well, so even when new they are awful...

I cut the treaded bit from my old pneumatic tyres and stick it inside my new ones. Its too thick to puncture now! And with low tyre pressures its smooth too? Wouldn't this be a better easier solution?

Kirkwall streets and pavements are very badly littered with broken glass and the roads with all sorts of metal and glass, etc. all the time.

So are our streets. Drunken yobs smashing beer bottles all over the town...

The new chair due home this month [hopefully] has been fitted with those fluid filled puncture proof tyres which I am not happy about.

Its just a normal tube with some "Slime" or "OKO" (both basically the same) puncture sealing stuff in. Believe me I use this stuff, it does work for long enough to get you home occasionally! But more often it just fires green gunge everywhere! Lovely mess...The suppliers say that if I do get a puncture I should be able to get home OK as the fluid forms a seal in the puncture.

If you are lucky this may be the case say one in three punctures. In my chair, I have moved the seat back. Now there is little weight on the castors anyway, so even with a wheel REMOVED completely, I can still drive around! So I only have to worry about rear punctures. And now I use stronger trailer tyres this is very unlikely.

They are also "giving" [as a swap for a set of tyres I recently purchased from them but haven't so far used] me a spare set of front wheel fittings and tyres so I can swap them around when I get any punctures.

Yep, I have a few spare ones too!
And a spare tyre, or tube laying around.


Living on an island off the north coast of Scotland where there are only 2 or 3 other powerchair users [that I know of] doesn't allow for much exchange of info on chairs and accessories, etc. The nearest supplier/dealer is in Forres [150 miles away by boat and road - involving 2 days travel and an overnight stay] and they travel to the islands about 3 or 4 times a year.

You really need a couple of spare motors, chargers, batteries, controllers and plenty of tyres as spares. Sooner or later you will need them!

There are no firms or individuals on the islands who do any powerchair repairs or maintenance. I am unable to do any wheel or tyre changing myself so any puncture leaves me without the use of the chair for quite some time.

Get a spare wheel and tyre for the front, and the back, all inflated and ready to fit! It may seem expensive but you will need it. Anyone can swap a wheel? It has to be easier than fixing punctures as well.


I need a soft and comfortable ride due to my spine and neck condition.
Vibration causes me considerable pain and when I did try solid tyres on the
front for a month on the present chair my condition worsened so much that I
couldn't use the chair at all.

www.froglegsinc.com Suspension! for your front castors? Worth a look? Some swear by them - some say they don't work. I never tried any so can't comment. But the LOOK as if they would help a little.

The thumping vibrated right through the chair, unlike the foam tyres I normally use. I would have thought that the Green foam tyres I use on my present chair would have been available in different sizes and that I could have ordered them for the new chair?

They are. You need 3 x 4 ones I think? They are under "industrial" I think on their web page.
So, according to the new powerchair suppliers I have a choice of the fluid filled puncture proof tyres or solids on the front.

There are MANY choices.
They are dummies as usual...
There are lots of makes, types colours and puncture solutions, as well as entirely different wheel sizes, tyre sizes, and different castor legs that can be fitted easily.

This is exactly the reason I put this site up!


I either suffer badly due to the vibration when travelling or travel until I get a puncture and then either of these means I have a prolonged stay at home!! Have you any info on firms that supply the foam tyres or foam filled tyres so that I can check out whether or not they have the sizes I need?


I use 3.00 x 8 rear wheel (14 inch diameter)
and 3.00 x 4 front castor (8 or 9 inch diameter)

I suspect your wheels are the same size?
If not there are others, and if there are no tyres your sizes then swap the wheels!

Burgerman

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