Being grateful for a wheelchair is a mixed blessing. I am grateful for having a very expensive state-of-the-art lightweight wheelchair. There is a definite downside to having to use a wheelchair for mobility for the last 30 years.
This is the best wheelchair I have ever had by far. My last wheelchair was the same model as my current chair lacking two key accessories: plastic spokes and a semi-plush padded fabric backrest. Twelve plastic spokes sounds a LOT weaker than 36 steel spokes like in a standard bicycle wheel setup. In the past, I would have a broken steel spoke about once a month and have to rotate wheels to be serviced at a local bike shop (true-ing spoked wheels is an art form). In the 18 months, I have had to replace one plastic spoke.
Plastic is a bit of a misnomer. The spokes are more like Kevlar or some such hi-tech material. The spokes contain dozens of tiny filaments like thin fishing line wrapped in a protective sleeve with a plug on one end and threads for spoke tensioning on the far side. The spokes are somehow magically self-adjusting since I have not had to adjust them to true my wheels.
The backrest upholstery is nice. It has to be extremely strong and durable to support my 300 pounds of mostly upper body mass.
I don't know that I love my wheelchair. I would greatly miss it if I had to regress back to a 50 lb hospital chair or even one of the aluminum "sport chairs" that I have had in the past.
Nothing like technology!
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