By Hattie Bernstein, Boston Globe Correspondent October 14, 2016
On an early October morning when the air is as crisp as a just-picked apple, Nate Johnson rolls his power wheelchair down the ramp extending from his family’s minivan, gets a boost into a walker, and makes the transition into his hiking chair.
Yes, his hiking chair, a manual vehicle with fat tires and push-pull levers wrapped in red handlebar tape. A year ago, Johnson couldn’t have imagined hiking with his family — never mind propelling himself along the McLaughlin Trail at the Lake Dennision Recreation Area in Winchendon — in a chair designed like a sit-down mountain bike… read more
The GRIT Freedom Chair is new, but off road trail chairs have been around for at least a decade. Some plus or fat tires, and a bigger front wheel for obstacles would be smart. I’m curious how much of the “MIT design” was pushed or driven by the need to skirt other patents and patent their own monopoly versus a strict engineering drive. This group has a noble open source enterprise that will share blueprints to make your own: safari seat.org.
Lego, In A First, Will Unveil A Minifigure In A Wheelchair
other designs (and I’m guessing patents):
- these look legit: sport-on
- boma
- mountain trike
- renegade
- top end crossfire
- terra trek