A man named Zack Nelson has been praised online for creating a fully electric off-road wheelchair so his wife can explore the outdoors and go places she never imagined.
His wife, Cambry, suffers from paralysis and has used a wheelchair to get around for most of her adult life. Like most wheelchair-users, she has always been restricted to the pavement as there are plenty of terrains not suitable for a traditional wheelchair. Besides, using a wheelchair across long distances makes her shoulders sore.
So, in order to help her explore more places conveniently, Zack designed a fully electric off-road wheelchair for her. He spliced together two electric bikes with a seat between them, and it worked.
Cambry said she experienced a whole new level of freedom using her new “ride, and she couldn’t be more grateful to Zack for coming up with it.
At the time Zack built the off-road wheelchair, Cambry was his girlfriend. Fast forward a year, they tied the knot and also began mass-production of the vehicle, which they call “Not-a-Wheelchair.”. Throughout that time, they put their heads together to try and build upon the original design, making it a more reliable off-roader. But getting it done wasn’t easy.
“The toughest challenge when developing ‘Not-A-Wheelchair’ is the price. We wanted to create something that is affordable for everyone. Finding quality components, and a simple enough design at the cheapest price possible took quite a bit of time,” Zack told Bored Panda. “But I think we have something now that everyone will be able to enjoy, at a fraction of the cost of other ‘off-road wheelchairs’ currently on the market.”
‘Not-a-Wheelchair’ is definitely not an indoor machine, so Cambry still uses her normal wheelchair for inside their home but any time she and Zack go to the park, or on a hike, she jumps in The Rig. “Its silent, which means that we can all still talk and chat while she rides next to the group,” Zack explained.
During these trips, ‘Not-a-Wheelchair’ really showed what it’s capable of. “We have taken The Rig to Hawaii twice for testing. The bike has to be shipped with a freight company before we go, but we ship The Rig about a week before we fly out ourselves, and it’s waiting there for us when we arrive. All this travel was before COVID was a thing. Luckily, we also live near mountains and snow with long wide flat trails to try the bike out on.”
Watch the video below to see The Rig in action.
Not-a-Wheelchair is an electric adaptive off-roader
The bike can reach speeds of up to 12 mph
It has a range of 10-20 miles with one battery, and 25-35 miles with two batteries.
It also features a rear rack mounting system to hold wheelchairs, coolers, camping gear, or a picnic basket
‘Not-a-Wheelchair’ was constructed using bike parts, so maintenance and repairs are really easy
It has an aluminum frame, detachable bumper, and four-inch off-road bike tires.
The Rig is 5 feet long and 32 inches wide without the bumper.
Which makes it fit in short bed pickups, Jeeps, and Subaru Outbacks.
As The Rig is pretty narrow, it can get through most doorways
As any bike would, the Rig can struggle with loose sand or loose snow, but it can handle most areas pretty well.
The recommended weight limit is 225 pounds.
A “Not-a-Wheelchair” with no suspension and one battery costs $3,750.
However, Zack wanted to remind everyone that ‘Not-a-Wheelchair’ “is not a fine-tuned, polished, medical device.” They are very happy with Not-a-Wheelchair’ and hope other people will also enjoy it as much as they have.
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More info: notawheelchair.com | YouTube