Geared Hiking Wheelchair
These show the most potential. As of this writing, there a 4 manufacturers the make geared hiking wheelchairs: Mountain Trike, Grit Freedom Chair and Renegade Wheelchairs. Out these three I have tested two, one extensively. These all have a lever drive system which I really like. The reason being with the long drive arms give you great torque and power. Image if a handcycle had crank arms that were 2 feet long. Your power to climb a hill would be incredible, but this would be impossible. They also have a great turning radius when compared to a handcycle.
The Ursa Mountain Chair is a new option from Finch Adaptive Fabrication and it's awesome. The chair may be new but it comes from years of actual trail experiences. Two years ago, Tom Finch, Sean Mahaney and I were discussing why no one with wheelchair experience has really addressed a wheelchair for hiking. ReActive Adaptions makes a great off road handcycle that works really good, but it has it's limitations on some hiking trails. Well, Tom was taking notes and a short time later started designing the Ursa. As I have watched the design grow and change over the past two years I have become increasingly impressed with Tom's design and fabrication skills. Even though it looks like just another lever drive wheelchair it has some major differences. It has six customizable gears, disc brakes and an adjustable front wheel beam. The most important difference is the gears. The gears are standard bicycle gears that can be customized by the owner or taken to any local bike shop. This will enable the end user to tailor the gear ratio to their unique requirements. The gears that initially come with the chair go from slightly below 1:1 to 2:1. This coupled with the advantage of the lever system will give you incredibly low gears that will enable you to climb steep slopes with ease. Some slopes are too steep to climb safely because of the tip over possibility, but this is true with every off road chair and/or handcycle. The brakes are mechanical disc brakes. Disc brakes are the best choice, not only for their stopping ability but they can not be compromised by trail debris. He chose mechanical disc brake because sometime at higher elevation hydraulic disc brakes can get bubbles in the fluid and compromise your ability to stop. Although rare it can still happen. Another unique feature is the front wheel beam. It is adjustable and removable for transportation. The adjustable beam allows you to adjust your wheelbase if you need to get into tighter places to turn around (like using a restroom). It also allows you to use the chair more like an everyday chair if needed. You will have all the traction you will need with the 3.5 inch rear tires. I haven't tested them on the beach, but they do just fine on all the terrain you will encounter on the trail. The other difference from other chairs is it's maker. Tom realizes the one size does not fit all. He will work with the customer to make it meet their needs. This chair is by far your best option for a hiking wheelchair. I am not saying this because of my involvement with it's development, I'm saying it because it's a great chair. Now are there areas where it might not be suitable? Yes, but these areas are few. I would be hesitant to take it on deeply rutted trails on a steep slope, but there is nothing out there that I would take on this type of trail. In instances such as this I usually get out of the chair on to the ground and lower the chair past the obstacle using a rope. I then scoot down past the obstacle, get back in the chair and continue on the trail. As with all lever drive wheelchairs, it may seem awkward at first, especially on a flat paved road and/or sidewalk. On the easy stuff, these chairs roll very easy and the gears tend to be low. It's like riding a handcycle in too low of a gear, you are cranking but not catching the gears. The cranks just spin without grabbing. On the rougher stuff it works perfectly. What I do on a flat paved road or sidewalk is to disengage the lever drive system and push the chair like a normal manual wheelchair. It's always a great idea to become familiar with any piece of adaptive equipment on flat terrain first before attempting anything more difficult.
The Mountain Trike is an amazing design, but it's very expensive and does not give you additional gears. The drive/steer system is very awkward, but you could probably get use to it. The other issue I have with it is the front wheel drive with a rear steering tire. Generally, you want the drive wheels to be at least slightly back from the seat. The reason is when you climb a steep grade you want you weight on the drive wheels for more traction on the trail. If the drive wheels are too far forward the wheels will just spin and you will not going anywhere but back. The Mountain Trike has the drive just slightly forward so this could potentially cause a problem. The other issue I have with is you do not have the ability to briefly pop up your front wheel. When you are on a hiking trail you would be amazed by how many times one wheel gets stuck on something (i.e. rock, pine cone, tree branch, etc.). With a slight lift of the front wheel you can clear these obstacles. Would I recommend the Mountain Trike? Well, that depends on you. If you just want to go hiking on relatively flat trails with moderate inclines and you have a lot of money on hand, go for it. But other than that, no.
I have the most seat time in the Grit Freedom Chair. I put about fifteen miles of hiking on some very rugged trails. Initially, I had a lot of hope for this chair, but I had some reservations about their braking system. It did not take long for me to discover the flaws of this device. The major issues with this chair are braking system, it is very tippy, there really aren't any "gears", and it's heavy. The brakes work by use of a bar that extends perpendicular from the drive arms/lever. To engage the brakes, you pull back on the drive lever and this brake bar presses on the tire. In my experience this is a very bad design. The system gets compromised very fast when the tire gets wet and rocks lodge in the knobby tires. I have had the drive levers kicked out of my hands by a rock in the tire. When the tires are wet the bar looses grip on the tire. This system is an integral part to the steering system as well. To turn right, you push on the left lever and brake with the right. To go left, you push right and brake with the left. So if you are going downhill and you need to turn in order to stay on the trail and your the brakes are compromised, you are in for a very bad day. It is also very awkward to steer this way when you are trying to climb a moderate grade.
The chair is tippy because you exert so much torque pushing on the drive levers that the front wheel wants to pop up. This becomes worst when you are climbing up a trail. Five other people tested this chair and all of them flipped it on moderate uphill grades. Anti-tippers would solve this issue.
The company claims that when you slide your hands up and down the drive levers this gives you different "gearing". We found that to be negligible at best. The manufacturer is aware of all the chairs flaws but is reluctant to correct them. The Grit Chair is only suitable for relatively flat trails with only minor inclines. We can not recommend this wheelchair.
The Renegade Wheelchair has been for years. It is also a lever drive chair. It looks like it works well, but we haven't had a chance to test it. The Renegade has 8 speeds and disk brakes. This makes it very promising. The weight seems a little heavy, but this really only comes into play when you are loading it into you vehicle or when you have to lift it over an obstacle. Out of all the currently manufactured hiking wheelchairs, the Renegade seems like your best option. We can not recommend it until we test it.
There is another hiking wheelchair that is currently being developed . We have been giving them our input and it seems very promising. We hope to start testing it soon. We will give your more information as soon as our testing begins.