Travelling with off-road wheelchair tyres made a huge difference to our trip to the Northern Territory. They were certainly a good talking point with people admiring the places we could go with the new wheels.
Travelling with off-road wheelchair tyres
The wide tyres coped well on sand, rocky surfaces and gave Braeden a smoother ride.
Initially I was concerned that the tyres would be hard on house or apartment floors and walls but once they were worn in they were fine.
We used the wheelchair on rocky paths (much rockier than that pictured above) and down stairs. The wheelchair bounced down the chairs so much easier giving Braeden a much better ride than with his usual tyres which are quite jolting.
They coped well with muddy paths too.
The wheels were great on the sand but still proved a challenge in the softer areas.
The tyres coped well with sticks and uneven ground in Litchfield National Park.
Pros of travelling with off-road wheelchair tyres
Ride is smoother for the wheelchair user.
Wider range of surfaces are easier and more do-able.
They are a great conversation starter.
Cons of travelling with off-road wheelchair tyres
Slightly heavier tyre.
Need to let a bit of air out for air travel.
Punctures can happen with these tyres.
Braeden finds it harder to self-propel.
If you are switching between regular tyres and these off-road tyres there is some fiddling around because the diameter is different meaning the brakes have to be adjusted.
We are thoroughly convinced our trip was much easier due to the tyres. We loved one barrier to access being removed or at least improved. We’ll definitely travel with these in future and we’ll be using it for some of our outings around Sydney too.
Update 2025 – We have continued to travel with these tyres anytime we are going somewhere that is likely to need us to traverse gravel, grass or less compact dirt/sand and they have really become an integral part of our travelling making life easier.
These tyres combined with a Freewheel helped us in Fiji. You can read our Freewheel review here.
You can read more about the tyres in my post from earlier this year here.
This is not a sponsored post.
We travel with a Trekinetic.com chair. It is about a third of the weight of my son’s regular chair. It has large off-road tires and is a three wheel chair with the third wheel at the back making it great for approachability. It also has some adjustability in tilt – about 4 inches – that goes a long way in helping seating position.
The main disadvantage for travel is that it is a bit wider. But the versatility and “go anywhere” tires more than make up for width.
Sounds ideal Genia. The ability to tilt would be extremely helpful to so many people. I’ll have to look it up. Thanks for sharing this great tip.