Mythbusting
Suspension sucks away power
It’s difficult to think of another wheeled vehicle that doesn’t have suspension build into it in some way, cars, bikes, trains, everything that moves on wheels of any kind has suspension. The degree of suspension changes depending on the performance requirements held against the need for comfort.
If you were to compare a luxury car to a race car, the suspension of the luxury vehicle would be a lot more soft and compliant than the race car, but the race car is still not without suspension entirely, because suspension (done the right way and appropriate to the application) makes things that move on wheels more efficient, not less.
Wheelchair manufacturers have taken stabs at suspension before, with coil over shocks (heavy and not very adjustable for rider weight), rubber inserts between the axle and the frame (again, not micro-adjustable for rider weight). Even the aftermarket wheel companies have made claims about dampening vibration and providing shock absorption through spoke technology.
This tells us one thing, the need is there for shock absorption, and people who use wheelchairs want to be comfortable when they’re riding them.
The problem has been how to provide a dampening of the bumps and jolts of everyday life without sacrificing the performance of the wheelchair, or having the energy of the user sapped by a doughy suspension.
We took a look at what other wheeled vehicles had a need for comfort and performance, which led us to do a cross-sectoral design analysis (we talked to some of our pals who ride mountain bikes).
We noticed that in the mountain bike application, the riders are almost always navigating bumpy terrain, with huge variations in the kinds of bumps that they’re riding on. Mountain bikers ride on everything from gravel roads (which theoretically would produce the worst kind of frame vibration ever), to riding off drops which are sometimes dozens of feet high (which require an enormous amount of shock absorption). They also ride up hills, at which time they need every ounce of energy that they have to be transferred into the wheels, and when suspension is not ideal.
Mountain bikers almost exclusively use aluminum frames with the best shocks they can find, the best bikes have both front and rear shocks.
Mountain bikers use shock absorbers that have adjustable dampening and rebound so that they can be customized for rider weight, and a lockout so that when they need the suspension, they have it, but when they don’t want it, they can turn it off.
We took a look at the technology, and realized that there was a perfect application for it in wheelchair design, so as an option, the Marvel chair has full time available suspension, with adjustable dampening and rebound, and a lockout for those times when you don’t want suspension.
You can choose to have suspension or not, and if you choose to have it, there are a number of shock options, ranging from 350g (1/2 pound) down o 145g (1/4 pound).
