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Rolling along the high street is a bit different than tackling a rocky hiking path. Those 3 inch castors with flashing LED’s that match your “kerazee” personality just aint going to cut it out in the sticks, you need to get with the hardcore, off-road chairs.

Get off-road! Our review of the Top 5 Off-Road Wheelchairs

For a lot of people, replacing thin tires and wheels with thick knobbly mountain bike wheels and adding larger castors to their everyday chair is enough to see them hit the trails. But if you need to go further afield, want a second chair dedicated for the rough stuff or just need something more robust that’s designed to take abuse, there are plenty of options on the market for off-road wheelchairs.

We looked at the different off-road options on the market. Obviously at some point a wheelchair becomes more like a bicycle than a wheelchair (as in the One-Off Titanium) or more like a dedicated downhill racing chair (like the fourcross machines) and so we narrowed the list to only wheelchairs which remain essentially chairs but are focused on being used off-road in more demanding terrain.

In choosing the top 5, we looked at certain criteria including: weight, stability, robustness, cost, simplicity and transportability when not in use.

So onto the list of out top 5 off-road, all-terrain manual wheelchairs:

Number 5 - Trekinetic K-2 Off Road Wheelchair ($4300)

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last couple of years you will already of heard about the Trekinetic K-2 and it’s designer. Seriously, if one more person strikes up a conversation with us by saying something like, “Hey, you should get one of those fancy new three-wheeled carbon-fibre wheelchairs I saw on the news” then we’re gonna kill them, with fire.

Former racing car designer Mike Spindle set about to re-design the wheelchair and the K-2 was born. With a carbon fibre seat, disc brakes and no front castor wheels, the K-2 certainly looks every inch the ground breaking wheelchair of the future. It is designed with a huge focus on being more useful to people wanting to go off-road and explore tougher terrain.

There’s no doubt that its award winning design is a breakthrough in wheelchair design, but opinion has been divided between those who think Spindle simply tried to reinvent the wheelchair for the sake of it and those who swear the K-2 more than lives up to the hype. To be fair, the detractors have normally never seen the chair in real life or taken it for a test drive.

We think the K-2 looks bitchin’ (we’ve been waiting for a chance to say bitchin’ again since 1989) and really hope it works as great as it looks. Admittedly we havent had the chance to get our hands on one yet so we dont want to be too harsh, but this thing looks like it is more suited for adventurous dog walking than serious off-road wheelchair adventures.

Why it made the list: Great design, disc brakes, lightweight.
Why it’s not number 1: Cost, only three wheels, footrest lacks ground clearance, too many components.

Trekinetic

Number 4 - Alpha One Renegade All-Terrain Wheelchair

We’ve already talked about the Renegade all-terrain wheelchair by AlphaOne in a previous post, but it deserves to be part of the top five off-road wheelchairs due to its clever gear system. The biggest problem with taking manual wheelchairs off-road is that you need arms like a steroid addicted baseball player to make any decent progress uphill. Sometimes it takes all your energy just to keep from rolling backwards on the trail while taking a break to have a drink. The Renegade off-road wheelchair helps out by using hand levers to propel the chair in conjunction with some nifty gears to make things easier. It also holds its position and wont roll backwards while you stop to catch your breath enjoy the view.

7 gears makes work less gut busting off-road, and using the levers instead of pushing on the rims means your shoulders might hold out for an extra couple years before they completely give out on you, it’s the small things that count. You can also remove the hand levers (storing them under the wheelchair seat) and simply push along using the wheelrims as normal when things aren’t quite so rough.

They even have an adaption with small ski’s to replace the front castor wheels in the winter for all you snow ninja’s. A true off-road wheelchair that uses clever mechanics to help you out on the inclines.

Why it made the list: Solid design, 7 gears!, can be used with gears levers or as normal wheelchair.
Why its not number 1: Cost, availability, weight.

AlphaOne

Number 3 - TerraTrek Outlook Off-Road Wheelchair ($2835)

Any off-road wheelchair that comes with the option of a rifle holder is pretty much our kind of wheelchair. The Outlook by Terratrek is designed for hardcore off-road action, massive 12.5 inch front castor wheels together with 16 inch rear wheels make it pretty much ideal for anything.

A super strong and lightweight, chrome-moly (we dont know what it means either, but it sounds rugged and manly) frame means you have less weight to push, which is always nice. So you can take along a few extra shotgun shells to take care of those zombies when the inevitable undead attack comes.

The footplate on the Outlook is more adjustable than on any of the other off-road wheelchairs in the list, giving you the choice of a more aggressive riding position for long treks, and creates more ground clearance than other chairs.

Adjustable camber of the rear wheels means you might still be able to squeeze through a door or two, but dont bet on it. Even if you do make it inside in this wheelchair, you wont be doing many 360 turns without destroying everything within reach of those monster 12 inch front wheels. But who wants to be inside with this thing, it’s meant to be outside getting covered in mud and zombie brains.

Why it made the list: Cost, 12 inch castors, adjustable footplate, stability, gun holder!
Why it it’s not number 1: weight.

Terratrek

Number 2 - Top End Crossfire Off-Road Wheelchair ($1789)

The Crossfire off-road wheelchair from Top-End is a badass manual wheelchair ready to cope with whatever your arms through at it, and we’re pretty sure your arms are going to give up before this beast of a chair. Keeping the design simple means less moving parts and less things to break, making it a tough and reliable chair to depend on for long wheelchair adventures in the wilderness.

Big 25 inch mountain bike wheels on the rear, and 8 inch front castors set forward of your feet mean the crossfire isnt going to tip over forward when it hits a little rock or crack in the road. This is made for rough terrain and those big front wheels can easily manage all but the deepest snow and sand.

The one piece frame lightweight frame means you can still take the rear wheels off and fit it on the back seat (unless you drive a mini or something else ridiculously small) for traveling to the trail head, and it’s not too big or wide either. So you might just be able to fit through the door to the bar with everyone else and go for that celebratory beer after conquering nature, instead of sitting in the carpark.

Why it made the list: Cost, toughness, simplicity, stability, weight.
Why it’s not number 1: Lack of brakes, ’small’ front wheels.

Top End Crossfire

Number 1 - Lasher All Terrain Beast Off Road Wheelchair ($4495)

Lasher Sport makes some seriously cool wheelchairs, from the same people who made the Chopper and Dragon show chairs comes the ATB (All Terrain Beast) off-road wheelchair, which looks sweet and gnarly at the same time. Weighing in at 8 pounds lighter than the TerraTrek, but with the same rugged features and the option for disk brakes on the rear wheels, the ATB is our number one choice for a dedicated off-road wheelchair, making it king of the hill..

It’s certainly not the cheapest, but the ATB is well worth the price. Each chair from Lasher Sports is hand made for each individual customer. Thats an unrivaled level of detail and craftsmanship, and the ATB is no exception, with its frame from magnesium alloy. If just you’re looking for an off-road chair for occasional use then the price may be hard to justify, but if you’re serious about getting off-road and need something sure to handle all the punishment you can dish out, nothing beats the ATB.

Spinergy wheels as standard, along with a thinner, tougher 1.5 inch aluminum frame help keep the ATB at a lean and mountain ready weight of just 28.5lbs (thats the 16×16 seat model, with all wheels fitted and ready to rock). Optional ADI disc brakes will add a pound or two, but upgrading the seating to a carbon-fibre set up should cancel out any weight gain, and make the beast look even more at home on the trails.

Plus the magnesium alloy makes Lasher chairs lighter, and stronger than any comparable chair on the market, even if they’re made from titanium.

26 inch rear mountain bike wheels, with 12.5 inch front castor wheels make sure that the ATB is ready for the all the gnar you can give it. A truly gorgeous off-road wheelchair. 

Why it’s Number One: Lightweight, disc brakes, stability, huge wheels, tough, sexy.

Lasher Sports

Conclusions

While all the chairs on the list are great, obviously there had to be a winner, the ATB from Lasher is the clear winner, it’s high price, though justified for a wheel chair with the ATBs features, may put it out of reach for some. The Top End Crossfire is a truly worthy runner-up for those looking to get off-road while staying in budget. We love getting off-road, and so do the vast majority of wheelchair users, unfortunately the majority of wheelchair manufacturers seem to be only just realizing this fact and off-road wheelchair designs from the established companies still need improvement. This is were new and exciting smaller companies like Lasher and Trekinetic are setting the standard with compelling designs and features.

Why so few makers have so far incorporated some form of suspension or shock absorption in their designs is one of the biggest questions we have right now. The K2 from Trekinetic does have what the designers refer to as a shock on the rear wheel, but this is really just to adjust the recline angle of the seat and gives no shock absorption in reality.

With shock absorbers becoming increasingly available in everyday wheelchairs, hopefully the technology will find it’s way into the all-terrain and off-road wheelchairs soon enough. Chair designers and manufacturers have to cater to the market, and there are plenty of customers who want to get muddy and head off on wheelchair adventures.

(or escape the zombie hordes)

EDIT

As pointed out in the comments, apparently Lasher do provide the option of a rear shock absorber for the ATB on the ordering form. Why it isn’t listed as a feature of the chair on their site,  or why any of the pictures of the ATB dont show this feature is a mystery.

Thanks to reader “Mountain Man”