pushingthelimits.com

Willgo is a UK based wheelchair company making manual wheelchair with geared transmissions powered by hand-cranks rather than traditional wheel pushing. We’ve talked about hand-crank powered wheelchair before with the Renegade, but the Willgo manages to integrate the gearing and mechanics without the extra bulk of a chain.

Powering a wheelchair by means of hand-cranks has a few benefits for the users, mainly the lack of impact on the shoulders and wrists, and also the fact that power applied to the rear wheels can double simply by using a hand-crank. Fitted with independent disc brakes and frog legs front castors, the Willgo looks like a prety capable off-road wheelchair, not all-terrain by any means, but it’ll definitely make going over rough ground easier than a traditional wheelchair. Which is nice.

The transmission acts as an anti-rollback on hills and inclines, which means you can take a break in between pushes, and can be disengaged quickly to roll as normal.

There’s no word on measurements like weight and width (the video mentions the Willgo is wider than normal chairs “but not much”) and no word on price either. 

The obligatory demonstration video is actually quite interesting and definitely shows the benefits of using hand-crank operation over normal pushing, even if voice-over guy sounds a bit…strange.

We love the idea of hand-crank wheelchairs, we really do, and our shoulders are begging us to go and get a Renegade or a Willgo, but we’re going to hold out for a couple years until they stop making them weigh a tonne and look so fugly.

Willgo Wheelchair