[quite tires rolling through snow with a silent electric motor]
[Music]
-[Cambry] Loads of fun. You feel like you're playing Mario Kart in real life.
We are up the canyon today about to try out two of the off-road chairs in the snow. They've
never been in snow before, so we are going to test them out.
-[Zack] Getting both bikes into the back of the truck was a unique experience. I'll let
you watch that.
So we designed this off-road wheelchair to fit in the bed of a short bed pick up. This
bed is 5 feet long. And so it fits very snugly. But today we're going to try to fit two of
them in the back of my truck which should be interesting. Normally you wouldn't have
to do this and it would be much easier if we had a trailer. But I think if we stack
them just right it should work out. Now is that the correct way to do it? Probably not...but
it works. I recommend finding more than one person.
And today should be interesting. I don't know how the bikes are going to react in snow.
It does have the off-road knobby tires on them, but snow is a totally different ball
game than pavement, or you know, like a dirt trail.
-Let's get started.
[Intro]
-[Zack] It just latches in like that. Then the wheelchair just sits on the back like
that. You can strap it in. It's an all-in-one package.
So at the start of the trail, most of it's pretty packed snow so I'm not super worried
about it. Two things we have working to our advantage is A) the knobby tires, and B) the
solid rear axle where, you know, the rear tires won't spin independently of each other,
so they won't lose traction on the snow. But after this initial steep slope, everything
else is pretty flat so we should be okay.
Alright!
-[Cambry] Got it! Ready to bring yours?
-[Zack] Yeah. Now it's my turn. I weigh 205 pounds, quite a bit more than Cambry, so we'll
see if the chair can handle me going up the hill. Come on baby! It's not too bad. I'm
maxed out at level 9 though. Still made it.
-[Cambry] Yeah!
-[Zack] Let's go!
-[Cambry] It's like a nice little stroll in the winter wonderland. Oh, we racing?!
-[Zack] Yeah!
-[Cambry] I'm a little lighter than you.
-[Zack] I'm at level 9.
-[Cambry] I'm at 7! Only 7! Woo! A little fishtailing.
-[Zack] I'm currently maxed out at 10 miles an hour.
-[Cambry] Just going up the mountain enjoying beautiful views.
-[Zack] This is working much better than I anticipated. The locked rear axle was a good
choice, and all of the bikes have that solid rear axle. Normally you see rear lockers on
like off-roading jeeps or trucks. My own truck has it as well. And now the off-road wheelchair
has one.
-We're definitely at max speed now!
-[Zack] So what do you think so far Cambry?
-I think it's way fun. I think it's better than a snowmobile. I've once tried that and
I was always afraid that my legs were going to get burned. This is so much safer for my
body and I love it.
-And what about the noise level?
-It's way less than the snowmobile's for sure, so you can enjoy nature a little bit better
than you would on a lousy gas-powered machine.
-Lousy. That's gonna have some angry comments.
-It's getting deeper. I'm slowing down. Whoa! Made it. It's a bit of a bumpy ride.
-Yeah, I think my heavier weight has more of an advantage in the snow because I have
more traction on the back tires.
-Yeah, I think he's weighing it down more than I am.
-But if you had the chair on the back, that would help out your traction. But we're still
going 8 miles an hour.
-Whoa!
-[Zack] Your back wheels are losing traction a little bit.
-[Cambry] I can feel them kind of like fishtail.
-[Zack] Yeah, when the snow gets deeper.
-[Cambry] It's fun though. I mean, I'm not totally out of control...just a little crazy.
-[Zack] You can do it Cambry. You can do it!
-[Cambry] I think I can, I think I can.
-[Zack] Well...
-[Cambry] Well...it's been fun. It's been real fun!
-[Zack] The snow's getting deeper.
-[Cambry] Oh no!
-[Zack] I'm losing it again. Yeah. This is definitely the end for me. And I'm dead. Come
on! What seems to be the problem?
-[Cambry] I just needed a little slow down time. The snow got a little deep, that's all.
Safety first. Alright, race you back!
How does that song go? I can't feel my face when I'm with you?
-Yeah, something like that.
[Music]
-[Cambry] My face is frozen!
[Music]
-[Zack] Ah man, we made it to the bottom!
Alright Cambry. So we went off-road. What do you think?
-In the snow...not just off-road!
-That's true.
-I think it was a lot of fun. I haven't been out in the snow and had so much fun in a long
time. Downhill is where it's at. Uphill is a little slow and you feel a little bit like
The Engine That Could. Isn't that 'I think I can, I think I can'?
-Right, right. And slow as in like 8 miles an hour uphill.
-[Cambry] Yeah.
-[Zack] In packed snow. In loose snow I don't think we'd have a chance.
-[Cambry] I don't think we would make it.
-[Zack] Downhill is like sledding except for you have control over where you're going and
you still have brakes. The brakes work really well.
-[Cambry] The brakes, yeah, are really...yeah I've never been scared on this trail thinking
I was going to slide off the side of the mountain.
-[Zack] Yeah, you stop almost instantly.
-[Cambry] Still have caution.
-[Zack] Of course. Wear a helmet.
-[Cambry] Loads of fun. You feel like you're playing Mario Kart but it's real life.
-[Zack] All we need are some banana peels and some blue shells. [Laughing] For when
you're in the lead!
-[Cambry] It wasn't designed for the snow but we've had a lot of fun with it today.
I think it held up pretty well on packed snow.
-[Zack] And the wheelchair on the back rack stayed on. I have it tied down with two little
Velcro straps. And then the rear wheels just sit inside of those metal channels.
-[Cambry] We haven't needed to use the wheelchair on this trip though cuz it was kind of a shorter
trip.
-[Zack] It was mostly just to prove a point and see how much weight the off-road chair
can handle. So I weigh about 200 pounds and the chair weighs about 30 I think. And so
the off-road chair is carrying 230 pounds right now. Plus my camera gear and stuff....I
would put it around 250 pounds.
-[Cambry] We mentioned earlier that it's not loud which is really nice. I think when you
slow it down, you can really appreciate the nature that's going on around you.
-[Zack] And we don't bother anyone else. Like no one has ever said anything in the year
that we've been testing this about being annoyed or about it being loud. It's just like a bicycle.
-For me this is better than snowshoeing.
[Laughter]
-[Zack] Yep. So if you haven't seen the launch video, go watch that. These things are for
sale right now whether you need a wheelchair or not, I think it's fun either way...except
for the part where we wrecked the drone, I think it went pretty well. Hit that subscribe
button if you haven't already. We'll be posting more videos about this and other projects.
Come hang out with us on Instagram and Twitter.
-And thanks a ton for watching, we'll see you around.
-Here's one of those noisy gas-powered...whoa! That was like a motorized sled.
-Yeah. Pretty cool.