Lightweight Folding Mobility Scooters

Though lightweight folding mobility scooters would seem to be a great idea, the reality this design dictates in real world use is that, all too often, is not what you would expect.

The whole concept of lightweight folding mobility scooters is, in our opinion, fundamentally flawed, in that you will always be lifting the scooter in its entirety so, it will be a heavy item, by its very nature.

I tried another make of scooter before I bought my Ultra. It was a fold down machine but I couldn’t lift it so it was no good for me. – Mr Brown

You will either need to be relatively strong in order to lift the scooter if, for example, you want to get it in to a car boot, or you will need to arrange for someone else to do the lifting for you. So the dream of a scooter that folds begins to seem less of a dream.

In order for them to get close to being truly light they will need to make many compromises which, you may find, will negate any perceived benefit you may gain from the convenience of them folding.

There are more reasons why we do not offer lightweight folding mobility scooters. The mechanisms needed to make the folding possible means that effectively any ability to adjust for your comfort is almost absolutely impossible.

Many of lightweight folding mobility scooters appear to have their design led by the need for them to fold with little to no attention to the safety or comfort of the person using them and quite a few would appear to be, quite frankly, dangerous.

One of the biggest restrictions you are likely to encounter with lightweight folding mobility scooters is a severely reduced ability to carry weight. Because the chassis and seat mechanisms will be a hinge of some form or other they will be inherently weaker at these points and any locking mechanism will encounter a restriction at fairly low capacities to prevent the hinge from folding.

So, it is essential that you purchase a mobility scooter that is suitable for your weight. In addition to the potential for parts of the scooter to fail, if you are too heavy for the scooter it is likely to become unstable. Additionally, if you buy a scooter that is rated at a lower weight carrying capacity than your weight you will also invalidate any warrant.

The smaller and lighter a scooter gets you will likely encounter the next problem, small wheels with solid tyres.

These small wheels will have a detrimental effect on the stability of the scooter which will be seen with an inability to climb kerbs, deal with anything other than the smoothest of surfaces, poor ride quality and almost certainly lowered power and range.

This lowered range will likely be exacerbated by small, low capacity batteries and you may even find that the range just isn’t enough even if you are taking the scooter to a destination to use it to get about.

So, is there another way to approach portability in mobility scooters?

At Quingo we offer, what we believe to be, two of the better solutions to portability and travelling with your scooter.

Both of these mobility solutions offer far superior comfort, not only due to the vast range of adjustments available but because they benefit from unique Quintell™ Technologies.

Quintell™ Technologies also offer far greater stability and safety.

Firstly, we have the Ultra which is a take-apart, car boot scooter.

With a chassis manufactured from aluminium, its lightweight ABS body and other weight saving components, the Ultra can be broken down simply in to its component parts, which are very light while remaining sturdy, for easy lifting in to your vehicle.

Able to carry 133kg/21st/294lbs and with maximum range with 4 batteries of 18 miles the Ultra goes further and does more than most!

The Flyte which quite simply eliminates the need for lightweight folding mobility scooters by simply removing any need for you to lift the scooter by loading itself in to you car! A carry limit of 159kg/25st/350lbs and a standard range 23 miles or with range extender is an impressive 34 miles the Flyte offers big scooter performance while being fully and easily transportable.

So, the reality of lightweight folding mobility scooters is that, they may actually be far less practical than you would think, and may even become obstacles in your road to personal mobility.