Whirlwind Roughrider Wheelchair for Rough Terrain

Whirlwind Wheelchair International at San Francisco State University serves as the hub of a network of wheelchair manufacturing shops and related disability organizations around the world. Whirlwind is a nonprofit organization that designs wheelchairs for production and use in developing countries and by homeless people in the Bay area with accessibility problems such as stairs, rough terrain, unpaved roads, and lack of curb cuts. The Wheelchair Diffusion Blog notes that

Their latest development, the Roughrider, was designed to take some of the "rough" out of wheelchair use. While most USA wheelies crave shorter and lighter wheelchairs, a longer wheelbase and even a heavier wheelchair in general are often a very good trade off in places where it can make the difference between being a usable wheelchair or an ornament.

Whirlwind offers consulting services to private wheelchair manufacturers and individual designers and inventors. Each semester, Whirlwind gives a hands-on wheelchair design and construction class at San Francisco State University to students and interested members of the community. The class meets once a week for 16 weeks twice a year, in the Fall and Spring semesters. You’ll find the information you need to sign up for the next class at http://www.whirlwindwheelchair.org/getinvolved.htm See the Whirlwind Web site for a video about the wheelchair building class.

See Standards & Testing for their ISO standards testing methods and results. For more information about Whirlwind, see their FAQs page.