Tag: Wheelchair

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Choose Two – Comparisons and Consequences

Something that stuck with me from one of my university courses about electronics – you can have high speed, small size, and a good price. Choose two. It’s pretty true. If you want a compact computing chip that’s wicked fast, it will be very expensive. The formula here is two characteristics that make the third go up if combined. You want an affordable toilet, good looking toilet, and one that’s made of good material. Choose two.

So, this applies to life on a broader scale. And none of this is much of a revelation as much as just articulating a truth so understood on a subconscious level that we neglect to give it any attention. I think because doing so doesn’t really change much or help us in any way. Trade offs. We always must make concessions, ideally these are based on our values but more often our emotions (is there a difference?).

Here’s what this article (blog if you must and I wish you didn’t) is about. Life in a wheelchair. Where to live, what makes it good, and what are the trade offs?

I’m going to break it down into every single aspect that matters. First on why, then what the trade offs are (if any) and maybe some other things. Categorizing all this is tough, like a Venn diagram but much more complicated. I think comparisons and consequences may be the way forward. Also it would make a good title (adding it now).

What I care about: Good weather, public transit, accessible infrastructure (sidewalks, entrances, transit, housing), healthcare, culture, public goods, and geography.

Weather

As a wheelchair user, the weather will affect what you do and what you can do. I used to live somewhere that had a lot of snow and long winters. I would get stuck in the parking lot on my way to my car and then struggle to wipe off 400 cm of snow. In cold, snowy weather, my legs and feet will get dangerously cold with their lack of blood flow. If you have a car, then you go from building to car and car to building through the snow. Not much else. Even getting around my university campus not more than 20 meters was a very very hard and discouraging thing to do. I would only go out if it was really worth it.

If you live without a car and there’s snow, then you’re on the sidewalks until you get to a train or bus station. This sounds much worse. I can’t imagine trying to carry groceries home in a situation like this, especially if the terrain has hills, getting stuck going up or losing control down a hill I can only think of as a nightmare.

Weather is one of the most important factors for life and lifestyle in a wheelchair. Being anywhere that has a major snowy season should be avoided at all costs. Anywhere that has no winter/snow or very small amounts of snow makes a massive difference. I’ve done both. When the weather is good, I go out more and I’m much happier. In the snowy winters, I’m much more isolated. Other than snow, the next thing is rain, but this is much more manageable.

Public Transit

There is a fair case against public transit. You are beholden to the timetables, delays, cancellations, and destinations of a system you have no control over. Any commute has the possibility (keep in mind the probability could be low) of contagious/dirty people, crying babies, and breakdowns. In New York City (Manhattan Island), only certain stations of the train are accessible (have an elevator), I got off at an accessible station and the elevator was broken. I then had to get back on and go to the next accessible station and possibly transfer to another train to get closer back to where I originally wanted to go. It was also very dirty, some people were rude, and some areas were very confusing to enter/exit.

When it comes to public transit, it’s good if it’s good. When the stations are clean, the bathrooms are clean (and free), the transit is fast, having an elevator is the rule instead of the exception, there are busses and trains to get you almost anywhere, and the elevators are well maintained. This is Japan and Singapore (other places too, but I haven’t been to other places yet).

When you use public transit, you eliminate the enormous headache that a car brings. Paying for insurance, getting hand controls, getting in and out of the car, constant maintenance, the higher probability of an accident, and being alone so much.

I think public transit for people that use wheelchairs is a game changer. But only if the weather is good. Entirely relying on transit means that you also need to go to the station, doing this through the snow will likely result in more “snow time” than going from a building to a car.

Accessible Infrastructure & Geography

A city means nothing if you can’t get into any restaurants, stores, homes, or even just to go around the city. When I was in Germany, I could get into a lot of places but quite a few multiple steps up or down. There were a lot of cobblestone areas, too. In Seattle, the whole city is on a hill that feels like it’s going up every way and when it does go down, it’s so steep you burn your hands trying to slow down. It’s impossible to avoid hills. It’s impossible to find a city where a wheelchair can get into every building independently or with very minimal help. Even downtown in the city of Boulder Colorado (very, very liberal if you don’t know), there are a few places with a stair set going down as the only entrance.

What I’m looking for here is that I can get into most places. That my friends don’t always need to visit me. I can go walk around the city alone without needing help up a hill or up a step to get into a building. Here’s the trade off on this. If you rely on public transit and walkability, it’s inevitable to have more issues than you would in a car. It’s because the car is replacing the walkability. You go from parking lot to parking lot in a car and you go to a place where you can just get right in. When you’re walking around a city, you absolutely will find a sidewalk that ends at a curb with no ramp/gradient down to the street. Or small cluttered sidewalks that force you to go in the street. You may come across a restaurant with high barstool seating and nothing else.

We know that nothing is perfect, but we can score the cities. We need good sidewalks. I once asked some people about my possibly visiting Thailand. They said the sidewalks are so bad they won’t even try to go out with a pram (stroller). We need most buildings to have a ramp or elevator. Modern housing/apartment buildings so that there are more options when it comes to where to live – even if it’s not marketed as “accessible,” if there is ample space and an elevator, that fulfills my needs. The older the housing infrastructure means smaller and no elevator, or they have it at such a premium to render it prohibitive.

In a few words – mostly flat, mostly modern.
In every aspect. The transit, housing, buildings, and land (for being flat).

Public Goods

Mainly this is about bathrooms. In Europe it’s very uncommon to find a public bathroom, or you have to pay at a train station. In the USA, there’s usually a bathroom everywhere you go, but again, the USA is a place where you drive from parking lot to parking lot. You are almost never “in between” as you may be in a walkable city – where you find yourself needing a bathroom halfway through a 30 minute walk with only small shops around.

In places like Japan and Singapore (again, these are the places I’ve been, so not an exhaustive list), the bathrooms are plentiful. They’re free, accessible, and very clean. I have pooped and peed my pants in many cities across Europe. Never once in Japan or Singapore.

There are other public goods to talk about, such as parks or whatever. I’m not concerned about these. What I really care about for a city, a walkable city, is that when I’m walking around (and it’s the only way to get around), I don’t have an issue when I need to pee.

Healthcare

Skipping over the truth, it’s easy to say that in the USA, you can’t get healthcare unless you have a job. You can. It’s hard. It’s not that good. It’s common to say that in Europe, the healthcare is better. I don’t know a lot about the details. Here’s what I can say confidently: for a wheelchair user, having medical needs (catheter, etc.) is almost a known/given. Personally, this is kind of low on my list. If I’m in a city that has good public transit, public goods, and it modern in it’s economy and infrastructure, then I’m sure there’s a way to get healthcare. Whether or not it’s affordable or how easy it is to get, I’ll find out. I know that it won’t financially kill me. It can’t.

The Life We Choose

These are all the major attributes of a city to consider. They are objective. The only other aspects are language, culture, and personal values. If you love everything about Copenhagen, then maybe you can handle a snowy season or have a winter home in Barcelona if you’re bank account is well endowed. There is no perfect city, and why should there be? Life is all about trade offs. When we decide to do something, anything, we intrinsically are deciding to not do many other things. If we want public transit, then we will sometimes miss the train. If we want a car, then we will sometimes have a breakdown with no friends to come help fix the car. Choose the most important, and leave the rest. I would love to live in a small apartment where there’s a social culture in a walkable city than be rich and alone in a big fancy house. There are downsides everywhere. Corruption. Oppression. Cultural incompatibility. No place is perfect. Don’t look at it too long. Don’t look at it from too far away. Don’t think yet about the destination. Look at the journey. Get close, inspect at each hour of the day, understand the routines of each week. Are you fulfilled? Most of us will do the same thing anywhere – eat breakfast, go to work, do a sport, cook, clean, sleep, shop, and so on. That’s the journey. And now forget the journey. It’s never really been about the journey or destination. It doesn’t always matter where you are or where you’re going. It’s about the company – who you’re with. The memories made along the journey & who’s there with you at that destination.

The End

I often wonder if a majority of people in wheelchairs find themselves all gravitating to the same city but each person comes to the idea independently. I think Singapore is the best city for me. Because of the reasons above but also because I only speak English and I love the culture (this last one is very subjective). Anyway, I hope you can come to understand that if you choose to live somewhere with lots of snow, maybe it’s because you’ve built up a community of friends and family to help you with the snow. Having that can make any amount of snow tolerable. If you are more alone or independent, choose no snow but maybe you have to make concessions on the quality of public transit? It’s up to you.

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A Year Later & My Thoughts on Life’s Progress and Regression

Before I went to the gym, I decided to write for the first time in a long time once I got home. I haven’t written in a really long time, hardly read anything either – if this ends up so dry that it’s easier to eat than read, I hope you came hungry.

I have nothing specific to talk about, but that’s never stopped either of us, so I might as well start with this. I currently am hit with a wave of sadness about just being alive. Using my best analysis, it’s probably because I just got back from the gym – a haven that I’ve come to loathe. Not because of what it is, but what it once was and every rep and workout reminds me that all my friends are not here. There’s a last time for everything and that’s easy to understand but it’s hard feel after realizing the last time (or best times) has come and gone.

With this in mind, I should stop writing immediately to avoid the hazard of making everyone think I’m on the brink. But I’m afraid I won’t ever come back to this draft. Happy thoughts. It’s hard to do. This past year I’ve had to face the music about the stem cell treatment not working. It’s not all too hard when I have a beautiful girlfriend, travel, have my family around, support from friends, a good job that gives me financial freedom and a lot more vacation than most people my age. Well, what I should really say is that it’s not hard to face the music if I have other things – good things – in my life to distract me. But there are those moments, even while traveling, where I zone out and get deeply, momentarily, depressed and I honestly don’t think I’ll make it past 30 – I don’t want to – is this really me now? Then I snap out of it and the thought doesn’t come back for months. The good thing is that I know thyself & this is an emotional reaction, very much in the moment. Almost childish, like how a kid will scream and kick until a few seconds later forget it all and go run around with his friends like nothing happened. For me, this happens when I’m blatantly confronted with a terrible truth about life in a wheelchair. Unfortunately, this happens most when I am outside of the safe zone – i.e. when I’m traveling. There is no solution, maybe just mindfulness and acceptance but I’m no shrink.

So there, we went in a downward spiral. I guess the only place to turn is philosophy since I don’t really have good news to announce except that I’ll be slowly putting more effort into my “brand” WheelchairDNA – YouTube, writing and so on (no AI, pure human words here). I’ve been thinking lately about the regression to the mean. Usually spoken about in the context of the stock market. Essentially, there is no endless growth. (I don’t actually know this, and I won’t fact check myself, but this is how I understand it) You take the % gained / years invested and given a long enough time, the % gain will match the mean (average) of the market. In another way, given a long enough time, anything exceptional will become average. You can be great one year and even grow to be greater, but exponential growth can’t be sustained and over time that greatness just won’t be special.

I think about a time in middle school, I took an aptitude test that, among many things, asked me to memorize a sequence of numbers and repeat them back. I was told that my score was at the 16th grade level. That’s college. I also could be remembering wrong but that’s the difference between a memoir and a biography. After that test, I went back to class and nothing changed. Now I’m beyond university, and might even score worse if I took the same test. I remember when I was about 7 or 8 months after my injury. Working at Kimberly-Clark for my internship. I was in the gym, I had traveled to Europe (1 month after leaving rehab, 2 months after injury), I had a car, and I was way ahead of the game. A guy in a wheelchair asked me “How many years have you been in a wheelchair?” “None”. Only a couple months, and I was proud of that. I had excelled in rehab and went far beyond that. Exponential growth. But there’s a ceiling. For example, I mastered doing a wheelie, going down stairs, how to effectively lift weights, and maneuver international travel. Once I did all that, no matter how impressively early, it eventually becomes normal. I no longer can say I’ve been in a wheelchair for a short time and done so much. I’ve been in a wheelchair for some years now, all those things are nearly expected, kind of normal. Still impressive, but at this point you won’t be shocked. It’s the itch for new that’s been well scratched. Even think about weightlifting, there’s a video online when I was 14 or 15, before my injury of course, deadlifting 4 plates – 405lbs (~180kgs). That’s insane. But, overtime, I regressed to the mean. The interesting, or potentially interesting, thing I thought of is that perhaps the regression to the mean only applies if you continue investing. If you buy a stock and never buy anything else, perhaps it never regresses. If you do something great, then die, no one sees that greatness dissipate. All that’s left is what could have happened. This is why people like JFK, Caesar or Lincoln are so popular. Not that they were so perfect, but we only remember them at their greatest, they never had the time to regress to the mean. History had a chance to see Napoleon rise and fall, maybe it’s just that he overreached, but imagine if he were assassinated at his height of military power and French territorial control. Even if it didn’t last without him, we would all speculate on what more he could’ve done.

One of my favorite speeches I visit often is David Foster Wallace’s commencement speech – This is Water. Like a listening to a sad song when you’re sad, there’s a word yet to exist that describes the comfort in hearing someone else verbalize exactly how you feel – sometimes better than you ever could. I’ll learn German first then get back to you on what to call that feeling. In this speech he talks about how mind melting the day to day “adult trenches” truly are. For most people (this is my USA perspective), life changes frequently and routinely all through childhood. Every few years, we change schools. Preschool, first grade, then middle school (a new building, sometimes a whole new public school with 100% new people), then high school (again could be entirely new), then college (where the most change happens). Throughout all this there can be moving to new cities, states, doing new sports, and in university probably the most change inside and out. Then, all of the sudden, the change stops. Sure there are kids, new jobs, moving to new cities and states. But those changes really slow down and maybe stop completely. It’s possible to have 10 years in the same house, with the same car, going to the same job, shopping at the same stores, sleeping in the same bed. This is where the regression to the mean happens. When there aren’t really any new things happening. The day to day trenches of adulthood become month to month and year to year. I am entering these trenches. I am struggling to cope with the lack of newness.

But alas, not all is lost. For I am a thinking man. Life can be much better, the trenches can be enjoyable or maybe there aren’t any trenches at all. The truth is, I haven’t been very social lately. It was never about being in the university environment. It’s about having friends around, doing fun things, having hobbies. School was actually bad and I’m not a huge fan of the academic bureaucracy in universities – I always felt like I was being taken advantage of. I shouldn’t romanticize it. Adulthood is much better. Maybe I’m just lucky but I get to have a job where I can learn new things, do new things, and meet new people. Going to the office everyday is kind of fun, shopping at the same store is fine. I don’t have homework, so I can truly enjoy my time once I’m home after work – not to mention I get paid enough to go out after with friends after work (I don’t, but I could).

Still, the whole regression to the mean thing seems to be getting to me. I feel pressure to keep doing more and more. Always new, always impressive. I’ve done a lot, all very impressive in context, so can I relax now? Sadly, I don’t think so. It must be the go-go-go American in me. All my hobbies must make money, do drop shipping, be an entrepreneur. Blah blah blah. I’m not ready for a company, I don’t even know what I would do. I guess I have this WheelchairDNA thing. But maybe I’d rather go out with friends and just enjoy life. The real trick is doing something outside with other people, or just anything with friends.

In summary, I’m doing good and going through the same mental turmoil as anyone else who is just like me.

Caio, au revoir

Also, yes, there are some big boy milestones I’ve recently passed. I bought a house, I’m working towards another promotion at work, I got a food processor & made my own almond butter, I’m planning to do a bodybuilding competition, and I expect to leave the US & live in Europe or Asia within the next few years.

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A Story on Growing Confidence and Pooping With the Door Open

How courage and confidence have become my priority for putting myself first.

The university I attended had a lot of inaccessibility. So much so that there was a group that started just to address it, I’m talking about basic ADA compliance. There’s a bathroom with only a single stall that when I go in, the wheelchair doesn’t even get all the way in and so the stall door won’t shut.

Once I had to go to the bathroom (a different one than mentioned above), and the larger stall was occupied. As an aside, I try not to get upset at people who use these stalls and don’t need to, because honestly, who would want to do business in the small tight stalls? Anyway, I really had to pee and ended up peeing my pants because of the stall being occupied. I even took the elevator to another floor and found the larger stall in use there as well. I took the next week to do my schooling from home to avoid this happening again.

When I came back to the university campus, my friend introduced me to a new way of thinking. It’s called “dude, who cares, do what you need to do.” In action, this translates to: when I have to pee, as long as I’m in the bathroom, I’m going to pee. I don’t need to go into a stall, I can just go next to a urinal, and if not that, then just face a wall or a corner. If I need to poop, I don’t need a big stall, I just need to get close enough to a toilet so I can transfer onto it.

Here’s the story, and not the only instance of this. I was at whole foods eating some food and waiting for a tow truck to pick up my brother’s car and we got hungry. As a human wont, I had to pee. On my way to the bathroom, the very kind security guard came running down the hall after me to give me a lot of help (more than I need, but I truly love people of this kind heart). He held open the door and was seemingly ready to do anything. He actually waited for me to finish so he could open the door for me on my way out and asked many times if I needed help with anything.

Here’s the thing, there were two stalls, one larger and one smaller, both occupied. Without hesitation, I go to the urinals to pee, wash my hands, and go back to finish eating. As soon as I get back to the table, I realize I need to poop. I usually can tell just like anyone else, but it’s hard to predict when I’ll have waited too long, and then I’ve reached the point of no return. This was a moment of no return, I had waited too long. I bolt back to the bathroom, hoping to avoid the security guard’s notice, and knowing that at this point, the best I can do is minimize the trouser attrition.

Naturally, the larger stall is taken, but I entirely do not care. I go into the smaller stall, the door doesn’t shut but I can get in. Facing the toilet, I 180 transferred while taking off my pants and released the Kraken. All the ruckus doubtless grabs the attention of the guy in the larger stall, who certainly feels poorly about himself (and I’m not without a shit tonne of resentment). I’m still on the toilet, (with my pants up at this point) when the guy gets out to wash his hands and I stare deep into his soul when he catches my glance in the mirror.

I finished up, washed my hands, went back to our table, finished my food, the tow truck came, we left to go to the broken down car, and I went home to shower.

The point is, I’m absolutely done letting anything get in my way when I need to do something, especially when the implications are trouser attrition. This requires a lot of confidence and courage, it’s harder to do at work where I’ll see these people day in and day out, but they won’t want to admit it happened any more than I’ll want it to happen. Ultimately, it’s a mindset and value change, it’s not easy to do, but necessary if you respect yourself.

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Why You Need to Wear a Seat Belt in a Wheelchair

Reading time: 3 minutes

When I was in rehab, we were required to wear our belts and I didn’t like it. I don’t know exactly why, but I just didn’t want to wear it. I reckon it has something to do with being told I had to wear it.

When I was ordering my wheelchair, I almost didn’t get the seatbelt but I’m glad I did, I call it the adventure belt because, when I do have it on, it means that something awesome is going to happen.

I was once told about a guy who didn’t have a seatbelt or brakes for his chair, which is ridiculous, and hopefully, you don’t do that.

When I first got my chair, I strapped the belt below my seat and ignored it. I thought it was the dumbest thing ever and I was adamantly against it.

Then, I started to get into the Danger Zone, where things get exciting. Going up and downstairs, doing tricks, falling a few times, working out, doing handstands, falling some more, getting up ledges, and probably more that I can’t think of.

Imagine being in the car without a seat belt and hitting the brakes, your body moves forward. Think of speeding up quickly, you move back into the seat. Wearing a seat belt in my wheelchair keeps me locked in so that I don’t shift around while moving and gives me better control over the chair I’m in.

When I go into a door with a ledge, I do a wheelie, get my front wheels in, and then pull the rest of my chair up. Without my adventure belt locked in, I would likely pull my body out of my chair. Same for going upstairs. I haven’t made a video about how to do it yet, but it wouldn’t be possible without an adventure belt.

I’ve fallen a few times, at the time of writing, I’ve fallen six times. Each of them is a pretty good story and only a few of them I wasn’t wearing the belt. From experience, having a belt on helps big time with falling. Imagine you’re going down a fairly steep hill in the grass, you hit a soft spot and your front wheels dig in. You’re already tipping forward from going down the hill and so you fall forward. You could either catch yourself or at least keep the fall from getting too bad and use your hands to twist your chair to the side to avoid falling anymore.

If you weren’t wearing a seatbelt, you would’ve fallen forward and gotten dumped straight out of your chair, possibly caught yourself but more likely tumbled down the hill a bit and maybe even get knocked by your wheelchair falling after you.

When it comes to working out, the best example is doing pull ups. When I was in rehab, we tried many ways to do pull ups but never thought about keeping me in the chair. I’m here to tell you that staying in the chair is the best way to do it, and that’s accomplished only with the use of the adventure belt.

Even having the belt a little loose is all right, so long as you have it on.

There have been many times in the city where I hit a bump or crack that sticks out far too high and it brings my chair to a complete stop, I haven’t fallen yet, but I sure would’ve if I hadn’t had the adventure belt on.

Immediate actionable items: If you’re in a wheelchair, start using your belt. If you already do use your belt or you aren’t in a wheelchair, then I’m just preaching over here.

Summary: Wearing a seat belt in a wheelchair is important for those who want to do crazy things and avoid falling out of your chair.

Overdeliver: After a while of using your seat belt in your wheelchair, you may notice the clamp that attaches your belt to your chair moved. Mine moves all the time because of all that I do. You can easily find the right tool and loosen it, put it back to how it was, and then tighten it back up. For the chair I use, when the clamp moves out of place, it will hit the spokes of the wheel, which shouldn’t happen.

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Paraplegic Gear/Tools of the Month: Going for Speed

The Best Bearings for Your Wheelchair

Reading time: 4 minutes

Alright. Another month has passed and here we are with more life improving gear. for my favorite month – July – we’ll be looking at my favorite mindset. Going faster.

The problem we solve here is going slow. I really don’t like going slow. Another way to frame it is reducing the friction, so you use less energy and go faster and further.

I really don’t like working against friction. Right now, as I’m writing this in Australia, my bearings are completely shot. Rusted and broken. I’ll be heading home in 18 days, so I’m just camping out in the slow grounds until I get back home and address this monumental issue.

When my bearing are either broken or just the standard ones that I got with the chair, I feel like I’m pushing against some force. I actually am. Even when going downhill, I’ve noticed that I hardly pick up any speed if at all.

Having the least amount of friction allows you to exert less energy to go faster. It means that one push takes you further and you’re more agile. You’ll be surprised at the difference from the gear below.

Solutions:

  • Front wheel bearings
  • Back wheel bearings

The bearings that came with my chair, when I had them in the air and gave them a spin,they spun for only a few seconds. Once I upgraded, they spun for minutes.

Front Wheel Bearings

Front wheels in a wheelchair, I believe they’re called caster wheels, typically will be compatible with your everyday skateboard bearings. A very good thing because there’s a big market for skate bearings. The technical bearing size is 608.

You can either go all out if you’re serious about having the best or go decent if you want the minimum best.

One thing to note is that most skateboard bearing packs come with 8 total bearings, 2 for each wheel. Wheelchairs only have 2 front wheels, so this is like buying double.

Starting at the minimum end. Probably the best bearings you could get at the lowest price. Anything less than these shouldn’t be considered.

The recognized standard bearing. Reds. These will give you what you need and might be good enough if you want to go fast.

Bones Big Balls Reds Skateboard Bearings 8 Pack

Pros

Cons

  • Will rust over time
  • Not the absolute best you can get
  • Other Bones Bearings have cooler stickers, but that’s an opinion.

Before we get to the top two bearings. Here’s a good in between option that I found.

Seismic Skate Systems 8mm 6-Ball Skateboard Bearings

Pros

Cons

  • Not widely known, not by me at least
  • Will also rust over time
  • Might not come with a sticker

For those that live in the fast lane, these two bearings are for you. On the expensive side, but commonly known as the fastest bearings around.

First up:  Bones Swiss Ceramic

Bones Swiss Ceramic Skateboard Bearings 8 Pack

Pros

  • Literally the very best
  • Super fast
  • Bragging rights
  • Super cool sticker to brag about
  • Ceramic doesn’t rust
  • The best

Cons

  • Only the balls are ceramic and the casing could rust
  • Expensive
  • Made out of toilet

Second up: VXB Full Ceramic

VXB 608 Full Ceramic Skate Bearing White Ceramic

Pros

  • Individually sold bearings (can buy 4 instead of the pre-packaged 8)
  • Full ceramic to go even faster (less friction)
  • Not so expensive
  • Uses black ceramic balls

Cons

  • A ceramic case can crack, which will ruin the whole thing
  • Not skate rated like Bones
  • I couldn’t even find an ABEC rating
  • No sticker

Back wheel bearings

The bigger wheels on wheelchairs are much like (if not exactly like) bike tires. Luckily, bike (bicycle) bearings are also an existing market that we can dip into, and the water is warm. I’m back after eating dinner and doing more research, the water is luke-warm but erring on cool.

Bike bearings are few and far and they vary. I recommend taking off your wheel and checking what bearing you have. This is what mine looks like:

Cosmo’s wheel bearing

As you will struggle to see, it says “R8 2RS.” I also struggled. After some searching, I found that this bearing is 1/2 x 1 1/8 x 5/16 (inches), which is also, 12.7 x 28 x 8 (millimetres). Also called an R8ZZ or a 6001 bearing.
The measurements are Inner diameter x Outer diameter x Width

There aren’t any big players that make Swiss bearings of this size, or anything of distinct caliber like Bones.
I’ve found generic or ceramic.
Generic will get you medium results – probably better than the bearings that came with your chair but nothing mind blowing.
Ceramic (with a metal casing) will get you the results that come with ceramic, faster and better.

Here’s what we got. Keep in mind these are both individual bearings, so you’ll have to buy four.

Medium-high Level Generic (all metal)

Enduro Max 6001 Sealed Cartridge Bearing

Ceramic (metal casing)

ACER Racing 12x28x8mm Ceramic Ball Bearing | 6001 Bearing

If you want to look for another size bearing and you figure out the metric size or the name (6001, etc.) filter through this page to find a good bearing.

To make this process much more efficient, here are some amazing tools

Bearings are as hard to take out as

Bones Bearings Press Puller

To take off your caster wheels, you’ll need some hex keys (also used for bike maintenance)

Texas Best Folding Metric and SAE Hex Keys

Overdeliver? Absolutely.

There is a next level of speed, not the drug, and it involves some sauce. Don’t get lost in the sauce, you can actually use too much.

Bones Speed Cream Skate Bearing Lubricant

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Paraplegic Gear/Tools of the Month: The Belt

Read time: 3 minutes

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Hey!

Every week, I look around and see what type of gear I’m using or anything I’ve come across that’s cool and useful. Something that has made my life easier and solves a problem I’ve had for too long.

I’ll be keeping these fairly short with one tool/gear item that I’ve used and I’ll talk about how it’s useful (solving some problems).

There are many ways to use everyday items in a unique way. As an engineer and minimalist, I like to use what I have and see if I can make it work. It’s a fun little challenge that keeps my brain sharp.

Today’s tools are belts, created by Arcade and lululemon. We have two styles, two problems and infinitely great ways to use them.

The problems we solve:

  1. So, I have a strap behind my legs that keeps my feet from sliding off the back of my footrest, but I spend my entire day pulling my feet back on the footplate after they’ve slid forward as a result of bumpy pavement or sidewalk cracks.
  2. Pockets. Pant pockets are near impossible to use while you’re in your chair. I often go out for a walk and need to carry my keys, wallet, catheter and phone, but they’ll either fall out of my pocket or wont fit. Keeping them on my lap becomes a bit much and they easily bounce off.

    Luckily, we have a solution for these problems, it’s more than a solution. It’ll tell the world that you mean something, that you’re on your way to success! (and you’ll feel as amazing as you look)

Contrary to popular belief, I’m a man who cares about style and presentation. Even if I do wear the same few clothes over and over again, I want them to be high quality clothes.

The solutions:

  1. The Arcade belt.


    It’s made for adventure, it’s durable, and it’s personal. There are many different styles for every mood and season.

This belt solves all of our problems.
It’s easy to take on and off, it can even be useful when we’re not using it (like using it as a belt).
It comes in many sexy designs, which means we look cool and get to show off a little.
The size is adjustable so you can keep your legs where you want them.
It’s a lot more versatile and when you watch the video below, you’ll see how it doesn’t actually wrap around where my other strap is.
Best of all, the clip is super easy to put together and unbuckle. So, even if you struggle using your hands a little, it’s not hard at all!

Belt 1

Belt 2

Belt 3

Using an Arcade belt to solve problem 1

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, imagine what you could do if the belt could also hold your keys!

Now we solve the second problem: Pockets.

You may have noticed that there’s a trend to wear a belt bag (fanny pack) across your chest. The timing has never been as perfect as now. Look trendy, be efficient, feel great!

lululemon has many options that are both fashionable and useful. Almost all of them have secret compartments and tiny details that are worth showing off to your friends.

  1. This Fast and Free Run Belt is perfect for keeping your keys and a few essentials ready to grab and toss on before you head out (keys are small and valuable, they easily fall off my lap)
  2. The On The Beat Belt Bag is big enough to hold more essentials (even a catheter or two) and even though the model is a woman, I would proudly wear this as a man.

Try this gear out and let me know how much it helps!

(Just some over delivery) This is my “efficiency outfit” I can wash less with the anti-stink tech, they dry fast (I avoid the cost of using a dryer), makes the perfect first impression and I feel like I can do anything (I can go to work and then workout without changing)

Shorts – Men, Women

Pants – Men, Women

Shirt – Men, Women

Socks – Men, Women

Underwear – Men, Women



PS, remember to share this info, it’s too good to keep to yourself!

If you find any cool gear/tools, leave them in the comments and there’s always a good chance you could write a post for this site!