# Wheelchair design question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheelchair-design-question/289919>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 13, 2005, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheelchair-design-question/289919 "2005-02-13T22:08:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheelchair-design-question/289919/1 "2005-02-13T22:08:10Z")

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At breakfast the other day, my husband and I saw a man in a wheelchair that had angled wheels. Being engineers, we discussed the possible reasons, and decided that it was a stability feature. The chair got a wider wheelbase without making the whole chair all that much wider, and since the tops of the wheels angled in, it would be as easy to propel as a straight-wheeled chair.

We wondered secondarily if it had to do with maneuverability.

So, anybody able to enlighten us?

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**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheelchair-design-question/289919/2 "2005-02-13T22:28:29Z")

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Many modern wheel chairs have adjustable camber. Lateral stability is one reason for introducing camber - there are others:

[http://www.usatechguide.org/articledisplay.php?artid=23](http://www.usatechguide.org/articledisplay.php?artid=23)

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**Author:** ![Shrinking\_Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Shrinking\_Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shrinking_Violet)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheelchair-design-question/289919/3 "2005-02-13T22:34:11Z")

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[Racing wheelchairs](http://www.themedsupplyguide.com/wheelchairs/sports.html) are built this way … presumably for greater manoevrability (sp?).

As a wheelchair user, I have to say I think it would drive me mad!

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**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\
**Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wheelchair-design-question/289919/4 "2005-02-13T23:06:41Z")

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Thanks for the links! Very informative.