Quickie GTi--a Titanium Quickie GT

[SCI_OTR]

Just came across this on the Sunrise web site this morning. It is called the Quickie GTi and has the same diameter tubing as a titanium Crossfire.

[lynnifer]

Now that chair really interests me.

I was going to make next year the year of the RRSP, but I hear a new chair calling me. lol This year was the year of 'pay off your car one year early' lol.

[611]

I love my Quickie Ti. I wonder what the advantages of owning this chair is as opposed to my Ti. I'm very interested but probably won't buy chair for another 3 or 4 yrs. I like to keep my chairs for 6 or 7 yrs unless I see one that will clearly enhance my quality of life. My copay after insurance is still steep. I do think Quickie makes the best chairs.

[SCI_OTR]

The Ti Titanium is a good "finesse" chair with an extremely light weight. Unfortunately, it has been Quickie's neglected step child (Their order form is unchanged since November 2005). The GTi appears to address some of the things that annoy me on the current Ti Titanium.

- The GTi is available in a 19 or 20" seat width, higher front STF heights, and 75, 80, or 85 degree front frame angles.

- The 1 1/8" diameter tubing should eliminate what I feel is a little too much flex in the 1" tubing on the Ti (especially in the segment connecting the caster barrel to the front frame). The trade off is slightly greater weight.

- The GTi is available with a wider fork or Frog Legs--which means wider spacers and a greater selection of casters. The spacers used between the caster and narrow fork on the Quickie Ti are too narrow and can easily bind with the bearings.

- I feel Quickie should offer higher quality casters on a high end chair like the Ti Titanium. The GTi is available with 4/5/6" x 1.5 aluminum soft roll casters or 4/5/6x1 light ups. IMO, the best caster available on the Ti Titanium is the 4" light up (BTW: They can be "turned off" by replacing the inner spacer with a standard spacer).

- Kik Makos, Schwalbe Marathon Plus Evolution, and MTB tires are available as are NaturalFit handrims. I was surprised to see that they even offer projection hand rims.

- The ergo scissor lock from the Quickie GT is available on the GTi. It is more compact and works better than the Ti Titanium's scissor lock which uses an extremely long clamp. I'm going to see if the ergo scissors will work on my ZR when it arrives.

- No more Torx heads (hopefully).

- The GTi offers a lock down folding backrest and what appears to be a Kuschall style swingaway anti-tip (I can't wait to see these in person). The backrest hinge is also a slightly different design than that used on the Quickie GT (no more splines).

- The Ti's axle clamp is bolted to the frame and must be adjusted in 1/2" increments. On the GTi, the clamps onto the frame and can be easily moved fore/aft. In some configurations, the Ti's "U" shaped axle clamp can extend well-below the axle tube making he frame less compact than it could be when loading it into a vehicle. The axle clamp on the GTi is narrower and any excess protruding below the axle tube could be cut off without affecting the integrity of the hardware. (It is also cleaner than the ZRa's design).

- Most importantly of all, people who think they know more than they actually do about wheelchairs, won't confuse the chair with a TiLite when they hear "Ti Titanium". They'll be even more confused because they will be thinking Volkswagen when they hear "GTi".

The Ti Titanium is still the lightest and least expensive titanium cantilevered rigid frame wheelchair offered by a major manufacturer. Using SportAid's configurator, the GTi is about the same price as a comparably configured TiLite ZRa. The specific features will determine which of the two is cheaper (e.g. the GTi does offer a no charge fixed height titanium back, better standard wheel locks, a no charge open loop tubular footrest, and can be painted). It can not be configured with as much dump nor does it offer a 90 degree frame (sorry, fuente). The Ti Titanium is a few hundred dollars less.

I'll probably be ordering a fair number of GTi's for newly-injured veterans. Unlike the Crossfire, it has an adjustable rear STF, and Sunrise Medical offers a greater government discount than TiLite (I wish I could have been able to get my ZR at government cost).

[Tara]

I have one of these.
The brakes are a consistent problem. They are either really tight or really loose. They fluctuate. Why is this?
I am not incredibly 'handy' but have pulled out my allen keys, pliers, etc and tried to mess around with them.
How do you tighten the brakes back up?

[fuentejps]

Originally Posted by Tara

I have one of these.
The brakes are a consistent problem. They are either really tight or really loose. They fluctuate. Why is this?
I am not incredibly 'handy' but have pulled out my allen keys, pliers, etc and tried to mess around with them.
How do you tighten the brakes back up?

go to d's locks. incredible

[jccarolina]

This is the chair I just got (the GTi)
My friend Andrew has the Crossfire and our chairs look allot alike at first glance until you really look at them. I opted out on the standard breaks and got scissor. Didn't want that problem, not to mention constant jammed thumbs.

[ancientgimp]

Originally Posted by Tara

I have one of these.
The brakes are a consistent problem. They are either really tight or really loose. They fluctuate. Why is this?
I am not incredibly 'handy' but have pulled out my allen keys, pliers, etc and tried to mess around with them.
How do you tighten the brakes back up?

To keep brakes tight, fill your tires at least once a week to the same pressure. Use a good quality pressure gauge or you won't really be getting the tires unoiformly filled.

Also, I have found that it is difficult to adequately tighten the allen screws which clamp the brake housing to frame tube. Usually there are 2 screws, tighten one then the other and back again until you cannot tighten either anymore. Use a high quality allen wrench so you don't strip the screw head. Your typical Walmart allen wrench may have so much play inside the socket of the screw head that over time you will strip out the head. For good measure, what I also do is use a piece of copper pipe about a foot long that has a narrow diameter and just fits over the allen wrench - I use this for additional leverage while tighteniong up the screws. After you use this additional leverage those clamps are not going to slip and slide around. The downside of this is that you need to use the same copper tube to do all subsequent adjustments because your screws are so tight they cannot be loosened without it.

[DaleB]

They tend to fluctuate with tread wear on the tires, in my experience. Which kind of brakes do you have? The ergo scissors on my GT work really well, IMO. Also , which part comes loose?