In this post, I’ll attempt to cover every detail and frequently asked question for the Extreme Motus off-road wheelchair.

Extreme Motus Off-Road Wheelchair

The Extreme Motus Off-Road Wheelchair is a lightweight, manual wheelchair designed for outdoor adventures. It features large, low-pressure tires that provide a smooth ride over various terrains like sand, rocks, grass, gravel, and even floats in water. The off-road wheelchair is built with a durable aluminum frame and includes independent disk brakes for safe descents. It’s perfect for those who want to explore nature with ease and comfort.

All these features are great but the most important thing about this outdoor mobility device is how it unites families in nature. The most beautiful places in our country don’t have sidewalks, they have trails. When you exclude a person with a mobility challenge from these national treasures you exclude their whole family. At Extreme Motus we have developed the solution.

Lightweight, Durable Aluminum Frame

The frame of the Extreme Motus off-road wheelchair is made from durable, corrosion-resistant aluminum. You should feel confident as you push the Extreme Motus over and through obstacles that the frame will be able to take a beating and keep on going for years to come. Together Sam & Ryan have put their off-road wheelchair through every type of terrain: grass, gravel, rocks, sand, mud, snow, pump tracks, skateparks, national parks, and state parks. Sam’s chair has it’s battle scars, a few scratches here and there but it’s still going strong after 5 years of hard living.

We use a CNC lathe to cut solid aluminum bars into the frame that makes our off-road wheelchair. This Frame has a weight limit of 350 pounds.

Powder Coated Frame

We take the bare aluminum frames that make up the wheelchair frame and send them to be powder-coated. We love the bright consistent colors that power coating gives our off-road wheelchair. The first Extreme Motus Off-Road Wheelchairs were anodized. We switched to powder coating over anodizing because when metal is anodized it’s a bit like dyeing an easter egg. The longer it sits in the acid the darker the color. This created an annoying problem where some parts on the frame were a different shade of blue than others.

With powder coating, every part has the same great color. We keep red and blue frames in stock. If you are interested in a custom color we can make that happen. Choosing this option will add some time to your build, depending on how busy our powder coater is as well as an additional $400.

Supportive Race Car Seat

The seat we use for the Extreme Motus Off-Road Wheelchair is also made from lightweight aluminum. The seat we use is Manufactured by Kirkey Racing and is often used in custom racecar builds. Race cars need to be as lightweight as possible. Because the Motus is a manual off-road wheelchair we have done our best to trim weight wherever we can.

When you take an adventure up a mountain every ounce counts.

The seat cover can be easily removed with no tools. It’s a good idea to remove the seat cover and hang it out to dry if you’ve been playing at the beach.

What Size Should I Get?

You can order the seat for your Extreme Motus Off-Road Wheelchair in 3 different sizes. Small, Medium, and Large. The difference in these sizes only affects the width of the chair.

Sam who stars in our videos weighs 90 pounds, and he uses a medium-sized chair. I weigh around 200 pounds and think the large chair is more comfortable, but can still squeeze into a medium. If you’re buying the Motus for a child then we recommend the small-sized chair, unless you know that your child will continue to grow. We don’t want them to outgrow their chairs and in that case we recommend you purchase the medium and some extra padding to the sides that can be removed as they grow.

• Small – 14″ Carries up to – 80 lb.
• Medium – 16″ Carries 80 – 150 lb.
• Large – 18″ Carries 150 – 250 lb.

What About Height?

If the person riding in the chair is over 6 feet tall you should consider ordering the extra long version of our chair. This option adds an additional 5 inches to the length of the chair making it more comfortable for tall people.

Large Low-Pressure Wheels

The bigger a wheel is the easier it can to roll over an obstacle. The large low-pressure wheels we use on our off-road wheelchair allow the Motus to be pushed over grass, gravel, rocks, ice, snow, and even float in water.

At about 4 psi Wheeleez wheels also provide suspension for the rider. In a standard wheelchair, a cruise around the neighborhood can be difficult because of uneven sidewalks. But with the Motus you’ll no longer feel every crack in the sidewalk or rock on the trail.

These tires are made from a durable polyurethane material. In our 5 years of adventuring Sam and I have experienced 2 flat tires. One after taking some big jumps at a mountain bike park, and the other from a thorn we call a “Goat Head” in Utah. On our more serious long distance adventures in remote locations, we like to carry a spare tire just in case. You can add a spare tire to your order in our online store.

With such low pressure, the tires are soft enough to roll over most sharp rocks and thorns without creating a puncture.

How To Repair A Flat Tire

If you do get a flat tire it can be repaired with a soldering iron by melting the material back together.

• Find the hole using soapy water. You could be looking for more than one hole.
• Circle the hole with a permanent marker.
• Melt the hole back together with a soldering iron.
• Go on more adventures!

As this video shows even large slices can be repaired using this method.

Adjustable Handlebar

Depending on the height of the person pushing the wheelchair you may find it necessary to adjust the handlebar. This is really easy to do with an Allen key. Loosen one screw, place it at the desired height, and tighten it back down.

It’s a good idea to keep a small mountain bike tool in the storage pack on your wheelchair just in case something needs to be adjusted or tightened while on an adventure.

Indepentant Disk Brakes

The Extreme Motus Off-Road Wheelchair has a fantastic braking system. They can function both as a parking brake and to slow the chair down on steep descents. They provide excellent stopping power because they are on the rear wheels directly under the rider where the center of gravity is.

While hiking on the red rock sandstone of the Utah desert the Motus seemed to have an unlimited amount of stopping power because the tires gripped the rock so well, and the brakes were so strong.

In my experience, it’s easier to hike downhill with the Motus than without. Hiking downhill is very hard on the knees as you try to slow yourself down with every step. When you are hiking downhill with the Extreme Motus Off-Road Wheelchair you have something to hold on to and you can use the brakes of the wheelchair to slow yourself down thus taking pressure off your knees while descending in a safe and controlled manner.

Each wheel has its own brake handle and they can be operated independently. This can help when going down a hill to turn the chair left or right as you squeeze one handle more than the other.

You’ll feel comfortable and in control descending nearly any trail in the Extreme Motus Off-Road Wheelchair.

Water Bottle Cages

Each Extreme Motus Off-Road Wheelchair comes with 2 standard-sized water bottle holders one on each side of the spine that leads to the handlebars behind the seat.

Storage Options/Luggage

The Extreme Motus Off-Road Wheelchair has two options for storage while out on your adventures.

The first is a small fanny pack sized bag that is mounted on the handlebars. Super convenient place to store smaller items like snacks or your smartphone that you might want quick access to.

The large bag that mounts behind the seat is essentially one side of a bicycle pannier. It hangs from a metal rod bolted to the spine of the chair and is kept from wobbling about with a bungee cord that attaches to the rear axle of the chair.

I like to use this bag to store a light jacket, lunch, camera gear, drone, etc. It’s a roll-top bag and stands up to rain, but you should remove this bag before going into the water. It isn’t waterproof all your gear will get soaked.

Folding for Storage

When you’re finished with your adventure and need to store the X3 you can simply remove 2 pins from the frame and it folds in seconds. The pins are attached to the frame with small ropes so they won’t get lost.

Reclining Angle

There are multiple holes in the frame of the Extreme Motus Off-Road Wheelchair. These can be used to slightly change the angle of the frame, and how the chair sits. At its most relined the chair is leaning back about 30 degrees, and the rider’s legs are more bent. In the more upright configuration, the rider’s legs are straight and they are sitting up straight.

You will need to experiment with these settings and find out which is more comfortable for your rider.

Removing Wheels for Storage

The wheels attach to the brakes using the same method race cars use to quickly swap out tires at a pit stop. This allows the wheels to be quickly removed for storage or to be loaded into a smaller car.

To remove the wheels simply pull the pin from the axle. Take care not to lose the spacer that sits between the pin and tire. Slide the wheel off and you’re ready to go.

Removing the wheels can save you some space. However, the axle will remain in the chair making it the same width as when the tires were on. So it’s the same width either way, but it can be useful in certain situations.

When it’s time to replace the wheels, slowly slide the wheel back on the axle and align the pins in the hub on the back side of the wheel with the holes on the disk brake.

The hub is fitted with magnets and you should be able to feel the disk snap against the magnets letting you know it’s in the right position.

Pushing the X3 Off-Road Wheelchair

How easy or hard it is to push the Extreme Motus Off-Road Wheelchair depends on a few factors:

• How heavy is the person being pushed?
• Do you have someone helping you push or pull?
• How strong is the person pushing?
• How heavy is the person in the chair?
• What kind of terrain are you taking the X3 on?
• Is it uphill or downhill?
• Is it loose sand or a gravel trail?

My point is, that it’s as easy or as difficult as you want it to be.

If you want hardcore off-road wheelchair adventures the Motus can handle anything you throw at it. If you want relaxing long walks on the beach it’s great for that too.

In some of our videos when the going gets tough we need more than one person pushing and go shoulder to shoulder with one person on each side of the handlebar. The frame of the chair also has many places where you can attach ropes and have people pulling from the front as well.

On the steep sections of the Delicate Arch trail, 2 people pushing and 2 people pulling to lighten the load and keep the person in the wheelchair safe but also to keep each other from tiring out. What usually happens when there are 4 people helping on a hike is you don’t feel like you’re doing enough so you speed up. This causes everyone to speed up and next thing you know the 4 of you are running up the mountain. I often have to stop and point this out and work with everyone to keep a more steady pace.

As someone who has pushed and pulled the Motus a lot I can say that while it can be a workout, it’s also a very rewarding experience. Being able to take my friend Sam to places he’s never been able to visit makes both of us very happy. We have made friends on many of our adventures who jump in and help Sam make it to the top of the trail. It’s great to see how happy people are to help and how much more meaningful their hike becomes when they give service to someone in need.

Turning the Extreme Motus Off-Road Wheelchair

Because the front wheel of the Extreme Motus Off-Road Wheelchair is fixed you need to pop a wheelie to turn left or right. This is easy to do because the center of gravity is over the back wheels.

Turning, like pushing, is also somewhat based on the weight of the rider and the strength of the person pushing. I find it very easy to walk with the front wheel in the air because of how the chair is balanced over the rear axle.

It might take a little bit of practice but it’s like riding a bicycle. Once you have the hang of it, it’s easy.

Floating in Water

The tires of the Extreme Motus Off-Road Wheelchair are large enough to keep the chair buoyant in the water. I’ll never forget the first time we took Sam blasting across the sand and into the water at our nearby reservoir. He was having so much fun playing in the water instead of being stuck sitting on the shore baking in the sun.

Yes, the Motus does float, but that doesn’t mean it’s an ocean-going vessel or a life-saving device. The person sitting in the chair means it’s top heavy in the water, and if the person pushing lets go of the handlebars the chair will tip over.

So you will need to stay in calm, shallow water where the person who is pushing can keep both feet on the ground and stay completely in control of the wheelchair at all times.

We also recommend using a life jacket, and unbucking the seat belt when you decide to go into amphibious mode to keep everyone as safe as possible.

How Much Does The Extreme Motus Off-Road Wheelchair Cost?

Our off-road wheelchair currently sells for $4499.99.

This includes your choice of red or blue color. Small, medium, or large seat.

We charge a flat shipping fee of $375

Optional Accessories

• 5 Point Harness $135
• Extra Long $200
• Handlebar bag $30
• Large Pannier $60
• Motus Protector $180
• Motus Mover $350
• Camera Mount $20

Conclusion

I hope this post along with the other information on our website gives you a good understanding of the Extreme Motus off-road wheelchair. We look forward to helping you make nature wheelchair accessible.

You should now have a good idea of whether or not this is the right off-road wheelchair for you and your needs.

If you have any more questions please do not hesitate to call or text me. Ryan Grassley – 801-683-9191 – ryan@extrememotus.com