The Folding Mobility Scooter

The folding mobility scooter is usually associated with travel though there may other factors that would lead you to choose one such as lack of storage space.

So, let’s take a closer look at the travel folding mobility scooter and the benefits and drawbacks these can present.

The first benefit of most of the folding mobility scooter models is they tend to be very light make lifting them and transporting them easier. This lightweight construction, though seemingly a considerable advantage, all too often brings with it significant issues.
The more sturdy, and practical, folding scooters tend to be very heavy making lifting them impossible for most people.

Firstly, the construction and components of the vehicle will have undergone substantial weight reduction which will, by its very nature, cause a reduction in both the inherent strength and rigidity the scooter can offer.

The folding nature of the seat often also impacts the rigidity available to the scooter, we often hear from scooter owners trading in their folding scooters that they feel “flimsy”.

A folding seat also brings another major issue for the owner, that of limited to no adjustability of the seat.

Many of the seats featured on the folding mobility scooter use a scissor type of hinge to raise and lower the seat when packing and unpacking the scooter, this design effectively rules out and form of adjustment in height or horizontal position.

This scissor configuration also has a hidden danger, that of the potential for trapping parts of your body, such as fingers or hands, which, no matter how light the seat is still likely to cause at best pain and at worst could lead to an unpleasant injury.

Every model in our range of scooters has a removable seat, apart from the Flyte which features a folding seat assisted by a hydraulic ram, the ingenious system of rotary hinges and an enormously robust locking system allow this seat to be extremely sturdy while retaining lightweight, and extremely simple, opening and closing operation. The Flyte seat, by using this design, retains the ability to adjust backwards and forwards, adapting to the needs of your body, meaning that it is streets ahead when it comes to the comfort available to you and which you will not be able to benefit from with lesser folding mobility scooter designs.

“I really enjoy it. The seat is really helpful for my spine. I’ve taken it into my local supermarket and other shops and the turning circle is really amazing. It has given me my life back.” – Mrs Thompson

If storage space is your issue the ability to remove the scooter seat, and the folding tillers on all models, will often be enough to make storage simpler with the take-apart Ultra and self-loading, folding Flyte fitting in to surprisingly small spaces when space is at a premium.

There are many other constrictions the folding design will impose on a scooter

Firstly, they will utilise small wheels in order to save both space and weight, these will offer little or no shock absorbency which, coupled with a lack of suspension, will offer a rough ride.

These small wheels will inevitably encounter difficulty with rougher surfaces and kerbs and, coupled with weight saving small motors and very limited battery size, and therefore lower capacity in power, range and weight carrying capacity.

The other major way in which a folding mobility scooter is likely to have less than desirable performance is the space available to the passenger and therefore just how comfortable you can be on the scooter.

Even larger four-wheel scooters suffer from passengers being cramped, which forces bad posture, and when you make them smaller this gets progressively worse.

Though three-wheel models will be less likely to suffer in this area, all the other factors involved in making a folding mobility scooter will compound the issues of instability that plague the three-wheel design, to such a degree, that the scooter may even be dangerous in certain situations.

Our five-wheel Quingo range offers up to 80% extra foot space when compared to an equivalent four-wheel scooter and has the additional advantage of benefiting from our Quintell™ Posture Control System.