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A $1k Wheelchair

newmobility.com

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Re: A $1k Wheelchair

#141

Post by MisterTea »

kelnos wrote: post #108
MisterTea wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You expect too much of people.

Please stop. These cynical drive-by comments add nothing to the discussion.

I get it but the acting surprised feels condescending and annoying itself. Maybe I should have articulated that better. There are always ignorant people. Always. Take that opportunity to answer their questions and move on. Not this "I know right. gawd. youd think theyd know better..." come on man, that's just rude. Like of course, there are gonna be questions and confused people. Don't be condescending and act all surprised.

Re: A $1k Wheelchair

#142

Post by xyst »

That’s a wholesome story. Hope the company stays employee owned for a long time. Seen too many companies which started like this but after exchanging a few hands (ie, ending up in the hands of grand children). It ends up getting scrapped for parts and sold to the highest bidder.

Re: A $1k Wheelchair

#143

Post by ekidd »

tredre3 wrote: post #60
skylurk wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you buy an under-$200 bike off of Amazon? Especially one you spent all day on?

I don't know about Amazon, but $200 is the price of a reasonable entry-level bike in any large surface store so yes? I know this is HN and people will likely look down on anyone riding a <$2000 bike, but come on.

When our kids were growing quickly, we went through a number of sub-$300 bikes, both new and gifted by family. I ended up doing about one repair every two weeks, including broken derailleurs, junky brakes, jammed wheels, you name it. And our kids did not abuse those bikes.

I ended up buying a bike stand and a basic toolkit just so I could fix those bikes quickly and get the kids back outside. The parts on those bikes were absolute garbage and the reliability was zero.

Meanwhile I have a medium/high-end mountain bike from 1997 that still has some original parts on it, despite having seen time as a daily commuter and a trail bike.

A good thing to look at is resale value. Around here, you can resell a $1200 mountain bike for a good price. But you'd lucky to get much for a $800 bike.

Re: A $1k Wheelchair

#144

Post by xnx »

diebeforei485 wrote: post #134
xnx wrote: post #30

Went down a bit of a rabbit hole and found this industry guide to Taiwanese contract bike manufacturers: http://www.wheelgiant.com.tw/ebook/flib/2024TBS_%E6%95%B4%E6... If there was enough demand, I'm betting some of the companies in here could make quality wheelchairs real cheap.

Each wheelchair is custom so it's totally different than other products.

Is it totally different? Bikes are made and adjusted for a huge variety of body types. I understand there are different needs for wheel chair users, but I would think some level of adjustment would be possible to accommodate most of those.

Re: A $1k Wheelchair

#145

Post by janalsncm »

maxglute wrote: post #56
rtkwe wrote: post #26

It's odd seeing the number of dismissive comments missing that there are whole categories of wheelchairs for different purposes. It's like asking why XPSs exist when there are Chromebooks, something most people commenting here would immediately realize as a silly question because they suit different needs and functions but the idea doesn't come up because it's an unfamiliar problem.

I think its just how cheap / rudimentary the basic model look for 1K. Like it seems there's a viable Indochino / send measurement to Asia manufacture model and get bespoke product back for fraction of the cost. Or some sort of modular break down kit that you can take to a bike shop to tune to custom needs for less. I admire Jerry's effort, but I think people correctly sees $200 product that cost $1000 in US, and some…

I don’t know anything about wheelchairs, but there’s a similar very high-margin market for eyeglasses. Freakonomics did a podcast about it:

https://freakonomics.com/podcast/why-do-your-eyeglasses-cost...

Frames have crazy 100x markups and the market is dominated by a small number of companies. They interviewed people from Warby Parker (a newer, more inexpensive brand) and even they said they had to raise prices so they didn’t seem like knock-offs.

Re: A $1k Wheelchair

#146

Post by loloquwowndueo »

badjoak wrote: post #83
flyrain wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of them are under $200 in Amazon

Smart phone under $200, would you want one?

Go to someone who doesn’t know anything about smartphones and he’ll say sure hit me up.

That’s me, I know nothing about wheelchairs, hence why I’m asking.

Re: A $1k Wheelchair

#147

Post by joemi »

amadeuspagel wrote: post #90

It's cool how they get both capital and distribution from their YouTube channel. Are there any other "real" business started from YouTube like this?

I think you mean promotion instead of distribution?

Re: A $1k Wheelchair

#148

Post by tredre3 »

jeanlucas wrote: post #66
tredre3 wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His name is Zack, not Jerry. I know, it's confusing.

Meh, lots of people call him Jerry for a while now. I know you're not aware because you're not a fan and just wants to one up on HN. He said already he chose Jerry in honor of his grandfather who was a fixer. On an interview with MKBHD (btw, I know MKBHD is not literally that guy's name) he said he just rolls with it when someone calls him Jerry.

I know you're just trying to gotcha me, but as a fellow fan you probably already know that he prefers when people call him by his given name.

Re: A $1k Wheelchair

#149

Post by rtkwe »

hinkley wrote: post #126
rtkwe wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The bend angle of the tube that forms the seat support down to the legs seems like one of their major adjustment points for comfort and efficiency so I don't think you could have a similar setup. These are essentially semi-custom not a simple size based product like a bike. The extra adjustments are important because the users are in them many more hours a day so small problems can cause long term issues. Their confi…

On a bike you have a little bit of flexibility due to the way the seat post works. Both in how the seat attaches and adding curves to the post, particularly for triathletes who like to favor their hamstrings over their quads, and sit considerably farther forward than any 'normal' cyclist would. I know I've seen wheelchairs where the back was a tube that went into a tube. If you put the curve in the replaceable part y…

They've done a lot of work it looks like to put in user level adjustments everywhere they can but to tweak the parameters on the frame page I don't see a great way to replace that. The curve it's tweaking is setting the angle between the legs and the seat already.

Re: A $1k Wheelchair

#150

Post by anigbrowl »

bee_rider wrote: post #32
rtkwe wrote: post #26

It's odd seeing the number of dismissive comments missing that there are whole categories of wheelchairs for different purposes. It's like asking why XPSs exist when there are Chromebooks, something most people commenting here would immediately realize as a silly question because they suit different needs and functions but the idea doesn't come up because it's an unfamiliar problem.

That sort of “I googled for 30 seconds, and found a cheaper option, why does this project exist” type response is anti-curiosity and anti-learning. It is possible that the YouTuber guy is a total idiot and decided to make a $1000 wheelchair instead of buying a $200 one, but that shouldn’t be a default assumption, haha.

One of the more valid use cases for AI is scanning forums an auto-labeling/hiding low quality comments.
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