2. More significantly I see that sticking out front wheel as a real potential problem for indoor use... Part of my biggest issues with getting around in the house involves the size of my chair - I need at least the width of the chair, and then have to worry about being able to turn around, which is heavily influenced by the length of the chair - currently my manual chair isn't much longer than my seated leg length, plus another foot or so for the wheels in back... It basically isn't possible to build a chair much shorter as the rear push wheels basically need to be under the center of your butt in order to keep from going over backwards (my chair is set up for minor "performance" so it is relatively easy to wheelie, and I HAVE managed to flip over backwards - NOT FUN!) As it is, many of the places I go in the house are "one-way" in that I can't spin around, and some also have tight right hand corners - I'm not at all sure I could get into places like my bedroom with that long front end, as I don't know if it could make the corner...
There are a pretty sizable number of off-road designed wheelchairs that use a similar style drive system, and all seem to have the problem of being to big for use as a primary indoor chair... One of the issues is the drive system - part of the game in wheelchair design is to keep the overall width as narrow as possible, as every fraction of an inch means more doors that can be gotten through, and other similar accessibility concerns. My manual chair is sized to be just barely wide enough for my butt when I'm dressed, plus maybe an inch to allow for pressure relief movements. I then have my clothing guards, and maybe 1/2 - 3/4" between those and the inside edge of the wheels... I don't think there is any way they'd have ROOM to put the drive system in without making the chair wider - even the bicycle hubs mentioned are wider than the standard chair wheel. As an example of how extreme this can be, Spinergy, which is a company that specializes in high end performance wheels for chairs and pedal bikes, has a system where they mount the push rims with a flexible rubber bond, so that they can be squeezed in to get an extra 1-2" in order to get through a door... I can't justify them, as we were able to get enough room for me to get through the first floor of the house by removing ALL the doors... When we redid the bathroom, that door was replaced by the accessible sized 36" wide door, and once I get through putting poly on it, we will probably mount it, but not use it all that much as it will still be a pain to open and close... Because of the way the hall is laid out, I don't think we could redo the bedroom doors for more width, but I can deal with them as long as the doors are removed. We might try those fully opening hinges, but it's a pretty low priority.
Gooserider