BREYDON’s wheelchair trials: RGK Tiga FX

Rigid‐like, but folds pretty flat, with the front of the frame tucked up and the backrest down. Imagine lashing something like this to an outdoorsy chair or modest cargo bike, to swap into at the end of a cross‐country trip. Or, much as RGK’s advertising emphasises, the peace of mind when flying (or on long‐distance rail).

I tried this chair a tiny bit, indoors, but neglected to closely examine or try operating the folding mechanism! Rolling around and reaching for things on a kitchen bench, I found that the fold‐joints proved to have many times more play (despite being done up), than I had expected. With changes in inertia, those on the front hanger would lurch between two extremes maybe five degrees apart. Those on the seatback felt unpredictable (which, to be fair, was exacerbated by the backrest being too reclined for me). The side‐guards jostled around. Sure, this was a demo model — but the disappointing performance cannot be excused on the basis of hard, longterm use, because (business‐class frequent fliers aside, perhaps) an active traveller’s chair needs to withstand weird and numerous strains. This is miles below any of the standards that most of the folding bicycle industry manages, so on the bright side there is enormous potential for future generations of this concept.

This, the Tiga FX is aluminium; Octane FX is the same chair in titanium. Extra flex in the tubing itself is a slightly daunting thought, but then it would pay to insulate iffy hinges from undue shocks.

• RGK, ‘Tiga FX’. https://rgkwheelchairs.com/wheelchairs/daily-wheelchairs/tiga-fx.html, accessed March 2021.