What tyres for wheelchair tennis?

Went to Wimbledon last Friday and saw some excellent wheelchair tennis. Never seen any before, but really good fun to watch. So do you reckon they run tubs, clinchers, tubeless? Spokes look like Spinergy Spox to me…

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What tyres for Wheelchair tennis?[/url] by brf[/url], on Flickr

I’m amazed they don’t fall out of the things:

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Jordanne Whiley, Wheelchair Ladies’ Doubles Semi-Final, Wimbledon 2013[/url] by brf[/url], on Flickr

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Jordanne Whiley, Wheelchair Ladies’ Doubles Semi-Final, Wimbledon 2013[/url] by brf[/url], on Flickr

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Jordanne Whiley, Wheelchair Ladies’ Doubles Semi-Final, Wimbledon 2013[/url] by brf[/url], on Flickr

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Yui Kamiji, Wheelchair Ladies’ Doubles Semi-Final, Wimbledon 2013[/url] by brf[/url], on Flickr

thems some type of clinchers. Can’t see what the benefit of tubs or tubeless would be on that carpet grass.

Nice photo’s btw!

In the continued fashion where STW can answer any question ever…

The wheelchairs are specially made for the sports, usually made of steel, but I’ve seen a few titanium ones. Very expensive, a titanium one with decent wheels will be around £3000-£4000 I think.

You are correct, spinergy wheels and components are seen now and then.

Due to the fact they don’t have to take many impacts and not a huge need for stiffness, you occasionally get plastic spokes instead of metal.

I can only talk for indoor tyres here, but most of the time I see what are pretty much road/track/wheelchair tyres. I’m struggling to think of any names right now, but from companies you’d see at any Sunday club run.

We usually run around 120psi or so, never heard of anyone running tubs or tubeless or anything like that. The tyres get very unevenly worn due to the angle of the wheels (imagine if you constantly turned left or right on a bike), and need flipping over after a while.

The chairs have quite a low centre of gravity and are very stable, but people do still fall out occasionally. I’ve been umpiring a game where the rear wheel detached itself which caused the player to bang their head on the floor as they toppled over backwards. Thankfully she was ok, although shook up.

I can’t speak for much on the tennis side of things (I’m a wheelchair badminton coach), but if you’ve got any other questions, or are interested in getting involved at all, I’m happy to point you in the right sort of direction. Great photos by the way.

In the continued fashion where STW can answer any question ever…

This place never ceases to amaze me!

I bumped into a guy in an excellent tube-frame titanium all terrain wheelchair last year… It had Storm Controls on it run tubeless, he said it kept puncturing on the Sworks ones (I imagine fixing a puncture on your wheelchair is an incredible bastard of a job.

26er though no doubt his wheelchair is now obsolete 😉

Schwalbe do a full range of wheelchair tyres. IIRC some do run tubs for the pressure advantages.