February 25, 2008
Big wheels | Renegade Wheelchairs rolls out its debut product
By Kerry Elson
John Rackley's wheelchair tears through mud. It plows through snow. It even pops wheelies over logs in the forest.
This is the Renegade Wheelchair, a heavy-duty, manually-controlled wheelchair designed for rough terrain. Rackley, who is quadriplegic, invented it five years ago in his garage in Eliot, near the New Hampshire border, so he could go hunting. The Renegade has thick, nubby wheels, seven gears and a push-bar system that moves the wheels forward, similar to a mountain bike.
A year ago, Rackley began making the chairs to order, under the name Renegade Wheelchairs. But Rackley says he lacked the marketing expertise and capital to grow the business on his own. So last September, he partnered with Alpha One, a South Portland-based nonprofit that offers services to people with disabilities. With equal ownership of the venture, Rackley and Alpha One created a limited liability company, filed a patent and designed marketing materials for what they say is the only chair of its kind on the market.
"Think of all the places where there are not leveled, finished surfaces," says Brad Strause, a project manager at Alpha One who's in charge of business development for Renegade. "The Renegade opens a lot of that up for anybody that uses a wheelchair."
Now, Renegade Wheelchairs LLC is shifting into high gear. Earlier this month, Rackley and Alpha One picked up the first batch of Renegades from their manufacturer, Don's Sheet Metal in Biddeford. This spring and summer, Rackley and John Nunan, Alpha One's marketing and communications director, plan to take the chairs to trade shows, recreation centers and veterans' hospitals. Their goal? To sell 25 of the $4,000 chairs to hunters and outdoor enthusiasts this year.
Alpha One and Rackley have conservative sales estimates, aiming to sell 100 chairs in 2010, but eventually anticipate a much larger customer base. "In the not-too-distant future, we know we're going to have an international market," says Strause. In the United States alone, nearly 1.6 million people use wheelchairs or other mobility devices, according to Strause. Renegade will turn a profit if it can capture 1%-5% of that market, he says. All those profits will go toward Alpha One programs, such as benefits counseling and personal assistant services.
Renegade Wheelchairs, however, has an obstacle to overcome. Recreational wheelchairs like the Renegade aren't covered by insurance companies. So even though the Renegade is relatively affordable ˆ at $4,000 each compared to $20,000 for its battery-powered competitors ˆ potential customers may not be able to afford it on their own.
Alpha One and Rackley are eyeing customers with outdoor occupations, such as farming and ranching, who could write off the chair as a work-related expense. After its first full year of sales, too, Renegade is eligible to be a Veterans Administration supplier, according to Nunan. If the VA were to approve the product, veterans could purchase the Renegade with federal money.
But even without available financing, Strause is certain the Renegade wheelchair will sell this year. People who play wheelchair rugby, for example, find ways to buy their rough-and-tumble chairs, which can cost as much as the Renegade. But Strause still is pursuing the loan program, and he says it would be a worthy investment. After someone has become disabled, he says, "your credit report ceases to be an indication of somebody's level of financial responsibility. All it does is reflect a crisis in somebody's life."
Trial and error
Making the Renegade took some trial and error, says Rackley. A former carpenter, he suffered a spinal cord injury 10 years ago after attempting a flip on a trampoline. While he was recovering, he took a class on computer-aided design, and he later used the software to draw plans for the chair. To make sure he wouldn't fall out while going over a bump, Rackley tested the chair for weeks in his yard, adjusting the camber, or inward tilt, of the wheels. Now, he says, "it's balanced just right."
Renegade Wheelchairs has some competition. There are a half-dozen or so established wheelchair manufacturers in the United States, and another 100 small start-ups, according to Rory Cooper, chair of the University of Pittsburgh's Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology. He says the sector has grown about 5% a year, to about $2 billion in 2007, partly because there's "less stigma attached to disabilities and wheelchairs."
Renegade's unique features could help it stand out. While some other manually-controlled chairs use a lever system to move forward, the Renegade's levers are removable so users can transport the chair more easily. It's also the only wheelchair on the market with gears to control its speed, Rackley says.
The chair's relatively low price also could help it attract customers, says Therese Willkomm, who keeps up on wheelchair trends as a professor in the occupational therapy department at the University of New Hampshire. "Four-thousand dollars is very reasonable given that it's the most powerful manual chair on the market," says Willkomm.
Last October, Rackley and Nunan demonstrated the Renegade at the national AgrAbility Project workshop in Sacramento, Calif., a conference for disabled farmers sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Willkomm, who's also the assistive technology specialist for AgrAbility, saw the Renegade compete in an obstacle course with six other chairs. The Renegade out-performed all but one ˆ the $26,000 iBot, a battery-powered chair from Johnson & Johnson.
Like any start-up, Renegade will have to spend judiciously this year. Legal fees, marketing and chair materials cost around $50,000 to start, and Alpha One, which had a 2007 operating budget of roughly $5.7 million, "doesn't have unlimited resources," says Nunan. So he's coupling a Renegade promotional tour this summer with online marketing: Last fall, he made Renegade profiles on MySpace and Facebook and uploaded promotional videos on YouTube. One clip, set to a blood-pumping rock beat, shows Rackley churning the Renegade through brambles and casting a fishing line at Popham Beach.
This is the Renegade Wheelchair, a heavy-duty, manually-controlled wheelchair designed for rough terrain. Rackley, who is quadriplegic, invented it five years ago in his garage in Eliot, near the New Hampshire border, so he could go hunting. The Renegade has thick, nubby wheels, seven gears and a push-bar system that moves the wheels forward, similar to a mountain bike.
A year ago, Rackley began making the chairs to order, under the name Renegade Wheelchairs. But Rackley says he lacked the marketing expertise and capital to grow the business on his own. So last September, he partnered with Alpha One, a South Portland-based nonprofit that offers services to people with disabilities. With equal ownership of the venture, Rackley and Alpha One created a limited liability company, filed a patent and designed marketing materials for what they say is the only chair of its kind on the market.
"Think of all the places where there are not leveled, finished surfaces," says Brad Strause, a project manager at Alpha One who's in charge of business development for Renegade. "The Renegade opens a lot of that up for anybody that uses a wheelchair."
Now, Renegade Wheelchairs LLC is shifting into high gear. Earlier this month, Rackley and Alpha One picked up the first batch of Renegades from their manufacturer, Don's Sheet Metal in Biddeford. This spring and summer, Rackley and John Nunan, Alpha One's marketing and communications director, plan to take the chairs to trade shows, recreation centers and veterans' hospitals. Their goal? To sell 25 of the $4,000 chairs to hunters and outdoor enthusiasts this year.
Alpha One and Rackley have conservative sales estimates, aiming to sell 100 chairs in 2010, but eventually anticipate a much larger customer base. "In the not-too-distant future, we know we're going to have an international market," says Strause. In the United States alone, nearly 1.6 million people use wheelchairs or other mobility devices, according to Strause. Renegade will turn a profit if it can capture 1%-5% of that market, he says. All those profits will go toward Alpha One programs, such as benefits counseling and personal assistant services.
Renegade Wheelchairs, however, has an obstacle to overcome. Recreational wheelchairs like the Renegade aren't covered by insurance companies. So even though the Renegade is relatively affordable ˆ at $4,000 each compared to $20,000 for its battery-powered competitors ˆ potential customers may not be able to afford it on their own.
Alpha One and Rackley are eyeing customers with outdoor occupations, such as farming and ranching, who could write off the chair as a work-related expense. After its first full year of sales, too, Renegade is eligible to be a Veterans Administration supplier, according to Nunan. If the VA were to approve the product, veterans could purchase the Renegade with federal money.
But even without available financing, Strause is certain the Renegade wheelchair will sell this year. People who play wheelchair rugby, for example, find ways to buy their rough-and-tumble chairs, which can cost as much as the Renegade. But Strause still is pursuing the loan program, and he says it would be a worthy investment. After someone has become disabled, he says, "your credit report ceases to be an indication of somebody's level of financial responsibility. All it does is reflect a crisis in somebody's life."
Trial and error
Making the Renegade took some trial and error, says Rackley. A former carpenter, he suffered a spinal cord injury 10 years ago after attempting a flip on a trampoline. While he was recovering, he took a class on computer-aided design, and he later used the software to draw plans for the chair. To make sure he wouldn't fall out while going over a bump, Rackley tested the chair for weeks in his yard, adjusting the camber, or inward tilt, of the wheels. Now, he says, "it's balanced just right."
Renegade Wheelchairs has some competition. There are a half-dozen or so established wheelchair manufacturers in the United States, and another 100 small start-ups, according to Rory Cooper, chair of the University of Pittsburgh's Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology. He says the sector has grown about 5% a year, to about $2 billion in 2007, partly because there's "less stigma attached to disabilities and wheelchairs."
Renegade's unique features could help it stand out. While some other manually-controlled chairs use a lever system to move forward, the Renegade's levers are removable so users can transport the chair more easily. It's also the only wheelchair on the market with gears to control its speed, Rackley says.
The chair's relatively low price also could help it attract customers, says Therese Willkomm, who keeps up on wheelchair trends as a professor in the occupational therapy department at the University of New Hampshire. "Four-thousand dollars is very reasonable given that it's the most powerful manual chair on the market," says Willkomm.
Last October, Rackley and Nunan demonstrated the Renegade at the national AgrAbility Project workshop in Sacramento, Calif., a conference for disabled farmers sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Willkomm, who's also the assistive technology specialist for AgrAbility, saw the Renegade compete in an obstacle course with six other chairs. The Renegade out-performed all but one ˆ the $26,000 iBot, a battery-powered chair from Johnson & Johnson.
Like any start-up, Renegade will have to spend judiciously this year. Legal fees, marketing and chair materials cost around $50,000 to start, and Alpha One, which had a 2007 operating budget of roughly $5.7 million, "doesn't have unlimited resources," says Nunan. So he's coupling a Renegade promotional tour this summer with online marketing: Last fall, he made Renegade profiles on MySpace and Facebook and uploaded promotional videos on YouTube. One clip, set to a blood-pumping rock beat, shows Rackley churning the Renegade through brambles and casting a fishing line at Popham Beach.
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