What Is a Naked Frame?

Motion Composites wheelchairs
What is a naked frame? Known worldwide, Motion Composites has built a reputation as a leader in the design and manufacture of ultralight manual wheelchairs. They use the world’s most advanced materials, draw on innovation and pay attention to the smallest detail. Motion Composite’s journey began over ten years ago with the Helio wheelchair, the first carbon fibre folding chair on the market. The Helio C2, carbon fibre, is the flagship design of Motion Composites. It is the result of a series of innovations which features revolutionary components with every detail designed to improve performance, reduce weight, and improve propulsion efficiency.
Today Motion Composites produces three versions of the Helio (C2, A7 and A6), all stemming from the original design but in various materials and varying degrees of configurability. The Helio wheelchair goes beyond the limits of what currently exists within the industry, and it is best explained using a ‘naked frame’, a stripped-down base of the wheelchair, highlighting the design and engineering. The Naked Frame comprises four main features: one-piece side frames, symmetrical cross brace, locking seat saddles and oversized axles in place of standard centre bolts.

One-piece side frames
A one-piece side frame is stronger and requires less maintenance than a standard two-piece frame, as it eliminates the need for hardware to affix sections together. The one-piece side frame, unibody style, ensures rigidity, increasing propulsion efficiency. The Helio C2 model is a single carbon mould without joints or attachments; for the aluminium models, there is one weld point adjoining the unibody frame. Additional hardware required with traditional bolt-together side frames adds weight to the frame, and with movement between parts and vibrations coming up through the chair, over time, that hardware loosens. Due to ‘ovalisation’, the process of a round hole becoming oval due to excessive movement of hardware over time, parts cannot be tightened effectively, and this causes unwanted movement within the frame.
Symmetrical cross-brace
The Helio symmetrical cross brace is unique to Motion Composites. This symmetrical design distributes forces equally throughout the frame for superior energy transfer and maximised propulsion efficiency. This unique ultra-rigid folding system also maximises the chair’s overall stability decreasing torsion and unwanted frame movement.
The cross brace is the mechanism which allows a wheelchair to fold. It must be designed with precise tolerances not to allow more movement than required decreasing efficiency. The cross brace is also a determining factor in how the user’s weight is distributed throughout the frame, having a significant impact on the efficiency of the wheelchair. If the forces are not distributed evenly, it can cause torsion, or twisting, within the frame, decreasing the user’s efficiency and the durability of the wheelchair. The symmetrical cross brace from Motion Composites allows for the benefits of symmetry and force distribution without additional equipment or hardware adding weight to the frame.
Oversized axles
A small component but oversized when it comes to the Helio’s design, we replace a traditional bolt in the centre of a cross brace with a pressure fit for the oversized axle. This axle is robust enough to withstand the forces of manual wheelchair mobility and is pressure fit to allow for high-precision tolerances. This allows the folding movement of the wheelchair, but when in use, it eliminates excess movement, decreasing propulsion efficiency.
Locking seat saddles
Seat saddles are a component that allows the cross brace and side frames to join and make a solid base for the user. The Helio locking seat saddles allow a secure and tight fit of the seat rails into the side frames. Locking in place ensures minimal movement adding to frame rigidity and increased efficiency. Not all seat saddles within the industry are locking, and some only allow the seat rail to lay within them, allowing unwanted movement within the frame. You want to ensure seat rails can lock in place to reduce unwanted movement and maximise efficiency.
The Helio wheelchair line-up has been designed with the wheelchair user in mind. By looking at the Helio ‘Naked Frame’, you can see how each small component has been designed with a purpose. With some of the lightest materials and most advanced technologies, Motion Composites can provide a folding wheelchair that is lightweight and highly efficient, allowing our users to Go Beyond!
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