Durable Mobility with Plastic Bearings

• What was needed: drylin® WS-16 single rails, igubal® rod ends, drylin® W measuring system, iglide® G300 plain bearings, drylin® N flat profiles
• Requirements: The tricycle itself and all bearing components must be fail-safe, stable, maintenance and dry-running, resistant to moisture and temperature resistant.
• Industry: medical equipment
• Success for the customer: The plastic bearings have a long service life, low weight and corrosion resistance. They require no maintenance or external lubrication, which played an important role for the special bike manufacturer, making it one of the decisive factors purchasing.

Wheelchair or tricycle, partner or recumbent bike, two- or three-wheeled tandem - the Draisin GmbH bikes help make disabled people mobile. The company's goal is to offer a safe, intuitive, easy-to-use bike for every disability.

The bikes provide the necessary reliability and stability to ensure safety in road traffic. To guarantee these requirements at all times, the company relies on plastic plain bearings, which require no maintenance or external lubricants and have a long service life. There are three decisive reasons for this: the aforementioned reliability, environmental influences and economic efficiency. People with disabilities depend on the constant availability of their means of transport, even in extreme environmental conditions. Their vehicles must work in extreme cold or extreme heat. Then there is moisture to consider.

Easy handling is also important. Such processes as seat adjustment must be as simple as possible. There must also be no maintenance required. All assistive devices must function without impairment at all times. And the special bikes must have a service life of at least 15 years.

The plain bearings are used in a wide variety of bike parts, such as the seat adjustment, seat suspension, the pedals and vehicle-folding mechanisms.

Today, the round drylin® WS-16 single rail is used in the seat adjustment mechanism. The seat can be adjusted easily to the respective body size without tools. The maintenance-free rail solution with two quick-release mechanisms replaces screws that had too much play during riding.

Quick linkage folding uses igubal® plastic rod ends with such features as high fatigue strength under changing loads. The rod ends also compensate for edge loads and misalignments. This prevents the entire system from wobbling when it is being folded out.

The transportable drylin® W-measuring system has been used for over a year for base frame spatial measurement. There are plans to transfer the variable system to the suppliers as well.

The economical all-round plain bearing made of iglide® G300, which is suitable for almost any application, also exhibits its multifunctionality in the bicycles. Insensitive to dirt, it proves its strength under high loads in the pedals and in the seat suspension. The PMA protective hose guides the motor cable and the front and rear hydraulic brake lines in a reliable manner.

Finally, the arm is correctly positioned and can still follow the movements of the body: smoothly gliding forwards and backwards, outwards and in front of the body. The light, flexible drylin® N40 low profile guide system is used in the sliding rail.

The plastic bearings' long service life, low weight, corrosion resistance and the lack of lubrication required also played an important role for the special bike manufacturer, making these decisive factors in purchasing.