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Alaska company offers one-of-a-kind wheelchairs

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Photo courtesy Lasher Sports
The "Dragon Chair" is a popular showpiece.

Five and half years have passed since Bill Lasher made his first custom wheelchair. Back then, the major wheelchair manufacturers used aluminum, steel and titanium -- a popular trend in wheelchairs, as in bicycles -- to construct their products. Companies wanted to emphasize the person in the wheelchair by minimizing the presence of his vehicle. As a result, color choices were limited. That bothered Lasher.

"Everyone had the exact same thing," he said. "The colors you wear say a certain something about you." He thought wheelchairs could be the same.

Lasher went into his garage and built a wheelchair that, through its hardcore-looking and efficient structure, better expressed his personality than the average, run-of-the-mill chair.

Two months later, Lasher started a company based on that principle of expressing oneself through one's wheelchair. About a year after that, Lasher Sport moved out of a garage to a space near the intersection of 82nd Avenue and Old Seward Highway.

When Bill Lasher was 16 he suffered an injury that landed him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He graduated from high school in Anchorage and went on to college, studying architecture, computer science, and engineering. His background in engineering would come in handy down the road. His story is not necessarily one of adversity, but of entrepreneurial spirit.

Lasher Sport's wheelchairs are made using either magnesium or aluminum. Lasher said the Anchorage-based company is the only wheelchair manufacturer in the world that uses magnesium tubing in wheelchairs at all.

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Andrew Rubenstein
Wheels and other parts line the walls of the Lasher Sport warehouse in Anchorage.

Lasher's first wheelchair was made entirely from aluminum, but eventually he sought a lighter chair. Magnesium is "ultimately stronger but more lightweight," according to Lasher. The metal is 35 percent lighter than aluminum and 62 percent lighter than titanium. However, it is also impossible to bend. At least that's what everyone said to Lasher.

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"I was told it couldn't be bent," he said. "I figured out how to bend it." He accomplished it through time-consuming trial and error.

Because magnesium is much more expensive than aluminum or titanium, Lasher Sport's products cost more than the average market price. Bill points out, however, that insurance companies frequently pay for part or all their clients' wheelchairs -- although most Lasher Sport customers pay out of pocket.

Lasher Sport is also unique in that its wheelchairs come in 6,500 different color combinations. (Most of Bill's competitors offer 10 to 20 different color options.) The large variety is possible due to the method by which Lasher applies color to his products. Instead of using paint, Lasher Sport uses powder coating for its magnesium frames. Aluminum chairs are anodized -- "an electrochemical finish that creates a coating that penetrates the metal during the process," according to the company's website.

Lasher Sport mainly appeals to young, athletic males. However, Bill says his consumer-base has expanded (he has customers as old as 90). The small business sends its wheelchairs all over the world and has already begun producing lightweight mountain bikes. Nonetheless, Bill, his father, and two friends handle all of the work. On nice summer days, the near-perfect summer temperature that Anchorage boasts allows them to open the large door at the front of the shop and "just hang out."

This story was updated to correct factual errors regarding the materials and processes used in the construction of Lasher Sport wheelchairs.

Contact Andrew Rubenstein at andrew(at)alaskadispatch.com.

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