Cycling for the disabled

[skyblot]

... MR Trikes https://mrrecumbenttrikes.com in Melbourne is probably the guy to talk to. If no luck there try TriSled I think they do 20" wheels.

I second Zebee's suggestions of MR Recumbents and Tri-Sled. Good guys.

[opik_bidin]

Price is a hige barrier

Example ffrom England, and quite true here too

[zebee]

It's about mass production. Diamond frame style bikes are built in the many millions every year. Non standard ones are built in the thousands.

Have to find some form of trike that is used heavily in Asia, that will be cheap. There just aren't enough people who are disabled and want active transport. Even if a lot of them don't know they want it but would if they tried.

This recumbent rider knows all about the weird bike premium.

[opik_bidin]

It's about mass production. Diamond frame style bikes are built in the many millions every year. Non standard ones are built in the thousands.

Have to find some form of trike that is used heavily in Asia, that will be cheap. There just aren't enough people who are disabled and want active transport. Even if a lot of them don't know they want it but would if they tried.

This recumbent rider knows all about the weird bike premium.

And that is why recumbent riders can have more sympathy, especially those who came from a "disabled" (pain, back problems, balance lost, injuries, etc) and then have to face the reality of expensive cycles and difficulty finding n transporting them

As I am also a bentor

That said, sometimes we should also think about what most people use. To tackle the problem, we need something that is mass produced and can be used by disabled and abled person.


I then think of the Varibike trike where you can use hand and legs, either together or separately,

Normal people could use it and want to as it is more relaxing and can train their upper body, while disabled whi have pain problems, cannot balance or cant move their legs xan also use it

but it still has the problem of many non standard components, especially the drivetrain. If somebody can somehow make a more mass produced version so probably only the handcycle part uses a special hand crank while the rest of the drivetrain is just yoit usual shimano, sram, campaq, etc.

And then the e assist either crank drive or wheel drive.



I see the varibike trike quite similar to flevo, cruzbike or python, and with how many Aussies crazy about building HPVs, probably they could start making a HPV for almost all.

[opik_bidin]

And if you cant do it alone, you can be together

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https://youtu.be/mVhKLJHbyAs
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Many blind people can cycle on tandems, many people without legs can handcycle and be on handcycle tandems beeing the eye for yhose who cannot see

[opik_bidin]

https://mobile.twitter.com/BarbChamberl ... 6839855104

Barb Chamberlain, Masked Because Civilization
@BarbChamberlain

"Walk Your Bike" or "Cyclists Stop and Dismount" signage assumes that people can do that. What other signage have you spotted that has built-in assumptions about someone's physical capacity to use a walk/bike facility a particular way? #accessibility #MoveEquity

[zebee]

As a committed trike rider.... I dunno how many people who can ride a 2 wheeler will instead ride a trike. I love the trike but the width is a definite issue in general use. There's a lot of places where you end up blocking bike paths much more than a two wheeler does or being blocked and it's unpleasant to ride on more heavily trafficked roads or narrow ones.

I've wondered about hand-and-foot bikes such as a row bike, but I suspect that the number of committed fitness people who would want something that much work are few. And a rowbike is, I think, more comfortable to manage than a varibike, that riding position doesn't look all that good. (mind you I wouldn't want a 2 wheeled rowbike I bet there is a reason they never show them going round corners!)

Something like the Greenspeed Anura which is a 'bent trike but a delta (2 wheels at the rear) and not as low as the usual 'bent trike would be a good base. I know Ian Sims made handbikes for his other trikes wouldn't surprise me if the Anura was able to be turned into a handbike. GS was bought by a US company after his death, but I doubt they are making Anuras alas. (Also they weren't cheap because Ian-the-aircraft-engineer insisted on a proper diff setup for the drive which costs). The Variabike FWD is a good answer to that problem.

The real issue is though... you can get a mobility scooter for $1400. How can you get a decent disabled-suitable bike or trike for that? Especially if you also want to make it an e-bike which is, I think, what will get a lot more people onto one.

[g-boaf]

As a committed trike rider.... I dunno how many people who can ride a 2 wheeler will instead ride a trike. I love the trike but the width is a definite issue in general use. There's a lot of places where you end up blocking bike paths much more than a two wheeler does or being blocked and it's unpleasant to ride on more heavily trafficked roads or narrow ones.

The other thing is when councils put in things like bollards to block paths to make riders either get off their bikes or slow down approaching an intersection, but they forget that it makes the infrastructure totally impossible for someone in something like a velomobile (and I suppose a trike as well).

The other example is bollards to try and deter motorbikes, they also block the way for trikes and so on. But how do you stop the motorbikes?

[zebee]

You can't stop the motorbikes. One of my fantasies is to get a bunch of civil engineering students with a pile of poles and fence equipment on one side and the full range of human powered vehicles (including wheelchairs and mobility scooters) on the other. Plus a bod with a 125cc trailbike.

Tell the students "I'll pay you $1000 if you can make a path blocker that will let all these HPVs through but blocks the 125."

Of course they'll take one look and realise it isn't possible but given there's always one... it might be fun for an afternoon watching him (and it will be a him) try.

I mean it doesn't even need to be a 125 trailbike, a 125 scooter will do. Hell, I bet me on my 1200cc fully faired tourer will manage anything that lets the Green Rocket through. (and I probably wouldn't even make that bang/thump noise!)

[recumbenteer]

You can't stop the motorbikes. One of my fantasies is to get a bunch of civil engineering students with a pile of poles and fence equipment on one side and the full range of human powered vehicles (including wheelchairs and mobility scooters) on the other. Plus a bod with a 125cc trailbike.

Tell the students "I'll pay you $1000 if you can make a path blocker that will let all these HPVs through but blocks the 125."

Of course they'll take one look and realise it isn't possible but given there's always one... it might be fun for an afternoon watching him (and it will be a him) try.

I mean it doesn't even need to be a 125 trailbike, a 125 scooter will do. Hell, I bet me on my 1200cc fully faired tourer will manage anything that lets the Green Rocket through. (and I probably wouldn't even make that bang/thump noise!)

Yes, I'm with you on this..... we'll fantasise together.


1200cc Tourer v HPV's v Mobility vehicles v Green Rocket... V engineers


I win.... "bang/thump"

[opik_bidin]

https://twitter.com/ShorehamByCycle/sta ... 4001266689
https://twitter.com/ShorehamByCycle/sta ... 8601378817

[opik_bidin]

https://www.euronews.com/living/2020/09 ... n-in-lycra

CYCLING ISN’T ALWAYS ON TWO WHEELS

Down in South London, Wheels for Wellbeing has been helping people with disabilities get into cycling since 2007. Director Isabelle Clement, a keen cyclist herself, is enthusiastic about helping disabled people become more informed on cycling.

“People perceive cycling as just done on two wheels, on a bicycle in traffic, and a lot of people will think well, I can’t do that so I can’t cycle.

“There are huge amounts of different types of cycles and adaptations that can be made. People are not sufficiently aware of all the different, amazing ways of cycling that exist out there.”

As well as campaigning for better disability-inclusive cycling infrastructure and public funding for specialist cycles, Wheels for Wellbeing facilitates disabled people cycling across three inclusive cycling hubs. The hubs are important for those who can’t afford or cannot store their own non-standard bikes.

They also provide a sense of community where people who wouldn’t usually meet in everyday life can exchange information and ideas.


Isabelle applauds new cycling infrastructure policy post-COVID and is hopeful it will create a more inclusive cycling culture in the future.

“The vision for me is a country of cities where everybody cycles as a matter of fact. With disability and impairments come often…increased isolation, lowered ability to be physically active, higher incidents of depression.” She adds that cycling can “uniquely mitigate every single one of those things.

“It’s a hugely beneficial and potentially powerful tool for change in the lives of everybody but particularly in the lives of disabled people.”

[redsonic]

With disability and impairments come often…increased isolation, lowered ability to be physically active, higher incidents of depression.” She adds that cycling can “uniquely mitigate every single one of those things.

“It’s a hugely beneficial and potentially powerful tool for change in the lives of everybody but particularly in the lives of disabled people.”

This is so true

[zebee]

Yeah... the idea that all human powered vehicles are 2 wheel diamond frames ridden by ablebodied people able to lift the bikes up at all never might up high (bloody wall mounted bike storage!) is so common and so wrong.

My mother found several places on the Cook's River Path unusable for her on her electric upright trike. Steep hills, tight S turns to cross roads, never mind the infamous crossing under Canterbury Rd and the complete lack of safe legal alternatives. (me I ride up the footpath to cross at the lights by the station but to do that you have to either ride a long way on narrow footpaths to get back to the cycleway and even then it's hard or mix with cars in awkward places)

[opik_bidin]

Cargo ebikes are car replacements, grants should not only be for business, but also for disabled and elderly, bonus is less crash and incidents caused by disabled and elderly drivers

https://cyclingindustry.news/allocate-e ... -minister/

The Beyond the Bicycle Coalition has written to Cycling and Walking Minister Chris Heaton-Harris, recommending to allocate a new tranche of the e-cargo grant funding be targeted to the people who have suffered the most from the pandemic, namely elderly and disabled people.

In 2019 an e-cargo bike grant came to fruition, with strong take up among businesses, followed by a similar tranche of grant funding for local authorities. The user group is now calling on Heaton-Harris to directly address the needs of society’s most vulnerable with a transport option hat could open up their mobility outside of private car use, something which is not always possible for both demographics.

“In order to rebuild physical and emotional fitness after many having spent months shielding, and to increase their chance of successfully fighting off Covid-19 should they catch it, disabled and older people need to be as physically active as possible,” writes Andrea Casalotti, a founding member of the coalition.

“For many, cycling is easier than walking and therefore provides an ideal way to build physical activity, as well as to reduce isolation and provide a sustainable mode of door to door transpo

[opik_bidin]

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https://youtu.be/09OGSvZtFEU
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1:40:45
[shareyoutube]
https://youtu.be/kiUb7iShDGY
[/shareyoutube]
at 1:44:00,

when Hase does their promotion. Great thing that they are targetting more towards people with disability, even on a recumbemt video

Many insights and accesories for those disabled cyclists