The Bikes

Adaptive Services has two basic types of Bikes for Students with Disabilities (SWD's).

The first type of bike is the Hand-Crank

• Used mainly for people with no use of their legs: Parapalegics, quads, amputees, ect.
• A person sits on the bike and uses their hands to force the pedals around which spins the wheel.
• The person uses the lean technology to stear. To go right the cyclist leans right. To go left, the cyclist leans left. To go straight, the cyclist forces themselves to have a center of gravity that is leaning niether left or right.
• To brake, the cyclist uses the breaks which are on the handle bars or on the pedal shaft.
• BYU-Idaho and Adaptive Services owns two Hand-Crank cycles. A black/purple Freedom Ryder and a red Freedom Ryder.

The second type of bike is the Recumbent

• These bikes are used with people with limited mobility: Spina Diffida, Cerbral Palsy, Broken wrists, stroke victims, etc.
• The cyclist rides this bike by sitting down and pedalling with their feet. The stearing can be done with little effort.
• These bikes are either Trikes or Quads. BYU-Idaho and Adaptive Services owns three such bikes. The Scarab and Raven are trikes. The Sociable (aka The Side by Side, aka the Adaptive Tandem) is a quad.

What makes a good Path?

There are FIVE factors to consider when choosing a path to take Students with Disabilities out on:

• Paved - These bikes were not made for off-roading. The path must be paved and well kept up. There shouldn't be brush or debri on the paved path.
• Width - The trail needs to be wide enough for the bikes you are taking. The Sociable is very wide and doesn't always fit on trails. Some trails are foot trails and can not even handle the Raven in width.
• Traffic - Is this a popular trail for people to be walking on? Are you on a road that has a constant flow of cars and trucks driving past you? Your paths should be some what desolate. The lower the number of people and automobile traffic, the better it is for the cyclist.
• Milage - How much time do you have to ride? How energetic are the people you are traveling with? There are mny trails. Some are short and some are long. Take your milage into consideration when choosing a path.
• The Cyclist - What is the experience of your cyclist? Could they handle a hard path? What about slopes, hills or climbs? Remember that it is called Adaptive Cycling for a reason: the Events should take into consideration what the capacity of the cyclist is.

Where can I go on an Adaptive Cycle?

First off - you can go pretty much anywhere there is pavement. Small towns, old country roads and city parks are an excellent start. Just make sure it is paved and you're setting yourself up for a fun time.