Worksman Tricycles

[BartmanPDX]

http://worksmancycles.com/shopsite_s...ulttrikes.html

We're getting the PT3CB (port-o-trike, 3 speed, with coaster brake).

Has anyone had any experience with these? How much assembly is needed? Any special tools?

My 10-year-old daughter has a chromosomal disorder that causes profound autism (among other things). She wants to ride a bicycle but doesn't keep her feet on the pedals, or look where she's going. Her balance is also somewhat impaired by all her anti-seizure meds. Up until recently we used a Burley tow-behind extender bar bike that attached to the back of my bike and freed her of the need to pedal or steer. But now she's gotten too big for the Burley.

This morning (after a ton of research) I ordered her a Worksman Port-o-trike tricycle with a special needs seat (high seat back and seatbelt to keep her strapped in) and special needs pedals (with straps) to keep her feet attached to the pedals. I'm hoping that by being completely strapped in and not needing to balance, she will eventually figure out how to pedal it to get it to move forward, and some day figure out the steering part as well. It would be great if we can some day ride together, even if it's just in a giant parking lot or whatever.

If she doesn't like it and can't get the hang of it, I'll just put on some regular pedals and cover it with bling, then cruise around my neighborhood in my new pimp-wagon, LOL.

[MJ5150]

Make the dog tow her around.

-Mike

[BartmanPDX]

Originally Posted by MJ5150

Make the dog tow her around.

-Mike

LOL. Shenandoah is very fast and very strong. Last weekend during a tracking exercise (find Kira when she wanders off), Shenandoah was pulling so hard that she nearly pulled me right off my feet even though I was running full speed. If we hooked her up to the tricycle, Kira would get one heck of a ride!

[bassteban]

Good on ya, dad. I used to wrench bicycles- they can be a bit persnickety, as well as often needing special tools. Given your daughter's needs, I'd want to feel that the trike was assembled properly, especially things like brakes/steering. If you were w/in driving distance I'd gladly put it together for you- as it is I can't really offer any guidance, except maybe for you to post this question in the *biking* thread: Biking '11...tooth cogs...

[baldy McBalders]

Hi Bartman,
I too have lots-o bike shop time in (closing in on 25 years), and have assembled a few of those trikes. Nothing really too complicated, but it really depends on how familiar you are with bikes in a general sense.
So even though in my profile it still lists me in Ypsilanti, Michigan, that situation is changing very quickly, and I will be in the greater PDX area by the 10th of July.
Feel free to PM me if you run into snags, and if you want, I would be more than happy to offer whatever help I can, even in person. (Got lots of stupid bike related tools too
Seriously, just let me know; I'm more than happy to help you and your daughter get riding!
B.

[BartmanPDX]

Thanks so much for the replies! My wife has a friend at work who is really into bicycles, so we may be able to get some help there.

I've put stuff together and messed around with bikes some in the past. I'm mostly concerned there may be some special bike tool I need outside of a regular tool box (I've got lots of socket wrenches and such).

[baldy McBalders]

Glad to hear you have someone around to help; I picked my brain to remember if there was anything (tool wise) out of the ordinary with those, and I don't think that there is. I did subscribe to this thread, so if you run into any problems, just post and I (we) will try to help.
Damn fine TB people around here.
Good luck.
B.

[BartmanPDX]

It's here!



Curious George is ready to ride . . .

I put it together last night. The instructions were vague and the pictures of poor quality (where there were pics!) but I managed to get it put together just the same. Other than the instructions, it seems to be of quite well made.

So this morning I took Kira out on her new trike. She was very interested in it, and got right on it. She would not pedal it at all at first but was really happy with the seatbelt and such.

This afternoon I took her out on it again and she actually started to pedal it really well!! She wasn't looking where she was going at all or steering well, but she at least figured out how to pedal forwards and use the coaster brake to slow herself down. Now if I can just get her to look where she's going and steer . . .

Anyway, thanks to those here who chimed in. She seems to love her new trike and I think she will get some use out of it.

On the downside, it looks like my plan of using the trike as my pimp-wagon for cruising the neighborhood drunk will have to be put on hold as Kira likes her new tricycle very much.

[baldy McBalders]

Looks like you did a great job!! I hope she loves it.
B.

[MakiSupaStar]

Originally Posted by BartmanPDX

It's here!

Curious George is ready to ride . . .

I put it together last night. The instructions were vague and the pictures of poor quality (where there were pics!) but I managed to get it put together just the same. Other than the instructions, it seems to be of quite well made.

So this morning I took Kira out on her new trike. She was very interested in it, and got right on it. She would not pedal it at all at first but was really happy with the seatbelt and such.

This afternoon I took her out on it again and she actually started to pedal it really well!! She wasn't looking where she was going at all or steering well, but she at least figured out how to pedal forwards and use the coaster brake to slow herself down. Now if I can just get her to look where she's going and steer . . .

Anyway, thanks to those here who chimed in. She seems to love her new trike and I think she will get some use out of it.

On the downside, it looks like my plan of using the trike as my pimp-wagon for cruising the neighborhood drunk will have to be put on hold as Kira likes her new tricycle very much.

That's awesome. I bet it's really opened up her world too. What a great idea. Yeah, not exactly the pimp wagon but a cruiser with a basket big enough for a 12 pack would suffice for that job.

[Jools4001]

I don't want to rain on the parade but I bought my wife a Di Blasi R34 folding trike around 3 years ago.



My wife has MS and has limited ability to pedal, and also has balance issues that ruled out a standard bike. At the time she did not want to give in to her increasing disability (or decreasing mobility) and start using a mobility scooter or power wheelchair (she has since given in and has now been using a mobility scooter for a couple of years).

Again, at the time, the idea was not to use something that would stigmatise her in the way that a more conventional mobility device can do, and that would give her some exercise to prevent muscle wastage. The R34 is also assisted by an electric motor, so would have been effective when she became fatigued (another MS symptom is rapid fatigue). As a folding trike we were also buying something that could be easily tranported in the car and then simply deployed wherever we went

But...

She found it difficult to steer, and most particularly, she fell off of it heavily several times because like any tricycle with a single wheel at the front she found it very unstable. To take a corner, even at low to moderate speed, requires you to use your body weight to counteract the tendency for the inside rear wheel to lift - for somebody with damage to the Central Nervous System such as in MS, the reaction times and coordination required to do this can be a big challenge. Trikes are also easily tipped into instability by different cambers; with a rigid rear axle going along streets or pavement where one of the rear wheels is raised above the other (such as traversing even a very modest slope like crossing somebody's driveway) again, you get into a situation where it can easily tip over.

Your daughter's capabilities may be very different to my wife's, but since it seems she will be strapped in, please be VERY careful about any instability...3 wheels does not mean that it won't tip over and in some cases it can be far less stable than a two wheeler...

I really hope it works out for you though

I've banned my wife from it now, it cost us nearly £2000, and being such a niche product I doubt we could give it away...the last one I saw on eBay had a bid of around £100...a £1900 loss

[DerHoggz]

Originally Posted by Jools4001

I don't want to rain on the parade but I bought my wife a Di Blasi R34 folding trike around 3 years ago.



My wife has MS and has limited ability to pedal, and also has balance issues that ruled out a standard bike. At the time she did not want to give in to her increasing disability (or decreasing mobility) and start using a mobility scooter or power wheelchair (she has since given in and has now been using a mobility scooter for a couple of years).

Again, at the time, the idea was not to use something that would stigmatise her in the way that a more conventional mobility device can do, and that would give her some exercise to prevent muscle wastage. The R34 is also assisted by an electric motor, so would have been effective when she became fatigued (another MS symptom is rapid fatigue). As a folding trike we were also buying something that could be easily tranported in the car and then simply deployed wherever we went

But...

She found it difficult to steer, and most particularly, she fell off of it heavily several times because like any tricycle with a single wheel at the front she found it very unstable. To take a corner, even at low to moderate speed, requires you to use your body weight to counteract the tendency for the inside rear wheel to lift - for somebody with damage to the Central Nervous System such as in MS, the reaction times and coordination required to do this can be a big challenge. Trikes are also easily tipped into instability by different cambers; with a rigid rear axle going along streets or pavement where one of the rear wheels is raised above the other (such as traversing even a very modest slope like crossing somebody's driveway) again, you get into a situation where it can easily tip over.

Your daughter's capabilities may be very different to my wife's, but since it seems she will be strapped in, please be VERY careful about any instability...3 wheels does not mean that it won't tip over and in some cases it can be far less stable than a two wheeler...

I really hope it works out for you though

I've banned my wife from it now, it cost us nearly £2000, and being such a niche product I doubt we could give it away...the last one I saw on eBay had a bid of around £100...a £1900 loss

In light of this maybe add some weight to the rear wheels?

[BartmanPDX]

Originally Posted by Jools4001

I don't want to rain on the parade but I bought my wife a Di Blasi R34 folding trike around 3 years ago.

My wife has MS and has limited ability to pedal, and also has balance issues that ruled out a standard bike. At the time she did not want to give in to her increasing disability (or decreasing mobility) and start using a mobility scooter or power wheelchair (she has since given in and has now been using a mobility scooter for a couple of years).

Again, at the time, the idea was not to use something that would stigmatise her in the way that a more conventional mobility device can do, and that would give her some exercise to prevent muscle wastage. The R34 is also assisted by an electric motor, so would have been effective when she became fatigued (another MS symptom is rapid fatigue). As a folding trike we were also buying something that could be easily tranported in the car and then simply deployed wherever we went

But...

She found it difficult to steer, and most particularly, she fell off of it heavily several times because like any tricycle with a single wheel at the front she found it very unstable. To take a corner, even at low to moderate speed, requires you to use your body weight to counteract the tendency for the inside rear wheel to lift - for somebody with damage to the Central Nervous System such as in MS, the reaction times and coordination required to do this can be a big challenge. Trikes are also easily tipped into instability by different cambers; with a rigid rear axle going along streets or pavement where one of the rear wheels is raised above the other (such as traversing even a very modest slope like crossing somebody's driveway) again, you get into a situation where it can easily tip over.

Your daughter's capabilities may be very different to my wife's, but since it seems she will be strapped in, please be VERY careful about any instability...3 wheels does not mean that it won't tip over and in some cases it can be far less stable than a two wheeler...

I really hope it works out for you though

I've banned my wife from it now, it cost us nearly £2000, and being such a niche product I doubt we could give it away...the last one I saw on eBay had a bid of around £100...a £1900 loss

Thanks for your concern.

In my daughter's case, it's not a limitation of CNS or anything. Physically she's fine and has good balance. She's in little danger of falling off, as it has a lower center of gravity than the one you've pictured and a wider base. It's just that she doesn't pay attention to where she's going. At all.

However, she's starting to figure out the steering part. And I think she's beginning to realize that it's useful to look where you're going sometimes.

It's going to be a very long time before we go off our quiet side street though.

[warwick.hoy]

Way cool. I've seen utility versions of these in the Ford Plant in Norfolk when I used to deliver there. I always thought they were a clever way of getting around a big factory. Now I think they are even cleverer.

Huge smile on my face.