NewsArticleBody
Bike Friday prides itself on trying to accommodate people with special needs. We've built bikes for tall (7'1") people, short people, dwarves, kids, 90-year olds, NBA Basketball players, paraplegics, people with missing or unusual limbs... Here are some articles on special Bike Fridays for special people.
*** LATEST NEWS *** Photographer Gary Parker's brilliant and educational photos of dwarfism types November 2008: Even littler Bantam Friday! Due to a demand, BANTAM Friday models now come with 16" wheels - dropping the stepover and overall height by 2". This bike will fit riders with an inseam of as lttle as 14". Call Walter Lapchynski or Steven Strickland, Bantam Specialists, to find out more. |
What does Jacques do On a Friday?
THE BANTAM FRIDAY MAKES A BIG ENTRANCE!
We're building quite a big following in the Little People fraternity (we're linked under their Adaptive Products page), having fitted several of their members with specially scaled Fridays. Read their stories below. Now Hanz has come up with an extra low stepover frame, suitable for riders with an inseam of about 13", depending on components chosen. No rider too big or small for a Friday! The Little People of America executive committee came up with the name Bantam Friday - after all, it's a bike made especially for them and their community.
LITTLE MOVIE CLIP: See Aly Wilken riding it! More pictures of Aly at the LPA conference, 2007 |
Pictured right: Ryan Davis, 10 years old. Read more about Ryan and his Bantam Friday Dan Okenfuss at work in Sacramento, 2008 Little People of America Conference Seattle 2007 | Salt Lake City, 2002 Dan Okenfuss tests out the new Bantam, July 2007 (Movie Clip) Dennis Healy and his New World Tourist Dan Okenfuss and his Pocket Rocket Snowboard champ Jodi Sahi and her Pocket Llama 47-inch tall Judy Badner Bikes Chicago Adaptive Products - Bike Friday link on the Little People of America official website +++ 6 May, 2008, comment from Australia, on the human scale of a Bike Friday and other small wheeled bikes ... The tikit is an interesting bike that will fill another place in the bicycle market. Most of all though, I came away realizing something that I think I already knew ... No bike can be all things to all people, however there is a bike out there for everyone, especially if the choice of a bike is the barrier that is preventing someone from cycling. The tikitTM and other BF models have certain attributes that will remove those barriers for some people. - Alistair Cumming, New World Tourist, Melbourne, Australia |
 SUPPORTING SPECIAL NEEDS Walter Lapchynski on The Plummer Shop, Idaho “Our bike shop is located in the historic Plummer Grange (built about 1915). We are within sight of the trailhead for the Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes, which is one of the nicest trails in the country. It is a fairly flat (maximum 2% grade), 72 mile paved bicycle trail going from Plummer across the Idaho panhandle to Mullen. A large portion of our business is with people who are traveling so we see Bike Friday riders regularly. Our goal is to provide people, particularly older adults and those with physical issues, a bike that is comfortable to ride. With their custom fitting, Bike Fridays are very comfortable. We have three different models in our rental fleet. Our Plummer shop is open from May 1 to October 1. We can be contacted at (208) 691-2266 or (208) 686-1568. The shop is located at 643 C street in Plummer, Idaho. During the winter season we have a mobile shop in Surprise, Arizona. We can be contacted there at (208) 691-2266 or (623) 584-1585. We can help you with your Bike Friday at either location." Pictured right: Little guy, big job - Dan Okenfuss outside his place of work - the Capitol building in Sacramento Watch movie of Dan at work |
 Irv and Marion's Handcycle Tandem The Van Reeths tandem with their handicapped daughter in Belgium Zach Turner's First Ride Ever! Autism no barrier when it's a Family Tandem Dr Austin O'Carroll, a thalidomide survivor, rode a couple of hundred km's on his specially built Friday, according to his bike minder Alec Darragh! |
 BIKE FRIDAYS FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED Bike Friday has always extended its vision beyond merely selling bikes. Back in 1995 Bike Friday built the fire-engine red Family Tandem which initiated many programs for disabled children, including the Adapted Physical Education Project at Wayland Public School, MA., and the Tandem program at the L.A. Braille Institute. Subject:: Praise for Twosday Tandem, Sep 10, 2008 |
 Pam Haigh, Australia, has adapted her Bike Friday TravelSystem to carry Earl, her seeing-eye dog."Two struts to make an A-frame, a rain cover, and a cushion inside." See movie clip and more photos at www.bikefriday.com/specialneeds/pamhaigh |
Still He Rides Ted Campbell doesn't let serious health issues stemming from Type 1 diabetes prevent him from cycling more miles than probably anyone you know ... Just let me Ride! David Fastovsky tackled chemo and a century on a Friday |
GOING TO THE MOON ON A FRIDAY! What do Brenda and Jacinda Do On A Friday?
Dear Peter,
Thank you so much for everything you have done for my daughter and I. Our Bike Friday Family Tandem arrived on Monday afternoon last week and by Tuesday morning we were living our dream. Our Bike Friday surpasses all my expectations. It fits our bodies and is just so easy to ride, making two very amateur and very handicapped riders look like and feel like a couple of pro's. Jacinda has taken to her Bike Friday like a fish to water ... the first time we took it for a spin I thought it would last about ten minutes ... expecting Jacinda would become frustated etc etc. But it was just so natural like the bike became an extension of us or vice versa ... and we just kept going ... we were riding for more than an hour. We have riden every day since and are now doing kilometres ... up and down the broadwater of our beautiful Gold Coast for hours at a time. I dreamt of this Peter, but deep inside thought I was probably aiming for the moon. When it comes to Jacinda I have always aimed for the moon and sometimes we reach the stars. That is because she is such a battler and never gives up her determination for whatever she achieves. Our Bike Friday has helped us reach the moon, and this is just the beginning. Thank you so much, our Bike Friday is everything you said it would be and more. Even if Jacinda's story only encouraged one more person to experience the new world we now have...it would be more than enough. Lots of love and best wishes ... Brenda and Jacinda ... and SAM (our Bike Friday .... as in Uncle Sam all the way from the good o'l US OF A.)
XXXXOOOOO
PS Thank you so very much. Will keep in touch, but for now were off for another adventure.We are also thinking of investing in a trailer at a latter date so our darling Winston (Cavalier King Charles) can come too.
- Brenda and Jacinda Ratanatray, Gold Coast, Australia. Jacinda is autistic.
Write to Brenda and Jacinda: bsratanatray at yahoo dot com dot au
 Special note from Bike Friday Co-founder Alan Scholz: 120 years of bicycle design says that the most important thing to get right to have a happy, efficient, comfortable rider, is a bike that fits. More important than the other cost-driven highly marketed items, is a bike that fits. We started Bike Friday with that in mind. We know that 'one size fits all' works no better for bicycles than it does for shoes. Mass produced bicycle manufacturers try to please the most profitable portion of the public, which means they can't offer bikes for anything but middle sized average people. At Bike Friday we offer more sizes of bikes than any mass producer in the world. Bicycles need to not only fit, but should be proportional to a persons weight to be efficient. As builders and designers we know the metal doesn't care what size and shape it is. So we set up to fit more people. Our Special Fridays are for some of those people. One group, Petites, has a lot of members poorly served, and the other a few members not served at all. Adult riders under about 5'4” tall will find few choices in the bike store, but the average size of an American woman is 5'4”! This means half of them are shorter than that! The other group are the Little People of the world. There are many genetic causes of dwarfism. At BF we make bikes to fit the short inseams for those for whom fit is critical. One of our stock bikes may fit you, but if not, you can be assured that if anyone can make you a Built to Order bike that is Exclusively and Uniquely yours - it's Bike Friday. |
Permalink: http://www.bikefriday.com/specialneeds