7

I saw a similar question asked before but every response was to get a balance bike. My child has a number of medical conditions that make her physically and cognitively unable to ride a balance bike. Her physical therapist agrees that the movement of the pedals would be great exercise for her legs and occupational therapists and speech therapist agree that getting her outside is beneficial. My problem is I can’t find a push bike that have the pedals moving with the wheels. I have searched for a way to alter a bike to do it myself but the responses always reference a balance bike. There are many adaptive bikes out there but my kid doesn’t qualify. While she has several conditions that make her unable to ride a normal bike none of them are qualifiers for an adaptive one. Buying one out of pocket is not possible. Hopefully this will be enough information to get a response of how to alter a bike or a brand that already preforms this way.

Improve this question
New contributor
Lindsey is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering. Check out our Code of Conduct.
11
  • 3
    Please give us more information. What do you mean my "push bike"? I'm not the expert most person here, but that is not a term I'm familiar with. How big is the child? If a traditional bike is not possible, are you visualizing a bike with training wheels? A tricycle? There are such things as fixed gear hubs, meaning that the if the wheels turn, I don't know much about them though, my hunch is that the labor of doing a custom conversion would be prohibitive. Commented yesterday
  • 1
    Also, a strong suggestion to visit a brick and mortar bike shop. Tell them the circumstances and see what they can do for you. Most of the time the people at the bike shops operate with best intentions. Report back to us and let us know what they say. Commented yesterday
  • 1
    I guess by parent push bike you mean a bike that you as a parent can push and keep upright via something like a handle or pushing rod, right? Commented yesterday
  • 1
    @BenStokes A push bike is normally a bike without any pedals and a lower seat. The child pushes the bike by their feet against the ground and they are better than the training wheels and tricycles for learning the balance. I am confused by the question referring to the pedals on them. That might be what the OP calls a balance bike, but that is the same thing. They normally do not have any oedals. Commented yesterday
  • 3
    @VladimirFГероямслава however - and I mention it partly because it will confuse searches - in British English "push bike" just refers to a pedal bike. Commented 22 hours ago

4 Answers 4

Reset to default
5

The term that might help you search is "Fixed gear" or "Fixie". The difference is only the hub 'freewheel' or 'freehub' that allow the wheel to turn without the pedals. Consdier (without knowing the details of your child) a bike than can be converted to a 'freewheel' - theres a thing called a 'flipflop hub' that has both, depending which way round you mount it. (No idea if kids bikes come, or can come with them.

Riding a fixie is not easy or particularly natural and can be quite hard to master - children are more adaptable than adults, and if your child has never ridden a bike which free wheels will not have learnt to ride that way.

As far as balance - how would a bike work? Have you considered a tricycle? I suggest visiting a local bike shop and talking though the challenges you face and what you want to achieve. Be open to idea that might be different to what you have in mind,but push back (hard if you have to), you know your child far better than anyone.

Easiest way might be a standard kids bike (with no gears) and have a bike shop build you a fixed, or flip flop, rear wheel.

Improve this answer
6
  • NB: in some places, fixed gear bicycles are not road legal. Check local regulations. Commented yesterday
  • 1
    @gerrit Even with proper brakes. Anyway, I think that in this particular case street legality is the least concern of them all. Commented yesterday
  • 2
    @gerrit where are fixies inherently not road legal (as opposed to needing hand-operated brakes to be OK)? Commented 22 hours ago
  • @ChrisH I thought this was the case in The Netherlands, but I'm not entirely sure. Commented 20 hours ago
  • The big concern I would have about this is that if you are moving along, even at a slow pace, if either the child's feet come off the pedals, they are likely to be caught between the pedal arm and the frame, or chain and cause injury. The obvious answer would be stirrups but that will complicate getting on the bike and require that the parent ensure the bike doesn't tip over. Commented 17 hours ago
4

Tagalong bike

Your situation sounds ideal for a tagalong bike, if your child can at least hold on and stay in the saddle.

Whilst it's uncomfortable to ride whilst a child hangs out one side or the other, ultimately the parent can fairly easily balance the pair of them. The parent is also in primary control of the bike moving, solving the problem of coordinating pedal movement.

But in this controlled environment, the child can still get the feeling of the wind on their face and a bit of speed. The child does still have pedals, and can absolutely pedal themselves as well if they want to. And for the balance thing, they're able to start developing that ability (if it's within their capabilities) within a safe space where you're still able to compensate when they can't.

If they're still a bit young for it right now, definitely keep it in mind as they get older.

Improve this answer
4

I think you mean a push handle bike, where there is a handle at the back that the parent holds to keep the bike upright. If you find an otherwise suitable model, you can jam the freewheel.

Sheldon Brown's excellent tutorial contains information on how to open the freewheel mechanism. Usually you need something that can push against the two holes in the round cover plate of the freewheel to unscrew it. Note that it usually has a left-handed thread, so you need to rotate it clockwise to remove.

Freewheel with cover plate removed
(Image credit: Sheldon Brown, from the website linked above)

After you get the cover off, you just need to prevent the inner and outer part from spinning in relation to each other.

I think in this application it is useful if the force the pedals excert is not very large, so you could experiment with jamming a piece of cloth into the mechanism. The pedals would then spin with the wheel, but if e.g. a leg gets in between ground and the pedal it would give way once the friction of the cloth is exceeded.

Improve this answer
0

If the condition prevents using balance bike what makes you think the fixie is good to go? Keeping balance AND pedaling is more cognitively demanding than just keeping the balance.

There are tricycles and quads designed for people with balance issues for all ages. The trikes can be both double front (complicated steering assembly) or double rear (differential needed, complicated chain installation)

I think the trike or quad combines the benefits you mentioned - its outside activity and one needs to pedal.

First hit from duckduckgo: https://buytricycle.com

Improve this answer
1
  • 2
    @cowley If I get it right and with a bit of understanding of the specialties of disabled people I deduce that the intention is not to let the kid actively pedal it by itself. I guess the idea is that the parent pushes/pulls the bike and via the fixed drivetrain the kid's legs are passively moved in a pedaling motion. Commented 15 hours ago

Start asking to get answers

Find the answer to your question by asking.

Ask question

Explore related questions

See similar questions with these tags.