Special Needs and Disabled Cycling Roadshows, Bikes and Cycles

Special Needs Try-Out Roadshow and the Bikes not Barriers programme

For people with disabilities cycling offers exercise, fun, mobility, independence, liberation. Yet the potential and the possibilities are largely appreciated.

There is a wide variety of astonishingly good cycles, available largely from small manufacturers. We come across considerable public ignorance of what is available, and many instances of people buying inappropriate cycles, being unaware of better and often cheaper solutions. We have also witnessed, at our roadshows, the unalloyed delight which a first-ever bike ride can bring to people, and especially children, with special needs.

We now have a fully developed disability try-out roadshow, containing around 20 cycles, some of them very specialised: handcycles, wheelchair tandems, steer-from-the-rear tandems, tricycles, low step-over bikes, side-by-sides, etc. We have around 40 adapted cycles in total, but many are so large that we cannot include them in a single touring unit. We will happily bring and demonstrate them all, bringing two units if required for a major regional try-out event.

This roadshow can be customised to client requirements. It is directed by Get Cycling Director Jim McGurn, who has a son with Down’s Syndrome, and can advise from experience.

We have also produced a four-page factsheet on Cycling and Disability, and an audio-visual presentation which can be shown at venues. A typical show might use a special school as a venue, with invitations sent out to parents, and through local disability groups. We see it as a whole-family roadshow, providing fun activities for brothers and sisters of the child with special needs. We have also done good work at adult day-centres. We can design the publicity.

Previous clients include Disability Sport Scotland, Riverside Special School Antrim, Disability Sport Cambridge and City of York Council. We can provide glowing testimonials.

A very recent development is Bikes not Barriers. This is an experimental programme funded by City of York Council, under which we have identified people with disabilities who wish to take up cycling. We assess and advise participants, and lend them their chosen adapted cycle for two weeks to a month, with ongoing support. Some borrow several bikes during the period. We began with five open-invitation try-out days in various parts of the city, which lead us to be oversubscribed by a factor of three. There is clearly a huge demand. Carers and other family members are included in the programme.

Click here for information on our:

• Extended roadshow tours
• KMX Karts roadshow
• Fun-in-the-park roadshow
• Charity events
• Workplace roadshows
• Bike try-out shows for the public

“I couldn't wait any longer to say a very big thank you to you all for such an amazing day on Monday. In all the years I have been at the school I don't think we have ever had an event that has been enjoyed and appreciated as much by everyone - pupils, teachers and parents alike! It was lively, fun and very professionally delivered, both inside during the presentation and outside on the bikes. We have pupils with many diverse needs but somehow that just wasn't a problem. Well done to you all and thank you once again.”
Sue Payne, Alderman Knights, Tewkesbury

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