Hi Everyone
I’ve just joined the forum and wanted to let you know why I bought an electric bike.
I’m Dave and have just bought my first electric bike, the juicy bike sport which I think is absolutely great.
I’m an above knee amputee, I lost my left leg 25 years ago in a motorcycle accident when I was hit by a car and a caravan. I had to go for the electric bike rather than a normal bike because my left leg was also damaged in the cash. The electric bike just gives that peace of mind.
The bike has given me a new lease of life following about 2 years of research into the best type of bike to buy and how to adapt the pedals and my prosthetic leg to suit. I decided to opt for the juicy bike sport for a number of reasons. I keep fit by weight training in the gym and swimming but I’m quite a big guy so needed a very sturdy and robust bike hence the juicy bike. I also wanted to buy direct from local manufacture with a good reputation for customer care again juicy bike.
All this research has certainly paid off. Having contacted Bob Wales the owner of Juicy bike a number of months ago and explained the problems I faced with adapting the left side pedal. I bounced ideas around with Bob and Matt who works at juicy bike and they helped me with ideas from other disabled cyclists and lots of ideas for adaptations.
I think it may be useful for other above knee amputees if I give the details of how we adapted the pedal and my prosthetic leg.
The problem with the type of above prosthetic I need to use is that it actually fits tight into the groin area and round the ischium bone which part of the pelvis making it very difficult and sore when you pedal. My prosthetist is a really nice guy and has altered my spare leg socket so that I can pedal without the contact areas rubbing. This is great but I now find that it’s no use for walking but great for pedalling, which is what I was looking for, we did try to have a hybrid leg at first but found it needed to be either for walking or cycling.
We had to adapt the pedals also to solve two problems. The first problem was that the prosthetic leg needed to be moved laterally away from the crank and the crossbar. This also helped to stop some of the rubbing in the groin area. I found another very helpful cycle shop – Longstaff Cycles Ltd they were able to supply a crank extender which has solved this problem. The second problem I found was that a normal rotation of the pedals caused the prosthetic to dig into my lower stomach area, even though we had trimmed the lip of the socket. To solve this problem I bought a crank shortener from Longstaffs this reduced the radius of the pedal cycle on the prosthetic and lowered the height the pedal reached.
I had these delivered to Juicy bike and Mat fitted them for me all ready for when I collected the bike, that’s what you call service.
It may also be useful to know how I hold the leg on the stump, I normally use a suction socket which is great – no strap’s but it works off as you pedal to get round this next problem my prosthetist provided a flexible waist belt with Velcro which fits round the top of the socket and then to my waist. This holds really well and allows a bit of movement without being too tight.
I hope this maybe useful for any other amputees wanting to start riding again.
I’ve just joined the forum and wanted to let you know why I bought an electric bike.
I’m Dave and have just bought my first electric bike, the juicy bike sport which I think is absolutely great.
I’m an above knee amputee, I lost my left leg 25 years ago in a motorcycle accident when I was hit by a car and a caravan. I had to go for the electric bike rather than a normal bike because my left leg was also damaged in the cash. The electric bike just gives that peace of mind.
The bike has given me a new lease of life following about 2 years of research into the best type of bike to buy and how to adapt the pedals and my prosthetic leg to suit. I decided to opt for the juicy bike sport for a number of reasons. I keep fit by weight training in the gym and swimming but I’m quite a big guy so needed a very sturdy and robust bike hence the juicy bike. I also wanted to buy direct from local manufacture with a good reputation for customer care again juicy bike.
All this research has certainly paid off. Having contacted Bob Wales the owner of Juicy bike a number of months ago and explained the problems I faced with adapting the left side pedal. I bounced ideas around with Bob and Matt who works at juicy bike and they helped me with ideas from other disabled cyclists and lots of ideas for adaptations.
I think it may be useful for other above knee amputees if I give the details of how we adapted the pedal and my prosthetic leg.
The problem with the type of above prosthetic I need to use is that it actually fits tight into the groin area and round the ischium bone which part of the pelvis making it very difficult and sore when you pedal. My prosthetist is a really nice guy and has altered my spare leg socket so that I can pedal without the contact areas rubbing. This is great but I now find that it’s no use for walking but great for pedalling, which is what I was looking for, we did try to have a hybrid leg at first but found it needed to be either for walking or cycling.
We had to adapt the pedals also to solve two problems. The first problem was that the prosthetic leg needed to be moved laterally away from the crank and the crossbar. This also helped to stop some of the rubbing in the groin area. I found another very helpful cycle shop – Longstaff Cycles Ltd they were able to supply a crank extender which has solved this problem. The second problem I found was that a normal rotation of the pedals caused the prosthetic to dig into my lower stomach area, even though we had trimmed the lip of the socket. To solve this problem I bought a crank shortener from Longstaffs this reduced the radius of the pedal cycle on the prosthetic and lowered the height the pedal reached.
I had these delivered to Juicy bike and Mat fitted them for me all ready for when I collected the bike, that’s what you call service.
It may also be useful to know how I hold the leg on the stump, I normally use a suction socket which is great – no strap’s but it works off as you pedal to get round this next problem my prosthetist provided a flexible waist belt with Velcro which fits round the top of the socket and then to my waist. This holds really well and allows a bit of movement without being too tight.
I hope this maybe useful for any other amputees wanting to start riding again.
