Ben's New Wheels!

If you've been following this blog for long, then you know that it's been a struggle to find a bike that works for Ben.  He's disabled enough that he can't ride a regular bike with training wheels.  Yet, he's not disabled enough to need a full adapted bike that costs thousands of dollars.

Well.  After many trials and much research, we have finally found THE bike for Ben!  It's a Mini Tike from Trailmate.  We weren't sure if it would work and after having made online purchases that haven't worked out, we weren't willing to buy it without trying it.  Luckily, there was a dealer just 5 minutes away from where we were staying in Florida when we were on vacation a few weeks back so we could go try it out.

We only had to add a few things to the trike to make it work for Ben.  We added a back rest and foot straps (as you will see in the video) and we've also purchased a handle which we haven't put on yet.  We also have to get a hand brake put on it.  For full disclosure purposes, the bike with all the adjustments came to around $500 (I'm not exactly sure as my husband paid for it).

I only got to see Ben try it for a few minutes when we were in Florida and have had to wait 2 more weeks to see him on it again as my parents brought it back to Canada for us in their RV.  They got back home last night so we headed straight to their place this afternoon to pick it up.

Here's a video I got of Ben on it!



As you can see, he loves it!  He has just one complaint though...he wants it to be red like the picture on the website...my husband and I have decided that if he keeps complaining, we'll take the bike to be painted.  After all, most other kids get to choose the colour of their bike...so he should too!