eBikes for the disabled!

I am partially ambulatory. My Gitche eBike build was first of all an exercise for improved mobility. I wanted to ride a bike, but had two things working against me: 1> the hills of Worcester, and 2> my gimp leg from early childhood polio. My experience in improved mobility has exceeded all expectations. So much so, I'd recommend it for those who may need it and could take advantage of the approach.

There were a few lessons ahead on the road, however. As more & more I'd use my eBike everywhere, including inside in public places. I'd ride up to door, push it open and go inside as if walking, ride it up to counters, do as much as I could without having to dismount. My first encounter was at the local post office, where I was told "you can't ride bicycles in here!" Perfectly reasonable.

I countered that its a "mobility device and I need it because I'm disabled." I show them that its electric. I argue that it is exactly the same as a wheel chair and they should allow it. It is - has a seat to sit on, wheels, and electric assist motor, and is in fact being used by someone who is disabled. So.....

The manager of the post office comes out, I explain, and he says "fine, no problem." You understand, we don't want to open the door so to speak to everyone riding their bikes in here." Yea, OK. So I get the exception and have never had a problem at the post office since.

The MBTA - Metropolitan Bay Transit Authority - of Boston and Massachusetts was a bit harder. They allow bikes on the train - that policy went into effect as hordes of bikers said they should. They have windows when possible and closed windows when not, during rush hour. Problem was I wanted to stay mounted as long as possible, through the station and even onto the train. Got stopped from doing that. In one long encounter as I argued for my rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act, I had a small victory. Still had to get off and "walk" my bike, but in persisting, I asked what it would take? Do I need to talk with a manager, get special dispensation or what?

Answer: if I went to my doctor and got a disabled placard from the DMV, they'd allow it.

I figured, hey, why not? General purpose, pull out the placard when ever I encountered resistance. So off to my doctor, get the exam, fill out the paperwork, and lo' 2 months latter the placard arrives in the mail. I carry it with me everywhere.

Have not, however, had to use it till today, at the Library of all places. These guys were a bunch of hardnozed bureaucrats unwilling to compromise - a strict, leave your bike outside on the bike rack. No matter how much I tried, until today. Encountered the same rigmarole only this time I was going to stand my ground, or sit my seat, or wheel my wheels or whatever. Pulled out my placard and explained. You woulda' thought, but noooo....ooooooo. Had to go up the chain. Eventually, however, they relented and yea, I get to use the library on my eBike now!

The moral of the story is persistence and standing up for one's rights when necessary.

What does your ride look like?

Curious in a good way, KF

The Gitchee is in my profile picture ----------------------->>>>

I have 5 eBike builds in various stages of completion:
1> the MAC-Attack: current best set of wheels, all new MAC 10T on a Trek Shift 3, 2* 48V 20ah A123 AMP20, so can carry 20ah or 40ah depending on the distance; completed Nov-2014
2> the Gitchee: my 30+ year old Gary Fisher Gitchee MTB with a Heinzmann 500 watt front geared brushed motor and a new (as of 2014) 36V A123 26650 cylindrical cell build 12S8P for ~20ah; completed Spring-2012
3> the CorpA: an Electric Bicycle Corporation of America 36V, circa 2002-5, that I picked up from Craigslist for $150, like new since seldom used, only needs a working battery; working on a Konion cell battery per DoctorBass
4> the Whitney: a Ross Mt Whitney all chrome MTB beauty, with an as-yet-to-be-determined 500-1000 watt motor and battery to match; incomplete
5> the MUX: a MXUS 3000 watt motor + 18fet 50-amp controller, battery TBD, but likely A123 or EIG prismatics build, on a TBD full suspension MTB of some undetermined quality from Walmart MTB to moped-like frame & wheel; in-progress

With five eBikes, I can demonstrate the low end, mid range and high end of eBikes, as my outreach is broadening, advocating a sustainable future for my community. This will include outreach to the disabled, as I believe there are many who would benefit from this mode of transportation.

So, my ride will vary from day-to-day depending on what I want to show-off, or how far I want to go, or how fast I want to get there. The MUX will do >50mph and will be an exciting ride! My Gitchee, however, is my standard around town doing errands eBike. The Whitney will just be beautiful, a sublime build in chrome and coordinated blue and a spectacular performer, a show bike for when I'm making my case, as I will in various venues, including to our next Governor of the great Commonwealth of Massachusetts - Martha Coakley.

I applaud your efforts to raise awareness about E-bikes being a great alternative to assisting those with needs. I don't know if the library would be willing to admit it, but I would guess they were more worried about your tires tracking in dirt from the road...

An E-bike is narrower than an electric wheelchair (so there are benefits to this), and I would not recommend that anyone boost their E-wheelchair to be able to run 26-MPH as an alternative...I'm not saying I wouldn't do that, I'm just saying I wouldn't recommend anyone else do it.

Right on you too!!!! I am 57 yr on disability I can only stand or walk for very short distances I have handicap plates on my van and my Aprila scooter I raced motocross for over 30 yr then had a work injury that left me with a spine injury, and all the raceing I did had destroyed my knees and now need two knee replacements
and then I got diabetes and which makes my feet like there asleep. Plus I am 265 that doesn't help Dr told me I need to lose weight suggested I start going to a gym well I didn't join a gym I had another Ideal , I haven't ridden in over 6yrs I used to love riding the trails I missed that so much . Now with my E bike I can get out of the house onto the perfectly groomed MT Bike trails I always wanted to ride them on my yz450 but that would never happen but with my E bike I am flying around the trails my trail skills are slowly coming back I am having so much fun. Now every state park that allows MT bikes is my play ground every bike path my build has changed the way I plan my weekend this weekend I am going to southern Indiana to brown county sp were some of the best groomed MT bike trails in the Midwest, For the first time in over 7 yrs I will enjoy being out in the woods looking at the leaves as they turn color wouldn't be possible with out my E bike .

Enjoyable read!

An ebike has to be the ideal disability vehicle if one is able to use it. You can end up in better shape rather than slowly fading away on 4 wheels.

Right on, rider95! Yea, fall leaf season, no better time to be out-of-doors and out-of-car. New England is looking good this year! As I tell my students, there is no disability like the disability of the imagination! Fortunately, there is help for the imagination-challenged - inspiration! You are!

I'm not yet considered disabled, but have bad knees and A-Fib along with some pre-diabetes. I have often considered using my trike the way you describe, but traffic in our town is quite dangerous. The bike lanes are kind of "fake", being just painted stripes with a picture of a bike on them. It just narrows the roads. In town, people just can't see between parked cars where we need to cross streets.
otherDoc

It was fluke really. Was on the commuter train today heading into Boston. Since I didn't want to contend with the MBTA police, decided to just display the placard. So as usual, the conductor comes by for the fare and I hand him a $10 bill, the normal fare. He hands me back $4.25 in change and it was like, what? Turns out my placard gets me a reduced rate too! Go figure.

Haven't thought of bringing along the placard, great idea!

thanks for sharing, good luck

I saw an e-trike online that folded somewhat to turn it into a shopping cart, so directly from the checkout counter into the bike's basket went the groceries. I'm sure there's a way to work in a seat while in cart mode. The the short wheelbase would make it more manageable indoors.

Not topic related, but there was another bike I've never been able to find again. I think it was a mechanical engineering student, but his bike converted from a normal looking upright bike to a recumbent in a single smooth change.

When inside a building, I call my eBike an upright wheelchair. Principal is the same. I no longer get any flack where I go because people have acclimated me and the concept. I don't find negotiating a crowd at all difficult. Its the space of three people walking in a row, not that much and most people walking know how to walk around obstacles and do.

As far as groceries are concerned, I'm working on wheels for my self-styled Burley Travoy..

... not that I don't like the Travoy, I do, but don't like the $300 price tag. So am converting an old beat up luggage case, a wheelie, by putting on 16" wheels. Should be enough for a full load of groceries. I've got a half flight of stairs to negotiate up to my flat. So like the idea of unhitching my contraption and hauling it up, much like a dollie. Its the reason a lot of people buy a Travoy.

UPDATE 7-Feb-15: I completed this project after more trial & error than I though would be needed. I may replicate for sale, as its a really good idea and working fantastic! My hitching mechanism alone is worth the look!

I wish I could still do that--bring any of my bikes into the store to shop with. It could make things a lot easier on me sometimes.

Hooligans around here have pretty much made it impossible to bring any bike-shaped-object into most stores.

Years back, before I'd even motorized anythng, I used to shop at Safeway with the bike DayGlo Avenger was built from, using front and rear baskets to hold everything on the trip around the store and up to the register, and thence home. I never rode the bike in the store itself, just walked it around getting my items. One day they decided that they wouldn't allow that anymore. It's one of several reasons I don't shop there anymore, unless they have something I cant' get at Fry's or elsewhere nearby. (though none of the other places allow the bikes in there either, they aren't rude about it like Safeway was, for those that were around at the time).

At my workplace we have a number of people that park their bikes just inside our door whiel they shop, instead of lockign them up outside--can't blame them given the area. None actually shop with them though.

The best I have come up with so far is something that would just roll up to the back of CrazyBike2 and latch onto the back of the cargo pods and trailer hitchball, without unloading it or lifting it up. It'd basically be like those folding-rack/box dollies many people use, a little like the one in Arkmundi's post above but with a wire cage around it--but I'd be using insulated boxes instead (so frozen/refrigerated stuff doesnt' ruin in Phoenix heat on the way home).

I have never bothered building it though, because of the hassles I see so many people go thru with security personnel when they use their open-wire rack dollies, even when they are regular shoppers who come in with an empty rack and leave only with bags full of stuff from just that store. Sometimes the security guys will actually have them empty out their bags whiel they check the receipts for each item, and then they ahve to pack them back in whiel the security guys go back to stadnign aroudn ignoring all the definitely-suspicious people with huge purses and backpacks that go in and don't ever buy anything, but come out with those bags swollen up more than when they came in. And they dont' bother checking anyone that has their stuff in a regular shopping cart.

So, since I dont' have the time to waste on those people's shenanigans, and dont' want to deal with them at all (because I mgiht well let them know what I think of them and that doesnt' lead anywhere good), I stick to the "conventional" way of sticking my stuff in the cart and hobbling around with one hand on it's wobbliness, and the other on my cane, and try to steer around all the overmerchandised obstacles in every aisle, while others speed past or into me with their own carts. :/


As for "normal" people being able to navigate around things and people in their path--only a large portion of those I see every day at work and when I'm out shopping are paying enough attention to anything around them to do that. Many bump into others or actively walk over them, knock things down, bang their shopping carts together, etc., and get angry about it.

Unfortunately many of those that do this sort of thing are the larger variety, and dont' seem to have any idea how large they actually are, and how much room they need to maneuver.

Even more unfortunately, many of those riding powerchairs or those powered shopping carts around the stores and sidewalks don't pay any more attention to what is around them than many drivers do, and have the same attitude of "I'm moving and you should not be in my way". I've lost count of the number of these people that have knocked my cane out from under me, or rammed my shopping cart into me, sometimes knocking me down in teh process. And they dont' usually care--they just keep going, just liek the drivers that run people over. Probably if stopped they'd say "oh, I didn't notice" because they chose not to pay attention to what's aroudn them and the consequences of what they are doing (a big problem with people today, perhaps always).


Now, MOST people aren't like those mentioned above...but more than enough of them are to cause problems and to make it uncomfortable and sometimes unsafe just to be out in public. Among other things it's a reason I don't like being out and about much anymore, and tend to do most of my shopping in big batches as un-often as possible.


Hmm... I didnt' really mean to rant that much; I guess it's been bugging me a while.

John in CR said:

Not topic related, but there was another bike I've never been able to find again. I think it was a mechanical engineering student, but his bike converted from a normal looking upright bike to a recumbent in a single smooth change.

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There's a video of that someone posted in one of my crazy idea threads, I think it was one about variable rake or adjustable rake forks or headtube, for the title.

No, thanks for the long rant. Also have a cane, a folding one, that I carry in my satchel. Pop it out when needed. Right now, I use a cart & cane to hobble around the grocery store. As has been said, it sucks getting old, especially when crippled to boot. But the trip home on my eBike is just too much of a hoot. Go through the park on the way back and get a lot of smiles, thumbs-up and high-fives, me & my bags of groceries.

Update 7-Feb-2015: After completing the MAC/Trek build, I had a nice flat surface on top of the pannier batteries which was a perfect place to put the cane, bungied down; very handy to dismount & cane up when needed.

good luck, thanks for sharing

Recently started using a cane at my day job, seems to really tick them off.

OK, thought you all would be amused. Having finished my Travoy-like suitcase turned trailer, am now shopping with it. FYI, my Gitchee 500 watt has a cargo trailer that worked great. But hub is on the front wheel. I installed the MAC 10T on the rear and the wires come out the left, just where the cargo trailer would hitch. So a no-can-do on the new build and redesign of how I carry the load. But the cargo trailer also had another big limitation - can't take it on the train or bus. My travel style is eBike, bus & train and I wanted to make that happen, hence the 16" wheels on my old suitcase for a Travoy like experience.

So I went for my groceries the other day, and the first time the apparatus was going to take a full load. 4 weeks of groceries weighs a lot. But woohoo, passed the load test. But for your amusement, I figured why not ride the grocery store on my eBike and pass that test as well. I mostly get a lot of grins these days. And one talkative gent admired my rig and we chatted up on the whole concept of eBikes. What was surprising was that of all the personnel in the grocery store, only one guy questioned it. Pulled the ol' disability card out and was good to go. Next challenge: see if I can get my eBike out on the city hall plaza skating rink.

He hands me back $4.25 in change and it was like, what? Turns out my placard gets me a reduced rate too!

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This is a rare concession to practicality, and I am pleased to see it. The alternative is the standard 4-wheeled powered wheelchair, coupled with a full-sized van which is capable of loading and unloading the aforesaid wheelchair.

Imagine that instead of the slender 2-wheeled E-bike you now use is replaced with the width of the powered wheelchair. It would be difficult and awkward to pass such a contrivance in the aisle of any grocery store. And instead of the slender E-bike weaving its way from your home to the store, a full-sized van with a handicapped placard must clog traffic and demand a prominent parking space near the entrance (in accordance with the federal ADA).

Should I ever need a powered wheelchair, I will certainly avail myself of its use when it is appropriate. However, if I was a commuter on the same path and schedule as you, I would be grateful for your efforts to find reasonable alternatives which are less intrusive into traffic and also the space of your surroundings.

I figured that my eBike takes up less floor space than a person pushing a shopping cart. Its just the surprise factor, an unusual request, so must be disallowed. Remember, we live in a dream called normalcy. I'm going to add on a means to carry my recycled plastic shopping bags, to act as cart down the aisles. In any case, I'm quite agile on this rig now. Have never run into anyone, nor will, or knocked anything over in the store, yet.

I believe the eBike for mobility instead of a wheel chair is an option for a certain limited number of cases. I still have use of my legs - its just that I can not walk or stand for long. I can mount & dismount the eBike. For most bound to a wheel chair, they likely have less use of their legs, may even be paraplegic. But even then, I think the eBike builders guild may have something to offer in the way of a more chair-like tricycle-like device. I see a lot of wheel-chairs on the road, just like a bike, putting along, unable to use sidewalks because of their bad surface condition. Easier for them than the van or bus. Its this audience I'd love to see join me.

A helpful ES member sent me this link: http://www.ada.gov/opdmd.pdf... "“other power-driven mobility device” (OPDMD) in the rule," that clearly allow for use of eBikes as a mobility device by the disabled. Moreover,

I feel greatly relieved that the rules are ahead of me on this and that my DMV placard suffices to allow me anywhere "the public can go". I still run into resistance to the idea of an eBike some places, but persistence is gaining me more & more territory.

A disabled person can not be asked about the disability. i.e.; pass judgement or make a field determination such as is done in a sobriety test.

aroundqube said:

A disabled person can not be asked about the disability. i.e.; pass judgement or make a field determination such as is done in a sobriety test.

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Thank you so much! Post more!

I'm going to download and print it and carry a copy with me. 8)

+++++1 arkmundi! Thank You for standing your ground and not backing down! One of my passions, most laughs and fun I have are days I spend as a program volunteer instructor, set-up guru and equipment mechanic with Vermont Adaptive Ski & Sport at Pico Mountain. We're hosting the 8th annual USABA (Blind Athletes) Winterfest right now.... you should see people's reaction when a blind skier passes them with me behind yellin' "kick left - hold- roll right - roll left" with the orange vests on. They're ready to throw their skis in the woods! Or how they scramble when a group of 3 - 5 blind athletes w/guides come rolling down this slope:
View attachment 1

A blind guy with a gun is always fun:


The Mono-Ski rockets are the best though, I had a few laughs with my hardcore one's going "OOC" (out of control) into the woods, across the lake or bowling down the lift-line! We have 2 mono-skiers right now competing for a spot on the Olympic team! I have a friend and fellow chassis builder, Kevin Bramble, who manufactures KBG racing sit-ski's and is completely insane! A lot of fun to ski with, he's cursed at the X-Games, but damn he's got big one's! Check this X-fail out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBu4d6vcmtE

We also do summer biking, kayaking and stuff and I have some guests that I'm thinking about putting a small motor on one of our tadpole Terra-Trikes for. so, I have been researching some of those builds here on ES.......
But getting back to forum topic, I find a lot of our challenged guests seem to be a little more timid, get pushed around by ignorant people and apologize too much. I'm far from that and always go to war for them! I encourage them to do the same and stay proud.......