Every child with cerebral palsy has different needs for different tasks. Gareth’s particular situation has resulted in his having a lot of leg strength and control but very little upper body and arm strength. As a result, he can pedal like crazy but can’t sit up on his own or effectively steer a bike. These strengths and weaknesses drove the search for a bike that would be a good match while maximizing Gareth’s fun.

I first looked into the simplest solution – child seats for traditional adult bikes. The idea was that an adult could ride and power the bike while Gareth was along for the ride since he would at least get the sensation of speed that goes with a good ride. Unfortunately, the highest end child seats max out at a 50 pound child capacity (Bobike has a seat that goes up to 70 pounds, but its design requires the ability to sit up unsupported). With Gareth already at 40 pounds, this was an option that would last a year at best.

Then I looked at the variety of adapted trikes that exist. There are many intended for larger kids and some that would transition well with Gareth as he grew older. Fortunately, a friend of Gareth’s had one of these trikes, so we had Gareth take it for a test drive. It turned out that it didn’t fit him well and was hard for him to control. It simply wasn’t going to work.

So I headed back to the idea of two riders, one to steer, the other to pedal. Thus began the research into tandem bicycles, research that culminated in the discovery of the semi-recumbent tandem market. Of the models of semi-recumbent tandem we found, only one had all the modifications available that would be required for Gareth and was sold through local dealer Recumbent Bike Riders (RBR): the Hase Pino Tour.

The Hase Pino Tour has a number of benefits for Gareth.

• The form of the recumbent seat provides the necessary support for Gareth’s upper body and will require minimal modification in the form of a lap belt and a chest harness.
• Hase sells an optional children’s bracket that will move the pedals within Gareth’s reach. Once he has grown out of childhood, the pedals can be moved back to their original position to extend the useful life of the bike.
• The Pino can be fitted with a two leg kickstand in order to keep the bike stable while Gareth is loaded onto and unloaded from the front seat.
• A rack can be fitted over the rear tire for carrying his portable medical equipment.
• The “captain” will sit directly behind Gareth and provide the main pedal power and control all steering.
• Gareth is put out in the front where he can fully experience the joy of riding a bike without feeling like he is being pulled along by someone else.

With all of this flexibility and adaptability comes a hefty price. Get ready for it…

The Hase Pino, just the base bike, costs $4,299. By the time all of the necessary accessories are added, the cost jumps to just under $5K.

Yes, $5,000. For a bike.

If you search the Internet for info on the Pino, you’ll find a sufficient number of folks saying how great the bike is but how out of reach the price puts it. It was out of reach for us, too, so my plan had been to hold a perpetual fundraiser in order to provide this for Gareth. Quite unexpectedly, Make-A-Wish swooped in and covered almost all of the cost of the bike (we had to cover the fenders, the stand, and the custom color Gareth wanted).

Is this bike the solution for every kid? Certainly not. Hopefully, though, as Gareth experiences his Pino and we talk about it here, you’ll get an idea of whether or not it might be the solution for somebody you know with a motor dysfunction.