# 3-Wheel Bike for Big People!!!



## Wayne_Zitkus (Apr 29, 2006)

Sandie has wanted to get a three-wheeled bicycle for some time now. So I just did a web search and found the Personal Activity Vehicle (PAV) from Worksman Cycles. It can hold up to 550 pounds. They also offer a stretch version for people over six feet tall.

We're definitely thinking of ordering one. Here's the web site with more info on the PAV:

http://www.worksman.com/pav.html 

View attachment PAV.JPG


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## rainyday (Apr 29, 2006)

I've seen a couple of these tooling around town here, sometimes towing a little trailer, and they look quite efficient. That seat sure looks a lot comfier than a regular one. 

When I've tried recombent bicycles (stationary ones) at the gym I've found it made my knees hurt. Maybe it was from having to lift the weight of a heavy thigh with each pedal push? You might want to give one of those a try before ordering to make sure you don't have the same feeling.


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## Zandoz (Apr 29, 2006)

Here's the one I want. And it's a scooter! 

View attachment Scooter.jpg


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## crazygrad (Apr 29, 2006)

you can try to limit knee pain by changing the position of the seat. I've noticed that some recumbents don't let me get the proper distance to the pedals but the seats don't give crotch crush like the terrible seats on upright stationary bikes. Also, since recumbents work muscles at a different angle than uprights, try stretching the quads and hamstrings to prevent knee pain, which can be caused by too much tightness in the hamstrings or quads. These suggestions may not help everyone- but some people may find they help so they can ride as exercise or for fun.


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## TheSadeianLinguist (Apr 29, 2006)

Those look like a lot of fun and a great way to regain mobility!


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## 1300 Class (Apr 30, 2006)

I've seen thing similar to that on the streets.


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## Fuzzy (Apr 30, 2006)

Wayne_Zitkus said:


> Sandie has wanted to get a three-wheeled bicycle for some time now. So I just did a web search and found the Personal Activity Vehicle (PAV) from Worksman Cycles. It can hold up to 550 pounds. They also offer a stretch version for people over six feet tall.



That bike has nice lines, up until the handle bars.. which look like an afterthought. I think it needs some 70s-style chopper handles.


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## dreamer72fem (Apr 30, 2006)

Zandoz said:


> Here's the one I want. And it's a scooter!



That is cool looking...do you have a webpage with info on this?
Stacey


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## BBW Betty (Apr 30, 2006)

Thanks for the link, Wayne. We can't afford one right now, but this has been added to my favorites. What a great way to be able to go biking again.


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## MissToodles (Apr 30, 2006)

http://www.torkerusa.com/tristar-red.html

Question: I have a very large stomach and can't really use the excercise bike in my gym because of it. It makes pedaling that more difficult. Would a recumbant(or the recumbant bicycles the ones where you lean all the way back?) bike like these trikes make cycling easier?


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## Zandoz (Apr 30, 2006)

dreamer72fem said:


> That is cool looking...do you have a webpage with info on this?
> Stacey




Here ya go! 

http://www.palmerind.com/electric/twosome.html


I had to pass on one that went really cheap on ebay a while back...the shipping would have been more than the cost of the bike/scooter. I was seriously bummed.


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## sweetnnekked (Apr 30, 2006)

Wayne 'n' Sandie,
Thanks so much for posting that website! I never would have known about it otherwise. What a great way to get back in shape!! If I ever get my insurance company to buy me a scooter, I'll get one of those.


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## crazygrad (Apr 30, 2006)

Toodles,
The best way to try a recumbent to see if it works for you is to go to a reputable bike shop or fitness supply seller in your area and check a few models out. Different models may give you a different feel depending on the angle of the seat (is it inclined a bit or more straight up?), the distance to the pedals (how adjustable is the distance), the pedal position and the position of the handle bars). Minor changes in any of these can make a huge difference in how the bike feels. Try a few, play with the adjustments and see how you feel. My gut reaction is that a recumbent will be reasonable comfortable for someone with a larger stomach. They certainly were for me. The general position of a recumbent is slightly leaned back with the legs more stretched to the front- so the weight doesn't come down on the legs much. Usually, the seat has decent lower back support, so you should feel fairly comfortable. I've found the seats on recums harder to adjust to the right distance to the pedals for me, but that could just me or the brand that I've used. Most people prefer recumbents to upright bikes.

Another option- and this will only work if you prefer to do indoor riding- is to get pedal-ometer or simulator. These are freestanding pedals on a sturdy base. You use your own chair, put the pedals on the floor in front of you, sit back and pedal. Advantage- since you don't put body weight on them, your weight is not an issue. There are portable. We've done a lot of car trips. Mine fits on the floor of the back seat and I can take it into a hotel room and use the desk chair for a workout. Disadvantage- it can be hard to find the right spot of the pedals. I always have to play around with where I put it and if you get into pedaling, you can push it away fairly easily. I've seen some at Sharper Image, but I highly reccomend the one I have from www.eloton.com. Its very sturdy and came with lots of goodies (though I never use them).

Good luck!


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## Wayne_Zitkus (Apr 30, 2006)

afor those who are concerned about recumbant bikes, this is from the web site for this bike:



> This unique cycle is designed as a semi-recumbent vehicle with an adjustable thickly high-back padded captains seat. The PAV3 is amazingly stable as the riders due to clever weight distribution. Riders have described it as an "easy chair on wheels".


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## SocialbFly (Apr 30, 2006)

thank you for posting that, i have been looking for one that held higher weights, thanks!!!


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## SoVerySoft (May 1, 2006)

crazygrad said:


> Toodles,
> The best way to try a recumbent to see if it works for you is to go to a reputable bike shop or fitness supply seller in your area and check a few models out. Different models may give you a different feel depending on the angle of the seat (is it inclined a bit or more straight up?), the distance to the pedals (how adjustable is the distance), the pedal position and the position of the handle bars). Minor changes in any of these can make a huge difference in how the bike feels. Try a few, play with the adjustments and see how you feel...



Don't mean to stick my nose in here, but I have the same issues as MissT, so was interested in this post as well. I don't think most bike shops would have bikes with the weight capacity or the seats to accommodate us, not even for testing purposes.

The good news is that it looks like the manufacturer of the PAV is fairly local to MissT and me - in Ozone Park NY - and perhaps they would allow potential customers to test the bikes.


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## Jes (May 1, 2006)

Re: bikes at the gym. I have a belly, though not a huge one, and I can't use recumbent bikes at the gym (only an upright, and even that I haven't done in forever). The legs hit the belly in that position. FYI.

Now, what *I* want is a big wheel for grown ups! Imagine the fun! I only had a few rolls on them back in the day (borrowed from a boy neighbor), but the wind in your hair, the streamers from the handlebars and that awesome hollow plastic tire sound can't be beat!


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## rainyday (May 1, 2006)

Jes said:


> Now, what *I* want is a big wheel for grown ups! Imagine the fun! I only had a few rolls on them back in the day (borrowed from a boy neighbor), but the wind in your hair, the streamers from the handlebars and that awesome hollow plastic tire sound can't be beat!



Man, I wanted one of those too. I thought the kids who had them were so lucky.


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## Jes (May 1, 2006)

rainyday said:


> Man, I wanted one of those too. I thought the kids who had them were so lucky.


Our block had 1 and also someone had a ...GreenMachine. I think the Greenmachine looked cooler, but I didn't have the legspan for it. They were superawesome though.


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## FitChick (May 1, 2006)

MissToodles said:


> http://www.torkerusa.com/tristar-red.html
> 
> Question: I have a very large stomach and can't really use the excercise bike in my gym because of it. It makes pedaling that more difficult. Would a recumbant(or the recumbant bicycles the ones where you lean all the way back?) bike like these trikes make cycling easier?



Yes, it would. I speak from experience...my very first exercise bike was a standard upright, and at the time (305 lbs) my belly REALLY got in the way for me.

I found with the recumbent, I could sit back and it did not get in the way. I've stuck with recumbents even though my belly went way down in size.

BTW that first bike shown (with basket in back and 3 wheels) is one I wanted to get in 2002, after we first moved here. Since I don't drive I figured it would work for me to do light grocery shopping in the burbs. I still really like that bike, they sell it at the local bike shop!


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## LillyBBBW (May 2, 2006)

Where do people store their bikes? I live in a small apartment and could never find a place to stick my bike. I finally gave it to my sister. The recumbent bike looks like a bitch to carry up and down the stairs, or to even chain it up to leave it for a spell. You have to be a homeowner with a big garage to have one of those bikes which is sad. I kinda like it


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## FitChick (May 2, 2006)

Mine are stored in the rec room, near the door going to the outside (I have 3 bikes). In the new hs they will be in the laundry rm, near the exit door. I guess I could store them in the garage but then I'd never be able to access them (current garage door is hard to open.)


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## LillyBBBW (May 2, 2006)

I remember years ago I tried to *force* myself to exercise. I took my bike out in the morning to ride to work. I lived 4 1/2 miles away and the route ran along the Charles river. Me being very hyper and anal retentive about getting to work on time, I knew that if I took the bike to work I would not quit, I would see it to the end.

I don't ever recall my butt being more sore than after riding for 9 miles on that tight narrow little seat. I walked funny for days but after the bike ride I felt soooo good. I can't even describe it. I bought a wider seat and rode my bike into work two times a week. I miss that.

My legs are so out of shape now I don't think I could do anything like that and not wind up sprawled out on the side of the road within just a few feet of my destination with my legs too spasmic to even stand. I fear getting someplace and not being able to get back. It would pay to know someone with a van or a pickup truck who can come and fish me out of the bushes if I call. But I feel I have to do something while I still have my faculties about me and I have my health. (knocks on wood)


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## Russell Williams (May 9, 2006)

http://www.easyracers.com/BROL_EZ3.htm


This is the trike that I have. It was about $850 counting shipping and set up.

In the last 7 days I have ridden it about 50 miles. Shopping, going to meetings, visiting people, things like that.

Russell Williams


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## mel (Aug 19, 2009)

ok....I am officially a bicycle owner.. now some (or one) of you may be wondering..what's the big deal?..well let me tell you.....loooong ago when I was young I LOVED riding bikes..then when i was 14 I was on my home from a friends house and was... hit by a car (from the back)..they rammed up against my bike and I fell..was lying on the street unconcious<sp?> , they didnt stop. my friend found me..yada yada yada...I ended up in hospital for about a week. well since then I havent been on a bike. recently i have had the urge to bike ride but when I tried a few months ago I was freaked out...the thought of my BWA on that two tire bike scared me ..so ...I started researching what type of bike I could get that would help with my lack of balance and scaredycatness (like the word?)..so i came across an 'adult trike'....so tonight I got one.. it's yellow and has a little basket.. hehe.. it's so cute and I had no fear on it ( of course I just rode it down our street.. It will take a while to get used to BUT I took a step in getting back to something... I like.. yayyy me.. I 'll upload a picture when VWN decides to work


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## mel (Aug 19, 2009)

pic of trike 

View attachment trike.jpg


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## jewels_mystery (Aug 19, 2009)

mel said:


> pic of trike



Congrats and cute bike!!


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## stan_der_man (Aug 19, 2009)

Very nice trike Mel, and it has mags instead of spoke rims! :bow: Very cool! I hope you enjoy riding and by all means post pics of your adventures!


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## ssflbelle (Aug 20, 2009)

Nice Bikes. I did a search last year and several of these look familiar. The expense was too high for me so I never got one even though I thought it would give me a good amount of exercise. Happy for all of you who got one and hope you have fun riding.


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## Con (Aug 21, 2009)

Fuzzy said:


> That bike has nice lines, up until the handle bars.. which look like an afterthought. I think it needs some 70s-style chopper handles.



apre-hangers FTW!


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## Russell Williams (Aug 22, 2009)

LillyBBBW said:


> Where do people store their bikes? I live in a small apartment and could never find a place to stick my bike. I finally gave it to my sister. The recumbent bike looks like a bitch to carry up and down the stairs, or to even chain it up to leave it for a spell. You have to be a homeowner with a big garage to have one of those bikes which is sad. I kinda like it



In the 60's, at one point, my wife and I had a bicycle built for 2 and no car. We rode the tandem cycle all about DC. (For those of you who know the area, we lived near 14th and Girard NW)

We had a third floor apartment. The building had an elevator. If we raised the front end of the cycle we could fit it into the elevator and take it to our apartment and we kept it near the windows in the living room of the 2 room apartment (two rooms plus kitchen and bathroom)

In my Sophmore and Junoir years in college my roommate and I shared a doubled single room (they were cheaper) and we each had a bicycle. We kept the cycles in the doubled single. Getting out of bed and going to the bathroom in the dark at night required and very detailed knowledge of exactly how many steps had to be taken in each of severl different directions before getting the to door of the doubled single.

Russell Williams


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## Ho Ho Tai (Aug 25, 2009)

I'm glad that someone brought this thread back from obscurity. I wasn't aware that it existed and have posted on a number of related topics more recently, including the Worksman bikes.

I think that biking (and other related mobility aids) are so important that we could benefit from (yet!) another dedicated forum. The joys, the freedom, the oxygen are of such benefit, regardless of your equipment, mechanical or physical. I may link over several other posts here, and recommend the thread SSBBWs on scooters

Mrs Ho Ho and I do quite a bit of trail biking. I like to stream any of various wonderful internet sources of music. The two interests come together in a way which I recently described in a letter to Otto, of Otto's Baroque Musick. (One of my favorites is Otto's Baroque Radio, owned by Otto Kletz.) 

I copy it here.
*
Otto Klesz
Otto's Baroque Musick

Otto -

My wife and I have biked for many years, but have become increasingly avid in these, my later years (72) and her middle years (never tell a lady's age.). After working our old bikes up to the 50 - 60 mile range, we decided that new ones were in order. This spring, we shelled out for new bikes of significantly greater range and speed. (These are the kind of bikes you pedal - not motorized.)

There are a few pretty and interesting bike trails, with wooded areas, lakeshore, hills and curves, but most of them are build on old railroad beds - flat and straight, designed to accommodate trains and heavy cargo - and therefore, not very interesting. Many bikers wear Walkman gadgets (or a more modern equivalent) but that has no appeal for me. I don't like the feeling of isolation, but would rather be 'one with the trail'. However, I do have another way of helping the miles pass by.

Having been a fan, though not a performer, of classical music since my pre-teens, I nearly always have fragments of some symphony, chamber piece, vocal performance, or organ composition going on in my head. Unfortunately, I am easily seduced by repeats and soon find myself stuck in a short fragment. But one piece that always works is Bach's Air On a G String. The piece just flows. The development is so logical that it is almost impossible to get lost in it. I can set my head to repeat mode and never get bored by it. On the trail, it is not intrusive, but blends in nicely with the swish of tires, the breeze through the leaves, the continuo of the pedal cadence.

I wonder if Bach is up there, looking down, and thinking "Look at the legs on that guy! Let's get him up here to crank the bellows."

Robert

To which Otto replied:
Hi Robert,

so nice to hear from you again.

"I wonder if Bach is up there, looking down, and thinking "Look at the legs on that guy! Let's get him up here to crank the bellows." I believe that can wait a while. There must be plenty "bellow crankers"  up there!!

Wishing you and your Lady a good ride

otto*

Otto no longer runs his own website, but links through a service called Audiorealm. He has three channels there; baroque, classical and opera. Go to the Audiorealm link, type either [classical] or [otto's] into the on-board search engine. Either will list Otto's Baroque as the first link.


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## Ho Ho Tai (Sep 6, 2009)

I'm bouncing this thread again because the importance of "biking" (whether 1, 2, 3, 4 wheels) can't be overstressed. There is nothing like physical exercise and fresh air to keep 'us' healthy, and by 'us', I mean the elderly (like myself), the overweight (yes, I'm not afraid to use that term here) the physically handicapped (we've met paraplegics on the trail, using hand-cranked devices) or even the totally immobile (we once met a couple on the trail, using a 4-wheeled device. She was unable to provide any locomotive assistance, but was clearly enjoying the ride. Her husband, doing all the pedaling, was also beaming.)

I resurrect this thread to present an article which appeared Sept. 2, 2009, in our local paper. It is about a woman, Sally Brown, dependent on mobility devices since birth, who quit a high-profile and high-pay job to start a custom bike shop, Every Kid Mobility, specializing in bikes for kids who have mobility issues.

I suspect that she and her company may eventually get into some custom work for adults as well.

Mrs. Ho Ho and I bought new trail bikes this year. While we were careful in our selection, there can be issues of fit that show up on long trail rides which even experienced riders fail to anticipate. Mrs Ho Ho is having some wrist problems, the result of a more aggressive posture, which may some effort to resolve. Most bike shops are more accustomed to dealing with would-be Lance Armstrongs than with the aged, infirm and overweight. We may take her fit issue to Ms Brown for any insight she may have.

The article appears in the Minneapolis Star/Tribune over the byline Dick Youngblood, "Enabling Folks to Have Fun"

Have fun, folks.


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## Ho Ho Tai (Nov 8, 2009)

Most of the devices shown in this thread are, I'm sure, designed for outdoor travel and are quite stable. However, this is not true of all of them.

Yesterday, Nov. 7th, was an unusually beautiful Northland day, especially for this time of year. It was the kind of day which captures the corresponding moment of my life. At 72, I'm definitely in the November of my year. But, like the day, the sun is still shining, my body still works, mostly, and Mrs Ho Ho and I are very much in love.

We hadn't thought that we would have another chance to go biking, and we hastened to take advantage of it. It was only a dozen miles or so, down to our favorite coffee hangout and back (taking every side road and detour.)

While at the coffee shop, we became aware of some commotion a few doors down. Several people had gathered around an older (83, as it turned out) woman, riding a mobility device much like this one (I hope that AlethaBBW doesn't mind.) She had ridden the device several miles from her assisted-living residence, negotiating a variety of impediments, only to be defeated by the entry door to the drugstore. As she was struggling to open it, the wind caught it and knocked her off her trike. She hit the pavement quite forcefully, head first. She was lucid, but, with the possibility of a concussion, an ambulance was called. I don't know how this story turned out. I hope that she was OK.

But it does point out a danger. A small device of this nature, with tiny wheels and short wheelbase, is not sufficiently stable to negotiate rough terrain, while the trike shown in the first post of this thread would be quite safe, if ridden slowly.

I think that some people, experiencing the rush of new-found mobility, can easily get in over their heads with such a device. Bikers, such as ourselves, are also vulnerable to falls, but generally know our limits and those of our bikes. This may not be true for new, elderly, or overweight (no flames, please) folks. I have no idea if new users are given training in the use, restrictions and limitations of these devices. Since my day is probably coming before I know it, can anyone who is a current user and owner describe the training they were given?


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## Teleute (Nov 8, 2009)

A great post and a good reminder, Ho Ho Tai. Many mobility scooters do have a very small area acting as the supporting base for the rider, which results in an unstable top-heavy arrangement that can tip over. Think of trying to put a large, dense bouquet of flowers in a thin vase like this:






It'll do the job of holding the flowers, but the second you bump it, you're going to have a mess. A wide, solid base is needed for providing stability in uncertain terrain. I don't have any training with these scooters myself, but I would love to hear from those who do!


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