Free Ride’s are always the best!

Three Wheel Bicycle fitted with electric assist, and recharged by the Sun.

This summer has been one of new independence for me personally. Many may not know already that I have low vision (legally blind) and finding a way to get around town without bugging the tar out of your friends and family can be a challenge.

So after some looking around for some solutions, the three wheel bike appeared to offer the best options for me. Many reasons went into this, stability, cargo capacity, and being more visible to traffic hopefully. So I was given this 3 wheeler by my parents this year, it was great! Then reality sank in and I found that after several years of being inactive at home, peddling this large and heavy bike up and down Osky’s hills is a tremendous challenge.

Now it was time for a solution to the solution. Since of course I don’t have a license, my options are very very limited! So gas motors were way out of the question. There are electric bike conversions as well, and many of them are big and bulky. So the search continued, and I came across what appears to be a solution! It was an electric assist motor to help riders with hills and with heavier loads. This is perfect I thought.

I ordered the kit required for my bike from Clean Republic. I installed the battery and took off. That nasty hill just down from my house was no problem! Freedom at last! The kit is simple, easy to install and only assists the rider when required. If you try to take off from a dead stop with this it won’t work, you must already be in motion.

Now, for the free ride. I installed solar panels, and I can recharge the batteries for the bike from that. And so I get 20 miles of assisted riding for free now. Sure, the cost of these items was not free, but the benefit of that initial expense has surely paid for itself in fuel and my friends and family not getting annoyed with me.

And honestly, I was nervous to be seen in public on a 3 wheel bike at first, expecting ridicule. I knew that the benefit to me would outweigh the cost. I have had many compliments and interest in this set up this summer instead. I have to say after a full summer of use, and probably over 1,500 miles of riding there were little in the ways of problems, other than a chain system that needed some fixing, and an issue with button on the Clean Republic switch for the assist motor.

If you have any questions on the above, please feel free to email me at info@oskynews.org.