Bike with wheelchair platform

[Anonanonuk]

I saw on today's episode of Something Special on CBeebies a bike that an adult can pedal but it has a platform at the front that a wheelchair can be secured onto. Does anyone know what this type of bike is called and where you can get them?

I might also suggest to Center Parcs that they get some as at the moment you can't take a wheelchair with you when you cycle i.e. you can only have the standard children trailer which means leaving the wheelchair in the villa and carrying your child around once you've parked in the bike park. Whereas if they got some of these 'bikes with a wheelchair platform' then your child can be in their wheelchair while you pedal them around and then once parked in the bike park you can unclip the wheelchair and wheel them around the village in their wheelchair.

It might have been a Christianiabike. These are tricycles with the two wheels at the front and supporting a carrying box in which children or wheelchairs can ride. There's a picture here. They're really expensive (I've spent hours trying to convince myself I could afford one) but sooo well made. There are various stockists in the UK.

it could also have been a nihola bike.

have a look at London Recumbents - it's not a brilliant site so takes a bit of searching about to see everything - they have all sorts of bikes. Have a look and see if you can spot the one today.

I missed today's Something special (well, dd2 did !) otherwise I might be able to help more. I spent ages researching bikes last year, and while dd1 doesn't need a wheelchair platform, when you're researching bikes for disabled people/children you tend to come across a lot of different stuff (we went for a Kangaroo in the end, and it's brilliant, but not what you are looking for)

Hi i was at Center Parcs last November and they now have bikes with wheelchairs on the front .
My daughter is 12 and has quad CP and she loved it.
We went to the Nottingham one, so not sure if the other Center Parcs have them.
They were excellent though, and the wheelchair detached from the front of the bike so you could use it to go into restaurants etc. She also said it was more comfortable than her usual wheelchair.

the bike on something special was a velo plus made by a dutch company called van raam, the uk distributer used to be wrk cycles in peterborough but they were bought over by jcm who dont seem to be doing the full range only the trikes and quads that wrk had.

www.companioncycling.org.uk/news.htm

wrk also used to do one called an O Pair which had a wheelchair that could be removed attached to the front of the bike www.bike4bike.org.uk/the-o-pair-wheelchair-bicycle/

JCM may still be able to source the Velo plus or the O Pair as the leaflets i have on them were given to me by a JCM rep but it was a few years ago now.

I was having a look at Centre Parcs a while back and spotted something called a Duet? Is that what you had Jo?

Thanks so much everyone for the information! I can confirm that the one I saw on Something Special was the Velo Plus from Van Raam.

Ooooh Jo we usually go to the Nottingham Center Parcs too, I'll look out for the detachable wheelchair bike you talked about. We have always used the standard trailer but our child is too heavy to carry around so having a detacable wheelchair would be fab (as long as our child doesn't fall around in it and it has a belt). Is the wheelchair very big for a small child (e.g. our child is 5 years old (but more the size of a small 4 year old)or are they adult sized ones?

I have had a god on one of these and the rider found it very tough going (very heavy) and as the wheelchair on the front I found it quite scary! You can get bikes that have a proper wheelchair at the front, much better (and cheaper). Or, slightly more complicated, the old Pashley trikes with seats at the back, you could have room to transport a child in one of the seats, and the wheelchair. Unfortunately, they don't make them anymore (they make a smaller model with a luggage box) but they still do turn up.

Do suggest to CenterParcs.

*go!!