Free Bikes for Disabled Seniors

Last Updated on April 25, 2024 by Rachel

These are often referred to as adaptive bikes or trikes, and they’re made to help seniors with various mobility challenges get outside and ride. They are made with distinctive designs that are especially suited to their demands and abilities, giving them greater freedom and mobility. Consequently, they aid in improving their balance, coordination, as well as other skills. Usually, there are also hand-pedaled bikes and trikes available for seniors who have trouble with standard pedaling.

How to Get Free Adaptive Bikes for Disabled Seniors?

When compared to regular bikes, most of these bikes have specialized builds with additional adaptations like thoracic supports, special pedals, or lower gears, and are therefore typically overpriced. However, the majority of charities and trusts have developed grants for these senior adaptive bikes and trikes because they understand the fun and therapeutic benefits that these bikes bring. Some of them are listed here;

Cycling Without Age

Ole Kassow started this campaign in 2012 to encourage elderly individuals who had limited mobility to go back on their bikes and explore the city and the surrounding area. It began by using trishaws to provide free bike rides to residents of the nearby nursing homes. With 125 chapters in the US, the movement has a presence in more than 40 countries and its headquarters are in Denmark.

The front-passenger trishaws have been carefully modified to fit elderly people with physical disabilities. The rider pedals in the back and there is a cushioned, two-seater compartment with weatherproof coverings. The objective is to exhibit these old folks as people sitting in a position of honor and in a unique vehicle that promotes their interaction and engagement as they are carried in the front.

The Cycling Without Age program is well known for its community partnerships, which include initiatives with nursing homes, advocacy organizations, cycling clubs, and other organizations. Visit for more information about it: https://cyclingwithoutage.org/get-chapter-started/.

Twin Cities Adaptive Cycling

This is a non-profit bike share program that was started in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for youths and adults with impairments, including the elderly. The program offers specialized adapted bike fittings, low-cost regular use of bikes and equipment, thorough training, and opportunities to join in group rides. Its fleet of adaptive bikes includes handcycles, therapeutic trikes, recumbent foot trikes, and several forms of tandem bikes. It offers these rides at its location on the Midtown Greenway.

The program, which provides bikes to roughly 18 riders each day, has grown in popularity over time. Additionally, it assists riders who require additional riding assistance or are visually impaired. Learn more about this program at https://www.tcacycling.org/.

Adaptive Biketown Program

Adaptive Biketown is a collaboration between the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) and Kerr Bikes to provide a large collection of adaptive bikes to people who have a disability and cannot ride a traditional two-wheel bike. Disabled seniors can take advantage of these free bike rides for an hour and the bike-share station just outside the Adaptive Biketown facility that is ideal for group rides.

Its fleet includes over 20 adaptive bikes, such as recumbent bikes, three-wheeled bikes, handcycles, and other bikes designed to keep a rider upright and prevent a fall. Some of them have an electric assist, which boosts riders’ pedal power. Learn more about this program at https://www.portland.gov/transportation/bike-share/adaptive-biketown.

Project Mobility: Cycles for Life

Project Mobility is a non-profit organization dedicated to empowering people with disabilities through the empowerment of their freedom of mobility. This program benefits disabled seniors by providing specialized bikes that are adapted to the individual’s abilities. In addition, it hosts and supports hundreds of adaptive cycling events while collaborating with a variety of disability organizations, military hospitals, veteran groups, rehabilitation centers, therapists, schools, park districts, and others.

It created the GIVE 5 Everybody Wins crowdfunding platform to help the disabled who require an adaptive bike realize their cycling dreams. The program requests $5 donations after discovering that people were willfully sharing and publicizing their campaign via social media. The GIVE 5 program makes it very simple to bring the benefits of adaptive cycling to more people through a unique mix of donor matching and crowdfunding. Learn more about the Project Mobility Non-Profit Organization by visiting their website at https://www.projectmobility.org/.

Where to find funding for free adaptive bikes for disabled seniors

Charity Funds

Nonprofit organizations known as charity funds offer disabled and handicapped people assistance in whatever way they can. Additionally, they offer the chance to apply for personal grants that cover adaptive bikes and other medical equipment for elderly people with disabilities.

Foundations

These are the groups that, once insurance and other financial means have been depleted, provide support for specific elderly persons with medical requirements. An adaptive bike might be one of the services offered, especially on a doctor’s recommendation.

Fundraising programs

Fundraising initiatives help families of people with special needs find the resources they need. While some are typically hosted for medical or health programs, they are arranged for a variety of reasons. For instance, the GIVE 5 Everybody Wins fundraising campaign run by Program Mobility: Cycle for Life is intended to enhance the advantages of adapted cycling to more people.

Non-profit Organizations

Non-profit organizations are not motivated by profit but rather by commitment to a particular cause, which is the focus of any funds received in excess of what is required to maintain the organization. Churches, public charities, volunteer service organizations, and various governmental agencies are a few examples of these organizations. These organizations occasionally collaborate to achieve a common objective, as seen in the Portland program known as Adaptive Biketown.