VERMONT’S ADAPTIVE
BIKE BUILDERS ONE OF THE MOST UNIQUE “BIKE SHOPS” IN THE WORLD IS IN CORNWALL, VT. BY ABAGAEL GILES
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ust off Route 125 in Cornwall, Vt. on 47-acre Avenir Farms is one of the most unique “bike shops” in the U.S., and possibly the world. You have to make an appointment and you need to want a highly specialized bike. “But whatever challenge you are facing, we can probably find a bike for you,” says David Black. Black and his partner Anja Wrede met in the 1999 while co-developing a running stroller for children and special needs families. They launched RAD-Innovations in Oregon, before relocating to Vermont in 2012. Black had worked as an engineer in product development since the 1970s, and Wrede had a long career developing and building adaptive bicycles in Germany before coming to the U.S. Since then, RAD-Innovations has grown into what Black estimates is one of only two or three businesses of its kind: one that will sell and custom-fit bikes and trikes for people with a wide variety of disabilities and make custom bikes and mobility devices to meet special needs. The business has several components. The couple advises
companies that are developing new adaptive bicycles on ways to make them operate more smoothly for people with disabilities. They import, sell and fit adaptive bikes from companies such as Hase and Ice and they build their own solutions. For instance, Black and Wrede designed an ergonomic hand- and footpowered tricycle that allows people who can’t move their legs to experience the motion of pedaling when they power a bike with their hands. “Often those folks can push from their quads and even if they aren’t powering the movement of their legs, the motion improves tone and circulation and comfort,” says Black.
Black helped move the project from what Wrede called a “very expensive Frankenstein bike” with an office chair seat and chrome tubing, to something as sleek and as customizable as a highend road bike. It’s also compatible with FES (functional electrical stimulation), a common medical treatment that applies small electrical charges to a paralyzed muscle in order to stimulate movement. Today, RAD has everything from adaptive trikes and tandems to Frame Runners, an adaptive running frame that looks similar to a bike without pedals. It allows individuals to run or walk with minimal to no assistance. For those who want to leave the pavement, there are Catrikes and the Ice Trike, which come with electric assist—the recumbent bike’s answer to a bikepacking bike or gravel grinder with a 26-inch wheel and a broad range of gears. RAD is the exclusive North American dealer for Hase, the maker of a line of recumbent and adaptive bikes. Getting any bike to fit can be a chore and for adaptive bikes, it can be doubly complicated. Black and Wrede have a guesthouse at their farm where they
RAD-Innovations can fit or make a bike for pretty much anyone. Above, Wrede taking some clients out for a spin, left and one of RAD’s custom creations. Below, Black and Wrede (third and fourth from left) with their Race Runners.Photos courtesy RAD Innovations.
host clients overnight for fittings. One of the things that Black is most excited about now though is working with programs such as Local Motion in Burlington or Middlebury’s Yellow House Community and the town Rec Center to help raise awareness of the wide variety of bikes and mobility devices available. “We can bring our bikes there for people to try, or to events like the Tour de Farms. It really helps show people what the possibilities are.” It also adds to the feedback that Black and Wrede get so they can continue to find solutions to various physical mobility challenges people face. Wrede is half the genius behind the unique adjustments and adaptations. She is also the managing director for Hase USA, the German adaptive bicycle company. She loves people and solving mechanical problems. And she sees their Cornwall farm as part of the package that the company offers. “I think that people like to travel here for fittings,” she said. “Often, we work with whole families, and you can see the joy in kids’ faces when they get to follow the geese or see horses for the first time. The farm is a big part of why we are here.” She recalled a recent fitting she did for a teenage girl from Addison County who has cerebral palsy: “Once we got her onto her bike, she took off, racing her dad (from the barn-turned-bikeshop) to the mailbox. To see a child move like that, knowing they’ve never moved so quickly of their own volition before and to see her laughing with her father? That was really cool.”
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