EXCLUSIVE: Triking ahead – Why adaptive cycles are key to opening up a whole new world of opportunities for children with disabilities

By Sarah Sarsby , published on 29th August 2025

Learning to ride a bike should be an integral and inherently fun childhood development activity, so much so, it’s something I previously championed in this article, ‘The case for adaptive cycling – Why it should be considered essential medical equipment’.

Contrary to popular belief, adaptive cycles aren’t just for recreation; they enable physical activity and encourage socialisation and exploration of the world around us. They provide improved means of mobility and can potentially improve mood, cognition, and overall quality of life.

The social model of disability suggests that a person is disabled by society, rather than their impairment, which could partly explain the low cycling rates. For instance, appropriate adaptive tricycles are often identified for a child but aren’t funded by the local NHS service in the same way as other mobility devices are. In other circumstances, schools may not have enough facilities or space to enable safe navigation and transfers. As a result, inclusivity and access to mobility devices that are often the gateway to physical activity is extremely limited.

Unfortunately, children with disabilities continue to have restricted access to adaptive bikes and trikes due to a lack of funding, opportunities, and understanding around their benefits. This is despite the publication of guidance on supporting disabled children and young people to be more physically active by the UK’s Chief Medical Officers.

Historic limitations

Before the publication of the guidelines, very little legislation or guidance aimed at building physical activity into the lives of those with limited mobility existed. As a result, institutions, such as schools and therapy services, were hampered in relation to how they could explore this and introduce more physical activity into everyday life.

Many of the schools we visit do have trikes on site, which is encouraging to see. However, feedback from staff is that it can be difficult to decide which pupils can access them because their trikes are:

– Old and are no longer being serviced – in turn, they are no longer fulfilling individual needs

– Difficult to adjust – staff struggle to confidently use them with children, preventing pupils from getting to try them in the first place

To add to this, school staff also told us they were unsure about how to build trike activities into the curriculum with limited resources.

Pioneering trike sessions

We spent some time reflecting on the situation, which resulted in us identifying the Rifton Adaptive Tricycle as an ideal solution.

The tricycle provides a wide base of support, while its multiple tool-free accessories support a range of needs and abilities, enabling children of all ages and abilities to access the wonderful world of cycling.

From this point, our idea to launch Trike Workshops across the UK was born, which would overcome the barriers associated with lack of public funding and raise awareness of the Activity Guidelines, as well as the physical and holistic benefits of using adaptive trikes, such as the Rifton Adaptive Tricycle.

Delivered by our clinical team, the free sessions included a CPD-accredited, 45-minute presentation to therapists, teaching staff, and parents, followed by plenty of action – children getting the chance to try out the trike for the first time on a sensory track we set up at their school. The highly sensory course included bumpy railroad turns, crinkly fire blankets, popping bubble wrap sections, and a parachute blanket tunnel, as well musical and light-up toy pit stops.

The response from parents has also been extremely enthusiastic as they’ve been able to see the many benefits of the trikes for their children first-hand. Some parents are even looking to self-fund or access charity funding to enable them to purchase a trike that can be used at home.

Sense of achievement

Since June 2022, more than 1,000 children have taken part in the workshops and received a ‘trike licence’, providing them with a true sense of achievement and a highly positive way to round off their experience. Many of them had never experienced pedalling, let alone the added benefits of navigating a race track with their friends.

Interestingly, the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Access to Disability Equipment has recently launched its first inquiry aimed at examining the barriers faced by people with disabilities in accessing the equipment they require.

As previously mentioned, poor access to adaptive cycling equipment is just one of many barriers children with disabilities face on a daily basis. As part of the inquiry, the APPG has launched a call for evidence to help initiate change, with professionals, including medical equipment suppliers and healthcare workers, as well as individuals with disabilities, their families, and carers being invited to complete this survey.

While many of the barriers that exist may be historic, there are ways to introduce children with disabilities to the wonderful world of adaptive cycling and the many benefits it can bring, in school and at home. The recent trike workshops are just one example of how impactful adaptive cycling can be for children of all ages and just how much of a difference can be made when you think beyond the everyday limitations that can prevent so many ideas from ever getting into first gear.

Reference :

At today , published on 29th August 2025