bikes for handicapped

[Yelvington]

does anyone know to what extent the federal government covers the cost of trike conversions for handicapped users? i know you can take part of it off your taxes but is that in every state or just some? we hear different things from sources. thanks yelvington

[motorcyclemania]

I have never here of this. But let me know I bought a trike this year. I can use all the tax breaks I can. I'm handicap also with a left leg amputee so I need a electric shifter. Please let me know any information you can give.

[jellybean]

Well, I don't know if this will help, but my husband was handicapped and when we had his minivan converted, the conversion was considered a medical expense and was not taxable... that was helpful, since it was $15000 for the conversion.

[adaptolife]

I have been disabled all my life, and I would never stick the taxpayers with subsidizing my recreational activities. Converting a van so you can work or get groceries is a necessity, but getting government help to convert a motorcycle or a boat is not right. To many need help with wheelchairs, braces, and medication to waste taxpayer money on toys. I am on ssdi, cannot work, and I purchased and built my bike with my own money and sweat.

[Keystone]

............. I would never stick the taxpayers with subsidizing my recreational activities. Converting a van so you can work or get groceries is a necessity, but getting government help to convert a motorcycle or a boat is not right. To many need help with wheelchairs, braces, and medication to waste taxpayer money on toys. I am on ssdi, cannot work, and I purchased and built my bike with my own money and sweat.

Same here. Had to retire when I was 44. No way would I expect someone to pay for me to play.

[FLTR2008TRIKE]

I have been disabled all my life, and I would never stick the taxpayers with subsidizing my recreational activities. Converting a van so you can work or get groceries is a necessity, but getting government help to convert a motorcycle or a boat is not right. To many need help with wheelchairs, braces, and medication to waste taxpayer money on toys. I am on ssdi, cannot work, and I purchased and built my bike with my own money and sweat.

Ditto

[Biker-Dave]

I had a guy tell me one day that " I had it made, " after loosing my left leg to a run in with a truck. He told me that he had a bad back and got 100% disability, and I could do the same. I just wanted to bitch slap him! All I wanted to do was get back to my job! My job was the focus of my getting up and not feeling sorry for my self. My job, and my strong will to ride again is what drove my to get back up, dust my self off, and get on with living my life again. No, I have to agree with you. It's one thing to get help for a van or an altered car, the toys are another matter.

[dcryder]

I agree with you also, I was injured on the job 5 yrs ago and was lucky that today even with back surgery that I am even walking that is why I am building a trike for my wife and myself and I also have chronic nerve damage in both legs because of it. So I was offically retired at 51 yrs of age and will never beable to work again, even though I would love to work again but docs say if I work I will lose my legs or beable to walk or do anything else. So I do what I can enjoy what I can and go on with life and never ask for the tax payers to pay for my toys.

[fxcollin]

Disabled Handicapped Motorcycle Riders, manual shifters automatic shifters check with Gail...she was very helpful when I had questions. also the Kiltronic shifter works great for me.

[Servi]

I don't want the taxpayers to foot the bill for anything that I do. I receive social security after turning 66, based on my earnings. I imagine that there are legitimate claims for government assistance, but, I am responsible for myself and my family.

Well, enough of that. I have finished my trike conversion. I have it figured out on how to carru my wheelchair. The problem that I am now having is mounting and dismounting, because I have MS and my legs won't lift on their own.

The only way I was able to test drive was to back into the saddle and hold os while my wife lifted my shoeless right leg (keeps from scratching the tank), over to the right side. Then she put my shoe back on and I was good to go.

I have a solo seat. Think Harley Servicar.

Probably a dumb question, but any suggestions?

[cycle7447]

Looks like this is an old post that came back to life.

For the guy that brought it back - nice looking conversion. Sorry, I have nothing to offer.

For the other guys that said they don't think it is right from the public to help support their toys - well, I am not certain I fully agree with you. First, I am not disabled so, I am not looking for anything.

Still, imagine this. Say you rode bikes all of your life and such made you happy. Then all of a sudden, you went to war to defend your country. You were wounded - lost a leg. Now, back home you are somewhat limited and would love to get back on your bike (the one you had before you left).

Now you can't and the conversion cost is say, $15,000. I believe we should provide some sort of support.

By the way guys, some of us are getting older. Ever taken Viagra - wonder why the VA provides this for free if you request it.

[ol' school]

I don't want the taxpayers to foot the bill for anything that I do. I receive social security after turning 66, based on my earnings. I imagine that there are legitimate claims for government assistance, but, I am responsible for myself and my family.

Well, enough of that. I have finished my trike conversion. I have it figured out on how to carru my wheelchair. The problem that I am now having is mounting and dismounting, because I have MS and my legs won't lift on their own.

The only way I was able to test drive was to back into the saddle and hold os while my wife lifted my shoeless right leg (keeps from scratching the tank), over to the right side. Then she put my shoe back on and I was good to go.

I have a solo seat. Think Harley Servicar.

Probably a dumb question, but any suggestions?

Nice looking trike John!

[Phu Cat]

​Please accept my respect for those that are handicapped and still want to ride so bad they are able to fabricate a trike that they CAN ride. You all are truly an inspiration.

[Bill J. from Austin]

In 1980 I helped build a trike for an Army veteran disabled in a motorcycle wreck. He was quadriplegic, which I thought meant 'paralyzed from the neck down'. It actually just means all four limbs are affected. Paul had no use of his legs, limited use of his left hand (he could hold the handlebars and operate a clutch lever) and almost full use of his right hand.

Again, this was 1980. Harley's venerable Servi-Car was retired in 1973, and no manufacturer was making three-wheeled motorcycles, mass-producing trike frames or kits, and definitely not for handicapped riders! Few people even believed such a thing was possible! This meant we had to design, fabricate and test every piece of the hand controls we installed.

The frame was easy, only because it came to us ready-made: a graft of a Servi-Car rear to an early swingarm frame. A local rider was shot by an off-duty cop during a traffic dispute. The cop (who never identified himself) pulled his weapon, shot the man in the hip and drove away. He never called EMS for his victim, and only called his chief well after the fact. A true gutless wonder, he claimed self-defense and -- armed cop against unarmed biker? -- got away with it. [IMG]file:///C:/Users/billj/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image002.gif[/IMG]

Sorry.... it still pisses me off.

Anyhoo, when the fellow got out of the hospital, he and some buddies built a panhead-powered trike. He rode it for a while, but when he thought he'd recovered enough to get back on two wheels, he sold the trike frame to my boss at the shop, so the frame came to us purpose-built and ready, but everything else? Not so much!

First thing we built was a crossover tank shifter, which moved the hand-operated gearshift to the right side, and tied that to an OEM ratchet-lid four-speed. That way, Paul could operate the clutch with his left hand, and drop his throttle hand just long enough to shift gears.

Brakes were a little trickier. We left the manual front brake in place so Paul could operate it with his right hand, but for the rear brakes we devised a tall lever that activated the large-capacity master cylinder and rear brakes. It wasn't ideal -- nowadays there are trick systems that will operate all three brakes with a single control -- but we were Harley mechanics working in the ruins of an old East Austin lumberyard. We did the best we could with what we had.

There were other details -- guardrails around his floorboards to keep his feet from vibrating off and such -- but we got it dialed in and tested (my one and only time operating a trike until last April!) and delivered it to its proud new owner....

....who promptly took it back to his home in Massachusetts, where he tore it apart and rebuilt it, doing most of the work himself. Paul was an excellent paint and body man and knew exactly what he wanted. When it was all done, his creation earned a five-page spread in Easyriders!



Paul's trike, as featured in Easyriders January, 1985

I was fascinated by the process of building that trike, and in awe of the dedication required to get a man back up after a bad break like Paul's, so I started paying attention to handicap adaptations I came across, clipping articles out of magazines and newspapers, taking pictures of bikes I encountered, talking with riders....

I ended up a sort of clearinghouse for the info I'd gathered, making it available free of charge to anyone who asked, and offering it up through letters columns in motorcycle magazines. I even wrote an article about handicapped rides and riders for Road Rider's November 1988 issue.



My article for Road Rider November, 1988

[Bill J. from Austin]

In 1980 I helped build a trike for an Army veteran....

Never thought I'd ever need the information I'd collected for myself, but a 35' fall off a structure I was climbing changed all that. I broke my back and had an open tib-fib compound fracture of my right leg, but my collision with the ground also turned the instep of my left foot -- the initial point of impact -- to dust, according to the surgeon who tried valiantly to piece it back together.

That was twenty years ago. I've lost count of the surgeries I've had, but I'm still living with pain and disability every day. However, after the initial round of surgeries and physical therapy, I was able to get back on two wheels. I had to make adaptations to my rigid shovelhead -- a seat-post and solo saddle instead of the frame-mounted butt bucket I'd been running for years, and a GD windshield so that my back doesn't have to fight the wind at highway speed -- but the BMW was pretty user-friendly, and the FXRS we bought a few years later had a windshield, and was fixable with an FXRP cop saddle and an extended brake pedal.



My 1987 FXRS with the FXRP cop saddle and extended brake pedal. Two days later it was totaled by a hit-and-run driver.

Should have been happily ever after, but the injury at my spine did all sorts of damage to the nerves passing through the L-4 vertebra. Nothing south of my waist works the way it's supposed to -- I get referred pain, paresthesia and all sorts of dysfunctions -- but one 'gift' is the trick knee, which gives out at odd times and without warning. It began while I was still in physical therapy, working out in the hospital pool because I wasn't yet weightbearing, but it's gradually gotten worse. I no longer trust it not to drop me under my bike at a red light!

Enter the trike.

I've owned my shovel for forty-five years, and really wasn't ready to let it go, so I searched for a trike frame that would retain the traditional trike look and feel, including the seat post and solo saddle, but couldn't find one. Lots of 'chopper' trike frames on offer, and bolt-on swingarm kits, but the only company making the frame I wanted here in the US quit making them a few years ago.

Then I looked for someone who might be able to convert my old frame via a graft, similar to the one Paul had, but everyone I knew who might have helped had either died or disappeared.

I finally gave up and went looking for a ready-built trike. I'm a Harley guy (one BMW to the contrary) and traditionalist (to a point) so I knew I wanted a Harley trike. I liked the sleek, stripped-down look of the Freewheeler -- I've never been a bagger boy -- and their obscene resale prices seemed slightly less obscene than the Tri-Glides I saw listed. I shopped around and found one at a stealership in Houston, negotiated a price and carted it home....

....and here I am!

The Freewheeler needed a few tweaks before I could put miles on it -- mostly the installation of the FXRP saddle I souvenired from the FXRS after it was destroyed by a hit-and-run driver -- and I'm still rebuilding my mileage muscles, but I'm in the wind again, where I need to be.



My 2016 Freewheeler with the FXRP cop saddle, and a custom-made pillion pad by Bob at Steelhorse Saddles in Liberty Hill, Texas.

[Jarhead1775]

does anyone know to what extent the federal government covers the cost of trike conversions for handicapped users? i know you can take part of it off your taxes but is that in every state or just some? we hear different things from sources. thanks yelvington

1. Disability Grants: Some larger charities and trusts provide funding for adapted trikes or bikes. While they may not cover the entire cost, they can contribute towards it. You might need to supplement the funding through personal fundraising or other means[COLOR=var(--cib-color-foreground-accent-primary)]1[/COLOR].
   
2. Wounded Warrior Project: This organization supports veterans, including those with disabilities. They may offer resources or referrals related to adaptive transportation[COLOR=var(--cib-color-foreground-accent-primary)]2[/COLOR].
   
3. Gary Sinise Foundation: Although they might not directly fund trike conversions, they could potentially guide you to other resources or organizations that specialize in adaptive vehicles[COLOR=var(--cib-color-foreground-accent-primary)]2[/COLOR].
   
4. Local Programs: Check with local government agencies, veterans’ services, or disability offices. Some regions offer grants or assistance specifically for adaptive vehicle modifications.
   
5. VA Disability Compensation: While you mentioned that most programs you found were for cars, trucks, and vans, it’s worth reaching out to the VA directly. They might have additional information or be able to connect you with relevant resources.
   
6. Adaptive Motorcycle Conversion Companies: Explore companies specializing in trike conversions. They might have insights into funding options or be aware of specific programs.
   

Remember that each case is unique, and it’s essential to research thoroughly and reach out to relevant organizations. Your determination and service deserve support, and I hope you find a solution that allows you to ride again! 🏍️🇺🇸

[Bill J. from Austin]

1. Disability Grants: Some larger charities and trusts provide funding for adapted trikes or bikes. While they may not cover the entire cost, they can contribute towards it. You might need to supplement the funding through personal fundraising or other means[COLOR=var(--cib-color-foreground-accent-primary)]1[/COLOR].
   
2. Wounded Warrior Project: This organization supports veterans, including those with disabilities. They may offer resources or referrals related to adaptive transportation[COLOR=var(--cib-color-foreground-accent-primary)]2[/COLOR].
   
3. Gary Sinise Foundation: Although they might not directly fund trike conversions, they could potentially guide you to other resources or organizations that specialize in adaptive vehicles[COLOR=var(--cib-color-foreground-accent-primary)]2[/COLOR].
   
4. Local Programs: Check with local government agencies, veterans’ services, or disability offices. Some regions offer grants or assistance specifically for adaptive vehicle modifications.
   
5. VA Disability Compensation: While you mentioned that most programs you found were for cars, trucks, and vans, it’s worth reaching out to the VA directly. They might have additional information or be able to connect you with relevant resources.
   
6. Adaptive Motorcycle Conversion Companies: Explore companies specializing in trike conversions. They might have insights into funding options or be aware of specific programs.
   

Remember that each case is unique, and it’s essential to research thoroughly and reach out to relevant organizations. Your determination and service deserve support, and I hope you find a solution that allows you to ride again! 🏍️🇺🇸

Thank you for those resources, Jarhead1775! Some good possibilities there.

As noted in my previous post, I have given the topic of disability adaptations a lot of thought over the past forty-four years, and since this thread revived in January, I've thought a lot about the notion of tax breaks or taxpayer-assisted modifications for disabled riders. Here's my take:

First, I notice most commentors calling their motorcycles 'toys'. Maybe for some here they are, but for a lot of us they are far more than that. Aside from the soul-deep emotional attachment most bikers feel for their bikes, for some riders their bike is their only mode of transport. I can tell you that my shovelhead was my only vehicle on several occasions in the past. Besides, if they were purely 'recreational vehicles' why would the states issue handicapped license plates for them?

Second, I understand not wanting to buy every gimp out here a motorcycle, but what would be so wrong about a tax break for conversion costs? As taxpayers, we out-and-out pay for equipment to serve people who will never be able to work and pay taxes, or shop for their own groceries, or any of the other activities of daily living the posters above have cited, and that able-bodied folk take for granted. We buy five-year-old children wheelchairs that cost more than a feckin' car, FFS!

And that is not an exaggeration. My wife is in the industry, and I've seen the numbers.

Yet the consensus here seems to be that a tax break for a full-grown man or woman who was a hard-working, taxpaying citizen right up to the moment they became disabled -- maybe even the war-injured veteran that cycle7447 mentioned -- is an unacceptable 'government handout' and a bridge too far!?!?

Sorry. No. Living with disability is hard enough without being nickel-and-dimed to death every time we need something we can't do for ourselves. I get a tax break on my homestead because I'm disabled. I can get tax breaks for therapeutic equipment like a swim spa in my backyard. Why not a motorcycle? I'd much rather give some cat who's adapting his motorcycle a tax break than subsidize corporate 'farmers' for not growing wheat, or bail out bankers who screw working folks out of their homes.

Just my thoughts!

[Jack Klarich]

I always wanted one, the Flathead engine is such a simple design, it can run at idle all day without overheating, Amazing engine

I got to rebuild a 80 VL engine, it was a great learning experience