Lightning Phantom recumbent bike w / SIDECAR special needs handicap mobility.

I have a kid with severe cerebral palsy. He cannot ride a bike - or walk - or do very much of anything that requires motor control. But he loves the sensation of movement through space. I am a recumbent cycling nut, and I asked Tim Brummer of Lightning Cycle Dynamics to build me a sidecar that could be attached to a Phantom recumbent bicycle. Brummer obliged, and created a framework that bolts on to the bike. I rolled up a sheet of Coroplast into a tube to create the body, and Brad Teubner helped out with the orange nosecone.

The sidecar has plenty of room for my kid. Actually he is now a young adult, around 5'8" tall and 125 pounds. The combined bike and sidecar gets used on a bicycle path close to home. Mostly I avoid street riding. We have fun. I get a workout hauling around my passenger, and he gets a major thrill rolling though the Caldwell Woods bike path. For him, it is like going on an amusement park ride. The sidecar lets me keep a close watch on the kid, something a trailer pulled behind me would not do. Another advantage of Brummer's sidecar frame design is that it can be attached and detached from the bike pretty quickly and easily. So using the bike alone becomes feasible.

The bike is equipped with quality components designed with durability and practicality in mind: Magura hydraulic rim brakes, Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires, Shimano derailleurs and the like. The idea is to avoid mechanical problems during a ride, not set any new land speed records. The kid's safety is the primary concern.

We have been enjoying this unusual vehicle for about ten years or so. Recently some novel medical issues have made using it more difficult. So I am reluctantly thinking that it may be time to pass the bike and sidecar on to somebody else who can fully appreciate it. Perhaps a child or smaller adult can enjoy riding along as much as my own kid has over the years.

While the Lightning Phantom recumbent bike is a more-or-less standard item, the sidecar is a one-off. I do not know if Tim Brummer of Lightning Cycle Dynamics in Lompoc California is willing to build another framework. Maybe. It could not hurt to phone him and talk about it. I do not think he would duplicate the Coroplast body that I attached to his framework though. (I would be happy to explain how to create a Coroplast body to anyone interested in doing this. It is very easy. Just email me.) All of this is a long-winded way of saying that getting something functionally close to my bike-and-sidecar combination might be challenging, depending on your own do-it-yourself skills.

(The sidecar was designed specifically for use with the Lightning Phantom recumbent bike. If by chance you already have a Phantom bike, or can obtain one, I would be willing to sell the sidecar alone - at a lower price - and keep the bike.)

Shipping something this big would be expensive. If you could visit me in Glenview Illinois and haul it away in a van or truck a lot of $ and labor would be saved.

Thanks for your attention, stay healthy, and ride safely.