Outdoor bikes,
leisure and
sensory toys
rarechromo.org
Outdoor bikes, leisure and sensory toys
Everybody loves to ride and learning to ride a bicycle is a natural part of growing
up for most children. More or less every child likes to learn to ride a bike, it is
fun and it is often something that families enjoy doing together. For a child
affected by a rare chromosome disorder and having physical and/ or learning
difficulties it can also be a good way of increasing muscle tone and exercising
their legs or arms. It can also help to increase freedom, confidence and
motivation. Typical bicycles can be readily purchased in high street shops in all
sizes. Unfortunately when you have a child with a rare chromosome disorder the
ability to learn how to ride a bike is often difficult and specialist bicycles and
tricycles are sometimes required in order that they can have as much fun as any
other child. These specialist bikes aren’t usually available from high street
shops, they have to be bought as specialist items, often bespoke made to fit the
needs and size of the individual child that will be using it. Because these bikes
are bespoke they cost a lot more than the regular type bikes that you buy on the
high street. And often parents are put off by the costs. This Unique guide has
been written to help signpost families whose children have a rare chromosome
disorder. The guide is aimed at those whose children are any age from preschool to adult, whether they are mildly, moderately or severely affected either
mentally, physically or both.
There are many manufacturers of specialist bikes and trikes. You can get bikes
with two wheels, three wheels, four wheels, trailer trikes, wheelchair bikes,
hand-controlled trikes and even trikes that can be parent controlled to help
children who are unable to pedal for themselves.
Listed below are some manufacturers of these specialist bikes and trikes:
 Tomcat Trikes
www.tomcatspecialneeds.co.uk
Tel: 01452 616900 Email: [email protected]
Bespoke Trikes including trailer trikes and
two-piece trikes and the award winning Tiger
trike. Unique steering control for parent
carers.
 George Longstaff Cycles
www.longstaffcycles.com
Tel: 01782 561966
Designer, manufacturer, and retailer of custom-built cycles and tandems,
including one trike adapted from a Raleigh mountain bike.
Tricycles, tag alongs, adult bike stabilisers.
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 Pashley Cycles
www.pashley.co.uk
Tel: 01789 292263 Email: [email protected]
Well-made traditional bikes, tandems and trikes including the Pickle tricycle for
children aged 4 upwards and the Polo tricycle for older children.
 Quest 88 Ltd (cycling)
www.allabilitycycling.com
Tel: 0845 6047258
Email: [email protected]
Custom-built trikes and accessories. Bicycles, Companion Cycles, Recumbents,
Running Bikes, Hand Cycles, Go-Karts.
 Rifton adaptive tricycles
www.jenx.com/products/mobility/rifton-adaptive-tricycles
Jenx Tel: 0114 2853376 Email: [email protected]
Jenx stock a range of specialist equipment for children, including Rifton
tricycles..
 Theraplay
www.theraplay.co.uk/tricycles1.html Tel: 0141 8769177
Email: [email protected]
Tricycles and hand cycles.
 Unicam Mobility
Tel: 01460 67926
Provides attachments to convert non-specialised bicycles to ensure easier use
by people with lower limb disability.
 Weehoo's iGo Pro bicycle trailer
www.rideweehoo.com
Child trailer to attach to a bike, for any child.
Available in the UK via: www.action-kids.com
 Jenx Ltd
www.jenx.com
Designs and manufactures therapeutic products for children with special needs
and is the UK distributor for Rifton products, including the Rifton tricycle.
 Parker Products Development Ltd
Tel: 01302 841671
Specialise in designing and manufacturing cycling products for riders with
particular and special needs. A parent has highly recommended the Tribike
Converter.
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 Mission Cycles
www.missioncycles.co.uk
Tel: 01622 815678
Email: [email protected]
specialising in Folding bikes for commuting, boating,
caravanning etc - Special Needs Trikes - Scooters Trials Bikes - Child carriers and tag alongs Cruisers - Tandems - Cargo trailers - Unicycles - Trikes for able bodied and
special needs.
 Momo tricycles
www.jcmseating.co.uk/product/momo-2/
JCM Seating‎
Tel: 01733 405830
MOMO tricycles combine a wide range of therapeutic and medical requirements
and are specially designed to train coordination and balance. JCM also
incorporates WRK trikes
 London Recumbents
www.londonrecumbents.co.uk Tel: 020 76359761
Large range of bikes, trikes and accessories for special needs bikers, including
the Slipstream, the Copilot, the Cresswell U plus 1, the PF side-by-side and the
Neatwork range.
 Da Vinci Mobility
www.davincimobility.com/#!handcycles-trail-riders/cvck
Da Vinci Mobility provides a numbers of products and services including bespoke
wheelchairs, handcycles and car adaptations.
Special needs cycling adaptations
It is possible to adapt high street bikes to suit a child with a rare chromosome
disorder. These companies can help with adaptations to bikes and equipment.
 MERU
http://meru.org.uk
Tel: 01372 725203 Email: [email protected]
Designs and manufactures specialised equipment for children and young people
with disabilities. Some children have disabilities so complex that no available
equipment meets their needs.
 Good Designs
www.gooddesigns.eu
Tel: 07879 522993
Stabilisers designed by a father of a child with hemiplegia come in 2 sizes
suitable for 14" to 28" wheel cycles.
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 Remap
www.remap.org.uk
 Remap Scotland
www.remap-scotland.org
Tel: 0845 1300456
Remap's local panels of engineering volunteers design and build adaptations for
people with disabilities - use their website to contact the nearest panel.
Second-hand special needs trikes, equipment, specialist
toys etc.
If you don’t want to buy or obtain a brand new bike, you often see second-hand
bikes listed on websites, you can search by area on the following:
www.ebay.co.uk
www.gumtree.com
www.disabreg.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk
A parent of a child with special needs has set up a facebook group, so that other
parents can buy and sell items of equipment.
www.facebook.com/groups/SNEUK
Funding
Because bespoke items can be expensive, many of our families can be put off by
the costs and might need to apply for funding. If you would like to find out who
you can apply to for funding a trike etc, please see our separate grants and
funding guide
VAT
You may not have to pay VAT when buying certain items that are intended
exclusively and specifically for the use of a disabled person, such as a
wheelchair or adapted bike. For more information visit the Revenue & Customs
website: www.hmrc.gov.uk/vat/sectors/consumers/disabled.htm
 GetKidsGoing
www.getkidsgoing.com Tel: 020 74818110 Email: [email protected]
Get Kids Going! is a National charity which gives disabled children and young
people - up to the age of 26 yrs - the wonderful opportunity of participating in
sport. It helps provide specialist sports wheelchairs and trikes.
 Whizz Kids
www.whizz-kidz.org.uk Tel: 020 72336600
A charity which provides mobility equipment, including trikes.
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Cycling groups and organisations
If you don’t want to buy a bike, or if you want to ‘try before you buy’ there are
many organisations all over the UK that can hire out specialist bikes for the day
or for a timed session at their venue, here are links to some of those
organisations/groups. If there isn’t one mentioned for your area, please visit:
http://cyclingforall.org
Please note: booking in advance is essential in some groups.
All UK
 Tandem Club
www.tandem-club.org.uk
Tel: 01908 282485
Organises rides, pairing sighted and visually impaired riders. Also useful if you
are anxious about someone with epilepsy, cycling alone. UK wide, please call to
find out your nearest club.
 London Cycling Campaign (LCC)
http://lcc.org.uk/articles/all-ability-cycling-guide
LCC publishes an All Ability & special needs Guide offering advice on how people
with disabilities and special needs can get cycling.
 Charlottes Tandems
http://charlottestandems.weebly.com/
Loan tandems to (and only to) people with disabilities or special needs for free,
who are unable to ride a bike safely on their own, so that they can enjoy the
wonders of cycling. Based in Gloucestershire and now have many outposts
throughout the UK.
 Rough Riderz MTB Club
www.roughriderz.co.uk Tel: 01772 562883 Email: [email protected]
This all-inclusive mountain biking club includes reviews of four-wheeled
mountain bikes and trails in UK and continental Europe where they can be used.
Contact details given are for Phil Hall, the club secretary.
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London and the South east
 Companion Cycles
www.companioncycling.org.uk Tel: 07961 344545
Email: [email protected]
A huge variety of cycles for hire in Bushy Park, Middlesex and ‘companions’ to
ride with. This is ideal for those who cannot ride solo.
 London Cycling Campaign
www.lcc.org.uk
Tel: 020 79287220
Publishes an excellent booklet ‘All Ability Cycling for Greater London’ with
information on the various types of bike suitable for riders with disabilities, and
a useful names and addresses list which covers the whole country, not just
London.
 Bikeworks - Community Cycle Centre
www.bikeworks.org.uk Tel: 020 76025101
An all-ability cycling programme promoting confidence in cycling within the
learning / disabled community.
In the London boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Hackney & Kensington Chelsea.
 On Your Bike
Ealing Mencap
www.ealingmencap.org.uk
Tel: 020 85669575
The project has eight recumbent tricycles bicycles and go-karts available for
hire to ride in Perivale Park. Adults only.
 Redbridge Cycling Centre
www.redbridgecyclingcentre.co.uk
Tel: 020 85009359
Redbridge Cycling Centre is a facility for cyclists of all abilities and a number of
adapted bikes for disabled users.
 Cycle 4 All
Barking and Dagenham
www.cycle4all.com
Tel: 07817 750800 Email: [email protected]
Road bikes, Mountain bikes, BMX, Tandems, Trikes, Karts, Recumbents, and
Hand-Cycles are available to use.
 Wheels for Wellbeing
www.wheelsforwellbeing.org.uk
020 73468482
A charity which supports disabled people to cycle in London ( Croydon Arena,
Herne Hill Velodrome and Ladywell Arena). Whatever impairment, long term
health condition or disability. Cost £3 per session [2012].
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 Brighton, East Sussex
www.wheelchairaccesstravel.com/wheelchair-bike/brighton-wheelchair-bike/
Email: [email protected]
Wheelchair Bike Available To The Disabled Community In Sussex. Brighton
Wheelchair Bike hire is £25 per day [2012] (including bike drop off & pick up at
Brighton & Hove Seafront).
 Bedgebury Cycle Development Project
www.forestry.gov.uk/website/forestry.nsf/byunique/infd-82ae4v
Tel: 07769 235 523
Email: [email protected]
The Pinetum in Kent has a stock of specialist cycles and offers skills coaching
sessions for special schools and disability groups on weekday afternoons, with
fees starting from £8 per group.
 Thames Valley Adventure Playground
www.tvap.co.uk
Tel: 01628 628599
Email: [email protected]
Based on a 2.5 acre site adjacent to the A4 in Taplow, near Maidenhead, the
Playground is open to children and adults with all types of special need,
however, mild or profound, their siblings and parents/carers.
Open Tuesday to Saturday all year round, Fridays are reserved for adults with
special needs. Special bikes and go karts to ride.
 We Cycle Too
www.weplaytoo.org.uk/cycle.html
Tel: 07572 985176
Email : [email protected]
We Cycle Too is a project for children with special needs, which is a part of We
Play Too - a special needs playground based within Brooklands park, Lancing,
West Sussex. Booking is now required.
 Wheels for Wellbeing sessions
Alan Heaton Tel: 01293 585355
Email: [email protected]
Cycling accessible to all, using a variety of specially adapted cycles.
Inclusive BMX Track, Cherry Lane, Langley Green, Crawley, West Sussex RH11
7NX. Ages: Eight and over.
Cost: £4 per hour (this applies to child/person with disability only – there is no
charge for parents or carers). Booking is essential.
South West and West
www.budsandsuds.org/bud.asp
Loan tandems to (and only to) people with disabilities or special needs for free,
who are unable to ride a bike safely on their own.
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 Bideford Bicycle Hire
www.bidefordbicyclehire.co.uk Tel: 01237 424123
The cycle hire centre is open daily. It is just south of the river bridge in Bideford,
on the Tarka Trail, a former railway line now a trail for walkers and cyclists
running across the Torridge estuary or up the wooded river valley. There is an
adult tricycle or a wheelchair tandem for hire in case a standard bicycle is not
suitable.
 Bridge Bike hire
Tel: 01208 813050
Email [email protected]
Bikes for all ages including Special Needs. A full range of Burley Buggies, Childs
Trailer bikes, Trikes, Adult Trailer bikes. The Camel trail, Wadebridge, Cornwall.
North East
 Cyclops
www.cyclopsnt.org
Tel: 07974 720002
Based in North Shields, has hand cranked and special needs bikes as well as
conventional bikes.
 Gateway Wheelers
www.gatewaywheelers.org.uk
Sarah Young (Development Officer) Tel: 0791 3905422
Email: [email protected]
North west
 Wheels for All
Tel: 0161 7941926.
Wheels for All aims to get people with disabilities cycling. They have 5 sites in
the North West where cycles can be hired.
 Simply Cycling
www.simply-cycling.org Tel: 07871 621778 Email: [email protected]
A not-for-profit organisation, incorporating Wythenshawe Wheelers all-ability
cycling club in Wythenshawe and Trafford Wheelers in Stretford. Open every day,
£2 per session except rides out (Thursday).
 Get Cycling CiC,
Tel: 01904 636812 Email: [email protected]
For hire enquiries: [email protected]
Get Cycling Disability is part is part of Get Cycling, a Community Interest
Company promoting cycling for transport, health, fun, leisure and the
environment. Their mission is to promote disability cycling in all its forms.
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Midlands and East Anglia
 You can bike too
www.youcanbiketoo.org
Tel: 01223 420060
Based in Cambridge, one of
Unique’s parent
recommended this one,
saying - “you can bike too" in
Cambridge is fab, they have
lots of different types of
special needs trikes, tandems
and wheelchair cycles etc.
“My daughter goes to an SEN cycling scheme
called "you can bike too" in Cambridge. It's fab,
they have lots of different types of special needs
trikes, tandems and wheelchair cycles etc. It's
in a park and you pay as you go £5 a session.
You get an instructor to help you if needed. It
has meant that she can practise cycling without
us having to buy a trike. The instructor also sets
goals for her to work towards”
 The Special Needs Adventure Playground
www.snapcannock.co.uk
Tel: 01543 579286
(SNAP) is designed specifically for children with special needs. Complete with
outdoors adventure play equipment, including an aerial runway, cycle track with
specially adapted bikes, a sand pit (with diggers), and indoors soft play area,
craft room and a multi-sensory room it is the only one of its kind in the Chase
and West Midlands areas.
Scotland
 Talking Tandems
http://talkingtandems.org
Tel: 07810 292237
Based in Fife, gives rides to partially sighted people.
Wales
 The pedal power project
www.cardiffpedalpower.org
Pontcanna Tel: 029 20390713
Cardiff Bay: 07775 616411
Pedal Power has accessible cycling centres. They operate out of two centres,
one near the city centre and one in Cardiff Bay.They have an extensive range of
different cycles for hire, from standard bikes and tandems and specially
designed tricycles for all abilities and ages.
 Bikeability Wales
www.bikeabilitywales.org.uk
Tel: 07584 044284 or 07968 109145
Email: [email protected]
Based in Swansea at the Dunvant Rugby Club they have many specially designed
bikes available to ride including Go-Karts, KMX Karts, Quad cycles, Trikes,
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Tandems and Wheelchair Transporters.Adult £3 per session, Children £2 per
session (2012).
Cycling as a disabled sport
Following on from the fantastic year of Olympic and Paralympic sport that
entertained us all in London 2012. Many more disabled young people will have
been inspired to take up a sport for fitness and also with the possibility that if
they were able to work hard enough, they might qualify for the Paralympic team
in future years. Here are two organisations that could help with advice:
 British Cycling
http://new.britishcycling.org.uk/disability
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 0161 2742021
 English Federation of Disability Sport
www.efds.co.uk
Tel: 01509 227750
English Federation of Disability Sport is the national body for disabled people in
sport and physical activity throughout England. The charity aims to increase
opportunities at all levels of participation.
Other outdoor toys and leisure
There are many other outdoor toys and games available, some particularly
directed at the special needs market. Often parents of children with a rare
chromosome disorder didn’t know there are things available or where to go to
buy them.
You can get all types of specialist equipment for your garden. Specialist swing
seats, so that your child can enjoy the pleasures of swinging in the warmer
months.
 TFH special needs toys
www.specialneedstoys.com/uk
Tel: 01299 827820
TFH do a fantastic range of specialist equipment for your
garden, including swing seats for all ages, including
adults. Roundabouts, indoor and outdoor toys like
specialist bikes and go-karts. wheelchair accessible
equipment. Sensory items – bubble columns, playmats,
tactile toys, and a sensory room design service (you can
see an example of one of their completed multi sensory
rooms here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRz-uQjvlKA).
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 Implay
www.implay.co.uk
Tel: 0800 6125499
Implay is the UK's leading Manufacturer of Soft Play Equipment, Crash Mats,
etc.
 Just outdoor toys
www.justoutdoortoys.co.uk
0800 9540042
Selling all types of specialist outdoor play equipment, including climbing frames,
swings, slides, sandpits, water play etc.
 Micro Scooters
www.micro-scooters.co.uk
Scooters for all ages.
Tel: 0333 3201030
 Lay-Z-Spa Inflatable Hot Tubs
www.lay-z-spa.co.uk
Portable hot tubs.
Tel: 0800 6120457
 Incy Wincy
www.incywincy.net
Tel: 0844 8754645
Sell specialist swimwear and buoyancy aids for children with special needs.
 Living made easy
www.livingmadeeasy.org.uk/children/play-%26-leisure-3147 0845 1309177
The play and leisure section includes various outdoor/indoor toys and equipment
for children and young people with disabilities. This includes cycles, equipment
for swimming, puzzles, sensory toys and equipment and play equipment for both
indoor and outdoor use.
Wheelchair walks
www.walkswithwheelchairs.com
We’ve included this link because many families whose child or children have a
rare chromosome disorder often feel isolated from enjoying things that other
families enjoy and take for granted such as just going for a walk. Many local
authorities and places of interest have develop accessible routes for
wheelchairs and buggies.
This website is a database of those routes all over the Uk, which also mentions
what facilities are available.
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What is a sensory problem?
A sensory problem for a child with a rare chromosome disorder, for example,
can mean that they:
 chew or lick inappropriate objects (Pica)
 don’t like using their hands, or having their hands made to do something
that they don’t want to
 they don’t like being touched
 they don’t like to get messy or dirty
 are sensitive to certain items, textures or smells
 tire easily or don’t sleep well
 can easily be distracted and have low attention spans
 are children who can’t sit still
 are hypoactive (rocking, swinging or spinning)
 are hyperactive (difficulty being still) , or clumsy (Dyspraxic), always
tripping, or bumping into things
 don’t like any sort of noise
 their emotions are affected and this is turn affects their behaviour
Sensory and switch adapted toys
Children with rare chromosome
disorders often have poor fine motor
“My son loves his switch operated
skills, global developmental delay,
toys, it enables him to enjoy the full
complex needs and/or a sensory
benefit of the toy, which he wouldn’t
problem, which restricts how they
be able to work out if it weren’t for
play. For the general population of
children operating a toy is easy, but
the switch”
for children with a rare chromosome
disorder this is not always the case. It is
possible to get switches
for toys, or buy switch adapted toys to help children with a rare chromosome
disorder to play. They will be a little more expensive than on the high street
because they have been converted. Not all toys are able to be converted though.
Organisations like REMAP or MERU (mentioned on an earlier page in this guide,
under adaptations) might be able to help with this. Or the Cerebra Innovation
Centre – which develops your ideas into reality. Some organisations like Steps,
hire out the toys, so you don’t need to buy
them, or you can try before you buy, which is
a great idea, especially for young children
with a rare chromosome disorder, as often
parents don’t know which toys would be best
suited to their needs.
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Online shops for switch adapted toys
 Fred Storey
https://retail.fredstorey.com/category/switch-adapted-toys
 Inclusive Technology
www.inclusive.co.uk/hardware/switch-adapted-toys
 Liberator
www.liberator.co.uk/products/learning-and-inclusion-aids/switch-adapted-toys
Online shops for sensory toys
 TFH
www.specialneedstoys.com/uk
 Total Sensory
www.totalsensory.co.uk
 Sensory Plus
www.sensoryplus.co.uk
 Jabadao
www.jabadao.org
 Rompa
www.rompa.com
 Spacekraft
www.spacekraft.co.uk
 Cheap disability aids
www.cheapdisabilityaids.co.uk/sensory-toys-and-sensory-lighting-1-c.asp
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 Sensory Toy Warehouse
www.sensorytoywarehouse.com/
Lots of affordable sensory toys and items from pocket money upwards, for all
age groups and abilities.
 Explore your senses
www.exploreyoursenses.co.uk/sensoryforhome/sensory-garden.html
 Tocki Toys
www.tocki.co.uk Tel: 01262 488143
Email: [email protected]
Products are designed to help people with a number of different disabilities.
They are designed to either stimulate the mind or help as a calming influence
for hyper activity. These special needs toys for the disabled are multi-sensory
and come in a number of different concepts and designs.
 Fledglings
www.fledglings.org.uk Tel: 0845 458 1124
Email: [email protected]
Fledglings understand that life with a disabled child can be challenging, and
help by providing practical, affordable, good quality products that address everyday problems faced by children with disabilities such as chromosome disorders.
Sensory toys and more.
 Sensory direct
www.sensorydirect.com
design and manufacture weighted blankets and other weighted therapy products, which help those with Sensory Integration Disorder.
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Support and Information
Rare Chromosome Disorder Support Group,
PO Box 2189, Caterham, Surrey CR3 5GN, UK
Tel/Fax: +44(0)1883 330766
[email protected] I www.rarechromo.org
Unique is a charity without government funding, existing entirely on donations
and grants. If you are able to support our work in any way, however small,
please make a donation via our website at
www.rarechromo.org/html/MakingADonation.asp
Please help us to help you!
We are grateful for the support from
Skills for Care which enabled us to
produce this resource for carers
While every effort is made to ensure that the information contained within this
guide is accurate and up-to-date, Unique is not responsible for the reliability of
any information contained herein. This information guide is provided solely as a
convenience.
The listing of any organisation or charity in this booklet should not be taken as
an endorsement or warranty of any kind by Unique.
2013 Version 1 (MM)
Copyright © Unique 2013
Rare Chromosome Disorder Support Group Charity Number 1110661
Registered in England and Wales Company Number 5460413
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