Business ambitions and personal happiness go in tandem for Belinda Noda and Paul Stanton who are developing a bicycle made for two with a difference.
The married pair’s Daisy Bell bicycle, enables able-bodied Paul and wheelchair user Belinda, a Sheffield Hallam University graduate in environmental management, to travel alongside one another in companionship.
The pair even used the bike to travel to their wedding – and now they hope to ride away with the University’s annual Enterprise Challenge award on Thursday 2 October.
Belinda, 55, from York, says she came up for the idea for Cycle In Company after being left disappointed by the tandem bicycles available to people who are unable to cycle independently.
She said: “Paul and I tried out one design where I was transported, wheelbarrow-style, on the front of his normal bicycle. I felt vulnerable and isolated – we just couldn’t communicate and the experience wasn’t shared.”
Then the intrepid pair found a second-hand bike called The Discoverer, a side-by-side invented in Birmingham by Roger Taft 20 years ago.
Belinda, who was paralysed from the chest down at the age of 27 when the driver of the van she was travelling across the USA in fell asleep at the wheel, said: “The Discoverer’s linking system enabled a wheelchair to be attached and detached when necessary.
“The design meant that the bike was easier to transport on an ordinary bike rack or even a train. On outings we can stop, detach my chair and head for the pub.”
Now the pair are hoping to develop the linking system to make it lighter and simpler to attach and detach. They also plan an electric assisted alternative the Daisy Power. A host of local companies and innovators are already interested.
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