Meet Leo.
Leo is an incredible and devoted father who is blessed with three sons and a wife. He loves cycling and rides often with two of his sons. However, his middle son, Ryan, has never been able to ride a bike on his own. Ryan was diagnosed with Autism at eighteen months old. Now at twenty-five years old, Ryan still isn’t able to participate in family bike rides. But Leo did something about that by doing research online to find a tandem bike that he and Ryan could enjoy together. He found a Lightfoot Duo Recumbent Tandem, which is a side-by-side 2-seater, 4-wheel bicycle, or quadricycle. Both riders can pedal independently, but the driver has the controls for the disc brakes and steering.
When Leo purchased the Lightfoot Duo, he opted for the BionX electric battery kit. “I was thinking that the BionX kit would be a tremendous help, to get us through intersections and up hills faster, just in case Ryan wasn’t pedaling,” said Leo. BionX was a Canadian maker of electric motors for bicycles. Its’ first motors were made in the early 2000s, while still named EPS (Electric Propulsion Systems), but in June of 2018, the business was sold to other businesses.
About a year ago, the BionX kit no longer worked and Leo had a hard time locating a new one since the company no longer existed. He found another small retailer, in Canada that sold BionX, but Leo felt the battery worked okay but that it was harder to get parts since BionX was out of business. He wanted so much to add more power to the bike but wasn’t quite sure how to make that happen. Again, he started searching online and found E-BikeKit.com. Upon finding the website, he called and spoke with Jason and was invited to come to the shop and bring the Lightfoot Duo with him.
Upon his arrival at the shop, Leo was given a grand tour of the company, and Jason attentively listened to Leo’s needs for the bike for his son Ryan. A little while later, he was introduced to Harry, who is the wheel builder for E-BikeKit. Harry also listened to Leo’s criteria for the bike, and on the same day, Leo left the shop with the Lightfoot Duo behind. One of Leo’s main requirements was that he wanted the new E-BikeKit on the other rear wheel but to leave the BionX kit on. Harry was able to deliver this, and he added a rear 500w direct-drive hub motor conversion kit with a 48v li-ion battery pack.
After his trip to the shop Leo with the Lightfoot Duo, he said the recumbent is “much stronger” than it was before, and that the pedal assist is “incredible,”. He also shared that now his wife can easily ride Ryan around. Leo now takes Ryan out more often and he’s seeing a much more of his neighborhood and their community.
“I’m so happy, that I found you guys!” Leo told us at the shop, and everyone at E-BikeKit is more than happy that we were able to help out Leo and his family.
Keep Pedaling Ryan and Leo!
