Balance Bicycle
VAN RAAM BV
Background
Van Raam is a Dutch manufacturer of unique specialized bicycles for people with physical disabilities. Van Raam creates tricycles, scooters, bicycles to transport wheelchairs, tandems, duo bicycles or comfort bicycles.
2007
Problem
Van Raam wanted a design of comfort bicycle – a bicycle characterized by its unique position of the saddle in relation to the pedals. Because the angle of the corner between pedal/saddle and the ground is smaller as compared to a traditional bicycle, the user is positioned lower to the ground. This provides the advantage of being able to touch the ground with both feet while staying seated on the saddle.
This makes the bicycle a perfect fit for ederly or people handicaped with an imbalance issue, who are in need of additional reassurance they will not fall off the saddle when losing balance or stopping at a red traffic light.
Process
While speaking to some of the target users of the bicycle, I discovered that a big issue for this group is that the bicycle does not look ‘handicapped’ and will stigmatize them in that way. So an important part of the design was to make it look modern and trendy.
Design
In Van Raam’s production facility, I built a full-scale prototype of the bicycle, named ‘Balance’, referring to the ease for the user to stay balanced while cycling.
With the prototype, I visited 6 current or potential users of the bicycle and created design recommendations based on my findings.
