Nick Richards

I was an electrician before breaking my neck while swimming in 1976 aged 28, i have been a tetraplegic C6 since.  I purchased my Road Runner Power Assisted Hand Cycle from Team Hybrid 5 years ago and have not looked back.. 

Being a tetraplegic it took a bit of getting used to in particular having the confidence to lean forward and whether I had the initial strength to rotate the crank.  Being a tetra anything physical is not easy but it was well worth the effort in the end i can assure you.

Paignton my home town with Torquay and Brixham are the three towns that make up the Bay of Torbay. The three towns are collectively known as the ‘The English Riviera’. Living where I do i am lucky to have some of the loveliest promenades right on my doorstep which are just perfect for handcycling. Devon has a number of recognised cycle trails which I have found most enjoyable. In particular quite close at hand is Newton Abbot this is a mixture of town and country. Another one is on the tow path beside the River Dart at Totnes, although quite short it does have a character all of its own.
 
 
Further a-field there is the Plym Valley and last but not least there is the Tarka Trail in North Devon. This is a bit of a trek for us in South Devon, but just spectacular when it comes to the views.

Over the past 30 odd years of being paralysed I have not found a means to exercise that has given me the freedom of movement combined with the feeling of well-being that comes from cycling.

Whether it is besides the sea or through the countryside there is no better way to appreciate our country and its scenery than on a beautiful day from the seat of a handcycle.

Since purchasing my handcycle in 2004 I have found Team Hybrid to be both helpful with regards to servicing and intuitive when it came to alterations which assisted my disability. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank them for creating such a super bit of kit when it comes to my handcycle.
Chris Selway

Off the Rails

Dear Mark

Just to let you know that I have been getting out and about on the Cougar. I’ve been out on the local cycle track (an old railway track); I’m always getting looks and smiles, lots of children shout out stuff like “COOL, I WANT ONE OF THOSE!” and the like. I’ve also enjoyed riding the canal towpaths we have within a short drive.

I used to leave my girlfriend behind on my bicycle and I still can -uphill! The gearing is just right for riding with friends, whether they’re jogging or cycling. I’m finding the Cougar to be easy to use and reassuringly stable on fast downhill sections (due to the excellent docking system). It’s a handsome piece of engineering. -My wife loves the muscles I’m building as well!

Thanks again for your help
Chris Selway.

Leck

I use my Cougar ever day and would be lost without it. As you can see i take it every where and gets me places that i would never be able to access in my wheelchair alone.

It is easily connected to my chair within seconds and has transformed my life. The quality of the Cougar is excellent and very reliable. I had a battery charger failure and Mark made sure that i had a replacement sent by courier the follwing day.

I can’t fault the product or the service that Team Hybrid offer.

Leck.

 
 
 

Cougar in Australia

I live in Australia and purchased my Cougar from Team Hybrid in April 2008.

Although i can walk a little bit when i have to i am a bit uncoordinated and times i can have quite a lot of spasticity in my limbs .I use my wheelchair 75% of the time every day. I love to get out and exercise pushing my wheelchair for hours at a time, but i am fed up with putting in so much effort while getting virtually nowhere.

While overseas i saw an attatchment for a wheelchair that virtally turns it into a motorised trike. I thought "what a great idea" and promised myself to investigate further once i returned home.

As soon as I returned home I spent a couple of months scouring the internet for a detachable bike for my wheelchair. I then decided that i not only wanted a motorised trike, but I also wanted a handcycle so that I could keep up my much needed excercise.

 

I had come across the Cougar early in my search but dismissed it as an option because i thought it was too expensive. I wanted to have the option of using either the handcycle or power or both together. Everything else that id looked at needed to be modified in some way to achieve this and did not appear to be as sturdy or well made as the Cougar. I eventually came to the decision that the Cougar would be the best option because it had been designed from the ground up with this very configuration in mind, despite the extra cost.

You know the saying "you get what you pay for...", well that’s exactly what i got. The Cougar has been worth every cent that i paid for it, and more...The increase in mobility that it has given me is in my mind - UNBELIEVABLE!!! It is equally at home on the road, footpath, beach (on the hard sand), in shops etc... and has a 90 degree turning circle.

Once I had decided to purchase the cougar, it was built and delivered directly to my door in approx 4 weeks even though it had to be sent all the way from the UK. All my commnication with Mark at Team Hybrid was via email and his reply was always very timely.Even though i live on the other side of the world the service is great. If something breaks he has a replacement on a plane to Australia the following working day.

I recently spent a couple of years overseas travelling the world with just my wheelchair and although i travelled to so many places i was very limited in how far i could go and what i could do and see. Just imagine where I could have gone and what i could have seen if I had my Cougar then.

I can only say good things about Team Hybrid!

Rob Lukin - Australia