Bicycle: Newbility

The Newbility Bicycle

This is the story of Newbility - the new ability to ride my bicycle

When I started riding in 2007, because of the MS in the left leg I was unable to do a standing bike mount. 

After practice, to mount/dismount, I would lay the bike left side down, extend my left arm and put the handlebar, once stable, I could wing the right leg over the frame placing it in the space between the crank and front wheel. The handlebar dropdowns, while a little rocky on the ground, acting as a balance and stabilizing aid. Once both feet were between the bike frame and wheels, I could lift the bike, clip in and ride. 

In January 2016, a new relapse affected the right leg preventing me from stepping over the frame. For many reasons could not ride my road bike safely. One day feeling confident, I decided to ride my mountain bike on the local bike path. In the driveway, leaning on the car, I mounted the bike, I figured a short ride and home to dismount. 

After about a half-mile, slightly fatigued, I decided to turn around and fell. The spot was an open space, nothing to grab to help me stand, and nobody was around. Wishfully, I said, it’s the mountain bike, I can do the laydown mount. My leg would not go above the saddle. Determined not to call my wife, I began walking. After a while, I remember another MSer mentioning he did rear bike mounts by lifting the front wheel straight up and then was able to walk forward over the rear wheel and saddle. The idea was worth trying, but I could not slip over the mountain bike's saddle. After repeated attempts and blooding shins from hitting the metal pedals, I managed a clumsy rear mount. . While the saddle height on the mountain bike is lower than my road bike, the saddle was too high for me to slip over.

Back home and after weeks of thinking, a new bike design emerged. 

Black Sheep Bikes is a Fort Collins custom bike builder is nationally known for handmade steel and titanium bikes. I took the new design idea to his shop, 

The new bike frame would use a dropper seat tube, as step-over frame, a new handlebar design, a chainring guard, and a trekking poke carrier. In Fort Collins is a custom bike builder renowned for custom titanium bikes, His shop also does custom steel frames. We made a deal to build a new steel bike based on my ride requirements. 

The name Newbility was a typo in the design's description. I typed the bike would give a new bility to ride again.