Peter O. - DE

The halfbike arrived on time. All the parts were present and it and was easy to assemble. The craftsmanship was impeccable. It's a pleasure to look at. I had ridden a halfbike once before, so it was no surprise to me when I hit the learning curve. I practiced steadily for a number of days and was soon able to mount, dismount, start, stop and turn. Because it has three wheels, two of which are small, it has more road friction and takes more energy to move along the road - more than I initially anticipated. But that wasn't really a surprise as other users had commented on this. After a few days things were humming along in terms of my being able to ride the halfbike. What I hadn't anticipated was the lateral pressure that the knees experience while riding the halfbike. I have been a biker for years and have good knees, but after three days of riding my knees were quite sore. Both the lateral and medial collateral ligaments were being stressed. This occurs I think because the knee (unlike on a conventional bike) is constantly changing alignment through the down stroke as the rear of the unit sways slightly from side to side. After a week I had to stop riding. I gave my knees two weeks to recover, but after a day of riding the pain had returned. I tried longer periods of rest and shorter intervals on the halfbike, but after almost three months of trying to make this work I'm about to give it up. Is the halfbike fun? Yes, well, mostly. It can handle only limited terrain - mostly flat, smooth surfaces. A long uphill is still simply laborious. Cobblestones and roots can send the rear of the unit into a tizzy. Even small amounts of sand and this thing just stops. This narrows the range of enjoyment. I can have way more fun on a good road or trail bike. And in terms of commuting - I still prefer a city bike any day because the halfbike isn't good at carrying loads. So overall, I'm a little disappointed. It looked so promising in the videos. Would I recommend it to others? If they understand and can live with the limitations then, yes. But they need to understand that this device isn't for everyone - and maybe only for a pretty severe subset of the population. It is somewhat ironically true to its name. It is half a bike...in terms of where it can go, how fast it can go, how far it can go and what it can do. But I always appreciate people trying to think out of the box and this is definitely out of the traditional design box. So thank you for the experience, and I wish you luck in your enterprise.

Hi Peter, Sorry to hear the Halfbike didn't work out for you. The Halfbike does have it's peculiarities and depending on the situation or past injuries, it might not work for everybody. Moreover, it can be a challenge in the beginning and it is for most people. I think that if you scale it down a bit and start doing shorter rides, you'll be able to get the necessary stamina in your knees.

Peter, I'm in Delaware. Are you selling it? nganok@gmail.com