Dad's Prosthetic Leg

[Alaska]

My dad has a 2010 Triglide he just lost part of his right leg, just above the knee. He has yet to be fitted with a Prosthetic. Looking for any information on how to help him when he gets back in the seat. Do I move the break to the handle bars? Do I leave it in place and he learns to use prosthetic?

 

[roadking2]

I'm missing my lower left. I've got my knee and it's my left, but if I were your Dad, I'd want to see how well I was functioning with my prosthesis before I changed a thing. I'd want to see what I could do with the bike as is before I made any mods. That's what I did. I took it up and down the street a time or two to see what I could and couldn't do. Turns out all I need is floorboards and a heel and toe shifter to get by. I can't say what your Dad may or may not need, but why change it if you don't have to? I'd wait and see, but that's me. Don't let him skimp on whatever therapy he has to do. More is better and you can't undo later what you didn't do now when it comes to the therapy.

 

[Alaska]

Thats what I was thinking, leave it as is and see how everything works, I am sure with lots of therapy we won't have to do anything but ride. He is very postive he is going to be riding before too long, April maybe. Good motivation to do therapy.

 

[roadking2]

My accident was at the end of March and I didn't really walk till September. They said "you will be walking by the 4th of July" and I was. About 3 or 4 steps holding onto parallel bars. I was totally exhausted, ringing wet with sweat, and about ready to pass out. Improvement was slow but steady. It was November before I was walking normally, without pain, or aid and able to resume a fairly normal life. I couldn't really ride till spring. You may want to post questions in the "enabled" section below. There are probably others that have the same situation that can give you better answers. Like I said before, I know left BKA. Right AKA is something I didn't experience and the whole thing may be totally different.

 

[onahog]

A friend of mine had a right side prosthetic from the knee down...
He had a 2009 Tri G and the front brake and rear brake were joined together similar to the 2014 models.
It worked well for him as he couldn't apply the rear pedal at all and the front master seemed to handle both front and rear brakes ..
The triglides don't have a lot of rear braking power anyhow, but still good to be able to apply both...
Hope he heals well!
...HaNkb

 

[roadking2]

Somehow I double posted so I edited it down to this.

 

[msocko3]

My dad has a 2010 Triglide he just lost part of his right leg, just above the knee. He has yet to be fitted with a Prosthetic. Looking for any information on how to help him when he gets back in the seat. Do I move the break to the handle bars? Do I leave it in place and he learns to use prosthetic?

Welcome, I see you found your way over here. If it would work out that your dad needs some changes you could check out the item suggested in this thread http://www.triketalk.com/forum/threads/19880-repeat-brake-woes.

 

[Alaska]

Thank you msocko3. There is lots of good information here on this site. I do believe it is better to do research now in the event dad will wants to modify. Best case is he gets some good therapy to be able to ride as is. That is my hope but I have learn to hope for the best and plan for the worst. I will get dad on here when I can so he can see how others here have adapted and are in the wind as it should be. By the way Congratulations to all that have / are going through learning a new way to ride. Thanks again for all the advice.
Rob

 

[FLTR2008TRIKE]

It may be possible to make a left foot brake pedal setup similar to what I made for a right foot shifter for myself. The lower fairing assemblies may need to be cut slightly on the inside closest to the frame down tube for the linkage assembly to work without issue.

I suggest having some spacer blocks made to move the right floor board outward 4" to give your dad a better foot placement once he is fitted with his prosthetic leg. The leg socket will not flex and trying to keep the prosthetic leg hugging the tank is impossible. I spaced both of my floorboards outward 4" and forward 2" to keep them even looking and being tall it gave me better comfort when riding for my good leg.

I also set the floorboard pan for my left leg prosthetic tilted inward towards the engine slightly. You might even want to have a rail fabricated around the outside of the pan to help keep the prosthetic foot from moving or slipping off.

If you want to chat directly send me a message with your personal email and I will respond via email directly

Tom