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FLASHSALE
Open Letter to Adult Children of Ageing Parents
Dear Adult Children of Ageing Parents,
EveryBody eBikes is a specialist electric trike business and we speak daily with older customers who are looking to ride on a trike rather than a bike due to age, ability or confidence.
People like your parents may have spent time online doing (in some cases, significant) research and have found us because we have excellent reviews and a wide range of options in all budgets. Our website content, including blogs and stories, has prompted your parent to brave the unknown and come to us to try.
Starting on this journey is nerve-wracking for your parents. They know the joy that bike riding can bring, having often ridden for decades and having experienced first-hand the freedom, independence and fun that bike riding can offer. As they age, they see more options being denied them, some having lost their licence and they are worried about their world becoming smaller, more restricted and more dependent on others. They come to us because they want to take control again and be able to re-introduce that freedom and independence without relying on others every day.
Many see their more able or brave friends and neighbours still riding, but they acknowledge that their journey needs to be different. They no longer have the confidence to ride on 2-wheels and need extra support to be able to participate. Bike riding is such a social experience, they do not want to miss out but don’t know how to take the next step (or pedal).
That’s why they come to us. We aren’t an online store that will ship a trike in a gazillion pieces, nor are we a standard bike shop that perceives trikes as inconveniences or, worse still, those wanting a trike as a nuisance in themselves. We have worked with hundreds, if not thousands, of older people just like your Mum or Dad and given them the support they need to make rational, informed decisions based on test riding and education.
📸 Richard and Andrea Herklots, co-founders of EveryBody eBikes.
We talk through their riding history, their aspirations and who they want to ride with. We ask them where they have ridden before and if they have specific places they want to go on a trike and make a point of listening and seeking more information so that we better understand what they are looking for before we starting trialling any trikes.
Once we find out more about their hopes and dreams, then we ask if they want to test ride rather than just look or research. We talk through the importance of test riding on level and uneven ground and a range of surfaces, so they can make decisions based on lived experience not sales spiel! We talk about the trike “choosing the rider” and how not everyone can ride a traditional (upright) trike – we estimate about 4 in 10 riders find an upright trike difficult to steer, something that many people are surprised about as they think that having 3 wheels would make it easier to ride.
Many times, we don’t start with the simplest design, simply because we want to build your parent’s confidence and let them learn the process of riding an electric trike at a pace that suits them and their riding history. We definitely don’t start with the cheapest or the most expensive – we start with the model we believe will give your mum or dad the best chance of success.
We have a large off street area for test riding at our showroom in Gaythorne and travel to regional centres and conduct “Come and Try” sessions in parks.
Only after they have test ridden do we speak about features, specifications and cost. And we don’t employ pushy sales techniques, simply guide your parent to understand the risks and the benefits and let them know that many people have purchased trikes and had many happy years of riding. And we talk about real experiences of where we have ridden on trikes and the responses we have received personally from the family and friends of riders who have experienced a change in their lives by taking that leap of faith to start riding again.
So please, if your mum or dad (or both) talk to you about going back to riding in their later years, think about all the positives:
- physical well-being
- mental well-being
- social connectedness
- improved confidence
- a renewed focus on getting out and about
- improved independence
- share in freedom
- improved overall health outcomes in short and longer term
We know change can be scary for all and we totally get that you may be worried about your ageing parent having a fall. That is something we also talk about and want you to know that we don’t agree to sell the trike if we are worried about that as well. We ask them to have a think and return another day (many people find it so much easier 2nd time around because the unknown has been removed, they know what to expect).
We want you to have a positive experience, your parents to have a positive outcome and we want our business to succeed in achieving our goal: to enable more people to keep riding longer and remain actively mobile by riding electric trikes.
Give us a chance and we ask you to offer support, come and try yourselves and share in the joy this could bring.
📸 Richard is riding our Trident semi-recumbent electric power assist trike, known for its excellent comfort, stability and performance, with our upright Trojan Fat Tyre electric power assist trike alongside him.
Please call us if you have any concerns and we will walk you through our soft approach to getting ageing riders mobile again.
Thank you for your time.
The Team at EveryBody eBikes.
6/51 Prospect Rd Gaythorne Q 4051
sales@bfebikes.com.au
0409 126669