OwenMeany

Hi Folks - I am former competitive cyclist, raced in college and for the local club (La Grange) but was more of a seriously over-committed cyclist that loved everything about the hours I spent in the saddle....(2000+ a week)

In 2004 I was hit head on by an SUV and the aftermath was not good. I eventually opted to have my lower right leg amputated. For various reasons, I really never got back on the bike....

...until a month ago. My Colnago was destroyed in the accident but I recently got on my 18 year old Klein and it was like I never stopped riding (except for the near total lack of fitness). All the feelings of 11 years ago stirred and I think I am hooked back on the bike!! It is early to guess where this is going to go, but I am optimistic I will be getting a road bike before year end...

Regardless, I have been looking for a forum such as this for a while and look forward to reading about various issues....

The first question I have is for those that are BK, do you have a specialized prosthetic? I am currently using my regular leg which is for designed for a very active person, but I can already see that a more customized leg would be a great help. Believe it our not, I cannot find anyone in my area (L.A.) that is willing to work with me (and that has experience) in creating a custom leg....

Regardless - Looking forward to joining the discussions...

Juan Foote

What I did was take one of my older, loose fitting legs and turn the toe in a bit to miss the crank arm. I also opted to slightly lengthen my riding leg, but that has more to do with ROM issues with the bad knee.
Unless you can actually get "in" with a company thats working with athletes or the like you probably won't find too much on the custom leg aspect. I found it helpful with my previous prosthesist (before he died) to take pictures, take my bike, and sit in front of him with the issue and solve it together. My current guy can't even grind something without screwing it up, so I have been on my own about it a few years now.

Best of luck to you. Glad to help, if I can. (LBKA, by the way)

OwenMeany

Thank you for your comments. I am really surprised and pretty troubled at how unwilling the prosthetitist community is to help me craft a cycling leg...

Right now I use my regular leg and it works fine in my MTB, but, when I get are more aggressive road bike, I will be more interest in finding some them for task specific and svelte...

In the interim, I am loving digging deep into the gear....there has been a lot of changes since I had my last road bike...

scolist

I'm a LBK and I'm using 2 pedal extenders and a toe clip, it at least keeps my foot on the pedal, but I stay pretty much on a rail trail. I'm riding a hybrid.

I have seen a professional road rider who had a leg with a cleat attached so he could ride with clipless pedals. But that leg would be useless off of his bike.

I did try having my foot toed in just a little, but it affected my balance too much and had to go back being toed out.

Go to different to bike shops and see if they know of any solutions.

Good Luck.....

Juan Foote

You touch on something I wish I could solve there. With my toed in foot, it works great on the bike, but actually walking around at social events and the like is quite difficult.

scolist

Well, there's this........................... https://NikolaInnovation. Very expensive, and unfortunately they don't show an Amp using it.

My Prosthetist showed me how to adjust toe in and toe out, and it's simple enough, but i'm going to leave it as is, for now.

esther-L

Prosthetists vary. Since you are in Los Angeles, I would suggest reaching out to Challenged Athletes Foundation ask asking if they can recommend a prosthetist in or close to LA.

I have been a B/K amputee for 45 years (boy do I feel old)!
I took up biking again about 12 years ago. I used my current prosthesis for biking, and I actually got a leg made for biking almost 2 years ago.

I don't have an old leg with a socket that I can wear. I did get the prosthetist to use the Flex foot from a previous limb. Unless you have unique insurance, a sports-specific limb is unlikely to be covered by your health insurance. I did change to a new prosthetist when getting the biking limb made. My previous prosthetist had not had any new ideas to help me with biking for about 4 years. It's such a new experience for me to go to a prosthetist who's younger than 40!

I have a slightly different alignment for the biking leg, and it's just over 1 inch taller than my everyday leg. I still use pedal extenders on the prosthetic side. My prosthetist tried making a efficient-pedaling almost completely vertical alignment for me, but I could not walk 10 steps on that. When biking I need to walk inside a convenience store and stuff. My biking leg is also a suction liner with pin. My child-sized residual limb has trouble with the firm umbrella end on the liners for pin suspension. I bring a folding cane to help me walk, because I feel a bit unstable walking on that alignment. I have a non-textbook alignment to make me walk as efficiently and pretty as possible.

I am attracted to the idea of mounting a cleat directly on the prosthetic foot, but I need to be able to walk in a convenience store, and also to walk from my bedroom to the garage at home without damaging floor!

I still bike some with my everyday leg - like commuting to work, and for after work rides. I did not bother bringing my biking leg on the bike-barge vacation that my husband and I took earlier this year, because there was a lot of walking around off the bike.

JackstandJohnny

You really shouldn't need a prosthesis just for riding a bicycle as a below knee amputee. I'm an above knee amputee and my residual limb is only about 5" longer than my inseam, or about 12" from my waist. I only needed a couple small modifications to my bicycle like a pedal strap. All you need is a pedal strap and pedal extensions and you'll be good to go. You still have your knee which is really the hardest thing to overcome when it comes to riding a bike again. I'd do anything to be in your shoes.