To recap, when vacated from my home on Alamitos Bay Shore, I lost access to the large marina bay parking lot I was practicing riding my 29er mountain bike in. It was a shame… I was improving building up core muscle memory to override the random corrupt balance signals my brain randomly sends my core muscles for balance adjustments. Most people don’t understand even when I explain, so I usually don’t waste my breath (but know from 30 years experience living with TBI). I’ve done it before and it is bloody. The rewards outweigh the pain though. Next, I was temporary living near the traffic circle. I discovered a set of EVO stabilizer wheels and thought they may help me ride my 29er MTB in the bike lanes. They didn’t mount on the seat stay of the frame, so only 2 points were mounted on the chain stay part of the frame. I tried riding it anyway and thrown off one day resulting in a broken hip that was replaced.
Fast forward 4 years, I bought some Safety Guardian Training Wheels from Cycle Deal for my Electra Townie. They were never right and forced me into an awkward right lean most of the time. After the first week, I adjusted the wheels into the lowest position, so the drive wheel would be off the ground unless I was sitting in the saddle. Riding was better, but in an extreme right lean. I was happy a month later when I raised the balance wheels to the second position again; I learned they are always to have a maximum of one balance wheel on the ground at a time, for safety reasons such as the drive tire always in contact with the ground for proper braking, but I didn’t know that when I contacted both balance wheels on the ground raising the drive wheel off the ground unless sitting in the saddle on mostly flat ground (sometimes in leans or on grass, the drive wheel would come off the ground resulting in no power or rear brake). For the most part, I built enough muscle memory the past month to better handle the extreme right lean and riding in the awkward position on unlevel roads with heavy traffic. The other 2/3 of the time, I was riding on level enough road that I could ride upright 80% of the time (naturally would be enough speed to avoid the extreme right lean). I finally discovered the source of it: a warp on the right bracket causing an extreme right lean. The company would not honor their lifetime warranty and replace the defective bracket. After 2 months (1,011 miles) of use the wheel broke 7 spokes; the company replaced the wheel, but the replacement wheel broke 6 spokes after 5 days use. I had to ride my worn out trike for three weeks between wheels.
That brings me to my current Stabilizer Wheels from Bike USA. I ordered them after the replacement balance wheel broke in hopes of receiving quality parts for once. And 7/29/2021 was the 30th anniversary of my motorcycle vs car accident, so I wanted to have my bike rolling for a symbolic ride. They didn’t arrive in time for that, so I rode my trike that day and the bike 8/3. Even on the first day, I rode one of the most uneven bike lanes with ease. They balance the bike in a position that allows easy weight shift/handlebar press to adjust the balance point on slow rides below the 5 MPH self balance point. That is the way it has always been for me (except with the warp on the Safety Guardian Training Wheels). Theses new stabilizer wheels are 16” opposed to the 12” wheels of both previous sets, and they have forks so the 16” wheels only have one position. They roll smoother though. I’ll put more miles on them for a stronger opinion, but they are off to an excellent start!