Jez Hastings at work at Longstaff Cycles

EXPERT bike builders at Longstaff Cycles have been commissioned to make a tricycle for the Japanese Paralympic Games team.

The Chesterton business said the custom-made machine would be the lightest it has ever built.

Longstaffs, which was started by the late George Longstaff in 1980, has a long history of making trikes for elite disabled athletes.

Paralympians from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Spain and Great Britain have all competed on tricycles made at the Albert Street workshop, which opened in 1986, with the business helping them bring home gold, silver and bronze medals.

Bike maker and builder Jez Hastings, known by everyone as Zonk, said: "All of our machines are made here, using the jig that George built himself 35 years ago.

"It will take about 60 hours to make the frame it's got to have enough flexibility for comfort and suspension but also a strength and stiffness to withstand pedalling forces."

As well as Paralympians, Longstaffs has made bikes and trikes for customers including amputee soldiers, older people with mobility problems and stroke patients.

And while the business, which employs five staff, concentrates on making specialist bikes, its focus is on ensuring everyone can enjoy cycling, with it custom-building everything from racing and touring bikes, to tandems and hybrid commuter bikes.

It also stages workshops teaching people how to maintain their bikes and has been involved in the Green Door project at Westport Lake, which offers several adapted cycles for hire by people with disabilities, as well as standard bikes.

See the original post here:
Annking published Longstaff Cycles wins Paralympic Games order

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April 9, 2015 at 6:05 am by Mr HomeBuilder
Category: Custom Home Builders