Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This will be an odd review. I love these wheels and give them a 4 star, even though they didn't work for my father and I had to return them. I read lots of other reviews that gave a generally positive impression, with a significant minority for whom they didn't work. Now that I've tried them out, I understand why they work most of the time, but not always. My father is 93 and was riding continuously until a month ago when he had 3 tumbles in a matter of weeks. No serious injuries thankfully, but we had to withdraw the bike while he recovered from soreness after the last one. We saw a PT specializing in bike fitting. She noted that mounting and dismounting require both strength and coordination to execute quickly and correctly. She said he had reached the point where he just couldn't do it fast and reliably enough. She recommended these stabilizer wheels. I installed them on my bike first (60 year old healthy adult male). They certainly make the bike feel odd - like someone is holding onto the seat post with a death grip and won't let go. But, once you get used to it, they're fine. They worked very well on flat surfaces around my house. I was able to do figure 8s on my tiny patio, then just stop and sit there. Balance was no longer an issue. When I took them out onto the street it got more interesting. Seattle streets are crowned to force water to the curbs (Heard about Seattle rain? True, 9 months of the year.). As I got away from the center the bike tipped more and more. While moving slowly I deliberately tried to tip it over in the direction of the pitch. The bike stayed upright. But, the ride was very unnerving, and the steering became very hard. I moved the wheels to my father's bike, and we tried them around his house. He just couldn't do it. The feeling of being tipped was too scary. I took his bike and rode his normal 2 mile route. Most of the route is pretty flat. If I stayed to the center of the crown, the bike handled fine. But, there were several places where sloping streets intersected, creating complex contours. I could barely steer or pedal through these intersections. So, we returned them. My experiments on relatively flat surfaces are consistent with the many other reviewers who raved about these wheels. If you have level surfaces to ride, these are fantastic! They will keep a marginal rider very safe. If your roads are crowned or valleyed, it will be a problem. A number reviewers complained of difficult steering, scrubbing tires, and pulling to one side. I believe these issues are due to installation out of alignment. The wheels must be installed parallel to the main rear wheel. Mis-alignment will cause all sorts of problems. If you are familiar with car front wheel alignment, there are two critical axes: Camber and Toe. Looking from the front, Camber is tipping in toward or out away from the rear wheel. The wheel doesn't track right if it is tilted. Looking down from above, Toe is wheels that turn inward or outward. If the Toe is off, the wheels try to steer away from the rear wheel, scrubbing, dragging, and actually pulling the bike to one side. Alignment must be adjusted to be as true as possible. If correctly aligned, the wheels track nicely and work as expected. If not, it can be bad - very bad if the side wheel is heavily weighted. Correct alignment requires using the supplied spacers in a logical manner. The spacers are hard nylon blocks with holes for the U bolts. They come in 2 thicknesses: Thin and Thick. I wish there was a Medium thickness to allow finer adjustment. Though, a person can use a saw or file to adjust a thick spacer as needed. Or get a thin sheet of plexiglass to create more thin shims. There are 3 U bolt anchor points: rear (bottom), front (bottom), and top. They create a very stable triangle on the rear frame. Each anchor point requires appropriate spacers to shim the wheel into proper alignment. The key is to find the widest point of the frame - probably the rear end by the wheel axle. Put a thin spacer there. Chances are that the upper and lower frame members will taper toward the front. So thicker spacers will be needed. I put a thin at the back, a thick at the front bottom, and both thin and thick at the top. That produced excellent alignment on my bike. On my father's the right wheel was a bit off. If we'd kept them, I would have tinkered to bring it into true alignment. If you take the time to align accurately, these wheels work great! Finally, there was one review that the short axle on the stabilizer wheels was worn very quickly. I think I know why. When I took the wheels out of the box, the bearings were adjusted too tight. The wheels had noticeable drag when I spun them. There is a nut on the axle, next to the wheel, that adjusts the bearings. I backed that off and adjusted it so the wheel spun freely, but without play in the bearings. Also, I didn't see any lubricant on the bearings. It would be worth putting the right kind of bike oil or grease on those bearings before installing them on the support arms. This is a very nice product. It is well designed, solidly built, and nicely finished. It allows an elder to continue using their own bike after their balance and strength have declined and falls are happening. I highly recommend them for those who have flat surfaces, and the willingness to install them correctly. That said, if you're not sure, you can order them from Amazon and return if needed. It's hard to know until you try them out. Hope this helps, and happy riding!