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Van Raam produces uniquely special needs bicycles and specializes in tricycles, transport bikes, scooterbikes, wheelchair bikes, tandem bikes, double rider bikes, and low step trough bikes (also known as comfortbikes). Each model is also available as an electric bike (Pedelec).
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Van Raam is a Dutch producer of unique custom bikes. Want to know more about our company or special needs bikes?
Customer experience Easy Rider tricycle - Suze Korver
February 2014 changed Suze's life forever. A bacterial infection caused sepsis, leaving her in a coma for 3 months and requiring both her lower legs and hands to be amputated. Read Suze Korver's admirable story in this customer experience and watch the video.
How it began
During a party, Suze did not feel well. The next day she was in a coma in the hospital. The cause turned out to be a bacterial infection. After 3 months of coma, 4 amputations, 4 months in a rehab clinic and another 9 months to rehab by cab, Suze was able to pick up her life a little and her new reality began for her. In the rehab center, Suze was introduced to a special needs bike for the first time, and it worked! That was also the reason why Suze wanted to have such a bike. "I still remember the very first time I was allowed to sit on a bike again. The staff at the rehabilitation center said to me later that they had never seen anyone laugh like that before!" That's how she ended up at Van Raam and not much later she became the owner of such a bike herself: the Easy Rider 2 electric tricycle.
Once the Easy Rider electric tricycle was delivered, Suze went out almost every day. "In the beginning I found it quite scary to cycle, but with a group of friends I took up the challenge. Eventually I went out on my own and the tricycle with pedal support brought me more and more freedom and independence. Now I regularly make long bike rides on the Easy Rider electric tricycle."
Customer experience Suze: cycling with prothesis
See in the videos below what the Easy Rider tricycle has brought Suze.
Tip: Dutch is spoken in this video. Feel free to turn on the subtitles for accompanying text and explanations.
From Easy Rider 2 to Easy Rider 3
After several years and many rides Suze and her husband came to visit Van Raam again in January 2021. Suze indicated: "I would like the latest Easy Rider tricycle." After a consultation, a test ride on the Easy Rider and discussing the possibilities, Suze knew for sure: a new Easy Rider electric tricycle would come! And here it is.
Electric tricycle specially customized
The Easy Rider tricycle is specially customized for Suze, so she can cycle in a safe and comfortable way. These include options such as a bar end set left and right to hold the handlebars, footrests left and right, a back-pedal brake with reverse, 8 gears, a gear lever to easily change gears and pedal assistance.
I have learned and been allowed to experience, that being happy in life is not about having, but about giving.
Suze KorverHow is it going now?
Despite the fact that Suze's life has turned 180 degrees, she is certainly not sitting still. Taking classes, playing the panpipes, painting and even driving a car is possible again. Suze has also been busy making poems for a while. 24 poems about the first 24 months of her life after sepsis. Later she started making paintings to accompany each poem. These 24 paintings and poems Suze has compiled into a beautiful book.
A book of her own - about loss, overcoming and love
In her book 'On loss, overcoming and love' Suze tells her story in a moving and admirable way, in a combination of poetry and art. As a result of the book Suze was asked to give lectures at service clubs, care institutions and church communities and so the ball started rolling and more lectures were planned, until corona caused the lectures to stop at the moment. Despite corona, Suze is not giving up on reaching her goal. The proceeds from the sale of the book she spends on her greatest wish: a tricycle for a young person with a disability. For this purpose, Suze has set up a foundation where the proceeds of the books and the lectures go: the Foundation Bicycling for Young People with Disabilities (www.suzekorver.nl).
As soon as it is possible again, Suze hopes to be able to give lectures again. After all, her situation remains the same, but her story can inspire and teach many others how to cope. "I have learned and been allowed to experience, that being lucky in life is not about having, but about giving. I am a grateful person!"
Suze Korver – Rhenen, the Netherlands
Bike: Easy Rider electric tricycle
