The Phase AD3 is an adaptive bike that’s designed to feel like a conventional bike, built around the principles of giving riders of different abilities independence and accessibility.

The Phase AD3 uses a pair of cantilever linkage arms to join two additional head tubes. It takes a second steering linkage element connecting the two suspension forks to the original steering head tube. The rider then sits in a bucket seat which gives core stability and the ability to precisely control the bike - pumping, jumping and railing berms is no problem.

Where conventional bikes need your lower body for balance, the Phase AD3 transfers this job to the rider’s upper body, allowing riders to stationary balance and manoeuvre at low speed without using their legs or lower body. This design means that the rider can balance upright without toppling and is very stable, even in tight turns or at slow speeds. Many riders with disabilities are able to get in and out of the Phase AD3 without assistance and many find it quick to learn, giving loads of confidence from the get-go.

As a hard-hitting eBike, the Phase was the perfect chassis for the Phase AD3 project, which is paired up with the CYC X1 Pro Gen 4 eMTB Motor. Depending on the rider’s requirements, it can be built as a pedal-assist eMTB or a full twist-and-go setup where the motor provides all the propulsion.

Battery life and range will vary depending on an individual rider’s setup. The bike has a 624wh battery and up to 5000w of continuous motor with 250NM of torque.

From day-one of his research, designer Alex Desmond quickly understood that riders with disabilities don’t just want to ride ‘tame’ terrain. Many want to ride singletrack, slash berms, send jumps and overcome technical, rocky, rooty and rutty trails. The Phase AD3 opens this up to them, either returning to what they loved before an injury or helping them to find a new love of off-road riding.

The Phase AD3 chassis is a monster over rough terrain. It’s built around 175mm of suspension travel and because of the actuation, the front-end system reduces suspension input to the rider by 50%. This actuation means one of the front wheels on Lorraine’s bike can clear obstacles up to 345mm, enough to stop most conventional bikes in their tracks.

In Alex’s words “It’s like a magic carpet ride over roots and ruts. With that second front wheel you’ve got an amazingly capable bike that’s great through rough ground”.

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For Any Trail

A challenge that Alex Desmond worked hard to overcome was the risk of losing traction, losing balance or crashing. This is where the leaning three-wheeled design comes in and having two front wheels was found to increase grip by 50%.“When we tested it, no-one could keep up with test rider Lorraine Truong through flat corners, she’s pretty fast anyway and the Phase AD3 just gave her loads of grip”.

In addition, if the bike does lose grip the bike will understeer rather than toppling. If the rider does fall the linkage will help to protect their legs.

The design means the bike can lean as the rider covers ground, the front end moving by up to 40° to offer plenty of margin for different terrains. That’s great for allowing access where other adaptive bikes can’t go and allows the rider to carve turns, climb steep inclines and even traverse severe off-cambers that would be tricky to even walk across.

The secondary seat suspension also opens up a new world of possibilities to riders like Lorraine. Riders can change their centre of mass on the bike, allowing them to jump and pump the bike.

Last but not least, the bike’s design addresses a classic challenge of adaptive bikes, their width. Where many other designs require specially built trails or wider tracks the Phase AD3 is significantly narrower, with a 350mm track width. It can be ridden on narrower singletrack than 350mm too, including on steep inclines and even through nasty, gnarly, rutty trails with wheels bouncing in and out of ruts.

“The whole purpose of the Phase AD3 is to provide a bike that allows adaptive athletes to push the boundaries of their riding abilities without being restricted by the bike” Alex told us.

Where many adaptive bikes focus on safety and stability, the Phase AD3 aims to give riders the freedom to ride challenging trails and a bike that feels more like a two-wheeled bike “you pick a route, ride down it like a conventional bike and the Phase AD3 does the rest of the work”.