Why We Built The Rideable Now Access Fund

There is a hard truth about adaptive mountain biking that we need to talk about.

Firstly, the bikes are incredible. I ride a Bowhead, and I can tell you, hand on heart, that it is a masterpiece of engineering. It is not just a bike; it is a freedom machine. It is the difference between watching the world from a window and being immersed in the centre of it.

The hard part; that engineering comes at a cost. And that cost can be very high.

When you look at the price tag of a high-end adaptive electric mountain bike, you are often looking at the price of a decent family car. We are talking £15,000, £20,000, depending on the bike, sometimes a bit less, but sometimes even more.

To be clear, that price is justified. Unlike a standard mountain bike produced in the tens of thousands, these are specialist machines, often hand-built in small batches with bespoke engineering. We respect the manufacturers and the reality of their costs; they are pioneers, not profiteers, and we want them to thrive so they can keep innovating.

But for a person who has likely already faced significant financial upheaval due to a life-changing injury - adapting their home, changing their vehicle, perhaps unable to return to their previous career - that number isn’t just expensive.

It’s an impossible wall.

Think about the beginner, too. The person with a disability who has perhaps never known bike riding. They might have had a single day at a taster event - which are brilliant - but no matter how good that taste of freedom was, the price remains hard to justify. How do you find the confidence or the drive to achieve those prices when you are still an absolute beginner?

It is a wall that separates them from the outdoors. It separates them from their mental health. It separates them from us.

That is why we built the Rideable Now Access Fund.

The Anatomy of ‘The Stall’

Over the last decade, I have watched hundreds of people attempt to climb this wall. The path is almost always the same. They find the bike they need. They realise the cost. And then, they start a crowdfunding campaign.

They launch a GoFundMe or a JustGiving page. They write their story- which is an incredibly vulnerable and difficult thing to do, laying your life and your limitations out for strangers to read.

At first, the graph goes up. Friends and family rally round. The local community chips in. There is a surge of hope as the total hits 20%, maybe 30%.

And then? The Stall.

Research into crowdfunding mechanics backs this up too. Industry analysis of over 100,000 campaigns reveals a distinct "U-shaped" funding curve: roughly 42% of all funds are raised in just the first and last three days. The vast middle period is known in the industry as the "dead zone" or "mid-campaign slump." For medical and personal equipment fundraisers specifically, the reality is even starker; studies suggest that nearly 90% of medical-related campaigns on major platforms fail to reach their full target. Once the immediate circle of friends and family is exhausted, the donations don't just trickle—they often stop.

This is the hardest part for the rider. It’s called ‘Silence.’ You are sitting there, maybe 40% of the way to your freedom, and you feel stuck. You feel like you are begging. You feel like you have to keep shouting into the void of social media just to get another tenner. If I was in that situation, I’d feel exhausted, and frankly, demoralised.

Many riders give up here. They might be looking at the remaining £8,000 or £10,000 gap and they just can't see a way across.

Others are not comfortable with crowdfunding, they are just plugging away with standard savings - that can equal a very long wait for a bike.

How The Access Fund Works: Closing the Gap

Rideable Now aims to break ‘The Stall.’

The Access Fund is exactly what it says on the tin. It is designed to take a rider who has done the hard work and give them access to their new bike.

And that 'hard work' part is really important to us at Rideable Now. It means that the applicant has done the research and they know what they need. It means they have been to a taster day and felt the reality of the machine. It means they have considered the logistics - where it will live, how they will transport it. By the time a rider has rallied their crowd and raised a significant portion of the funds, we know we aren't just funding a wish; we are supporting a rider. We know that bike is going to get ridden and bring real, tangible value to their life.

But we don’t just throw money at the problem. We attack the problem from two directions.

1. The Signal Boost

First, we use our platform. When a rider is selected for the Access Fund, they don’t just get a cheque; they get the full weight of the Rideable Now media ecosystem.

If needed and applicable we connect them with a Pro Ambassador - these Icons can make a real difference. Imagine you are stuck at 60% of your target. Suddenly, you have one (or some) of the biggest names in mountain biking sharing your story, validating your journey, and asking their followers to chip in. We turn the ‘Silence’ back into noise. That gets the graph moving again, the energy is back - and algorithms like that.

2. The Financial Bridge

This is where the Rideable Now membership model changes the game. Your £5 monthly subscription creates a pot of money that is strictly ring-fenced for this purpose.

When a rider gets within striking distance of their goal, we can unlock the Access Fund to pay the remainder. We turn ‘Rideable Someday’, into a ‘Rideable Now.’

The "Behind The Curtain" Strategy

There is a third pillar to this, and it is about relationships.

Right now, an adaptive rider is often navigating this process alone. Rideable Now changes that. We are industry insiders. We can pick up the phone.

When a rider is close to their target, we don't just look at the bank balance; we look at the solution. If a fundraiser has stalled at £15,000 for a £20,000 bike, we can step in. We can put our Accelerator funding on the table, but we can also talk to the manufacturer or distributor.

We can say: "This rider is ready. The money is there. Let’s make this sale happen."

Our goal isn't to devalue the product - we know what these machines are worth - but to bridge that final gap through collaboration. Maybe we put in some funds, maybe the price shifts a little to get the deal done. We want to turn a 'nearly' into a 'yes'. We can't promise a set discount every time, but we promise to use every relationship we have to get that rider on the trail.

Why This Matters

This isn’t just about money. It’s about validation.

When a rider receives a grant through the Access Fund, it sends a powerful message. It says: “The mountain bike community wants you here.”

It tells them that they are not a charity case asking for a handout; they are a mountain biker waiting for their bike. It tells them that thousands of other riders - our Rideable Now members - have chipped in a fiver each because they believe that this person deserves to feel the wind in their face and the flow of the trail.

That is a profound shift. It turns a lonely struggle into a team effort.

The Power of the Fiver

This is why I am so passionate about the membership model.

I know £5 a month doesn’t sound like much. It’s a coffee and a croissant. But when we aggregate that across a community of thousands of riders, it becomes a formidable engine for change.

I was the beneficiary of a crowdfunding campaign myself when I had my injury. The riding community came together to help me significantly with living costs in that first year after my accident. They were there for me. That is what gives me the confidence in asking for your membership here - because I know this community does care. It understands mountain biking and knows its value. It is worth it.

Every time a member pays that subscription, they aren’t just entering to get a bit of discount, or win some MTB gear, or even win one of our £10k+ ‘Factory Builds’ bikes (though they are all pretty sweet perks). They are putting a brick in the bridge for someone else. They are helping us hit our target of lowering the purchase price for the fundraiser by 25% - achieving that through our grant funding and collaboration with the manufacturers and distributors.

We are at the dawn of a new era for adaptive riding. The technology is ready. The trails are getting ready. The riders are ready too. The cost is always going to be standing in the way, so let’s face up to it.

The Access Fund is our battering ram to break down the wall.