Pittsburgh bicycle maker builds wheels for man without arms

Michael Trimble draws quite a few stares when he rides his bicycle around Pittsburgh. Mr. Trimble has no arms.

He was born that way in Soviet-era Ukraine, the birth defect a consequence of the 1986 nuclear disaster in Chernobyl. After living in an orphanage, Mr. Trimble was adopted at age 9 by an American couple and raised in Pittsburgh.

The first time Mr. Trimble rode a bicycle was in 2000, in St. James, Mo., where he attended a boarding school. His gym teacher took an old bike and, in place of its handlebars, installed a metal pipe stretching out to one of his stumps. He rode that bike for 18 months and fell in love with cycling.

After returning to Pittsburgh, he graduated from Duquesne University with a degree in political science. The dream of riding a bike moved to the back burner. But, like many 20-somethings in Pittsburgh, he yearned to be mobile on two wheels.


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