Best of luck with this – MrsMC doesn’t have full use of her left hand so I have a little understanding of the problems, but we’ve simply gone 1x and swapped the brakes round.

Paracycling GB may have ideas, Cycling UK probably can provide suggestions through their inclusive cycling programmes.

Seem to remember an article in the mag a few years back about a guy at Hope who had come up with a one handed hydraulic brake system.

Hope do a brake setup that will help

https://winstanleysbikes.co.uk/hope-tech-3-duo-e4-front-and-rear-disc-brake

swapping easily may be an issue, though, dual brake controls are “-handed” as it were

Talk to HOPE – pretty sure I’ve seen HOPE one-handed brakes, they might have some more experience they can pass on.

( I mean both brakes are activiated with one hand)

https://archercomponents.com/

you could probably setup dual left/right buttons

I think you’re overthinking it. Ignore your MTBer brain that wants the finest level of control and likes shiny anodised components.

1) Back pedal brake, then you only need one lever for the front.

2) 3 speed hubs are easier to shift because they require less coordination (and you shift less often). There’s grip shift or the SA shifters look pretty ambidextrous as the default right hand is over the bar, so just mount it like a trigger shifter on the left.

Basically this:

https://bikefair.org/nl/fietsen/60505301-24b8-4e09-b5c0-e213802db52c/funky-small-amigo

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dual-Cable-Pull-Mountain-Bike-Brake-Lever-Black-Sliver-/114617580873?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

You can run 2 hydraulic calipers of one lever – have this setup on the Wife’s mountain trike wheelchair.
Single SRAM lever connected to a ‘T’ which feeds off to the calipers.
You could probably get one with a bias valve too.
Should work with others too – can’t remember which manufacturer it is but their hydraulic levers aren’t side specific – so could easily be used on right or left.

https://www.notbroken.co.uk/

Controls adaptations from about 4:30:

If it weren’t for the budget I’d have suggested AXS or whatever it is for the shifting.

I like the wide ranging thinking that suggested coaster brakes and limited hub gears.

Was going to mention Tommy Wilkinson.

Cranked #25 has a feature on two riders with adapted bikes, the part about Elsie Hughes mentions she used to run a Problem Solvers adaptor to run both brakes from one lever. Probably this one. It does say it required constant adjustment (for a ten year old racing CX) but for your purposes it probably ticks the boxes for recreational riding. Even the old Shimano XT/XTR all in one lever/shifters would be a pain to run the wrong way (having to ‘push’ the lever upwards would be hard work).

Honestly, I’d say a grip shift for gears is the least worst option. A thumb shifter flipped is going to be utterly shit and a complete faff to run one handed. No doubt there is probably a way you could swap the internals but that’s not practical for a demo bike (unless you ran two cables and just swapped the ends as necessary)

At the other end Hope Duo and a custom printed AXS/Di2 button are probably the way to go.

SRAM used to make an automatic hub geared bike. It might only be a 2 speed though.

Truvativ HammerSchmidt. Like unicorn poo now, was a great idea, but only 2 speed as you say.

EDIT: wait, no, I remember what you’re talking about. Automatix and it’s 2 speed.

I think the solution you have with the dual brake works fine for starters.

I only have use in my right arm similar accident to Tom Wheeler but on a motorbike. The Hope one handed dual hydraulic brake lever is a fantastic option it’s great to see a company like Hope design an option for a limited market,I’ve not used it though as it’s a little spendy for my budget, I run the both brake levers on one side with the left hand lever mounted upside down and run Euro style so I can feather the front and can have a hand full for the back.

One by is definitely the way to go for right handers.

Can you please let me know the name of the charity, I might be able to give some other advice on one handed living

TBPI Group is a fantastic resource.

I’ve sent you a DM

Hang on!

That’s a solution, put a cut-off stubbie bar-end or one of those mini offset bar jobbies, adjacent to either grip and you can move a the shifter from side to side and position it to suit on those…

Honestly Google is awash with wacky shifter placement ideas.

Sorry for getting a bit keyboard happy but I like these sort of things and love a bit of esoteric bicycle drivetrain “hacking”.

I really hope your demo bike and presentation come together nicely too, do let us know how it all goes.

I made a bike for someone who was born with one arm 6 inches shorter than the other. I had to figure out a way so he could use the dominant arm in the best position but still be able to use the shorter arm as it was still useful (the short arm had a lot of grip strength but no muscle in the arm itself so couldn’t support his weight).
I ended up using some butterfly bars and a riser/adjustable stem to put the forward grip position on his long arm and the short position on his short arm where he didn’t need to bear weight on that shorter arm but could brake and shift.
The butterfly bars were great for this and while I had to modify the shifters and brakes to work it ended up looking and more importantly working brilliantly.
Without doubt the most rewarding bike build I’ve ever done, I love building bikes for people who can’t afford them or aren’t suited to a normal bike and this was both and he did many miles on it until his health means he needs an electric bike now which I’m trying to sort.

If I were you I’d add something in about bar position as where it is on a standard bike might not work with just one arm so the user will need to think about how much weight they can bear on that arm. Moving the position in or out and forward and back is ok but too extreme and the handling may be so bad it’s difficult to ride safely.

BTW if the persons bike is a cable brake one then a BMX gyro cable could work very well BUT you’d have to get the custom ones, I’ll try and find a link to one.

Butterfly bars and an adjustable stem is a great idea, that gives lots of potential adjustment and multiple positions to suit different needs.

It’s easy to get hung up on “controls” for gears and brakes and forget a useful, comfortable bar position is probably the most important control.