Can an upright bicycle be modified to deal with deteriorating balance? I am a 70-year-old, 5'3&quot; woman in good health---my knees are a little achy at times. I want to ride around the neighborhood and do errands. I haven't ridden my bike in a long time because I am feeling slightly less balanced these days. Can my bike be modified to accommodate my balance, or would I be better off switching to a different type of bicycle, like a recumbent? Any suggestions would be welcome.
If your balance might be an issue now, then a trike makes a lot of sense.  The front end is like a regular bike, so you can have a basket.  And the rear has a low platform or tray between the rear wheels for carrying other things.
I would not recommend any bolt-on stabiliser wheels (big training wheels) because 3 wheels can all touch the ground, whereas 4 wheels only touch the ground when its perfectly flat.  So you can loose drive.
The &quot;best&quot; bike is the one you find comfortable and will ride.  That's totally subjective, so you would be best-served to try out some bikes in person.  Mail order doesn't tell the entire story.
One side note - some trikes have only one rear wheel connected to the pedals, and other designs have a rear differential to split power between both rear wheels.  If you can test ride both sorts that may show some differences to you.
Lastly, electric assist is possible nowdays.  The bonus, it saves your knees, but the electric bike should cost around double what the non-electric bike costs.   Otherwise the bike parts have been cheapened to hit the price point.  Also, an electric bike can get you deeper into trouble, faster.  Depends what level of &quot;assist&quot; you set.