John Darnley came up with the idea for a bike that could combine personal exercise with mobility for his wife, who lives with Parkinson's and is wheelchair bound.

There was a time when visitors would come for miles just to chat with Avis Darnley.

But as Parkinson's disease has melted away the muscles in her jaw and throat, left her in a wheelchair and stolen her ability to speak, life has got smaller.

Most days she was left with just her front room, her television, and husband John.

KEVIN STENT/STUFF John and Avis Darnley take a ride on the new pathway created as part of the Kapiti expressway.

Until John decided it was time they both got on with living.

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The former mechanic, from the Kapiti Coast north of Wellington, has created a modified e-bike that allows him to hitch up his wife to the handlebars and enjoy the great outdoors.

KEVIN STENT/ FAIRFAX NZ John Darnley says the first time he rolled down the street with Avis on the front of his bike, she loved it.

Now the couple tour Waikanae and further afield, cycling the new bike track built beside the $630 million Kapiti expressway.

The pair, from Waikanae Beach, have been married for nearly 44 years, and the Parkinson's diagnosis came 11 years ago, after she had a fall. Since then, the degenerative disease has got worse.

John said the idea came after he started trying to think of ways to get some exercise, and free Avis from the house.

"I thought, 'I wonder if I could put the wheelchair on the front of the bike?', so I started to do things."

Inspired by the old icecream and butchers' bikes, he he came up with the idea of the modified three-wheeler. Instead of a chiller box on the front, he has Avis and her wheelchair.

He took the idea to Southend Cycles in Levin, which modified a electric three-wheeler with a frame that would hold the chair.

To date, their longest trip together has been a six-hour jaunt to Paekakariki and back.

"Not only are you out in the fresh air and the sunshine ... but we get toots, we get waves, we get people talking to us – strangers, friends, neighbours. Avis is part of that conversation."

On Thursday they biked about a 10-kilometre return trip to the supermarket in the morning, then made a 12km return trip to Paraparaumu in the afternoon.

The first time he rolled down the street with his wife, she loved it, he said. He knew from her eyes and her face.

And even though she now mostly communicates without words, it seemed the most important ones are the last to go.

Every night, as they go to bed, Avis still says "I love you" to her husband, and "thank you for the day".