Tricycle Fetish Blog

Nick P. sent us photos of his restoration job on his wife’s 1950′s Hedstrom tricycle.  He used all original parts except for the grips, tires and pedal locking caps.  He went all out and had parts re-chromed rather than just painting them.

The end result looks stunning, especially considering how bad of a state the tricycle was in prior to restoration.  It’s hard to tell from pictures just how well any particular restoration goes, but this one looks to be fantastic. Nick says that it’s ready to pass down to the next generation, hopefully they will keep it stored inside so that his grandchildren won’t have to do another restoration project in 60 years.

If you or someone you know has restored a tricycle and would like to share the results with the world, email us photos of the before and after pictures.

A: Would you know of a company that made three wheel bicycles for adults that were seven speed I believe.My husband and I had a bike given to us and I can’tfind info.on it.The info I have is Re Bike Boca Raton,Fla. and it’s called ReTrike 707 sold at Mountain Bikes LTD Patent #201,538 and that’s at Mount Getna,Pa. That’s all the info . the bike has on it.Could you please help us .

B: Your tricycle is most likely a recumbent adult tricycle, sort of like the one pictured above (though pic is not a Retrike – could not find a picture of a Retrike 707).  It was most likely made in the late 1990′s or early 2000′s by a company called Retrike that built recumbent trikes and bikes.  The company seems to be defunct now.  Your trike originally retailed for around $500.  If you have questions about repairing your trike, you should take it to your local bicycle shop and they should be able to help you with any parts or repair needs.

Q: With regards to my Colson Tri Cycle the Size of the back tire is 14 x 1.75 I have a couple of questions?

1. The rim have a place for an inner tube, can one be put on the rim and if so do you have any tubes and tires?

2. Do you have any new Spokes for that size of the Wheel and what is the cost, also what is the length of the spokes?

3. Do you have the bearing’s for the wheels and what is the cost?

A:  I will try to answer your questions, but the easiest answer is to just take your tricycle to your local bicycle shop.  They will have spokes, bearings, tubes and tires, or will be able to special order them.

1. Are you sure that your tricycle takes an inner tube?  Are you sure it isn’t a pneumatic tire rim?  You can read our post on types of tricycle tires if you aren’t sure.

2. The spokes we currently have in stock are listed in our online catalog.  The easiest thing to do is simply measure the old spokes to get the length.   If you for some reason do not have any of the old spokes, you’ll need to just take it to a bicycle shop and have them build you one.  Because if you don’t know how to measure for spokes, you probably don’t know how to build a wheel.

3. We have bearings for press-in type hubs where the bearings in their casing are pressed into the hub.  These can be found in our online catalog in the sizes that we offer.  If some cases you can use loose ball bearings and others you can use bearings with a retainer, it all depends on what type of tricycle and wheels that you have.  Again, the simplest thing to do is to take it to your local bicycle shop and ask them.  Once they have the tricycle in front of them, they should be able to answer all of the questions and get you the parts.  They probably won’t be able to get you pneumatic tires if that’s what they turn out to be – and you may be in for a long hard and expensive look trying to find a set of those.

Q: I hope that you can help us to identify this tricycle. It has been fully restored and is in excellent condition.  The ‘Batwing’ handlebars are reminiscent of the Junior Toy Co. style.  Any assistance will be greatly appreciated including a ballpark valuation.

A: Your tricycle was indeed made by the Junior Toy Co.  It is from the  late 1930′s Sky Line, which was a series of streamlined tricycles of which the Sky King was the top of the line.  Your tricycle is referred to as the Sky Knight due to the knight’s mask type head tube design.

As far as value goes, we only give values out to those who’ve purchased our online price guide for a number of reasons.  We also don’t really like to give valuations for restored tricycles.  It’s so hard to tell from the pictures what kind of job was done.  In a 600 pixel wide photo, the tricycle looks perfect, but it may or may not be in real life when you’re standing in front of it.  Basically most tricycles are worth more before restoration, unless done by an expert restorer who has used 100% all original parts.

Anyone know the maker of this horse sulky type tricycle?

Q: I’m sending you a pictures of my tricycle in hopes you can identify it for me.   This elderly lady (about 85 to 90) had in in her backyard in the hills of Camarillo, California.  I asked her for it and she gave it to me.  I think its from the 50′s but not sure.
A: Your tricycle indeed looks to be from the 1950′s.  Judging by the paint scheme it is most likely a Western Flyer that was sold in a Western Auto store, but manufactured by AMF.  Western Auto was one of many chain stores that resold tricycles and bicycles under a house-brand name but that were manufactured by another maker.   The condition is really rough and it looks like the old woman had the right idea using it for a lawn ornament.

One of the most common questions we receive at Tricyclefetish.com deals with the authenticity and age of horse tricycles.  Is my tricycle antique?  A simple “NO” in reply to every question would be right about 99.9% of the time without ever seeing a picture of the tricycle.  Original horse tricycles are incredibly rare, especially Victorian era horse tricycles and velocipedes.  The chance of you finding one is slim, even if you are a high volume antique dealer.

So to help demystify antique vs fake horse trikes, we’ve created two pages with pictures of fake tricycles and antique tricycles, complete with what to look for to help determine if your tricycle is in fact a fake.  We recommend that you visit our Fake Horse Tricycles page first and then after you’ve studied it take a look at our Genuine Antique Horse tricycles page.  If you still have questions, feel free to email us and we’ll see if we can help.

Q: Wondering if its worth anything or is it worth fixing.

A:  You look to have a mid-late 1960′s Murray tricycle.  From the photo that you provided it’s hard to tell what is dirt and what is rust and where, but it looks to be a combination of both.  If you were going to have the tricycle professionally restored, it will cost hundreds of dollars…and not hundreds as in two hundreds, many hundreds.  If you did it yourself, you’ll still spend a ton of money and a lot of time fixing it up.

If this was your tricycle when you were young and it has sentimental value, they sure, it might make sense to fix it up, refurbish it or restore it.  If you plan on making money on it, you won’t make any profit after restoration or refurbishing.

You can make it look a lot more appealing simply by washing it.  You can also use a bit of chrome polish on the chrome areas, and within a minute or two you will see a huge improvement.  A good cleaning and a bit of a polish will go a long way in increasing resale value

Q: Do you still make the Hedstrom Taxi…model 3103…? Where can one be purchased or ordered?   Tucson Arizona … Odessa Tx … Tulsa Oklahoma.  We have friends visiting from Odessa in Tucson who would like to purchase one for their grandson in Tulsa.  Thank you,  P Davis

A: We never made that tricycle.  This is a common type of question that we receive.  We are not a tricycle manufacturer and never have been.  This is an informational site about vintage tricycles.

Q: Let me know if you can or can’t identify the make of this tricycle and if it has any value. Thank you.

A: No, we don’t know the maker.  It looks like a bit like a Murray.  We’ve also never seen another one like it, and think that your tricycle is a bit of a thrown together toy from various parts.  The whole think looks like a pedal tractor with replaced rear wheels and handlebars, that is missing its tractor portion of the frame.  It also looks a bit like those 1950′s cast tricycles made by Murray in the shape of a Good Humor trike, police trike, etc. – the three small wheels are used on those as well.   ….but the seat would be wrong, as well as the handlebars.

Whatever it is, it isn’t original.  There’s no way a child could sit on the seat and fit to reach the pedals correctly and reach the handlebars.  It looks to be 1940′s era up to the early 1950′s.  Perhaps it was some type of themed tricycle that is now missing some of its parts.  It looks like it is too much of a mess with too many extra parts and missing parts to be worth much as a collectible.

Where can I get my tricycle repaired?  That’s a question that we get asked a lot.  The simplest answer is apparently not the most obvious, and that is at your local bicycle shop.  With the expansion of big box stores the number of local bicycle sales & repair shops has dwindled, but most every town with 10K people or more has at least one, or in a worse case scenario, you might have to drive to the next town.

You can use Google to find shops in your area.  Once you’ve located one, keep in mind that the shop is unlikely to have parts for your tricycle, especially if it’s vintage or antique or a daycare model.  You should be extremely polite and gracious when dealing with your local shop, and be willing to spend some money (after all, if you can’t do the repair yourself, you shouldn’t expect to find someone to do it for nothing).  If you need parts, the shop may have to go through a significant amount of paperwork and hassle to get set up as a dealer with certain manufacturers and distributors, and may have to make a considerable minimum order for some.  So be prepared for the shop to tell you that it basically isn’t worth it to do all the credit apps and order $1000 worth of merchandise in order to replace the rear wheel on your kid’s Kettler.

It’s better to make a call to your local shop, describe your problem and what needs fixed, and ask them if they have the necessary parts.  Be ready to order your parts online if they don’t have them.  Make sure to always ask the bike shop if they have parts first.  They may not say anything, but no shop likes putting parts that were purchased online or at another store on a bicycle or tricycle brought into their store.

Hourly rates at bicycle shops probably average in the $20-40 range.

If you are looking to have a tricycle restored, visit our Tricycle Services page for a number of restorers.  Auto body and car restoration shops are also a good place to inquire about tricycle restorations as they have the equipment and know-how to paint the tricycle.

Q: I have a tricycle that has a wooden seat and a hand brake on the handle bars, this puts a brake onto the front wheel. I know that this was purchased in the 1930′s but have not found any information. Hopefully you can answer my questions regarding the manufacturer and the time frame.

A: We’ve never seen one with that brake setup before.  It looks like it could very well possibly be from before the 1930′s, back into the 1920 era.  There were a lot of manufacturers that made very similar tricycles, Columbia being one of the largest.  Without markings, it is sometimes hard to identify them.  Your trike has very unique handlebars, but not any that we’ve seen attributed to a certain maker.

If you’re up for some research, you can do patent searches on Google (use the Google patent specific search – http://www.google.com/patents).  You can wade through the hundreds of tricycle brake mechanism patents, and maybe you might find yours.

Q: I have an old tricycle but don’t know the type it is. May I send you a photo and perhaps you can provide some info on it? Thank you.

A: Your tricycle is a very rough 1960′s era Murray tricycle.  The exact year of manufacture is unknown, but they would have used that design for a number of years.  It may have been branded as another type or tricycle, like Western Flyer, but without paint it would be impossible to tell.

Q: I have a tricycle horse that hinges in the middle. The horse is black and white with a strap on metal seat. The front tire is 18″ air king? and the back tires are air king? 10″. Beyond needing new tires, I don’t know anything about it, there are no marks, other than on the pedals.. On pedal says western flyer, the other says corrington? Can you help me out and provide some info about the bike, who makes it, value general, and parts.

A: We don’t know who made your tricycle.  Maybe one of our readers will know.  It looks to be from the 1930′s.  Probably made by a toy manufacturer, rather than a tricycle company.  As far as parts go, finding original parts will be hard.  Your best bet for finding replacement pedals of that era is by looking on classic bicycle sites.

Q: I have a tricycle built by Colson and as shown on your website as Colson tricycle of the 1950s. I am refinishing one for my grandaughter and am in need of a new seat or to have mine recovered with leather or leather substitute. Can you help me with either?

A: We do not perform this service, however you should be able to find a local upholsterer that will do the job.  Any upholsterer should be able to do it.  It shouldn’t cost a fortune, but look to shell out around $25-50 for the service and materials.

Q: Can you please give us some info on this tricycle?

A: Your tricycle is a circa 1950 Mercury chain driven tricycle made by Murray.  It looks to be in quite a shambles.  If you’re looking to restore it, it’s going to cost you a fortune in that condition.  It’s bent, missing pieces, etc.  It’s probably just a parts tricycle or garden decoration at this point.

Q: I recently acquired a trike, seem to be a Miami Sun Deluxe, however I can not find any information on it or it’s model and am not even sure if this is really the model and of course no idea on the year, the trike is very rusted and needs restoration.  I would like to restore with original parts.

A: You look to have an early Miami Sun adult tricycle, probably from the late 1970′s or 1980′s – hard to tell from the one photo.  If you need an exact model number or year, you might be able to contact Miami Sun….but really I don’t think it matters too much.  Before you start restoring it, you need to ask yourself why you want to restore it.   Because honestly, you will never get the value back out of the tricycle that you put into it.  It isn’t something that is going to be collectible, probably ever.  You can buy brand new adult tricycles for a few hundred dollars.  Finding original parts is going to be quite difficult if not impossible, and likely quite costly, with very little return.

If you want to fix it just for yourself to ride, you should be able to get some used parts on the internet from that time period for not too much money, including a more realistic handlebar for that tricycle, which would be mostly flat with a small rise sweeping back.  When looking for old parts for adult tricycles, focus more on the vintage bicycle sites rather than tricycle sites, as the parts are the same as on bicycles of that era.

Q: thanks for allowing me to join your site i have an unknown rear steer tricycle from the late 50′s or early 60′s and have been unable to find anyone who knows what company produced it. i dont believe skyjet is the correct name. any help to identify it would be appreciated

A: You have a circa 1960, give or take Sky Jet X-II rear steering tricycle made by Hedstrom.  These tricycles were also produced under the model name Saf-Jet.  They are pretty scarce and hard to find, especially in the condition in which yours looks to be in.

We recently received an email inquiry about the horse tricycle pictured at the left.  There’s a curved glass oak china cupboard in the background, so it’s safe to say that the owner’s bought it because it was an antique, or so they thought.

Part of what makes gaining knowledge about tricycles and collecting them so difficult is the lack of information and the other is scarcity.  In over a decade of dealing with tricycles and antiques in general I’ve never personally seen any type of horse tricycle for sale (not an antique one anyway).  Not at an auction, not at estate sales, yard sales, barn sales, not from pickers….and I’ve only seen a couple legitimate old ones at antique stores.

Yet every week there are a handful on eBay, most of them obvious fakes that were made within the past ten years.  And some are miniature fakes, decorative items only a foot tall or so, but in an eBay listing can be pictured as if they are normal sized.

Every once in awhile, we get photos like the one above.  The tricycles have cobwebs and dust on them and sometimes there is a bit of damage.  The problem is though, that the tricycle appears to have no wear whatsoever that would be associated with it being 100+ years old.  Little dings and breaks don’t count, as they could have occurred days before the photo was taken.

Other issues that I have with the authenticity of the tricycle are the wooden rims, which are even rarer to find than horse tricycles, yet nearly all replicas/fakes/reproductions have the wooden rims.  Also the wheels are held on with cotter pins.  While cotter pins were used on tricycles in the late 1800′s, using them to hold on wheels is not common, especially on hulky machines like this one.   The brown paint looks to have been applied sparingly to give the look of wear, but it is uneven compared to what normal wear would look like, and yet uniform over the entire surface.

If I were to venture a guess, and that’s what it would be without seeing the tricycle in person or at least having better pictures, I would say that this particular horse tricycle was probably a reproduction made in the 1960′s or thereabouts.  It could even be much newer and stored in a way to make the dust make it seem older.

For some more insight to some of the ways to tell if your tricycle is a fake, visit our Fakes & Reproductions page.

Q: I live in New Zealand and this tricycle has been in our extended family for several generations but I have no idea what brand it is.   Are you able to shed any light on the likely manufacturer or age?

A: Our limited knowledge of tricycles gets even more limited when you start talking about foreign tricycles.  It definitely wasn’t made in the US.  Since you are from New Zealand, there’s a good chance that it was made by either Cyclops or Tri-Ang, since those were the two largest manufacturers in that area.  Judging by the fender and overall design, it was probably made sometime in the 1940′s.