Tricycle Fetish Blog

One of the most common type of questions that we get here at TricycleFetish.com is concerning headbadge, decals and company stickers. When restoring an old tricycle, you might be able to get it to look like new with out too much trouble, but there’s always the issue of original decals and artwork. There is no simple solution to finding original headbadges and decals. They are brand specific and vary greatly between brands, and most companies changed their own designs several (or dozens) of times over the course of their existence.

Headbadges were made of tin, brass, transfer decals, stickers and paint. The easiest of these to find are the metal ones, as there is a collecting field for old bicycle headbadges and collectors and dealers of these sometimes have tricycle badges as well. Sometimes these can be found in online auctions, stores and classified ads, but they are still rare and finding them is difficult; finding the correct headbadge can be impossible. Another place to find headbadges is at bicycle swap meets.

If the tricycle that you’re restoring has a decal or sticker type headbadge, chances are that you’ll never find an old stock replacement. Over the past 10 years, I can count on one hand the times that I’ve seen headbadge stickers and all but one have been from newer tricycles. That isn’t to say they aren’t out there. There may be collectors who have some, but they are just not something that you can find, no matter how hard you look.

So what’s the solution? You have basically three options. First, you can just restore the tricycle and leave the headbadge with no decal or badge at all. Second, if your tricycle still has some of the headbadge decal, you can restore “around” it and leave the area around the headbadge on the steerer tube with the original paint. This option can turn out sort of funny looking depending on the type of decal and its condition. The final option is what we suggest to most visitors who pose this question….make your own decal.

If any of your decal remains, try to get a quality digital image of it. Import that into Photoshop or similar photo editing program, blow it up really big and do your best photo editing to make it look consistent and original. You can also try to find similar tricycle headbadge photos on our site or online and manipulate those photos. Once you are satisfied with your finished image, you can find a sticker company online (they’re everywhere and not difficult to find) and have a new sticker made for your tricycle. You can probably find someone online who can do the image restoration for a price if you think that it’s beyond your ability.

The easiest option is probably the one that requires making a new decal on your own. Though it requires some skills with photoshop and some time, it will be far easier than trying to find something that probably doesn’t exist.

The related question that always seems to be asked is how any of these options with affect the value. Ideally a tricycle would be in mint condition in the first place with the original head decal intact, but they rarely are. None of the options should hurt or help the value (nor really, the final look) of your tricycle more or less than any other option…as long as whatever you choose to do is done well. Antique tricycles that are missing their metal headbadges though, are obviously not quite as desirable as those with their original badges. Tricycles are not like classics cars, finding old stock original parts is very difficult, and there aren’t many options to newly made replacement parts, especially ones that are reproductions of the original parts.

Q: Hello, I have an antique tricycle and I am trying to identify the maker, year, and possible value of it. Can you help? I have attached a photo. Thank you for your consideration. Shannon

A: I’m sorry Shannon, but your tricycle is far from being an antique. We don’t want to make an example of you, but your question is very similar to ones we get constantly, and hopefully our answer will help others trying to date their tricycles.

The basic rule of thumb to go by is that if a tricycle has two steps, it was made after 1960.

We’re unsure of the first appearance of the single rear step plate, but it’s safe to say that if you have a tricycle with a single rear step, the tricycle was probably made after the 1920′s.  Prior to this there would have only been an axle or steel tube across the back. Some of the earliest steps that may have been around as far back as the 1920′s were the foot pad type, that used small cast iron step pads, rather than a step that stretched across the back.

As far as your tricycle goes, it’s probably a mid-1960′s AMF that probably originally had a paint with a metallic finish and some space age decals on the fender.

One of the most common questions that we receive is “Will this _____(insert part name here) fit my tricycle?” This is usually in reference to tricycle replacement tires or pedals. For years we tried our best to answer these questions, but we no longer provide sizing help. Read on for our reasons and some tips for sizing your parts, and what to do if you can’t figure it out.

Throughout the history of tricycles, roughly 150 years, there have been hundreds of tricycle companies, with thousands of brands of trikes and tens of thousands of models – most of them with no easy way to differentiate one year’s model from another year’s without photos. Making things more difficult is the fact that a 10 inch tire often does not measures 10 inches, nor does a 10 inch wheel…and the width marked on tires is usually not the true width.

So how do you determine the correct tire size? We provide measurements of the inside diameter of the tire (opening size) and outside diameter as well as the width of the tire. Measure your rim and pick the tire that fits. It’s that simple. And while it seems as if we could just tell you this info, this takes time and with some days getting a dozen emails about tire sizes (in addition to other customer service emails and general tricycle related questions) it just isn’t feasible for us to answer them all.

The other problem that we found was that customers were providing us with incorrect measurements (ie. measuring wrong or describing dimensions wrong), on a consistent basis. This would lead to the customer being sent the wrong tire and then the annoyance ensued on both our parts and the part of the customer. We have a strict no refunds policy and only take returns for exchanges on items that have not been used, installed or attempted to be installed.

If we don’t have the size of tire that will fit your tricycle, we offer three different sizes of extruded rope rubber tires that can be custom cut to fit a large majority of tricycles out there.

If you still can’t figure out the size and need help, you can take advantage of our tricycle replacement tire installation service. Basically it works like this, you purchase the service, send us your wheel, we determine correct size, bill your for the tire or rubber and then we install the tire and return it to you.

We apologize for any inconvenience which our policy about this causes, but after dealing with thousands of customers it is the only sensible way for us to deal with customer service questions about part size, particular tire size. Thank you.

One of the most common questions we receive at TricycleFetish.com involves the age and restoration options for Angeles tricycles. There have been many models made by Angeles over the years, and when one is found in an estate, it may appear to be antique. At least Angeles tricycles to most people who see them for the first time look neat, odd, or unique.

When trying to date the tricycle, the first thing that you should know is that it is not antique. Angeles started producing tricycles circa 1950. Even the early ones are not really very old relative to other more collectible tricycles from the 1930′s and before. And basically the date of manufacture or age doesn’t really have any bearing on value.

Angeles tricycles (along with other manufacturers’ trikes such as Community Playthings, Anthony Brother, etc.) were designed for sale mostly to preschool/daycare type centers. They are built to withstand a lot of abuse without breaking and many centers leave the tricycles outside. Angeles is still producing tricycles and a pretty good selection of Angeles tricycles can be found on Amazon. Following that link will also give you an idea of what new Angeles tricycles sell for at retail.

As far as value of Angeles tricycles is concerned, they are a bit like a new car…once you buy it it immediately plummets in resale value. Even the early Angeles tricycles are not worth what a new one will cost you. Many second-hand Angeles tricycles have very worn parts that need replacing (available on the Angeles website). Despite being so well built, Angeles tricycles in daycare centers end up being used far more than a single owner trike.

So should you restore your Angeles? Simple answer is no. The time and effort and cost will never lead to any rewards. Even a perfect restoration will just look like the new trikes that they are producing now. If you find an Angeles tricycle that needs some new grips or tires, etc., then it may make sense to replace with new parts to do a quick refurb that will allow a child to ride the tricycle.

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.

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.

We get dozens of tricycle related questions every day, and we try to answer them all within a week of receipt.  If you haven’t received an answer yet there may be several reasons for this:

1. You haven’t waited long enough.   Usually every question receives a reply within 7 days.

2. You didn’t phrase your question in the the form of a question.  Saying “I have an old antique tricycle that my father left me when he died,” is not a question.  We get many of these on a weekly basis.  You need to ask a question about something in order to receive a reply.  We’re happy for those of you who have found tricycles, but unless you ask something, we don’t know what (if anything) you want to know.

3. Your email provided rejected our email.  This is the biggest issue regarding the receipt of our replies.  Most of our replies are sent via our Gmail account, since we often put links to our site for reference purposes.  So you need to allow email from Gmail as well as www.tricyclefetish.com.

Q: [This is a question that we get quite often in various forms] Hi, I recently found a tricycle with two seats, one in front of the other, can you give me any information about them?  Who made them?  What are they worth? How old are they?  etc. etc.

A: If you’ve never seen one before, at first glance you might think you have found a real find.  The bright colors and two seat design have to be worth a fortune, especially since you’ve never seen one, right?  Well, not usually.  If the tricycle you’ve found has a second bench type seat in the back that doesn’t have another set of pedals attached, most likely it is a very cheap Asian made tricycle from the 1960′s or 1970′s.

They come in a variety of shapes, sizes, colors and some have cartoons and character themes.  Most have some type of disc wheels.  They are all very cheaply made and the paint wears easily and the metal rusts quickly.  Finding a perfect one is difficult, and a perfect one could be worth a bit, but not much.

Who made them?  Who cares.  They were made in numerous locations probably by companies whose names you cannot pronounce in industrial towns whose names you cannot pronounce in locations that you couldn’t find on a map…..or possibly Hong Kong.  Either way, collectors are not yearning for these types of tricycles.  They were made for mass market department stores and other outlets.  Researching them on the internet is futile as no information exists on individual tricycles or the companies that made them.

If your tricycle has two sets of pedals, or the second seat is a side car, you may have something.  Several American companies made such tricycles from the 1930′s through the 1950′s and they are much more desirable than the Asian two-seaters.

Q. How can I access the Tricycle Price Guide?

A. Follow these easy instructions:

• Visit our Tricycle Fetish Store.

• In the navigation bar on the left you’ll see our Tricycle Store heading in the first box, click on Tricycle Price Guide

• Select the Online Tricycle Price Guide from the list.

• Read the information about the price guide. There is a lot of helpful information about the Tricycle Price guide included there.

• Click the “Add to Cart” button to add the guide to your shopping cart. Clicking this button will automatically take you to your shopping cart.

• Review the items in your cart, once you’ve confirmed that this is what you’d like to purchase, click “Proceed to Checkout”. This will take you to the payment selection screen.

• Select your payment method. For credit or debit card purchases you’d be directed to Google Checkout by clicking the Google Checkout button. To mail your payment, click the “Continue Checkout by Mail” button. Follow through the checkout process.

• Once your payment (either Credit or Mailed payment) has cleared you will receive an email with the instructions on how to access the Tricycle Price guide.

Now, this is where we’ve had some customers become confused. Notice that underlined and bold you will receive an email with the instructions on how to access the Tricycle Price guide this is to make it quite clear, you’re going to get an email.

The email you will receive will be the following (although not x’d out as it is here):  The Price Guide can be accessed here: www.tricyclefetish.com/xxxxx/xxxxxx.htm Username and Password: xxxxxxx  and XxxxXxx(case sensitive).

What that email is telling you to do is paste the address (www.tricyclefetish.com/xxxxx/xxxxxx.htm) into your browser and when prompted enter the Username and Password given to you in the email you received.

You MUST go to the exact address in the email, visiting our store site and trying to log in with that username and password will NOT work.

Here’s a screenshot for those of you who prefer a visual:

What you should see when logging into the price guide

I hope this helps those of you who have had some trouble understanding your Price Guide email.

Q: Can I send Tricyclefetish.com some pictures of my restoration project to be published in the blog?

A: Sure, we love seeing our reader’s projects.  Try to take the best pictures that you can and send them to the following email address as an attachment: info(at)tricyclefetish.com.  Be sure to tell us what your tricycle is, how old it is and any other info that you’d like posted about it.

Q: How much is my tricycle worth?

A: We gladly will give valuation estimates to customers who have purchased our online tricycle price guide.  We under no circumstances will give values, estimates or appraisals of value to anyone who has not purchased our guide.

Q: Why do I have to buy the price guide?

A: Some days we receive in excess of a dozen requests for valuations.  While we’d love to do nothing but chat about tricycles all day long, our time is precious, as we suspect, is yours.  Most requests for values come from individuals wishing to sell their tricycles, many of them on eBay.  We feel that $5 is a fair price for our expertise and time, especially when considering that if you plan on selling your trike, you plan to make much more than $5.

We used to give free estimates of value, but due to unscrupulous sellers on eBay who would name drop Tricyclefetish.com in their listings and cite us as a source for a value, but basically lie to buyers about our valuations, we no longer do so for free.

Why?  Because when sellers do this, we then get emails from prospective buyers asking whether the price we gave was legit (many times it is/was not the correct price).  If you see a price quoted with Tricyclefetish.com or our Online Tricycle Price Guide as a source, and are curious about the voracity of the person selling the tricycle, email us with the price quoted and we’ll let you know if the seller is being honest.

Q: Can I send you a photo of a tricycle to help identify it?

A: Yes, you can simply send the photo as an attachment in an email to: info(at)tricyclefetish.com.

To help us identify it, here are a few tips:

• Send multiple photos if possible.
• Send photos from different angles.
• Include photo of headbadge is possible.
• Send large photos (600 pixels wide, or thereabouts, if possible).

Q: Why is this product out of stock?

A: Simply, things sell out.  Due to TricycleFetish.com’s structure of being a retailer, affiliate and advertiser, some products may become unavailable.  We’re sorry for the inconvenience.  We also cannot tell when, or if, a product will be back in stock.

Q: Why did the price of a product change?

A: Simply, prices change.  Most prices on antique and NOS tricycle parts and accessories is pretty stable, but some may change if an item with a previously high stock gets to be close to going out of stock.  Old tricycle parts are quite hard to find and occasionally a price will be changed to reflect a low stock.

Prices on items offered via Amazon.com or through Amazon’s affiliate  network may change at any time.  This is due to changes in wholesale prices and in the case of Amazon affiliate products, just a change in Amazon price.  A large jump in price may be due to a growing shortage of a certain tricycle or product that is no longer being produced.

Many times when a jump in price occurs, the stock is very low. Often these tricycles, once sold out, will no longer be available. So it is probably best to purchase the tricycle and pay the extra money if you really want the tricycle. If you don’t want to pay the price being asked, there are lots of other new tricycles for sale online.

Q: Why does this product link to Amazon.com?

A: TricycleFetish.com sells products on a variety of sites, including Amazon.com, as well as items on the main TricycleFetish.com site.  Also, some products are offered through Amazon as an affiliate.  The goal of TricycleFetish.com is not to physically warehouse every tricycle, but to provide the ultimate tricycle portal of information and tricycles for sale.