Tricycle Fetish Blog

We get a lot of emails from companies promoting their products, most of them are only vaguely related to tricycles, but recently we got one with a brand new type of tricycle. The Dog Powered Trike is an adult tricycle that you can strap your dogs into and go for a ride. If you get tired of pedaling, you can just let your dogs pull you home. The company also has a line of three wheeled recumbent tricycles…that attach to your dogs, and a line of scooters.

The following article details an email conversation between a site visitor and us here at Tricyclefetish.com. The same photos were later used to scam a buyer on eBay, using the exact opposite of our assessment of the tricycle to lure bidders into bidding on their non-antique tricycle. If you’re interested in the seller’s eBay ID, here it is: becca1963. The eBay ID is a shortened name of the emailer in question, and the photos sent to us were the exact same photos used in the auction.

R. Vogt: Need help with age and type of antique tricycle purchased at an Estate Auction in Los Altos CA. Thanks so much.

TricycleFetish: Reply to this email with pictures and we’ll see what we can tell you. Thanks

R. Vogt: Thanks so very much.  They told us between 1880′s to early 1900′s?  Again any help would be great. (ed. note: One of the pictures included are pictured below)

TricycleFetish: Who told you the age? How much did you pay for it? Thanks (ed. note: We often ask this type of question before breaking bad news to recent buyers of tricycle that are fake. If the price paid was high, we try to break it to them differently that if they’d paid $10 for it at a yard sale).

R. Vogt: Auctioneer and paid $60

TricycleFetish: OK, that’s not bad. I was hoping you didn’t pay much because it’s not old, and most certainly not 1880′s to 1900. It’s a reproduction that looks like someone left sit out in the rain or in a barn to get rusty for real (when they are new they are treated with chemicals to give them a patina, but yours looks to have developed real rust). The auctioneer should know better, or at least know enough not to tell people things that they obviously know is wrong or know they really don’t know anything about. We don’t give out values except to our price guide customers, but you didn’t do too bad. Probably will never sell if for more than that though, unless you find someone who also thinks that it’s old and you lie to them.
We have lots of articles on our blog that have very similar tricycles: http://www.tricyclefetish.com/blog/
Also you can compare the fakes on our repo’s page (scroll all the way to the bottom of the page for two almost identical to yours): http://www.tricyclefetish.com/fakes.php
….to the real tricycles of that era on our page of period photos: http://www.tricyclefetish.com/tricycle_photos.php
Hope that helps, www.tricyclefetish.com

So R. Vogt must not have like our assessment of her tricycle, because we never received any type of thank you email or any type of reply to this last message at all. Now imagine our surprise when looking at tricycle on eBay and see a picture of her tricycle with this title: Rare Antique Tricycle for late 1800′s, and this description: This was purchased at an Estate Auction in Los Altos CA.  Owned by a actor named “Robert Ferro”.  The Tricycle is in good shape for how old it is.  These old Tricycles are hard to come by and most are reproductions.  Thanks for looking.
The tricycle sold for $300 with an additional $60 shipping. $240 is not a bad profit on a fake antique tricycle that the seller overpaid for in the first place. Perhaps I should have added a “THIS IS SARCASM!” after the part in our reply about selling it for a profit by lying.

If you ever wonder why we charge $5 for priceguide access and appraisal service, refer to the story above.  It’s frustrating to take the time to answer questions, just to have your response ignored. And even more frustrating to see people getting scammed on eBay paying $300 for a reproduction tricycle that is about identical to other repos that normally sell (or don’t get any bids) in the $25-50 range.

Morals of this story, 1) eBay is full of scams, 2) eBay is full of sellers who don’t know a lot about their inventory, 3) Try to find out about values and authenticity of antiques PRIOR to purchasing them.

A bomb planted in a child’s tricycle exploded outside a shop in northwestern Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least 11 people and damaging several stores and hotels, police said.

The attack occurred in the main bazaar in the town of Risalpur in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said Mohammad Hussain, police chief for surrounding Nowshera district. 23+ people were wounded, Hussain said.  No group claimed responsibility for the attack…[full story]

This obviously isn’t a movie review site, it’s about tricycles, but Rubber is a movie with a tricycle as a character. Unlike the famous tricycle in the Saw series, the tricycle in Rubber is an actual character.

Rubber is a movie about a tire that comes to life and goes on a killing spree. Yeah, you don’t have to read that again, that’s what it’s about. It’s really a horror/thriller type movie wound around a dark comedy absurd satire/parody core.

The homicidal tire sees a pretty girl during his killing spree and that gives the plot some depth and makes it a parody of many horror films where the maniacal murderer has a soft spot for a special girl. There’s also a side plot about a group of onlookers who we meet in the first scene that are watching the actions of the tire unfold in the desert like a movie.

The movie begins with a nonsensically random scene where a cop gets out of the trunk of a car that’s been driven down a dirt desert road after it knocks over a bunch of chairs. The cop is holding a glass of water and asks why E.T. was brown and a series of other film related questions, to which all of them the answer is “no reason.” This basically sets you up for the rest of the movie and frees your mind from trying to figure out what the heck a tire is doing blowing up things.

Other reviews that I read prior to seeing the movie didn’t like the whole “no reason” aspect, but I found that it freed my mind from trying to guess the outcome and possible plot twists associated with such a ridiculous plot line. Without this opening sequence, the viewer would likely spend the next hour trying to guess what is really being represented by the tire and what twists the plot might hold….your freed to watch this film that definitely has no reason.

I don’t want to give anything away about the plot, so I won’t say much about the tricycle, other than it looks to be a circa 1970 Roadmaster classic type red tricycle that has seen a lot of play use.

It’s highly doubtful that the tire in Rubber will be getting any Oscar nods, but at 1 hour 20 minutes, it won’t kill too much of your time. Those who have a Netflix subscription can now view the film on instant download and the Rubber DVD is available for sale on Amazonor you can watch the Amazon instant rental for $3.99.

If you have an old Anthony Bros. Convert-O bike and have tried to find replacement parts but were unsuccessful, you’re now in luck. We have a limited number of parts for the classic cast aluminum tricycle.

The Convert-O bike is a tricycle that can be converted to a two wheel bicycle and has been made for roughly 60 years.  Anthony Bros. was bought out by Angeles, who now continue to produce the Convert-O Bike, relabeled as Converto Bike.

The following is a list of replacement parts available for your old Anthony Bros. trike. Parts will also fit the Convert-O Low Boy, which was Anthony Bros.’ big wheel style tricycle. Click on product to view each.

Front Tire

Rear Tire

Front Wheel

Rear Wheel

Pedals

Grips

All parts are unused and in new condition. TricycleFetish.com plans to add further Anthony Bros. Convert-O Bike replacement parts in the near future. When we do, we’ll add to the list above.

The 20th Annual Antique and Classic Bicycle Auction and Swap Meet in Copake, New York will be held on April 15 and 16th.

You can visit the Copake Auction website to get info on attending the auction. If you aren’t going to be in the area, there is the option to bid online.

There is online presale absentee bidding as well as live online real-time bidding the day of the auction. When you visit either of the online bidding sites, you can search for “tricycle” to narrow the search down to tricycle related items, or you can just view the entire catalog.

There are a number of pretty cool tricycles this year including two Rockett rear-steering type tricycle and an early all wood tricycle. As always there are a lot of pre-1900 adult and strap steel velocipedes.

Google maps Street View feature that allows you to see detailed photos of surrounding buildings at the street level is now going off the main road where previously cars couldn’t go, and they’re doing it with specialized custom tricycles outfitted with Google’s special 360° camera. The tricycles can travel into parks, college campuses and into historical locations. More info in this Computer World release.

Yucycles / Yucycle Transporters are currently unavailable. They were pulled from the market at the end of 2010, but a stock error showed that they were still in stock in our online catalog. New models are scheduled to become available in summer 2011.

The company that owned the Yucycle brand has sold the rights to an as-of-now unnamed company, which plans to have new models out this coming summer.  No word yet on pricing, sizes, colors etc. We will post updates as soon as we know more. In the meantime, treat your Yucycles nicely, as they may become collectors items someday.

We just got an email from someone looking to buy a full size reproduction tricycle. The only one they could find was the one pictured on the left….for $700, on eBay, of course.

The tricycle is listed as an “1800′s model.” It is not.  It is virtually brand new reproduction. If you are interested, you can view the auction here.

Seeing a teenager bash their balls off of their top tube of their freestyle bike in a Youtube video is, well, usually pretty funny.  Seeing your two year old injure themselves on a poorly placed ignition key, probably less funny.  So Mattell/Fisher-Price is recalling a whole bunch of tricycles that have ignition keys in the top that can, and apparently have, injured some children. Here is a whole list with the pictures of the trikes listed in the recall below.

Toy manufacturer Mattel is willingly recalling almost 11 million Fisher-Price products in the U.S. and Canada. This was according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada.

The toys to be recalled include several models of toddler tricycles, high chairs, inflatable balls and toy cars.

The recall includes Fisher-Price Trikes and Tough Trikes, which are tricycles  for children 2 to 5 years of age.

The said  trikes has  a variety of models:

1. Hot Wheels Trike (model # 72633)
2. Lil’ Kawasaki Trike (model # 72642),
3. Kawasaki Trike(model # 72792),
4. Kawasaki Tough Trike (model #B8775 and #N6021)
5. Boys Tough Trike (model # 72643)
6. Girls Tough Trike (model # 72644)
7. Barbie Free Spirit Trike (model # 72639)
8. Barbie Tough Trike (model #B8776), and
9. Barbie Tough Trike Princess Ride-On (model # M5727)
10. Dora the Explorer Tough Trike (model # K6672)
11. Diego Tough Trike(model # K6673 and #V4270)
12. Thomas Tough Trike (model # T6209)

For more detailed info regarding the recall, feel free to  contact Fisher-Price at 1-800-432-5437

It’s another year for Rapp’s Bike Show & Swap Meet.  Lots of vendors, collectors and enthusiasts and lots of bikes, tricycles and ride-ons.  Antique and classic bicycles from 1890′s to current day.  Open to the public, whether you’re looking for a new toy, or just want to come see a bunch of old nostalgic bikes in one place.

There are always many bikes as well as parts, literature and collectible items for sale and show.  Vendor space is $30 per spot and admission is $2 per individual.  Public welcome.  Come to buy, sell, trade or just look.

When: January, 16

Where: Days Inn, Butler, PA

Rooms at the Days in are $55, hotel has restaurant and bar where lots of vendors gather the night before.  Info on hotel rooms – 724 287 6761

For more info on the show – call Craig at 412-716-4956.

It’s Cyber Monday once again and major online retailers are slashing prices on a lot of consumer electronics and gift items.  It seems that Amazon running a sale on much of their tricycle inventory, so now is a good time to buy.  You don’t want to wait too long, because not only will the sale end, but prices often get inflated on tricycles when the supply runs low closer to Christmas.

This isn’t the 1940′s anymore, when the stock of tricycles runs low, you can’t just call up Murray in Ohio and order more.  Most all tricycles are made in China, Germany and Italy.  Getting new stock is virtually impossible on short notice.  Every year the prices go up as stock runs out closer to Christmas.  And being that they are about all on sale right now, it might be a good time to buy.

If you grew up the in the 80′s and have little one’s now, you can go back in time with replica Big Wheels.  They are just like the original ones that you had fun on when you were a kid.  Some of them seem to be being sold in limited quantities, so act fast.  Would also make a great Christmas present.  You can find a good  selection of Big Wheels on Amazon.com , or check out this site for original Big Wheels of several models.

Untrue Blu Yucycle

The YUCYCLE is the coolest and most unique new ride to hit the street in years. Super easy to learn and tons of fun to ride. Travel single or let a friend hop on the back. Try it once and you’re hooked!

Hands free allows you to carry items, text message, shoot baskets, drink sodas, and
do lots of other things while riding.
Use your imagination!

• Folding frame with locking quick-release latch
• Folding pedals with push-button lock & release
• Oversized oval tubing alloy frame with chrome moly inserts
• Quick-release, cantilevered adjustable seat
• 3 piece, stitched, unicycle style saddle with dual grab-handles
• Rear step-bar with grip-tape traction for scooter style riding or “hitch-hiking” passengers
• Cambered (tilted) rear wheels for wider tracking and additional stability
• Front wheel: aluminum alloy rim / black spokes with beefy 20 x 2.35″ knobby tires
• Rear wheels: aluminum alloy rims / black spokes with beefy 12.5 x 2.4″ knobby tires
• Some assembly required (tools included)

Recommended ages 12 and up
Up to 200lbs (90kg)

The Vanilla Trike was custom built by bike maker Sacha White for his daughter, which costs him around $10,000. This luxury trike features the finest components with a Brooks leather saddle, cro-moly frame, headset from Campagnolo, front hub and rear wheels from Phil Wood and front end forks fashioned from stainless steel. If you are rich guy and …, you can order one from Vanilla Bicycles.

Recently we received this photo of a young boy in the 1970′s riding an early 1900′s strap steel velocipede tricycle.  Lee Ferber of Peola Valley Pottery sent it the photo of his son.  His son was the third generation owner.  The original owner was his wife’s father in the 19-teens, who then passed it on to his daughter.  Now Lee plans on passing the tricycle down to his grandson next year when he turns 3.  This really is a good example of the great quality of early 1900′s craftsmanship.  Take one look at the tricycles sold at Wal-Mart today, it’s pretty obvious that they won’t make it a hundred years.

We’ve just receive a shipment of NOS replacement tricycle wheelsets (wheels with tires) and semi-pneumatic tricycle tires in sizes ranging from 7 inches to 16 inches.  They are unused an in brand new condition.  The rims and spokes are silver and the tires are unbranded.

Limited quantities are in stock, get them while they are available.  These tricycle tires and wheels make great replacements for vintage tricycles with rotted tires or damaged wheels.  They allow that old family tricycle to be used by another generation of little trikesters.

Dirt King USA has issued the following announcement.  More information can be found on the Dirt King website: Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. What a great holiday. It’s not only fun to show your significant other how much they mean to you, but it’s a great time to show your children how much they mean to you. I remember getting all kinds of fun stuff from my parents on this day. New baseball bats, new shoes, posters, candy, and all types of other stuff. With my parents doing this, it allowed me to see the true essence of Valentine’s Day. It’s all about love. Dirt King wanted to offer something nice for this Valentine’s Day. From now until Valentine’s Day we are offering our Pink Dirt King Tricycles forFirst 50 customers only, get them while you can – $199.00

Order by phone by calling 1-800-542-4081 Mon-Fri: 7am-12pm; 1pm-4:30pm Central Standard time, and tell the customer service representative that you would like the Valentine’s Day special. To make this fair to parents that have little boys too, if you buy a pink tricycle at $199 then you can get up to two more tricycles at any color for $199 per trike. This is a once in a lifetime offer to buy “The World’s Best Tricycle” at this price. As always, these trikes come with a lifetime warranty on the frame and are built to last. Show your children the love they deserve this Valentine’s Day.

Today we’re beginning a series of updates to the online tricycle price guide and manufacturers pages.  We’ll also be updating some other pages on the site as well.  We have hundreds of photos to add and a bit of historical information as well.

We’re also looking for interesting items for articles here on the Tricyclefetish.com blog.  If you have a restoration project that you’d like to show off, email us some pics and a story.

We hope by answering the hundreds of questions we receive here in our blog, we’ll save some time answering the same questions over and over. Search our blog for tricycle information and to see if your question has been answered.