Tricycle Fetish Blog

I purchased the Irish Mail Car in Stanley NC at a used furniture shop for $60.00. Had no idea what it was, but thought it would be fun to restore for my 2 year old grandson. Knew it was probably from the 20′s or 30′s because of wooden seat and cast iron gears. Brought it home and started taking it apart to see if I could find any markings to help identify it. Only marking found were on the drive gear, JR – 2 and the drive hub on the right rear wheel, IM 23J, which I figured were part numbers. The Mail Car was in operable condition with a slight bend in the frame near the drive gear which had misaligned the gears. All parts seemed to be original. Paint on the rims of all wheels under the tires was the same and matched the paint under the seat. Paint also original on the frame under the seat. Did color match to find paint available to restore to original. Biggest problem was the tires. All were dry rotten and falling off the rims. Did Internet search for solid rubber tires. Found www.speedwaymotors.com that had tires for Peddle cars. Wheels were different sizes front and rear. Rear tires from Speedwaymotors fit perfect on spoke rims. The solid wheel on the front was smaller so I had to cut and splice the tire from Speedwaymotors to fit. Used Zap-A Gap adhesive to glue the new tire together. Sets in 15 seconds worked great. Cleaned, degreased all metal parts and primed with Rust-Oleum Rust Reformer. Straightened slight bend in frame to align the gears. Cleaned and primed all wooden parts then painted with original color spray paint from local hobby store. Reassembled the Mail Car and it runs like a champ. Now I just have to teach a 2 year old how to use the push/pull handle bar.

This restoration project was done by TricycleFetish.com visitor, David Ballard. Below are some additional pictures that he took during the restoration process.

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.

A TricycleFetish.com visitor sent us this photo, asking for info. The visitor though it would date to about 1935. It would seem that that age is within reason. The velomobile type pedal vehicle has a horn, drum brakes, brake light, headlights. Velomobiles or Velo-cars came into use around the 1930′s and were popular during World War II when gasoline was hard to find, and afford. The model and brand of this unit are unknown. Many had bodies and fenders and some even had roofs.

Q: got this old tricycle at a junk yard in va looking for car parts , haven’t been able to find out who made it , never seen one with the c shaped backbone like this . sure could use a little help thanks

A: You’ve found a vintage Murray Thunder Rod tricycle from the 1960′s. It’s pretty scarce. If you were thinking about fixing it up, you’ll probably wish you would have left it in the junkyard when you start pricing parts (there was an old stock unused motor in original box on eBay for $245). Below is photo of what your Thunder-Rod is supposed to look like.

Q: I’m trying to find information regarding a children’s tri-bike that I purchased many years ago at an estate sale. On the pedal are the words “Tri-Bike” and all that’s legible of the manufactures name is either “Mac C….” or “Mac G….”. There is a stamp on the underside of the frame that indicates “DALE 12-26-46″. I’m assuming this was an owners stamp perhaps with the date that a child received this bike as a Christmas gift.

A: You have a McClatchie Tri-Bike. This riding toy was a tricycle that you could convert into a bicycle as your child grew. It is very similar in design to the Anthony Brothers Convert-O Bike tricycle. Your tricycle (at least in the picture) is missing the rear step and one wheel. These are not really that uncommon, but information on the company seems to be non-existent. We’ve never found any information whatsoever and nobody seems to know anything about them. The date stamped on the tricycle is inline with when it would have been made. Below is a photo of a Tri-Bike with the rear plate.

Q: I’ve just bought this trike and wondered if you could tell me anything about it. Badge on the front says Siebert.

A: Your tricycle appears to be a mid-late 1930′s Siebert. It was an American maker that during the 1940′s developed a line of strollers that had wheels that could turn from side to side….though the company appears to have been making tricycles since the late 1800′s. Your tricycle is pretty scarce. Having every Siebert catalog or an ad with that exact tricycle on it would probably be the only way to date it more precisely.  This type of streamlined modern tricycle is highly collectible. Here is a a bit of info and a few more Siebert pictures.

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]

Q: I found my younger sister’s tricycle while cleaning out my parent’s garage. My sister was born in 1966, so I am assuming the bike is from the 60′s. However, what confuses me is that while the seat says Troxel, there is no name of the bike manufacturer, only a decal that reads “ball bearing” on one of the two steps. I thought it was a Murray tricycle, but what do I know?!

A: It’s amazing how many emails we get with questions about Troxel tricycles. And you can usually find someone on eBay selling “Vintage Troxel Tricycle.” Troxel, as you clearly understand, is not a tricycle manufacturer. Troxel makes seats/saddles and helmets.

Your tricycle is most likely a mid-late 1960′s tricycle made by Murray. It was probably one of the tricycles they made for a department store chain like Western Auto (in which case it would have been advertised as a Western Flyer). Your tricycle looks to be in pretty nice condition for its age.

Q: My cousin just gave me back my childhood low rider tricycle. I plan to fix it up for my daughter. I was wondering if you could help me identify it. It’s the exact same trike from the movie “The Shining”. Here is a youtube clip of the trike in the movie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t60oY0TbTU  -Mickey

A: It sure looks like an AMF “big wheel” type tricycle that I had when I was young too. We’ve been asked this question before and after a non-exhaustive search, we could find nowhere that told of make/model for sure, but we’re pretty sure that it was made by AMF.

Anyone know for sure? Leave us a comment.

Awhile back a Tricyclefetish.com visitor inquired about NOS headbadge decals for a 1950′s era Evans Colson tricycle. We get a lot of questions like this…the head tube decal on the tricycle is worn badly or missing and the owner wants a new one. They are about impossible to find. You can find some here and there at swap meets, but other than that, they just aren’t out there.

So our usual solution to the problem is to get photoshopping and use what images you can find to make a suitable replica. Most people who face this problem of missing headbadge decals want to know about whether this will affect the value in a positive or negative manner. We think that, if done nicely, whether identical to the original or not, a nicely done photoshopped headbadge deal will increase the value or at the very least, not detract from it in any way.

Vintage tricycles are a niche field to say the least. As long as a replica/fake/photoshopped head tube decal is done in a way that is nice and clean and professional looking, it can only add to the appeal of a tricycle. You can spend five or ten years looking for something that you’ll never find, or you can redo it on a computer and have it made up by a sticker company for a nominal fee. Our thoughts are that it is better to be nice, but not necessarily original, than to have a void on the head tube where the original sticker might someday be…..if you can find it, but most times, you never will.

Anyway, the owner of the pictured tricycle sent us photos of a nearly done restoration that still needs the handlebars added, and it looks great.

Update: Today we received photos of the finished project. Very nice job indeed.

Q: Here is the tricycle that I am inquiring about. I would love to know anything you could tell me about it, like how old it is and things like that. It was my grandfather’s and he was born in 1908, and i tried searching for tricycles during that time but I did not find anything similar. Since he is no longer alive I can not ask him any info about it, so I was hoping you could help me. The right back wheel is broken also and I would love to replace it or have it fixed if you could tell me where I might be able to find a wheel or a repair person I would greatly appreciate it.

A: The tricycle was probably not ridden by your grandfather, unless we was a leprechaun. Your tricycle is a Sky Tot and was made by the Junior Toy Company in the late 1930′s. Though it isn’t as old as you had thought, it is probably much more desirable than most all tricycles from 1910.

As far as the back wheel goes…it depends on what is wrong with it. Replacements are hard to find, but not impossible. If you post photos of the broken wheel to the Tricyclefetish Facebook page, we’ll try to help further.

Q: What is the brand of the tricycle in the Cadillac Shield TV commercial?

A: The tricycle in that advertisement looks to be a made up creation using a combination of new and vintage parts….that’s our guess anyway. If you do a Google search for Cadillac Shield Ad, you can find links to the Facebook page and YouTube channel of the actors in the commercial, possibly you could ask them if they know.

Our best guess is that they used a combination of Schwinn Roadster and Radio Flyer Tailspin, added vintage handlebars, mag wheels and some kind of odd pedals, and painted the whole thing yellow with flames. We could be way off though. It definitely isn’t stock, and if it is, we haven’t seen one.

Q: We bought this trike out of an old barn mostly to use as a yard ornament then it occurred to us that maybe it was something worth restoring.  Any info even just the brand would be appreciated – Jenny

A: Your tricycle is a 1940′s Junior Toy Co. trike. Probably won’t ever be able to narrow down the age to an exact year without original paint. From the pictures you sent, it looks like all it needs to be functional is a bit of oil and a pair of pedals. To fully restore it you’d need to spend hundreds of dollars. I’m sure there are some toy collectors out there who would cringe at the thought of using it for a lawn ornament. That said, it isn’t a real valuable tricycle, even in nice condition, and I’ve seen some pictures of some tricycles that are really valuable sitting in a flower bed.

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.

Q: Any ideas as to manufacture and time of manufacture?  Any information would be greatly appreciated.

A: First of all, nice job on the restoration. Looks to be very well done.  There was a similar tricycle offered for sale on eBay earlier this year. The seller said that the maker was Glamb Engineering. Where they got this information or idea isn’t known. A Google search for that company brings up nothing but the blog article from April that we wrote about the tricycle.

At first glance your tricycle looks like an earlier Colson frame circa 1920′s, based on the seatpost lug, handlebar stem and forks. Usually Colson trikes had headbadges. If we find out further info or maker’s name for sure, we’ll update this article and let you know.

OK, so it looked like a Colson, but it isn’t. Just a day after doing this blog article, we got this picture of the same identical tricycle.  This little sidecar trike actually has the original headbadge and it is clearly a Steelcraft made by Murray. The tricycle does look to be from the 1930′s or possibly the late 20′s. The tricycle surely appeared in Steelcraft catalog from the year(s) it was produced.

I would guess that the tricycle had a very limited production run though, based on the few that you see. The construction is quite good, so they should have survived. My guess is that the child riding in the sidecar ended up getting their legs bent under the seat and/or foot rest, resulting in injuries.

The owner of this tricycle would like to know if he should restore it to sell it in order to gain more value. Like most tricycles that have this much wear, it would cost far more than any gain in value to restore the tricycle. In other words a restoration would increase the value if done properly, but the cost in time and money restoring it would never be fully recouped, and almost certainly not for a profit.

The Harley themed tricycle at the top looks to be a great restoration (though not original) but probably not worth in dollars the cost in parts and labor that it cost to do it, and if so, not worth a lot more. Tricycles aren’t like the paintings you see on Antiques Roadshow where a conservator could fix some damage for a few hundred dollars and it would increase the value by $10,000. With tricycles, it’s usually the opposite, you put in thousands of dollars worth of time and effort and get a few hundred dollar increase in value.

We’ve covered this type of question many times, and again it fits for this question. Whether or not to restore something should 9 times out of 10 be based on a personal desire to restore it for use by a child or for a fun project. Unless you have access to some 38¢ per hour laborers, monetary gain isn’t a realistic cause for restoration, or expectation.

Below is a “before” photo of the Harley restoration pictured at the top of the page.

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.

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.

Q: Thank you.  I recently acquired the tricycle you see in the pictures.  I can find no marks to identify it.  I also can’t find any similar tricycle on your site or on other sites.  It is 15″ high and 22″ long.   I would appreciate any information you can share.

A: Your tricycle is a streamline Garton tot trike from circa 1937-40 era. Garton made this design for a number of years. The 1930′s tricycles seem to have the batwing type handlebars, which were later switched to a metal bar type handlebar with wooden grips. You can find other pictures of similar tricycles on our Garton manufacturers page.

Q: I just bought an old tricyle but I can’t identify it. I can send you some pictures of it..I think it is nearly of 1900 but I’m not sure…That’s a tricycle for children with 3 steel rims where I have to put tires.. (rim diameter : 40cm so between 15 and 16inch I think)The tricycle is done four sided nuts. I saw a friend who told me it is older than 1900 because of the frame and pedals….

A: What you have is a bit of a Frankenstein’s monster. The frame was originally a bicycle and someone has made it into a tricycle.  Your friend may be right about the age of the frame, if not pre-1900, then it is certainly early 1900′s. But the wheels are not right for that time period and were added later. The wheels look to be for pneumatic tires (but it is hard to tell from the photos). Tricycles only really started having pneumatic tires around 1930 and only a small percentage of tricycles ever had pneumatic wheels. You might be able to find some info on the frame from a classic bicycle collector website.

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.