Tricycle Fetish Blog

We’ll once again start selecting a trike each week or so for the Tricycle of the Week.   The Tricycle of the Week will be chosen from the trikes currently for sale on the internet, including on sites such as eBay, Craigslist, Ecrater etc.  If you would like to have your tricycle considered for our Tricycle of the Week, including mention here on our blog, Twitter and Facebook, just drop us an email with a picture.  The only real requirements are that it is currently for sale and that you have at least one good picture.

Tricycles have one of four types of tires: pneumatic, semi-pneumatic, tubular and wire-tied.  All of these types have something in common…they are made of rubber and they wear out.  Most pre-War tricycles that were actually ridden are in need of new tires, whether just for aesthetics or to actually make the tricycle functional.  Read on to see what kind of tires you need and how to replace them.

Wire-Tied Rubber Tires: This type of tire has rubber with a wire in the middle.  Often times, especially on the ones with less wear, there is a spiral pattern of “tread” along the tire.  In heavily worn examples you may see a groove down the center of the tire and possibly even may see the wire inside.  There is usually a small gap where the two sides of the tire come together.

At the left is an example of a 1930’s disc type wheel with a tied rubber wheel in pretty nice condition.  If you click on the picture you can see a line at about 7 o’clock on the tire, which is where the two sides of the tire come together.  This type of tire was used from circa 1900 through 1960’s, with production decreasing for this type at the end of that time period.

Re-tiring wheels with this type of tire is the most difficult.  You will not only need rubber and wire, but also a wire-tying machine that is very scarce.  If you don’t have a wire-tying machine, Brian at the Racycle Blog has developed a do-it-yourself method of re-tiring tricycle wheels that is pretty straight forward and even has a complete list of supplies and tools including a source for the rubber which is pretty hard to find.

For those of you who don’t have access to the tools, The author of the procedure is only a hobbyist, not a service pro, but he is willing to re-tire tricycle wheels on a case-by-case basis. You can contact him with a description of your project at the email address listed on the top right of his web log.  Keep in mind the procedure is time intensive and will likely cost more than you’d spend on a couple of new tricycles from Wal-Mart, but refurbishing grandpa’s old trike is often worth the expense.

Semi-Pneumatic Tires: The next type of tire is the semi-pneumatic type.  These tires usually appear to be solid rubber rings, but in fact have a small hollow center. These tires are common on tricycles from the 1930’s through present.  They are much wider and thicker than wire-tied wheels.  Excessive wear of this type of tires makes the tricycle virtually unrideable.  To replace this type of tire, cut off the old worn tire with a hacksaw and knife.

Once wheel is ready (painted, chromed, etc. to your liking) warm the tire in a large pot of boiling water to make the rubber more flexible.  Then stretch the tire over the rim.  We currently have a decent selection of sizes of replacement semi-pneumatic tricycle tires in stock.

When trying to retire a rim with a semi-pneumatic tire that is too small, it may be possible to stretch the rubber enough to make the tire fit.  If the rubber is not dry-rotted heating should allow the rubber to be stretched.  The limitation on how much it will stretch on a good tire is likely to be how strong an individual is.   ie. When stretching by hand, you won’t be strong enough to break the tire.  The amount that a particular tire will stretch depends on several factors including tire diameter, tire age and type or rubber used.

Tubular Tires: These tires have a rubber tire that is separate from the tube and have a bead on each side that hooks into the lip of the rim, just like a bicycle tire.  These type of tires are most common on the more modern tricycles and adult tricycles.  Any bicycle shop should have the most common sizes to fit children and adult tricycles.  Some manufacturers of the hefty or all-terrain tricycles with the large tires also use this type of tire, but finding a replacement might be easiest through the manufacturer.

Pneumatic Tires: These tires were most common circa the 1930’s and are a combination of tire and tube in one piece that is installed on the rim and inflated.  Rims of tricycles that use this type of tire are similar to those that use semi-pneumatic rims, but they have a hole in the rim for the valve of the tire to go through.  Pneumatic tires are also called balloon tires.  They were the big puffy looking tires on many Streamlined Modern tricycles.

Replacement tires of this type of extremely hard to find and very expensive, and we do not currently have a supplier (or even know of one) for reproduction replacements.

Q: Can you tell me the name of the manufacturer and style name of this tricycle, and its approximate value? We may wish to sell it, can you suggest where (website/publication, etc.) we could advertise it for sale?  I have done searches on the internet, but have not found a picture of any other tricycles that look like this one.  Teresa

A: You have a late 1950’s era Murray Supersonic Jet ride-on pedal plane.  This type of toy isn’t normally considered a tricycle.  It’s more of a pedal plane or a ride-on toy in general.  It’s sort of built the same way as a pedal tractor with its chain drive.  This was a toy designed by Viktor Schreckengost and over the years there were some changes.  The exact year is unknown.  If you had catalogs from each year around the late 1950’s, you might be able to pinpoint it based on design and paint scheme, but the exact year really isn’t important.

As far as selling it goes…  I would think that there are some pedal car sites that would have classified ads.  Probably the easiest way would be Craigslist.  It’s free and a lot of collectors search for items there.  If that doesn’t work there’s always eBay, you just have to pay pretty high fees and deal with all of the eBay hassles.

Q: I bought an old Taylor trike and the front tire is shot. I was wondering if the 16′ wheel and tire combo. you have for sale would work for my trike. the size looks pretty close. I was hoping you might be able to help me in that this is the first trike I have bought and I don’t know much about them . Thanks for any help. Keith.

A: First look at the tricycle’s hub.  Does it look similar to this?

Circa 1930's or 40's Taylor Tricycle Hub & Crankset With Pedals

Pictured is a Taylor hub, bearings, fork mounts, crankset and pedals that is indicative of what most Taylor hubs looked like.  Taylor wheels were built with spokes and nipples (like bicycle wheels) that could be adjusted, rather than spokes that were simply welded to the rim and hub.  If this is the case with your tricycle, you could not use our 16 inch wheelset, at least not without getting new cranks and possibly new pedals.

You should however, be able to take the tire off the 16 inch rim and put it on your rim, supposing it is of close enough size.  Oddly the cost of the rims on our wheels is negligible when compared to what it would cost to have a bicycle shop build you a new one with spokes.  If our tire will fit your rim, we can remove it from the rim for shipment and will offer a discount on just the rubber.

Q: Hi, Attached are photos of an old Tricycle that I am trying to identify. The headplate reads “One of the Badger Line”. It makes no reference to a maker or year made. I would greatly appreciate any help you could give me. This one has me stumped. Thanks, Randy

A: Ah, you’ve got us stumped too.  Your tricycle was made in the 19-teens or 1920’s era.  It is very similar to a lot of tricycles made during this time period.  It has a heavy tube and lug design and seems to have generic parts such as handlebars, saddle etc.  Some company must have provided these generic parts and lugs during that time period, because we see a lot of oddball brands, such as yours, in questions from our readers.

There are two possible sources for tricycles such as yours that seem to be one-of-a-kind rare.  Both ways were used by different companies.  One is that a larger manufacturer made the tricycles for a retailer or distributor of some sort and custom headbadges were applied to give the trike the branding of the retailer.  The other source is that small manufacturing or retail companies (anything from hardware stores to toy makers to car makers) bought tricycle parts, tubing and lugs and made their own tricycles.

Both ways are still happening today, mostly in the bicycle industry.  For example, all of Wal-Mart’s inventory is essentially made by one big manufacturer and labeled with different “brand” names.  And tubing and lugs are readily available for any welder to make their own bikes at home.

Sorry we couldn’t be more help, maybe another reader will know something and help out in the comments section.  Also when researching your tricycle, you might want to focus on Wisconsin and toy, bike and auto manufacturing companies there during the 19teens.  Unfortunately your searches online will probably be clogged with Trek bicycle results, so omit the word Trek.

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.