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While in the stages of
my life where a tricycle to me was what car was to a teen,
my aunt Evelyn had given me one that must have been made in
the 1930s. I rode it constantly when we visited her, so she
finally gave it to me. Not
being in the greatest shape, the rubber handle grips were
missing, the paint was coming off, and the tires were worn,
but still very useable. It was a large tricycle by average
standards with very large wheels. As you can see in the
photo this kept my feet from the ground. I used to take it
apart and put it back together just out of inquisitiveness.
Noticing the fork of the front wheel could go into its
collar of the body both ways, I put it in up side down. This
of course, positioned the front wheel up in the air instead
of on the ground. While in this particular state of
assembly, I turned the whole assembly up side
down without the seat attached.
(see illustration below, left)
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In this arrangement the only place to sit was between the
forked frame and the rear axle. I couldn't use the
regular seat so I took the round bottom of a bushel basket and attach it
to
the rear fork over the axel. Now I had an low, under-slung
tricycle which was still very functional. And
function it did! |
The speed doubled because
of the extra torque I could apply by pulling against the handlebars. The center
of gravity was so low and the stability was amazing, I became the terror of the
sidewalks. At times I could almost keep up with bicycles. The only limit this
thing seemed to have was the human element, me. One day flying around the corner
at the bank, I almost ran over a lady and she complained
to the town cop. He said if I didn't slow down he would
take away my machine. |
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