Love on Three Wheels

When I was a little girl, my parents had a kind and thoughtful neighbor who restored a little tricycle for me. His name was Mr. Schoen.  It was red and white when he finished and it spent many happy years on our patio and up and down our sidewalk and around and around in the garage with my sister and I.

My parents put it in storage when we grew too old for it, and pulled it out and brushed it off and sent it off with me to see what I might do to clean it up a year or two ago.  It was a well made trike, with solid rubber wheels, all metal construction and only a few bits that needed replacing.

Out of storage and in need of a little TLC

I started by taking it all apart.  I took lots of photos of it's assembly so that I had some hope of putting things back together in the right order... a little photo forensic reference for the back end of the project.

Front wheel and pedal

Rear wheels

It was pretty dirty and a little rusty, and I got all the pieces tidied up and then stripped them all of paint with that amazing orange stripper and a little bit of wire brushing here and there.  Soon it was down to plain metal and ready for primer.  It was a fun job to pick a paint color.  I bought two cans of automotive hot rod paint in metallic green and two cans of primer.  I picked a bright white gloss for the wheels and handlebar and metallic silver for the fender.

I was fortunate enough to find some new white plastic handles and a pair of perfectly sized vintage pedals... what luck!  Those were the only things that had to be replaced on the whole tricycle.

New old wheels

And we're off!

We are all so very happy with the finished product.  It's sturdy and shiny and is perfect for free wheeling around the basement and yard.  And I love that it's second renovation carries forward with it the kindness and care that was shared with me.