DarinIA2012

Hello everyone!

My name is Darin Mellor and I am new to the site. I have this 1937 Colson Tricycle that my grandfather gave to me as a child. He picked it up at a rummage sale somewhere back in Cheyenne, WY in the 90's. I used to ride it around the neighborhood as a kid with the font wheel wobbling and no tread left on the hard rubber tires.

One day a guy that was a collector / bike flipper asked me if I would sell it to him for $20 bucks. I went home and asked my parents if I could and they refused. Soon thereafter my mother reached out to someone at work that restores vintage bicycles professionally as a hobby. The man restored the bike and it took months to find the correct parts and it has looked fantastic ever since.

He found the tricycle to be a 1937 Colson and it is a full sized upright trike. It is chain driven and the chain's cog is unique in that it looks like it pushes every other link in the chain. Also, only one wheel is driven by the chain, which is a unique design.

My main question is that we are looking to sell this tricycle and wanted to know what would be a good starting point for a price on it and what would possibly be the top end price it would go for in a perfect world based on the pictures and its condition. Please review and let me know what your thoughts are.


Thanks in advance!

Darin Mellor

DarinIA2012

Here is another photo. Sorry to post again file size is too large to post all three at once. So I will leave you with the two.

DarinIA2012

No one really has any info or can point me in the right direction?

Laps

well all 5 trikes i have own were chain driven with a cog specialy made for trikes , with a drum brake and 1wheel driven ...
i think yours is cool looking and might be a custom frame , but other than that it looks pretty normal as far as parts/mechanic goes
i never seen a full sized trike (1peice frame) usually they are a trike kit on a frame dedicated for trike...nice trike

"""the chain's cog is unique in that it looks like it pushes every other link in the chain""" a fixed gear/no free-wheel?

DarinIA2012

Thanks for the response Laps! Maybe the cog setup on mine is not unique, but it is different from your typical setup that you see on one geared bicycles. There is the larger cog in the front and one in the rear that turns the rear wheel. The difference is that if you picture your normal cog looking like this ^_^_^_^ and the cogs on mine looking like this ^___^___^___^ so it is like every other one or a bigger Someone responded on a similar forum that they are usually only drive one wheel to help with cornering. I am not sure how the frame could be custom unless it was custom when it was constructed in the 1930's. Believe me the bike was rusty, the front wheel wobbled due to the bearings being out, and there were cracks and holes in the original hard rubber tires. We made sure that we guy that did the restore did it right and didn't put any different parts on it that wouldn't have come on it. Also, there isn't a break on the trike. So if want to stop you might have to put your feet to the ground or try to slow the speed of the pedals. They move at the same rate as the trike and they do not coast. Coasting can only be accomplished if you take your feet off the pedals and let them spin with your movement. Maybe that will give you a better idea bout the trike. We put $400 into doing the restore and heard it was worth a lot, but I heard there isn't a big following on trikes and the Colson Brand. It would be nice to find a buyer that would appreciate it though and be able to share it with others more than we are able to. We just keep it clean and stored indoors on display in the basement.

ksisler

Was there any lettering or badges on it before the repaint?

Laps

Its called skip tooth gear/chain it is sometime compatible with some regular gears/chains , this indicate that it is indeed an old trike ... some just use regular cogs and chop some teeth of to give it the look , but its useless

wrk101

Need a before picture. Unfortunately, the "restoration" may well have removed most of its value. Wear and tear = patina, and any original markings are now gone. Chain guard looks like a remake.

Just like antique furniture, while refinishing will make the piece look more visually appealing, and often more useful, it almost always destroys value. I destroyed a lot of value on my antiques before I figured this out.

DarinIA2012

No there were no markings on it before we had it worked on. It was rusty and the badge was missing.

Thank you for the clarification on the type of gear/chain set up that is on there. All parts are original and as far as I know nothing was remake. The cog was just cleaned up and the rust was removed.


I realize that restoration does destroy the value on most antiques, but the antique market has shrunk quite a bit as well. However, the bike was ready to go to the scrap heap because it was not rideable from a safety standpoint. We had to do something to try to repair and we went with a professional to restore it in Wyoming. It looks sharp. So what would be a fair asking price to start with it on eBay or something? I know there's not much of a Colson following.