cabowabo70

Hello, I found an old Sears Free Spirit 5-Speed trike some tenants left when he moved out of a house I rent out. I contacted them and they said they didn't want it. I figured since it's only a 24" it would be perfect for my short mother. So I put new tires brakes and cables and removed the broken "stem shifter" and replaced it with a thumb shifter. I have to change the derailleur and then it will be 100% rideable. But here's the thing -- the paint is bad. It's faded and rust is showing in a bunch of places on the frame. I would love to sand it down and paint it for her. But she's 64 and disabled from arthritis so I'm really not sure how many more years she will be able to ride it. When she can no longer ride it I'll probably sell it. So with the understanding that I'm probably going to end up selling it in a few years would it be foolish to paint it or does it even matter?






Thank You

All The Best

lostarchitect 

Hi! These are not considered to be worth much and painting it won't really add to the value, so the decision is a personal one. Will your mom be happy with it as is, or do you think she'd be happier if it had a new coat of paint?

If you are going to paint it you might take the opportunity to replace the bearings & grease in the hubs, bottom bracket and headset. That will probably make everything smooth as butter.

cabowabo70

Thanks. I knew they weren't worth much, I just didn't want to do anything to lessen the value. I have to say, I know it's just a store brand trike but it's still kinda surprising these things aren't worth more than they are. I bought her a Schwinn Meridian single-speed trike a few years ago and compared to the quality of this Sears trike the Schwinn is garbage. Those things are selling for $270-$300, don't get me wrong, the Schwinn looks nicer but it sure isn't made better. Plus this one is a lot easier for her to ride.
I really don't thank she cares either way but I know I would like to paint it for her.

Thanks again for the advice.

All The Best

FastJake

In general, old store brand bikes have negligible value. I'm not familiar with trikes and they're certainly much less common than two-wheeled bikes but I would not expect this Sears to have much value either.

Go ahead and paint it and don't worry decreasing the value. (If it were a nicer bike-shop quality bike my advice would be the opposite.)

lostarchitect 

I think part of it is that even low end bikes 30 years ago were pretty solid and not intended to be disposable, like new ones. Kinda sad, but everything changes.