I have been looking to buy a Winkie since I saw one. I've missed two and then found the one pictured. This is quite an interesting tricycle. Built in the mid fifties through the 60s(I think). I have three young grandsons so we'll see if they like it?? I wish I was a kid again, I took it for a ride but it's a bit small for me.



Done: (except for a few bits of touch up for the fenders. This was a fun project. It rides great with an old guy on it.

Pics of you riding it would've been awesome.

"Winkie?"

Kind of odd how euphemisms evolve over time and across the ocean and stuff...

I think you'd get arrested if you said children took turns riding on your Winkie.

Maybe a video when I'm done with it?

I would discourage the use of tricycles for children today. Training wheels are also obsolete. Kids should be started on a strider and go direct to two wheels. They develop a superior sense of balance this way and learn how to use their body to balance, it's better for their development and far more fun. However, tricycles are cool in a historical kind of way and that looks interesting, it would be good for a child with balance issues. My friend's kid was riding "skinnies" and a teeter totter on a pedal bike before he was 4. The C&V crowd might not know what that is, but these terms originate on the "North Shore" which is in North Vancouver, British Columbia and is perhaps the most influential area for mountain biking as it is today.

Before I do something dreadful, does anyone know if the LEFT axle nut is LHT?

I know grown men that have and ride the kids' Schwinn bikes. To me, that sounds frightfully uncomfortable.

In cases like these, it's not about the ride. And if you can share that with your children/grandchildren all the better!

Very cool. It looks like they used the handlebar and rod brake directly from the DL-1; is the brake stirrup enclosed in some kind of fairing?

As for the axle nut: no idea, haven't seen one before. I can't think of a reason why it would be LHT. Is it just really stuck? PB Blaster and patience can do wonders.

Gloden Boy,

Yes indeed. The main reason I bought this was for my "age appropriate" gandsons. There are no better times than time spent with them! Last weekend we fine tuned Pepere's (me) desktop Trebuchet and attacked a dragon's castle. Great fun!

It may be fun to get all the parts to the Winkie ready to assemble and have the boys help put it together.


Brianinc,

Very much like the DL-1 but smaller, the front fork is in two pieces that enclose the stirrup. I'll post pictures tomorrow.

I have to fabricate a holding device for the left axle and see if it's right or left hand thread. I have access to an impact wrench but don't think it wise to try it. The axle nut threads are 26 TPI and I would hate to have to repair them if I chose the wrong direction!

Really?

Really.

Right you are, just look at what happened to these two.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYTb06bDtMc&authuser=0

Very nifty Winkie.

I agree that training wheels are dumb. Misguided more than obsolete. They were never a good idea. But I don't think tricycle riding has no value.

Somewhere there is a picture of me on the interwebs wearing my little daughter's helmet and riding her little bicycle. I'm also shirtless. You folks are free to dig it up and embarrass me.

A Royal Winkie, at the 32 second mark:

Clips of The Prince of Wales as a child | Royal Childhood

Some people don't have the motor skills to ride a two wheeler and a tricycle may their only option. I knew an elderly gentleman that had that issue, he rode a racing tricycle and was a helluva lot faster than many people on road bikes. FWIW his twin brother rode fixed gear had faster TT times than people half his age, they were in their 70's at the time.

Tricycles serve a purpose and there is nothing wrong with them.

Aaron

No one in this thread said there was

How about the Duke of Edinburough instead?

Interesting design, well made tricycle. The rod brake is very much like the DL-1.

Hello. I am new to this forum.
I have recently purchased a Raleigh Winkie tricycle which I will sympathetically restore for my granddaughter to use.
It is the Deluxe version with back box and telescopic control handle.
It also has Dunlop Airsprung puncture proof tyres. My question is, does anyone know where I can get replacement tyres? (I live in the UK)
Thanks in advance, John

It is difficult to get a sense of size from the photos on the thread. I have a pair of 20 inch British children’s Bicycles that take 20 x 1 3/8 (37-451) tires. I bought one replacement at my local bike shop.

Sorry, I should have said, the Raleigh Winkie tricycle has 16 inch wheels.

Not useful.
An example of control issues best kept to ones self. And also a reason I and many people avoid BF.
.... In my opinion.
I started on a tricycle in 1965. I've played bike polo and jumped bikes. Through my life I couldn't be knocked off a bike OR my feet.
I guess you come from weaker stock?

That's a very cool tricycle.
In England there is a following for tri-cycles also.
Sometimes it sticks.... 😁

This page list 5 different "16-inch" tyre sizes. What is the marked size on the old ones?

Edit: looking again at the size table, it seems very likely to be the common 349mm size. That should be the measurement of the inner diameter of the old casing. SJS Cycles has inexpensive Raleigh Records in that size.

You avoid bike forums because people express opinions? Also, thank you for the personal insult.

I'll note my post above is several years old. I will role back my suggestion that tri-cycles shouldn't be used it was a rather bold statement.

In my experience raising two small children over the past few years they love balance bikes but are afraid to pedal. Tricycles certainly can allow kids to learn the mechanism of pedaling before they are ready to balance on two wheels. I gave up trying to get my autistic child to pedal a two wheel bike (he knows how to from me holding him up and from riding a trail a bike). I put my foot in my mouth and put training wheels on his bike so he can learn the feeling of pedaling under his own power. I hope he will be ready soon to try without training wheels but, as anyone with an autistic child likely knows, they will do things when they are ready and that could be a really long time.

My worry is if you put a kid on a C&V tricycle, it might encourage him to become one of those C&V bicycle miscreants later in life.