How to Restore an Old Tricycle
Restore an old or antique tricycle. This is a fun project, but must be done out of love for an old personal toy or antique rather than turning a profit. Follow the tips below for successfully restoring a tricycle.
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Instructions
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Rub the tricycle down with paint thinner to remove any unoriginal layers of paint. The original paint job should be visible after this.
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Clean built up grease from bearings. Pour the paint thinner over top and letting it soak in for 15 minutes.
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Scrub the parts that have built up grease residue with a paintbrush. This should remove most of it.
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Spray the tricycle down with a hose. The pressure of the water removes the most stubborn grease build ups. Dry the tricycle well to prevent it from rusting.
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Evaluate how much rust the tricycle has. For light rust, special paints can be purchased that cover rust. Rustoleum brand is good and can be purchased as a primer or as a pint to paint right over the rusty areas. Heavily rusted areas will need to be sanded and then painted with a layer of primer.
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Repaint the faded tricycle its original color. If the tricycle is not too old, it may just need retouching in a few places, but the paint must match exactly. Once the paint job is done, wax the tricycle to make it shiny.
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Locate replacement parts if needed. Try the Classic and Antique Bicycle Exchange.
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Comments
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I painted my lines on my Western Flyer, hard but got it done.
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Angie -what about a car detailing shop for the very thin lines. Believe then might sell something- so you wouldn't have to paint the lines.
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I am helping my father restore an old tricycle and it has some painted horse and spurs on it. Wondering if anyone knows anything about how to use some kind of stencil on that? It has some real fine lines and he wants it to be exact. Please help! I guess it is more like a tricycle/bicycle type of thing. Super unique and appraised at $375. So, he is pretty excited about this one. He has tons of tricycles that he has picked up over the years, but has never ran across anything like this before.
