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It's whether the basket works for it's intended or not, that it should be judged on. Assuming it does, I like the look of that bike.

I can't substantiate anything now, it happened a long time ago. So on that basis, I shall delete the post.

I don't know what they make pretzals out of but it's knot bread.

What's brown and sticky?

Elton John's wedding ring.

On a bike, you shouldn't even be in the debris strewn margin, whereas on a trike it's all but inevitable that the inside wheel will be at least some of the time.

Actually not. I don't like getting punctures and I don't like riding in crap. I ride well out from the curb because on a trike, the camber makes them dangerously precarious. Motorists might not like it but they seem to be very tollerant of me and are remarkably patient waiting for, gaps to pass. They treat me the same way they would, passing a horse. Although, I think they must assume I am a retard with special needs.

I wave a thumb at them to relieve the pressure.

Hey Snottyotter, I thought I read your name on a loaf of bread, then I looked again, it said "Thick Cut".

No Dandy, I'm afraid your maths is completely shit. On a brighter note next time you come to the shop, I'll do you a good deal on pressure gauges. £10 each, or three for £35.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention.

Negative Reasons

You can't just point and glide like a normal bike.
They need continual micro adjustment to control and steer.
They don’t climb well.
If you get out of the saddle, you lose traction and the wheels spin.
They scare the shit out of you, when descending.
They are noisey and have all sorts of quirky squeaks and rattles.
They don’t corner well and have a tendency to plough straight on.
Getting them to go round even moderate bends, requires learning completely new skill sets.
Attempting corners at speed is tantamount to declaring you’re fed up with life and you don’t give a crap whether you live or die.
Difficult to mount, you cant just swing your leg over.
Children point and laugh at you.
Teenagers throw things at you.
They wreck the door frames to your house, taking them in and out.
You can't fit mudguards.
You can't take them on a train.
The girls you'd like to shag won't be seen dead with you. (Again this might not be a trike issue???)
To be accepted by other tricyclists, you need to have an eccentric moustache.
They provide an additional reason for why people might think you're a cunt.
50% extra chance of catching a puncture.

Positive Reasons

Errr... did I mention they are fun to ride?

I might have one for sale, if anyones interested and I would recommend a test ride before purchasing. And that concludes the nationally infamous, no frills, no bull shit, take it or leave it, tell it like it is, if you don’t like it, there’s the door, Spa Cycles sales pitch.

I happen to like riding and racing trikes.

Anybody still in doubt that Snail is demented?

I have to admit, I can think of way many more negative reasons why riding trikes is a bad idea, than good reasons.

Negative reasons.

Rare and hard to find.
Expensive to buy.
Difficult to source spare parts for.
Extra complexity.
None compatability with modern componentry.
Complicated and difficult to service.
Extra weight.
Extra wind resistance.
Extra drag.
Extra rolling resistance.
Harder to ride.
More effort required to control.
No rear brakes
Require more road space.
Veer off course without warning.
Pisses off motorists.
Handle like super market trolleys.
Most people think you must be a retard with special needs.
Others assume you have balance issues and inner ear problems.
They blow away in the wind when you leave them outside shops.
Bulky to store.
Follow the camber of the road.
More expensive to paint.
Larger paint surfaces offer greater opportunities to chip paint.
I can't find anybody to ride with. (that might not necessarily be a trike thing??).
Three chances of hitting each and every pothole.
I only have two thumbs and I have three tyres.

Positive Reasons.

Pisses off motorists.
You can stop and roll a ciggarette without putting your feet down in muddy puddles.
Brilliant fun to ride.

I know what you mean, I found an old Carlton Flyer (1965 by my reckoning) and had it renovated - it rides better than anything else I own.

I would love to be able to say that this Higgins, will ride better than anything else I own. But the honest truth is, all trikes handle like unstable and precarious, super market trolleys.

always wanted a racing trike. had to turn down a tandem trike the other day, no room in the stable. interesting project. re-spray, totally renovate?

I have six trikes in total and this is my third racing one. The solution I came up with for storing them, was removing the ceiling from my bathroom, opening up a space to hoist them into the roof.

So far, I’ve stripped this one down to the steel and it will get a lick of paint next month. I was thinking blue and ivory with a barber pole twist. But apart from a vintage looking paint job, I have little interest into restoring it to vintage condition. I will be using good quality, modern componentry wherever I can. Apart from the forks, axles and differential, every other part has been chucked straight in the metal waste bin. I have a nice pair of 40 hole sprint rims laced, five toed crows foot pattern, into large flange Higgins hubs, waiting to bolt on, along with Middleburn cranks and Nitto Noodle bars and stem. The rest of the build, has not been determined yet.

I just bought myself another doer upper from Ebay. A 1954 Higgins Ultralite trike. It cost me £180 and these pictures show the condition of it, at the time of purchase. It is obviously in a completely un-rideable condition, missing many of the parts normally considered essential. Those parts that do remain, are in pretty poor, to non salvageable condition. However, the frame and forks appear to be in reasonably good condition, with no particular issues that raise concerns.

This is in truth, nothing other than a rather bizarre assembly of rusty metal tubes, cunningly formed into a well in which to throw reckless amounts of money, time and, effort. Bringing something like this back to life is a ridiculous endeavour, with few benefits and zero chance of recouping any moneys expended. It is taken on purely as a labour of love. I like taking old bikes and making them work again and I happen to like riding and racing old trikes. Regardless of any money spent, it will still be a lot cheaper than having a new one custom built.

This picture shows a detail of the axle assembly loops and a flip floppable two wheel drive differential. It helps when cornering by transferring all the power to the wheel turning with least resistance and can be turned on the axles to be geared or fixed single speed. As I already have a 1961 Higgins trike with a 3x10 Campagnolo drive chain, I am considering building this one into a single speed machine.

You have to come from Norfolk to get thumbs like that.

I would go for the lightest oil I had readily available. For me, that would not be FinishLine (my favourite general cycle oil) but machine oil, either from my hair clippers or girlfriend's sewing machine.

You're trying to convince us you have a girlfriend?
I think not.

Funny that you should mention that General, because, I'm really mystified as to why I don’t have a girlfriend. In fact I’m so mystified, I’m as confused as Lieutenant Geordi La Forge was, as he examined the Enterprise's faulty warp drive during the season 3 finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

the average man's penis is three times the length of his thumb?

Surely this is the other way around?

No. Only for you Snotty.

Thumbs are not just great for checking tyre pressure, they can also be used measuring other things. For example did you know, the average man's penis is three times the length of his thumb?

I wasn't at the time, trying to belittle you. I gave you bloody good and sound advice based on (although you don't know it), many years of professional mechanicing experience. I took the time and made the efort, to inject a bit of humour into my post. Hopefully I got you thinking about what is important to know about your tyre pressures and what is not. Perhaps as a result, you will become more self relient, confident and competant in looking after your bike. It might also give you good pointers for which features to look for, when purchasing a pump in the future.

Bicycles are simple machines and there is much to be appreciated in that simplicity. But in our world, there is a tendancy to make things overly complex in an effort to reach greater level of perfection. Often the results are less than satisfactory but people don't seem to understand. You spent money on an idiot device, which you don't need and dosn't work. But even if it worked flawlessly, it would never be able to significantly improve your cyling pleasure. It will still be harder to cycle up hills, than down. You will still get rained on. You will still get cut up by ignorant motorists. Arse holes will still try to steel your bike. You got the exact same advice in the exact same manner that I dispence daily to customers walking into Spa Cycles. Some walk out not purchasing anything and are better off for the experience.

I would never have thought to put grease in such a device, I would go for the lightest oil I had readily available. For me, that would not be FinishLine (my favourite general cycle oil) but machine oil, either from my hair clippers or girlfriend's sewing machine.

You shouldn't need to use a pressure gauge in the first place. Most people are born with two, one on each hand and they call them thumbs. Pressure gauges are stupid things attached to pumps, to appeal to idiots and make them spend more money. They are completely and utterly pointless. They add more complexity, weight and expense to your pump. They provide extra chances of leaks and further opportunities to go wrong or fail (as you're experiencing now). They take the energy that could have been usefully employed putting air in your tube, to push an inaccurate needle, round a hard to read dial. Their only function is to satisfy the wants and needs of complete mechanical incompetents or those anal and sad weirdoes, whose day will be spoilt, if they know one tyre has 2 pounds per square inch, more pressure than the other.

As a practical measure, you should know exactly how hard or supple you like to run your tyres and know what that feels like to your thumb. Their benefits of thumb pressure gauges are many. They are free, simple, easily calibrated, self lubricating and unless you are a complete moron, difficult to loose in a cluttered work shop. With a little practice, you can get tyres easily within a couple of pounds of each other and that is plenty fine for the needs of a any and all cyclists and that includes the pros.

I would never bother polishing out all the rust pitting. Frames get weeker as you remove the metal.