No Town and Country for Old Men
I have been looking for a Schwinn Town and Country Tri-Wheeler for quite a while. They rarely show up here in Big D, for some reason. Now, that might be because the target demographic for these trikes has always been people that are over 75 years old and live in either Arizona or Florida beach communities, but I’m not certain. Regardless, one Saturday last month, I checked Craigslist first thing and found this trike listed for $100.00! It had been listed for nine minutes, and I was the first caller. These trikes, when they show up, are always $250.00-300.00.
I bought this trike from a big, tall, pony-tailed Russian hippy that lived in E. Dallas about 100 feet from the house that my parents were living in when I was born. His house also backed up to the elementary school that I attended from 1st through the 7th grades. How karmic is that?
This trike isn’t in mint condition, but it has two things going for it that are important from the point of view of restoration. It has its rear basket, in perfect condition. The baskets are usually missing, or damaged. It also has its two rear reflectors, as shown below:
An interesting note: I assumed that this trike was a single speed. It wasn’t until I got it home and cleaned it up a bit that I realized that it was a “yellow-band” Bendix 2-Speed kick-back hub. Check it out:
The Bendix hubs have a cultish fllowing.
Soooooooooooooooooooo……….
I began the disassembley of the trike today.
I did this because I finally got the new tires, tubes, and liners from my LBS.
By the way: the color is called “Campus Green”.
Look : I know that these trikes are for old people. And I’m not that old, although I’m getting there.
But there is something about these Schwinn Town and Country Tri-Wheelers that I love. I want to ride through my E. Dallas neighborhood on weekends and go to garage sales. I want to ride this thing to the liquor store and see how many cases of beer that I can load up on this machine.
I’ll keep you posted.
-Hubbard
P.S. Right after I posted this story about my trike, I spotted this new Schwinn three-wheeler down on Knox St. in front of a cafe:
I’ve not seen one of these models, but it was pretty spiffy looking. I looked on Schwinn’s website and didn’t see it, either, so for now it’s a mystery. I’ll post again once I find out more.
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hey Hubbard, lemme know when and I’ll come RAKE leaves for the chance to ride that to cruise fer brews! Thats pretty sweet..
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Will do, Surly, when I get that trike rolling! I’m dying to ride it, and have not done so yet. When I got the thing all of the tires were shot, so it will be a new experience for me to ride a Schwinn Tri-Wheeler.
I’ve already broken down the head-tube and I’m soaking the bearing cups in de-greaser before I reassemble the front end. The grease in this trike was in the worst shape of any that I’ve ever seen. It was more like it had been baked in an oven until it was like hard candy or sugar or something. It hasn’t taken me very long in the bike restoration business to realize that you have to take a bike completely apart and rebuild it if it’s 20 to 40 years old. It’s just negligent to ride one and assume that the moving parts are functioning right inside that bike. It has made me think long and hard about taking on too many of these projects, too. It’s a heckuva lot of work.
Hubbard
Hey, I like our leaves. We’re going for that “forest floor” kind of look. I’ll be curious to see how this trike comes along…
Very cool.
The Bendix hubs have a cultish following.
True. My target acquisition for a 1950s decade bike is a Schwinn with a Bendix kickback 2-speed. (I have bikes from 1960s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 00s.)
Mike, this is what Chris is pushing for J.D. and I to get! Our very own 3 wheelers! Maybe someday! In the meantime I love reading about the adventures of you and Chris.
Very nice. I love the old Schwinns. My getting beer bike is a 1974 Suburban, though I may keep my eyes open for one of these.
nice bike i just finished resto-moding a Rollfast tri-wheeler. it is very similar to the town and country. my aunt received it in the 1960’s and died this past spring. i powder coated it candy purple, put on wide white walls and white and black seat. gave it to my 82 year old mother-in-law this past weekend and she went wild with joy.
Kevin;
Let’s see some pics! I’ve never seen a Rollfast trike.
That said, my restoration of this baby is almost done. Pics soon.
Hub