Hi
We got a second-hand Pashley Pickle trike on ebay, but looks like it got a ding in transport: the rod from the handlebars to front wheel has been slightly bent so the wheel can't turn as the mudguard is catching against the wheel.
Is this fixable? And would it mean a dangerous weakness is it is straightened?
TIA Suzanne
If by "rod" you mean either the "downtube" - where the stem (sticky-forward bit) which holds the handlebars is fixed in, or the "forks" (the bit which holds the wheel on either side of its axle and then joins at the top to go into the lower end of the downtube) - I wouldn't trust the tube not to fail in a potentially head-breaking, worse-than-just-arse-over-tit-embarassment way. At least not on a full-size adult road bike on T'Public Highway.
[Pauses to Google for "Pashley Pickle tricycle", tho' not as a phrase]. Oh, it is a kid's trike, then. I still don't see how the "mudguard can catch the wheel", though. To my mind, any bend in a bike frame which najjers the steering to that point is the "goodbye frame" moment. If you find a local bike shop which is willing to straighten it out and claim its intended user will be safe under reasonably foreseeable circs, you might let them at it and claim only the cost of that repair from the ebay seller (who can turn round and claim it from their carrier; but your contract of sale is with the ebay seller, not the shipping agent). Otherwise I'd try to reject the sale altogether - since you put this down to damage-in-transit I'm supposing the seller says it left them in working, unbent order.
I used to regularly straighten these - sit on the ground facing the front of the trike with the front wheel between your legs. Put your feet on the pedals, grab the forks and pull until they look about right :-) Then check the adjustment of the headset (steering bearing). The tubing is pretty soft, so there shouldn't be any imminent danger of cracking - I straightened one several times and never heard of it failing. Do try to impress on the rider the importance of not riding fast into large solid things, or they _will_ bend again.
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