Tadpole trikes are ever increasing in popularity as the word gets out about them being so comfortable to ride as well as fun to ride. And safe to ride must be tossed in there as well. They are not inexpensive to purchase however. Many people choose to go the route of buying a used one as they are a less expensive route to go and most of the trikes are in very good condition. I started riding a tadpole trike back in November of 2007. At that time I rarely saw any used tadpole trikes for sale. As the popularity has grown now I see quite a few available. There are several different resources available to check for used trikes. Some owners who are selling their trikes are only wanting a buyer who will come to them to make the purchase while other owners are willing to ship the trike.
A word of caution here for the seller — make sure you have the money in hand and it is good money before allowing the trike to leave your presence. By “good money” I am talking about the fact that even a cashier’s or certified check can’t be trusted these days as they are often counterfeited and used to swindle unsuspecting sellers out of their item(s). The seller assumes that since they were paid with a cashier’s or certified check it is safe and they are guaranteed their money so the allow the item(s) they are selling to be taken away or shipped out only to find out days later that the check they were given is no good. This happens a lot on dealings on Craigslist. It is best to play it safe and wait however long it takes to find out if the check was good or not. Craigslist offers some saftey tips on their website. And there are other similar resources offering advice. HERE is one of them.
I have a page created on this blog for USED TRIKES 4 SALE which lists several resources. I am not going to repeat them here. With the help of the internet many people are listing their trikes online so it is an excellent place to look. Of course, the internet is vast so there are numerous resources online. Some are better than others. Some trikes are priced quite low while others are priced rather high. Some times buyers have got great deals making most of us quite jealous. 🙂
We all have our own financial limitations and capabilities so not everybody can afford the higher quality trikes. We just have to do the best we can. I will say this … buy the best trike you can afford. Buying certain lower cost trikes isn’t usually a very good idea. Most people who buy “entry level” trikes soon regret it and are not satisfied with what they bought. Even if the trike itself satisfies them as far as its quality the most common disappointment is lack of sufficient gearing. If you buy a trike and then start trying to change it upgrading such things as the gearing it gets expensive in a hurry and the bargain is no longer such an attractive deal. You can invest a lot of additional money into such a trike and in the end you still have an entry level trike which lacks the quality of some of the others they could have been bought initially … and probably for less than the money to do the upgrade.
There is an old adage … “BUYER BEWARE“. Most people selling their trikes are no doubt pretty honest. However, there are no doubt some who are trying to sell one and not disclosing something significant … like perhaps a damaged frame such as a hairline crack (in or near a weld usually) or a misaligned (bent) frame due to some sort of accident which occurred in the past. It is important that the wheels are in good condition as they are expensive to replace. The same is true of most of the components such as shifters, derailleurs, brakes and the like.
Some sellers are offering trikes with some to many accessories included. Keep in mind that if you have to add these on to the trike you buy you are talking quite a bit of additional money. So if you are fortunate to find a trike that comes with such accessories at a decent price you are ahead of the game.
As with most things common sense and wisdom go hand in hand. You can find a tadpole trike out there. They are available. I wish you well and many fun safe miles on whatever you end up with.
KEEP ON TRIKIN’
A FREE GIFT awaits you!
Tadpole Rider 
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