Tricycle

Individual vehicle. The tricycle is driven by a system of gears which transmit the pedalling motion to the rear axle by way of a chain. It was steered using a pair of handlebars attached to the front wheel. Given its size and characteristics, this was most likely to have been a children's toy rather than an actual means of transport.

Although Leonardo da Vinci invented a three-wheeled user-propelled vehicle, the tricycle as such is a development from the first bicycles of the nineteenth century. The town of Eibar (Gipuzkoa) was a major centre of bicycle manufacturing from the 1920s on.

This tricycle comes from the Provincial Government of Gipuzkoa’s J. Etxeberria collection.

Bibliography:

Urdangarín, Carmelo ; Izaga, José Mª. Montadores eibarreses de bicicletas. In: Oficios tradicionales. [Donostia = San Sebastián] : Diputación Foral de Gipuzkoa, Departamento de Economía y Turismo = Gipuzkoako Foru Aldundia, Ekonomia eta Turismo Departamentua,[1997]. VI, 99-109.

http://www.oficiostradicionales.net/es/industriales/bicicleta/

Inventory number: GFA-016845-001