Tuesday, April 10, 2012

No Trike for this Tyke

I have been searching high, low and futilely for trikes, both on the internet and in stores everywhere.

First, I would like to know if I am the only person in the world to call a tricycle a trike. I mean to say if a bicycle is a bike, why isn't a tricycle a trike? You know, that's the way that I learned it from my parents — trike — but nobody else seems to use the term. Personally, I think it's a winner.

I have been searching for trikes for a certain tyke's birthday — Nikki Dee's in point of fact. For as the weather has warmed up this year, and the kids have wanted to get outdoors, she and we have discovered that ND is too big for her old riding toys. She has a little bike with training wheels that she will eventually graduate to, but at this point she finds it wobbly and not terribly responsive to her pedalling.

Her brother has a trike that kindalike fits Nikki Dee in a pinch, but it's his, so he isn't zactly anxious to share it too often or for too long.

And so ... and so we have been looking for a trike to suit her. But we can't find one. Anywhere. Well anywhere except Toys R Us, USA. The trouble with that is that we don't live the USA and our Canadian subsidiary doesn't carry those models. Pity that, but we often get short-changed up here in the Canadian wilderness (see Aside Rant, below).

Back in the day, I had a trike, and I am positive that it was big enough for me to ride until I was 7 or so, but 4 seems to be the current cutoff age. Such is progress.

So, the kid is caught in-between. She's not quite ready for the bike, but is too big for her trike, and we can't find one to suit, which is what we wanted to do for her impending birthday. So, we wring our hands and scratch our heads trying to think of an alternative. It's not going well, I'm afeerd.

Aside Rant: Honestly, sometimes you'd think Canada was north of Timbuktu when in reality almost all thirty-four million of us just live with a few hundred miles of a razor-thin, imaginary line separating the two countries. To my everlasting frustration, we repeatedly see this in shipping costs. I will sometimes click on an item advertised on an American website only to find that the company charges an astronomical fee to ship it the extra hundred miles — because that's about how far we are from the border to New York State. Back in Sarnia, we almost lived on the Michigan border and could have swam/swum across if we had so desired, but the very same nonsense applied. Maddening really.

7 comments:

Sue said...

I call them trikes too.. the children's ones, anyway. I think I tend to call an adult one (fairly rare to see) a tricycle though.

Have you tried Amazon? They seem to sell pretty much anything these days. I don't know if you have a Canadian Amazon but imagine the US one would deliver to Canada... just checked and: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=tricycle

MARY G said...

It's a trike as far as I can see and I agree with your rant. I found a lovely site for bathing suits that fit me and that are actually suitable for swimming, but 90% of them are blacked out if you put in your location as Canada.
Hiss, spit.
If you have enough time (forget when ND's bday is) you could look in the big second hand outlets and be prepared to refurbish.

Hilary said...

Amazon.ca has a nifty looking Schwinn trike (yes, I call it that, too).. though kind of costly depending on your range. http://www.amazon.ca/Radio-Flyer-Classic-Dual-Tricycle/dp/B0063WFDHO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334066445&sr=8-1

There's also Canadian Tire http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/5/SportsRec/BikesAccessories/TricyclesWagonsTrailers.jsp though that might be a bit small for her.

Maybe consider a smaller bike with training wheels until she grows into the other one.

Donna said...

Do you have Sears up there? I think there's one in Toronto...Anyway, I found this link you might take a look at...

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/search_10153_12605?vName=Toys+%26+Games&cName=Ride+On+Toys+%26+Safety&keyword=tricycle&viewItems=25&autoRedirect=true&redirectType=CAT_REC_PRED&prop17=tricycle

I know it's long...copy & paste...
hughugs

Diana said...

Oh I bought Jack an awesome trike for his birthday, last year I believe. It was a Schwinn. It was pricey but I could not resist.
I agree with you on the shipping costs A.C.
I've noticed a hike in shipping costs even more so since internet shopping has become so popular.
Good luck on your quest. All my kids had trikes! Love Di ♥

Mara said...

I wouldn't mind sending you one from Europe, but I feel that with shipping costs included, you might be able to feed a small country for a year!

I associated trikes with those motorbikes with three wheels. They seem to get more popular in Europe nowadays. We call our tricycles: threewheelers!

Jinksy said...

I too had a trusty trike in my youth - I don't think small bicycles had been invented then!