It was easy to find a Big Wheel tricycle around 1970. They were popular and everywhere. It's weight limit was 70 lbs. and it was made for ages 3 to 8. That didn't stop my brother Paul and me, who were grown adults.
We chose the grass hill in Forest Park in Everett WA for our really testing the limits of this Marx toy. We sat our big heavy bodies down on the tricycles at the big hill's crest, and nothing broke. So we pushed off, holding our legs and feet up, and had a wonderful ride all the way down the hill! It was fast and exciting, and when we got to the bottom we turned around and carried our trikes back up the hill and did it again, and again. These "toys" held up, and we had a great time. They didn't last forever, but long enough to dream.
Our dream was somehow to talk the powers-that-be to temporarily close some long, winding, paved road going up the Cascade foothills, so crazy men could have a serious race on Big Wheel tricycles. We would not be kidding. It could be a commercial for Marx. It could begin showing us tough-looking men with determined expressions, putting on helmets and boots and gloves on the mountain road with its guardrails and view, then sitting down side-by-side on Big Wheel tricycles. A strong voice would say: "Big Wheel, by Marx. The weight limit is seventy pounds. Recommended age of driver from three to eight. But that doesn't mean they're not tough." And then will come the hair-raising film of us all coasting down the road, with near-accidents, sliding, running into the ditch, etc. The grassy Forest Park hill was a blast, but a mountain road would be awesome!
But finally our trikes bit the dust before making the commercial a reality. Too bad. I would have won.
