# JC Higgins Colorflow Restoration



## Green P1

I'm restoring my this old Higgins that belonged to my mother when she was a child.  It's spent the last 30 years of its like in an old East Texas barn so its pretty much rust covered.

Here it is in its current state of restore.


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## Green P1

What if any are the advantages of the strange sprocket/chain combo these came with?  Skiptooth?  The cranks, sprocket, and wheels are all well beyond the point of simply polishing back to life, and being a low budget restoration I'd just planned on replacing them.  Will there be any noticeable difference in the ride of the bike if I replace the skiptooth with standard chain and sprockets?


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## Adamtinkerer

Skip tooth drive was used the longest in America, maybe because it was cheaper. Some companies still used it until late 1954! Changing to a modern 1/2" pitch drive won't affect the ride. Since your bike was built for Sears by Murray, it has the same style sprocket that they used from the late 30s to the early 90s! Also it's a balloon tire bike with that springer, rack, tank, and skirt guards. Generally called the "Color Flow" model.


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## spook1s

While you're at it, throw away those ugly grey things that go near the rear wheel and you might as well scrap that dumb tank and rear rack too!



Most people know that changing ANYTHING on these old bikes devaluates them. Shine the parts the best you can and keep them original to the bike. You can always keep an eye out for the CORRECT Murray parts in better condition in the future.
At the very least keep the original parts with the bike. A quality restoration requires them!

Cool bike! Those Colorflows look great shined up and colorful!


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## Green P1

spook1s said:


> While you're at it, throw away those ugly grey things that go near the rear wheel and you might as well scrap that dumb tank and rear rack too!
> Most people know that changing ANYTHING on these old bikes devaluates them. Shine the parts the best you can and keep them original to the bike. You can always keep an eye out for the CORRECT Murray parts in better condition in the future.
> At the very least keep the original parts with the bike. A quality restoration requires them!
> Cool bike! Those Colorflows look great shined up and colorful!




I've never cared about devaluation on anything I've restored... but I don't sell my stuff, I enjoy it.  I'll hang onto the cranks, hubs, chain and sprockets for an eventual re-chroming of all the shiny bits, but that's way down the road.  This is an under $150 restoration attempt.  The wheels are garbage.


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## JLarkin

I think you are underestimating the potential of the chrome parts you have.  Humor me and go to ACE Hardware.  Buy a small container of Oxylic Acid (wood bleach), $7.00.  Mix a 3 oz. per gallon of water concentration.  Find a container that you can immerse your chrome parts in.  If the rims won't completely submerge you can treat a section at a time.  Degrease everything first.  Leave the parts in the oxylic acid mix for 24 hours.  Remove and rinse.  They will look pretty darn nice I am betting.  Protect your eyes.  You can pour it in the ditch (it's just wood bleach) when done or save it and reuse it.


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## Green P1

JLarkin said:


> I think you are underestimating the potential of the chrome parts you have.  Humor me and go to ACE Hardware.  Buy a small container of Oxylic Acid (wood bleach), $7.00.  Mix a 3 oz. per gallon of water concentration.  Find a container that you can immerse your chrome parts in.  If the rims won't completely submerge you can treat a section at a time.  Degrease everything first.  Leave the parts in the oxylic acid mix for 24 hours.  Remove and rinse.  They will look pretty darn nice I am betting.  Protect your eyes.  You can pour it in the ditch (it's just wood bleach) when done or save it and reuse it.




Will do!  Thanks for the chrome tip.... I thought I'd heard/tried them all by now.  If the chrome on the beehive spring comes out I'll be doing backflips.


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## spook1s

Take some before and after shots! We're all anxious to see the results!


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## StevieZ

These are really cool bikes. I have a boys one. I always try to use as many of the original parts as possible. But I like to ride them to.


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## Green P1

The wood bleach tip worked really really well.... on the chrome that still remained.  Problem was all the chrome that had flaked/rusted off.  I think I've decided to keep all the original parts on the bike... with the chrome bits painted metallic silver.  I think the silver looks pretty alright, and everything can be re-chromed when money allows.  The paint is Duplicolor's car wheel paint.  Here's a picture of how it came out when I used it on my old Bird Nighthawk Minicycle I restored.





PS... I cant wait to use the wood bleach tip on the fork springs in the picture above.


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## Green P1

The bike is trudging along slowly but surely. Got the crankset and kickstand painted up the other day.






There's still no clearcoat so they'll probably be a little bit glossier when finished.  Eventually all chrome(formerly) bits from the bike will be this color.  Not as nice as chrome, but nothing that can't be undone down the road when there's money in the budget for dipping.

On a side note.... anyone know of the top of their head what size threads the pedals for this bike are?  I need to find a set to replace the old ones my grandfather threw on when he first restored it.


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## Brutuskend

1/2 threads, however the colorflow used rather unique pedals. 
Here is a picture of them but men's, the women's pedals will be shorter.

Well I guess I can't upload a picture from my computer in a thread response. 

Oh well.....


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## Green P1

More slow progress.... 

Just about got the frame stripped all the way down. 

Now that a colors have been decided upon hopefully the progress will speed up a bit.

Here's the finished (minus a working horn) tank.


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## Green P1

*Tires question:*
What size tires did this bike originally come with?  Right now it has 26x1.75 on it but they look too skinny?  Are the 26x1 3/4 fatter?  Is that what it came with?


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## Green P1

The smoldering heat has really slowed my progress as of late, but things are starting to come along.
How she sits now:




I'm not positive if I've put the front end back together, It doesn't seem to be springing up and down as freely as before I first disassembled it.
Can anyone tell by these photos if I've put everything on in the right order?







Realized I'm going to have to replace the front wheel.  Its missing some spokes and has a pretty bad wobble thats accentuated by the now fatter tires.


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## Green P1

Can someone with one of these bikes give me a close up picture of how everything should fit together at the bottom of the front forks?  I swear I've got this wrong.


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## jpromo

You should be able to get a couple spokes from your LBS to replace the missing ones. I know my shops don't have anything that works on these old bikes but the ones near me are pretty bad.. they're easy to replace, especially if there are just a few. Pop some new spokes in and get it trued up and it should be good as new.

As far as the tire size goes--1 3/4 is a Schwinn only sized tire for their S-7 rim. Even though intuitively it should be the same size, it's not in fact. The inner diameter of the bead is different I believe and I don't think they're supposed to fit, at least not safely. You could go with a 2" tire for sure as the 1.75 rims have some nice leeway for that.


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## MaxGlide

I'll get you a picture. I have an unrestored Colorflow so it should help.

Wayne


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## MaxGlide

*Check this out*

This link http://thecabe.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?16741-Craigslist-Color-Flow-for-my-daughter.&highlight=
has pics of my Colorflow and I think the pic of the front wheel is close and clear enough to help you out. If not let me know and I'll take several real close pics. 

My email is wkrpb@shaw.ca

Wayne


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## Green P1

I've screwed up the brake hub on this somehow..... Took everything apart, cleaned, and re-packed the bearings but now there is way too much travel when applying the brake.  It seems like you almost have to pedal backwards a little more than a quarter revolution, sometimes more, to engage the brake.  I cant remember how much travel there was before my dumb self took it apart, but this feels way off.  Is there anything I can do to adjust this and how?  I've read around on the internet and cant make heads or tails of anything I've seen.

Extremely frustrating.


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## Green P1

Sorry about the slow progress..... but it is moving I promise.  My new problem is the seat.  I've replaces the seat with a nice new springer but the old layback post has a much thinner diameter than the bracket for the new one.  Does anyone have a good hint on how to use a new seat with an older style thin post?

Already thrown the old, non-original seat away............crap


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## Green P1

Told you progress was slow... work got a little crazy and I became sidetracked with a dumpster find mountain bike for a bit... but we're still making progress!
Here's how she sits now.




Still need to finish the chain-guard and passenger side fender-skirt but its getting close.  Thinking I need to pull the front lower fender support and paint it white but not sure yet.

I'm still having trouble getting the new seat secured to the older smaller diameter seat post.  There has got to be a simple solution to this little snag right?  Anyone got a hint for me?

Here's a shot of the crappy old Huffy dumpster mountain bike I decided to turn balloon cruiser for college football Saturdays.


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## dungo

That bike looks great.. You did a great job so far


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## roseysmithy231

*Nice*

You really pmp your ride dude! From old school to modern old school!


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## twjensen

Green P1 said:


> The wood bleach tip worked really really well.... on the chrome that still remained.  Problem was all the chrome that had flaked/rusted off.  I think I've decided to keep all the original parts on the bike... with the chrome bits painted metallic silver.  I think the silver looks pretty alright, and everything can be re-chromed when money allows.  The paint is Duplicolor's car wheel paint.  Here's a picture of how it came out when I used it on my old Bird Nighthawk Minicycle I restored.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> PS... I cant wait to use the wood bleach tip on the fork springs in the picture above.




Did the wood bleach shrink your bike to this?.


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