# Jc Higgins Question



## James04 (Jul 24, 2016)

Hello, I just picked up a JC Higgins and need some help identifying the year. It has a skip-tooth chain, which I heard were made for prewar bikes. Is it possible that the JC Higgins Colorflow I picked up is prewar, or did they not make Colorflows in the 30s?


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## tech549 (Jul 24, 2016)

no they did not make color flows in the 30s,i would say this bike here is a early 50s  Higgins I will guess 52 ,post the serial number and somebody here could give you exact year.


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## James04 (Jul 24, 2016)

Just did! Thank you for that tip, didn't think of that for some reason


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## Evans200 (Jul 24, 2016)

Your bike (MOS-P) is a 1950. The Higgins script on the rear carrier IS correct for that year, however the red jewels in the tank are NOT correct for that year (but DO look good!) Higgins used the skip tooth ring well in to the 50's. Hope this info helps.


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## James04 (Jul 24, 2016)

Very interesting, just wondering it's my first time seeing a bicycle like this, what is the value on a bike like this?


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## Evans200 (Jul 24, 2016)

If you have the top half of the headlight, I'd value the bike at around $750


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## Wayne Adam (Jul 24, 2016)

Nice Find. All J.C.Higgins are Post War Sears bicycles. Pre War Sears bikes were called Elgin. Also, The earlier Color Flows had the double Truss Rods like yours,
(1950-1951), the later ones (1952-1953) had the long truss rods with a horizontal chrome cross support. I am also pretty sure that the jewels are correct for your bike, and your bike is most likely all original. I have 6 Color Flows, and most have the original jewels, that may have been an option. There are a couple of Higgins experts on the site who would have much more information for you.

 I posted picture of my girls version of your bike.      Wayne


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## Evans200 (Jul 24, 2016)

I won't call myself an expert on Color Flows. I own one, and have done extensive research on the model. In real life, any owner back in the day could have added the red jewels to any early model, as I'm sure that was a popular thing to do. I don't think they were an "option" to speak of in 50 or 51, because they weren't introduced until 52. If you look at original Sears catalogs or advertisements, you will never see a Color Flow with BOTH the rear carrier JC Higgins chrome emblem AND the red tank jewels. This applies to both boys and girls models. The emblem is only 50-51 and the red tank jewels are only 52-53. On a different note, Sears never called these Color Flows, the name is something us collectors have adopted since Sears, for unknown reasons, never had a model "name" for this bike, only referring to them as the "Finest" model available. The term Color Flow was used to describe the band of color that "flowed" from the chain guard into the rear fender brace.


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## higgens (Jul 24, 2016)

Yes 50-51 just port holes but I thought they said color flo on the chaingard?


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## Balloonatic (Jul 24, 2016)

I believe some bikes actually said "Color-Flow" on the chain guard. My OG ladies Higgins (photo attached) says "Regal Deluxe" on the Chain guard. (Close up of chain guard is not my bike, but shows the decal well.)

Nice bike by the way! Great orig condition, and even has the bottom half of the headlight... it's often missing or rusted out. The tops were plastic and often warped or cracked as they stick out on the sides and are one of the first things to go when a bike falls over. Someone was making repro tops for those lights, if you can find one you can match the paint more or less and have your bike look complete. The headlight is known as the "batwing" headlight and is called such in the Sears catalog.

Value is quite subjective.... condition is king, and a complete, mens Color-flow with orig. paint and all correct parts including the scarce batwing headlight can bring $1000 or more. Many factors play in to value... it depends on who is looking for one at any given time, where it's for sale geographically (bikes will typically sell for more in places likes So. Cal where there is a greater pool of folks with the money to step up and a greater appreciation for vintage bikes), and the economy at the time... value is really what anyone will pay at any given time, but to give you a rough idea, I would think $750 - $1200 if complete, correct and in nice orig. condition.  A really nice original batwing light can sell by itself without the tough to find bracket for $350-500 all on its own.

Thanks for posting, it's nice to see bikes like this still turning up. I hope you clean it up, find the headlight top and ride it!


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## Evans200 (Jul 24, 2016)

higgens said:


> Yes 50-51 just port holes but I thought they said color flo on the chaingard?



They do say Color Flow on the chainguard, but Sears never referred to them as such.


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## Evans200 (Jul 24, 2016)

higgens said:


> Yes 50-51 just port holes but I thought they said color flo on the chaingard?



They do say Color Flow on the chainguard, but Sears never referred to them as such.


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## Balloonatic (Jul 24, 2016)

By the way, if you're really interested in the details about what features appeared on which year Higgins, I recommend you get a copy of *Collectible Elgin - J.C. Higgins Hawthorne Bicycles* by James Hurd & T.A. Gordon. It's a collection of black and white copies of catalog pages from 1930s - 1950s Sears catalogs, and is invaluable for seeing how bikes were offered and determining year, etc.

I was surprised to see the top of the line, most deluxe J.C. Higgins 26" bike was shown in the fall/winter 1952 catalog page with black wall tires; all the subsequent years are shown with whitewalls... so if you're trying to set up your bike exactly as seen in the catalog, you'll have that reference.

Catalog pages are *not* the Holy Bible for bicycle correctness or how a bicycle actually left the factory though; for example, the 1951 model page shows the Regal Deluxe decal on the chain guard, but later year catalog pages do not show a Color-Flow decal on the guard, even though that factory decal has often appears on original examples in real life. Real life examples often differ, sometimes greatly from catalog drawings, so bear in mind it doesn't mean it's not "correct".

This may be true with the applied J.C. Higgins script on the rack vs. jewels on the tank argument as well... I have an original paint men's color flow with both the rack script and the jewels on the tank just like yours.. and I believe it to be completely factory correct. Don't let anyone here tell you otherwise _definitively_; it's quite true factories will use up parts from previous years on new models rather than throw them away, and it's still considered factory correct... there are LOTS of examples where a real life, original example defies the image in the catalog... it does not at all mean it's "wrong".


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## Balloonatic (Jul 24, 2016)

Evans200 said:


> They do say Color Flow on the chainguard, but Sears never referred to them as such.




Not to take you to task here Evans200, but saying Sears "never" did something is pretty authoritative... that's implying you're either Mr. J.C. Higgins himself and are speaking from personal experience as Sear's head of sporting goods, or implying you have read and seen every bit of marketing material, advertising, literature or TV ads ever produced for J.C. Higgins bicycles... it's much more appropriate to say in your experience you have never seen Sears refer to them that way in their advertising, but leave the possibility open that they may have...


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## Evans200 (Jul 24, 2016)

Balloonatic said:


> Not to take you to task here Evans200, but saying Sears "never" did something is pretty authoritative... that's implying you're either Mr. J.C. Higgins himself and are speaking from personal experience as Sear's head of sporting goods, or implying you have read and seen every bit of marketing material, advertising, literature or TV ads for J.C. Higgins bicycles... it's much more appropriate to say you have never seen Sears refer to them that way in their advertising, but leave the possibility open that they may have...
> 
> View attachment 343439



You're absolutely right. Bad choice of wording on my part. Like I said, I'm not an expert, and never should have said never. I apologize and didn't mean to sound so authoritative. You say that catalog pages aren't the holy grail for correctness, and that may be the case, but in my opinion those pages still represent the best standard of correctness that we have available. And granted, factories, stores, and previous owners will use available parts, make substitutions and omissions whenever they want. Peace.


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## mickeyc (Jul 24, 2016)

Balloonatic said:


> I believe some bikes actually said "Color-Flow" on the chain guard. My OG ladies Higgins (photo attached) says "Regal Deluxe" on the Chain guard. (Close up of chain guard is not my bike, but shows the decal well.)
> 
> Nice bike by the way! Great orig condition, and even has the bottom half of the headlight... it's often missing or rusted out. The tops were plastic and often warped or cracked as they stick out on the sides and are one of the first things to go when a bike falls over. Someone was making repro tops for those lights, if you can find one you can match the paint more or less and have your bike look complete. The headlight is known as the "batwing" headlight and is called such in the Sears catalog.
> 
> ...




I have the same bike, same color etc.  Only missing correct grips and the bat wing.  I was told (by serial number) that it was a late '51 or early '52 based on the Regal Deluxe name only being used during that time.
She a heavy weight for sure and murder on my legs on hills.  Need to sell her and get back to my middle weights.

Mike


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## Balloonatic (Jul 24, 2016)

In my humble opinion, that batwing headlight _makes_ that bike... with a metal bottom and plastic top so few have survived; bottoms often rust out or get badly dented when they hit the pavement, and the plastic tops crack, warp, split and paint separates from them - it's the worst possible combination for survival. 

Add to that when fully loaded with 4 large, heavy "D" cells it makes the bike difficult to balance when parked and many went over as soon as batteries were put in. Frankly, I'm surprised Sears continued to put them on bikes for several years rather then redesign it sooner, but maybe that meant they sold a lot of replacements.. ;o)

They also sold an accessory horn/light combo with a handlebar mount... sometimes you can find those for sale and take the orig. plastic top off and convert the horn side to another light and voila, you have your completed batwing headlight. Same for the base, it's the same metal stamping as the dual headlight... drill out the riveted handlebar mount, make a few other adjustments, and you have a replacement base for your batwing.


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## 47jchiggins (Jul 24, 2016)

Hi James04, based on the numbers on the BB, it looks like you have a 1950 ColorFlow. The ColorFlow first appeared in 1949 and had same fork as yours but slightly different features. One thing I know for sure, is I don't know all but from my own research and guidance from LD, there were catalog models and floor models ( which were not featured in the catalog). Your bike should have exhaust ports instead of jewels, jeweled tanks first showed up in 51 catalog and introduced Regal DeLuxe, as pictured above. Find some correct grips, top to the batwing and some pedals and ride it.

Todd

Note.....do the jewels including the aluminum housing and the ring around the jewels which starts out as the exhaust port, match the rest of the chrome/patina?


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## Balloonatic (Jul 24, 2016)

Evans200 said:


> in my opinion those [catalog] pages still represent the best standard of correctness that we have available.




Catalog pages are indeed a good standard of correctness and your opinion is appreciated, but so is experience. I started collecting vintage balloon tire bikes in 1978-79; in those 37 or 38 years I have seen at least a dozen deluxe men's Higgins with both the tank jewels _and_ rack script both, yet the catalog pages refute this and I still hear folks make statements like post #4 above. Which is correct? A hand-drawn rendering in a catalog, or original example after original example turning up this way after nearly 40 years? 

Not trying to be a dick here, just trying to illustrate that "correctness" cannot and should not be determined by catalog images alone. As I pointed out in another thread, bicycles in the 50s were essentially kid's toys, designed and marketed with kids in mind... not some important collectible to be dissected and argued over by "experts". I think it's a shame when someone comes to this site looking for info on their cool bike find only to have someone tell them it's "wrong". Especially when there are real world examples of original, un-touched bikes set up just like his. 

Soap box neatly put away now... let's get back to riding and enjoying vintage bikes!


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## 2jakes (Jul 25, 2016)

To Balloonatic and Evans200.
I  enjoyed reading your replies towards each other. 
Very refreshing and positive. Thanks.

And I have come to the conclusion that the Chicago Schwinn Co. that manufactured the bicycles.
And the "Boys from Marketing” that created the catalogs & artwork were not on the same planet. 

But as we all know...that’s the best thing we have to go by!


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## Adamtinkerer (Jul 26, 2016)

To add my two cents. In this hobby, never say never! There always seems to be a bike or two that flies in the face of typical accepted "facts", serial numbers and codes that don't add up. I try to say things like "typically", to cover my big white booty!


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## Balloonatic (Jul 26, 2016)

This is why I love the CABE community... there is a willingness to participate and learn in a positive way and have intelligent, friendly conversation about stuff we love. Evans200, I appreciate your thoughtful responses, and accepting my comments in the vein intended rather than take offense, a lesser person would have gone that way rather than continue the conversation. I really respond to that evolved approach, and 2Jakes, your comments and perspective are also much appreciated... when the discourse is like this; civil, thoughtful friendly and intelligent, it's really fun. 



Adamtinkerer said:


> To add my two cents. In this hobby, never say never! There always seems to be a bike or two that flies in the face of typical accepted "facts", serial numbers and codes that don't add up. I try to say things like "typically", to cover my big white booty!




Awesome observation, and really the point of my posts here. Bravo Adamtinkerer. 

As I get older, I realize just how much I don't know, and realize we're all continually learning... we all get something out of sharing information and opinion... when approached the way ya'll are doing here, it encourages others to do the same.


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## ned (May 3, 2018)

You guys are pretty rad. I stumbled on this thread while researching my bike. A few years ago, my brother and I came across a bike very much like the OP's with very similar serial numbers. Unfortunately, almost none of it was original so my bro made the executive decision to strip it down. Still a cool bike and will be a fun project.


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## bikerbluz (Jan 26, 2019)

Ned, that bike looks to be a 1950 Murray built frame. Enjoy the journey!


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