# Shelby? Ross? CBC?



## MBL (Jul 14, 2019)

Howdy all. TI'm here. I was wondering about a bike is saw. It was JC Higgins branded bike, but it looked like it could have been either made by CBC like a mod 50s Ross, but at the same time, it appeared as though it was quite similar to a Shelby after AMF purchased them.

In looking at these catalog pages, the Shelby looks an awful lot like the Ross.

Does anyone have thoughts on this one?
Thanks
Tim 
MBL


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## ThegoodThebad&Therusty (Jul 14, 2019)

The JC Higgins line of bicycles was a Sears department store brand manufactured by the *Murray Ohio Manufacturing Company*


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## MBL (Jul 14, 2019)

Typically yes. But there where a handful of Higgins bikes not made by Murray. This one I saw was definitely not a Murray build from what I can tell.
Tim
MBL


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## Archie Sturmer (Jul 14, 2019)

If you post pictures of the bike which you said that you saw, then that might be helpful for those who do not know what you saw.

Note the details of the truss bar.  On the Chain/Ross and Higgins, the two top tubes are almost parallel and touching close together at the seat tube, both top tubes join to the seat tube.  Shelby had two similar but different designs, (I have seen both, but do not know which is the older versus newer).  One design had the truss bar about 2" below the top bar at the seat tube juncture (1" gap); in another design (in pictures of 1st post) the two top tubes formed a "Y" (wye) about 4-5" forward of the seat tube.  So it seems that the Chain/Ross design is in-between those of Shelby, wrt the truss tube.  [It looks like a Chain/Ross tank might be fairly close to one version of a Shelby tank].  There was a time (1950's?) when Murray had labor-relations troubles, so Sears needed to find alternate manufacturer(s) for their J.C. Higgins bikes.


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## MBL (Jul 14, 2019)

Here's a pic.


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## GTs58 (Jul 14, 2019)

Chain guard sure looks identical to the Ross bikes in that catalog.


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## ThegoodThebad&Therusty (Jul 14, 2019)

I poached this off another bicycle website -

'After the war, Murray became known as a manufacturer of low-cost bicycles, and placed its own brand on some products. Since the 1930s, Murray had been producing bicycles that, while stylistically different,* imitated designs by other U.S. manufacturers*, including Schwinn and AMF. This occasionally brought Murray into legal conflict with competitors, as when Schwinn filed against Murray for duplicating a Schwinn knurling and machining process on its rims.'

I suspect that JC Higgins for sale in your photo is a Murray Ohio knock off of the Ross X26T bicycle in the first advertisement above. It looks like they even copied the V graphics on the tank logo. I haven't come across any archival information indicating Ross made any bikes badged as JC Higgins or any JC Higgins badged bikes were manufactured by anybody other than MO with the exception of some bikes that were manufactured and sold in Germany.

I don't know about Shelby but by comparing images of the Airflow Standard Tank in the add to the bike that's for sale in the photo, their is only a general resemblance in design.

If you want to solve the riddle once and for all you'll have to check the bottom bracket for manufacture/model number stampings.


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## PCHiggin (Jul 14, 2019)

MBL said:


> Here's a pic.
> 
> View attachment 1030266



Looks like parts of a  Ross, made by Chain Bicycles. I cant tell, the frame might be Murray? Frankenbike? News to me, I’ve only seen Higgins bikes made by Murray


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## MBL (Jul 14, 2019)

Found this Ross pic, and it seems to have the same crank...so I'm thinking CBC manufacture. The bottom bracket does not have any Murray markings. 

So I suppose this is for sure not any relation to Shelby.  

Thanks for the input!
Tim
MBL


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## ThegoodThebad&Therusty (Jul 14, 2019)

This discussion in this thread sheds some light on the subject - https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/jc-higgins-regal-deluxe-monark-built-ballooner.22639/


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## piercer_99 (Jul 14, 2019)

MBL said:


> Found this Ross pic, and it seems to have the same crank...so I'm thinking CBC manufacture. The bottom bracket does not have any Murray markings.
> 
> So I suppose this is for sure not any relation to Shelby.
> 
> ...



I have that chain guard, from a JC Higgins, on my 1947 Huffman Texas Special.  I got the guard because of the graphics.   When I got it, you could still barely see the JC Higgins name on it.


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## MBL (Jul 14, 2019)

ThegoodThebad&Therusty said:


> This discussion in this thread sheds some light on the subject - https://thecabe.com/forum/threads/jc-higgins-regal-deluxe-monark-built-ballooner.22639/



Yes!  This does.
Thanks 
Tim 
MBL


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## GTs58 (Jul 14, 2019)

Bam! A Ross/CBC built JC Higgins. Nice work Tim.


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## ThegoodThebad&Therusty (Jul 14, 2019)

MBL said:


> Yes!  This does.
> Thanks
> Tim
> MBL




Well Tim, you learn something new every day around here. I've heard of Ross but I never even heard of the Chain Bicycle Company before tonight and I didn't find much of anything about it seperate from Ross on the web.


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## MBL (Jul 15, 2019)

So now to try to reason why I should or shouldn't buy that bike. The Ross build doesn't seem as nice as the Murray...but the rarity and oddball idea of it is kinda neat.
Tim
MBL


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## PCHiggin (Jul 15, 2019)

The chainguard sure doesnt match? Its cool though


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## Adamtinkerer (Jul 20, 2019)

CBC's first chain ring is very similar to Shelby's mid '30s ring, but I'm sure you could tell the difference side by side! Also, no evidence found of a strike, but Murray was getting their new Lawrenceburg, TN factory ready in '56.


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