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1962 J.C. Higgins made in Austria

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Oilit

Cruisin' on my Bluebird
You see a lot of the diamond-frame J.C. Higgins/Sears Austrian 3 speeds but fewer of this style. The chain guard on this one isn't original, but most of the rest is. A lot of the details are very similar to the diamond frame lightweights, so I'm guessing these were also made by Steyr/Daimler/Puch, but my knowledge is pretty sparse. The tires looked new and the gum walls looked fine until I pumped them up, but then they came apart like a bad marriage.

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Nice looking bike. I like the outside-mounted fender braces. Maybe these canti framed bikes would suit a shorter rider better?
 
Shoot Joel Mark A. would ride those tires! Normally I'm not a fan of these but this one is pretty cool--I like the color. V/r Shawn
 
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Thanks very much for sharing this find! ;)

Looking great she is.

As you probably know already, these have one unique dimension. Their steerers are 26.0mm in diameter. This means that the headsets are special.

Spanner twistin' tip -

in the closeup image of the shell it appears the fixed cup may have loosened. when you get 'round to repacking the bottom bracket you may wish to check on this.

Tyres -

from the appearance of the sidewall (not the failure) they appear to be a rock bottom asian item such as Kenda.

this machine should probably have some Semperit rubber.

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btw - have "the bombers" been 'round to initiate it onto the grounds of the estate?

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Sharpe looking three speed and that brought back the memory of my first big boys bike. On Christmas 1962 I got a 4 bar Kent cantilever three speed in Flamboyant Red with aluminum fenders and a rear carrier. Beautiful bike and have yet been able to find a picture of one of these let alone an example. The Troxel seat only lasted a year before it started to fall apart and the fenders were all ripping at the attachment points. :joycat: The frame style was cool I and would like to find one of these.
 
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Thanks very much for sharing this find! ;)

Looking great she is.

As you probably know already, these have one unique dimension. Their steerers are 26.0mm in diameter. This means that the headsets are special.

Spanner twistin' tip -

in the closeup image of the shell it appears the fixed cup may have loosened. when you get 'round to repacking the bottom bracket you may wish to check on this.

Tyres -

from the appearance of the sidewall (not the failure) they appear to be a rock bottom asian item such as Kenda.

this machine should probably have some Semperit rubber.

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btw - have "the bombers" been 'round to initiate it onto the grounds of the estate?

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Juvela, I did not realize that the steerers were a unique size, thanks for letting me know! There are clues that somebody was fiddling with this bike, for one thing the cranks are not at 180 degrees, so it's going to need checking over before riding. I didn't check the make of tire, but they're obviously cheap. Looking at the chain stays, a set of Panaracer Col de la Vie 26 x 1.5 might work, but that's probably as big as will fit. And the "bombers" were on top of the car snoozing in the sun, so I was able to shoot these pictures without distractions.
 
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Sharpe looking three speed and that brought back the memory of my first big boys bike. On Christmas 1962 I got a 4 bar Kent cantilever three speed in Flamboyant Red with aluminum fenders and a rear carrier. Beautiful bike and have yet been able to find a picture of one of these let alone an example. The Troxel seat only lasted a year before it started to fall apart and the fenders were all ripping at the attachment points. :joycat: The frame style was cool I and would like to find one of these.
Kent just imported bikes, correct? Do you have any idea where the bike was made?
 
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the 26.0mm steerer is sometimes referred to as "Austrian size"

Styria employed this massive looking simple crown for decades

have oft wondered if perhaps the buyer got a great deal on them way back when; maybe a foundry customer could not come up with payment for their order so Styria got them at a Filene's basement type price...

alternately it is possible Styria large enough to make some of their own castings & forgings
a company needs a tremendous volume for that to be economic so it is probably doubtful

are blades d-section? this crown only accepts a certain blade cross section which the manufacturer employed for all of its lower adult models

this crown and blade pattern also found on some Sears tenspeed models, had one come through me shop in this same red flambouyant livery

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again, congratulations on the excellent find. wonderful that it is so complete, original and without damage...and only sixty years young! ;)

all best to the explosives experts! :hearteyecat:

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Kent just imported bikes, correct? Do you have any idea where the bike was made?

No idea where it was actually made, assumed it was manufactured here in the US. The name on the guard was Londonare or something like that. Had a Sturmey 3 speed and an aluminum alloy (modern) kickstand. The rear reflector was not the European type.
 
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