Help Determining Murray Jetfire Year Model

[partsguy]

Surpisingly, there is nothing on the bike to visually signify/distinguish it as a Sears bicycle. I own/have owned a few Sears bike both with Huffy frames (mid 60s Sears Spyder series musclebike) and another late 60s Murray-built Sears bike.
In both of the above cases, these bikes were clearly badged with the typical Sears head badges and had specific "Sears" decals on the chain guard(s).
In what I could determine on this bike we speak of, I considered a breakdown of the serial # (at least the beginning.....) as:
M = Murray
5020 = (model number) Boy's 26" Jetfire (as depicted in the 1971catalog)
After this is where my confusion lies......as I can't seem to locate a corresponding year model designation.
So now...more confusion.....

502 is the Sears number for a Murray bike. 917 is the Roper later AYP number for a garden tractor. There are lists of who made what for Sears on the net. All are 3 digit numbers. You can believe it or not that is up to you. Roger

There is some misinformation here. "502" only indicates that a Murray-built bike was sold to Sears IF the "502" designation is at the very beginning of the VIN number. Murray's serial numbers and their meaning change depending on the model year.

In your case, here is the proper breakdown of this bike's serial number:

M = Murray

5020 = Indicates model and options. This indicates a Murray Jetfire. Bikes of this style were really unpopular by 1971 and were poor sellers. This may be a hard to find bike for this reason but it isn't valuable at all.

X70 = For the years 1969-71, this indicates the year. This your case, this is a 1970.

Your bike was built in late 1970 for the 1971 model year. This explains why this 1971 model year bike has a 1970 serial number and does not have the BMA/6 label on it.

Your bike has the factory mounting bracket for the tank. This bike had a tank, but it was not equipped with headlights on it. Tanks came as standard, with lights, with horn, and sometimes both!

I hope this answers all of your questions. This bike can be made into a fun and ridable bike without spending a lot of money. Have fun!

See these links for catalogs:

1971:

http://murrayeliminatormusclebikes.yuku.com/topic/20/1971-Murray-Bicycles-Catalog#.V6yXa_krKUk

1970:

http://murrayeliminatormusclebikes.yuku.com/topic/126/1970-Murray-specials-catalog#.V6yZrPkrKUk