Help Identify My 1979 Cream/Brown Banana Seat Bike, possible Huffy Desperado style (childhood photos included)

[arobinson73]

Hello everyone,


I’m hoping the experts here can help me identify my childhood bike. This has become a bit of a passion project for me because it was my favorite bike growing up, and unfortunately it was stolen not long after I got it.


I received it for my 7th birthday on October 1, 1979, so it would have been purchased new in late September 1979.


My parents believe it was purchased at either Kmart or Sears, but they aren’t 100% certain.


Here are the details I remember:

• 20” wheels
• Single-speed
• Coaster brake only
• No hand brakes
• No tank
• No stick shifter or top-tube console
• Cream/ivory frame
• Brown banana seat
• Brown handlebars
• Brown front and rear fenders
• Chrome sissy bar
• Long two-tone cream and brown chain guard
• Schwinn Sting-Ray-inspired cantilever frame

One thing I remember very clearly is that the bike had a coordinated cream-and-brown color scheme. The seat, handlebars, fenders, and chain guard all matched. It definitely wasn’t one of the more common chrome-and-black banana seat bikes.


I’ve attached several childhood photos, including one taken on my birthday.


I’ve spent quite a bit of time researching and comparing bikes. The closest match I’ve found so far is the Huffy Wild West and the Huffy Desperado family, but I’m not convinced that’s exactly what I had. The frame geometry looks incredibly close, but I’d really appreciate the opinions of people who know these bikes far better than I do.


Does anyone recognize this frame or know who manufactured it?


Even if it’s not the exact model, I’d love to know what bike family it belongs to. If anyone has late-1970s Huffy, Ross, Murray, Columbia, Coast King, Sears, Kmart, or department store catalogs, I’d really appreciate it if you’d take a look.


Finding this bike again would mean a lot to me. I’d love to restore one to look exactly like the bike I got for my sixth birthday.


Thank you in advance for any help!

 

[bloo]

Others will know more than I do about this, but I think it can't be Huffy built, and probably not Murray either just on the strength of the dropouts and chainwheel design. I'll guess AMF/Roadmaster probably built it, but don't put too much stock in that until the others weigh in.

Welcome to the CABE!
.

 

[bloo]

I might have been wrong about Huffy. Check out this Coast King with a very similar paint job and sissy bar. This one has the Huffy "star" chainwheel you would probably expect to see if Huffy made it.

.

 

[The Colonel]

looks AMF or Columbia

 

[partsguy]

Neighborhood kid recently had his bike stolen…it sucks…mine was too but it came back in pieces. Sorry dude.

Those handlebars are distinctly Huffy. They were used primarily on the 1978-80 Huffy Bandit but they were painted black. As your picture shows, yours were chrome. Maybe Huffy used those bars on a store-specific model which sometimes happened.

 

[partsguy]

I have an idea…think back to the department and sporting goods stores in your area back then…then look for catalogs or newspaper flyers for those stores from the 1977-79 era. You should find a match but may take a while.