I need the year for a JC Higgins bike

[shortstop]

Here's a site with Sears catalog scans. No bikes sold in 1946 or 47.

Catalogs & Wishbooks

330 Vintage Christmas Catalogs & Holiday Wish Books with 295,775 total catalog pages from Sears, Montgomery Ward and JCPenney over the years.

christmas.musetechnical.com

The catalogs are amazing and very helpful with pictures and descriptions. Very valuable showing the changing trends how the bikes are equipped. I appreciate you taking the time to provide these catalogs to me.

 

[shortstop]

Looks like a 1954 model. Numbers match for the budget lightweight.

1954 Sears Christmas Book, Page 306 - Catalogs & Wishbooks

1954 Sears Christmas Book, Page 306

christmas.musetechnical.com

Thanks for pinpointing the year and page. I agree with your opinion.

 

[shortstop]

Imported from Daimler Steyr Puch in Austria, probably from sometime in the early '50's until the '70's. Most have three speed hubs which can often be dated, but it looks like yours is single speed. The serial numbers on the ones I've seen follow a linear progression. I've got a red men's "JC Higgins" no. 150xxxx from the early '60's and a blue women's "Sears" from the early '70's, no. 398xxxx. All I've seen use 7 digit serials but there may be some from the '50's with 6.

Good info, thanks

 

[GTs58]

So it’s Murray built, but exported and assembled in Austria?

I misread/understood his initial post saying the serial number started with a 502, but that was for a different bike.

 

[Rivnut]

Sears last year of use for the JC Higgins marketing name was 1963.

 

[NBHAA]

Here's a site with Sears catalog scans. No bikes sold in 1946 or 47.

Catalogs & Wishbooks

330 Vintage Christmas Catalogs & Holiday Wish Books with 295,775 total catalog pages from Sears, Montgomery Ward and JCPenney over the years.

christmas.musetechnical.com

Not true. Sears very well did indeed sell bicycles in 1945, 1946 and 1947. There were indeed model numbers for those years as well. Yes. My late friend, Viktor Schreckengost (Sears' head bicycle designer) confirmed this fact for me. We have the literature, of course... including individual Owner's Manuals.

It is a fallacy of this hobby (largely based on Xerox-copy-from-catalogue "books") that all Sears Elgin, J.C. Higgins, etc. bicycles were pictured in consumer mail-order catalogues. They weren't. The hobby should drop this notion because it is sadly mistaken.

Also, not all numbers on Sears bicycles with "50" prefixes are "serial numbers"... most are model numbers (and yes, model numbers usually indicated the manufacturer). Not the same as a serial number. Two different things.

Leon Dixon
National Bicycle History Archive of America
(NBHAA.com)

 

[shortstop]

Not true. Sears very well did indeed sell bicycles in 1945, 1946 and 1947. There were indeed model numbers for those years as well. Yes. My late friend, Viktor Schreckengost (Sears' head bicycle designer) confirmed this fact for me. We have the literature, of course... including individual Owner's Manuals.

It is a fallacy of this hobby (largely based on Xerox-copy-from-catalogue "books") that all Sears Elgin, J.C. Higgins, etc. bicycles were pictured in consumer mail-order catalogues. They weren't. The hobby should drop this notion because it is sadly mistaken.

Also, not all numbers on Sears bicycles with "50" prefixes are "serial numbers"... most are model numbers (and yes, model numbers usually indicated the manufacturer). Not the same as a serial number. Two different things.

Leon Dixon
National Bicycle History Archive of America
(NBHAA.com)

Hello Leon,
I see you weighed in on my JC Higgins bike and I was wondering if you are in agreement that this bike is 1954. And if you wouldn't mind giving me an idea on this other one MOD 502 MOS-S #2255.01

 

[shortstop]

I selected 1953 from the chart

 

[NBHAA]

I selected 1953 from the chart

Yes. Well. In this case you are correct for a date of manufacture... but not necessarily a model year date.

Just remember that the chart you posted is not the chart... it is just a chart. Something that somebody found and re-adapted. It was never intended to be used as DIY-ers are doing on the internet today. Never intended for J.C. Higgins...and what may be true in some circumstances for certain bicycles is not true for anything and everything that Murray-Ohio made. One size does not fit all.

Please yank those pedals and save them from destruction. They deserve preservation. Also the front Wonderide "bee-hive" fork in your pics has been re-assembled with the pivot clips backwards. EEeeeek! It was never designed to operate like this and will ultimately fail if continuously ridden this way by a present-day adult. Full turning force and suspension stress is now concentrated on the shoulder bolts. Suggest you put it back to original if riding.

Leon Dixon
National Bicycle History Archive of America
NBHAA.com

 

[Archie Sturmer]

I selected 1953 from the chart

@shortstop joined the CABE just 3 days ago; and already mastering how to date bicycles.

A very quick learner.

The springer forks, toggle pieces and axle, should be connected behind (vs. in front of) the fork ends of the forks fixed to the frame.