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Jc Higgins Question
- Thread starter James04
- Start date
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Wayne Adam
I live for the CABE
Nice Find. All J.C.Higgins are Post War Sears bicycles. Pre War Sears bikes were called Elgin. Also, The earlier Color Flows had the double Truss Rods like yours,
(1950-1951), the later ones (1952-1953) had the long truss rods with a horizontal chrome cross support. I am also pretty sure that the jewels are correct for your bike, and your bike is most likely all original. I have 6 Color Flows, and most have the original jewels, that may have been an option. There are a couple of Higgins experts on the site who would have much more information for you.
I posted picture of my girls version of your bike. Wayne
(1950-1951), the later ones (1952-1953) had the long truss rods with a horizontal chrome cross support. I am also pretty sure that the jewels are correct for your bike, and your bike is most likely all original. I have 6 Color Flows, and most have the original jewels, that may have been an option. There are a couple of Higgins experts on the site who would have much more information for you.
I posted picture of my girls version of your bike. Wayne
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I won't call myself an expert on Color Flows. I own one, and have done extensive research on the model. In real life, any owner back in the day could have added the red jewels to any early model, as I'm sure that was a popular thing to do. I don't think they were an "option" to speak of in 50 or 51, because they weren't introduced until 52. If you look at original Sears catalogs or advertisements, you will never see a Color Flow with BOTH the rear carrier JC Higgins chrome emblem AND the red tank jewels. This applies to both boys and girls models. The emblem is only 50-51 and the red tank jewels are only 52-53. On a different note, Sears never called these Color Flows, the name is something us collectors have adopted since Sears, for unknown reasons, never had a model "name" for this bike, only referring to them as the "Finest" model available. The term Color Flow was used to describe the band of color that "flowed" from the chain guard into the rear fender brace.
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Balloonatic
Riding my '39 Silver King 26X
I believe some bikes actually said "Color-Flow" on the chain guard. My OG ladies Higgins (photo attached) says "Regal Deluxe" on the Chain guard. (Close up of chain guard is not my bike, but shows the decal well.)
Nice bike by the way! Great orig condition, and even has the bottom half of the headlight... it's often missing or rusted out. The tops were plastic and often warped or cracked as they stick out on the sides and are one of the first things to go when a bike falls over. Someone was making repro tops for those lights, if you can find one you can match the paint more or less and have your bike look complete. The headlight is known as the "batwing" headlight and is called such in the Sears catalog.
Value is quite subjective.... condition is king, and a complete, mens Color-flow with orig. paint and all correct parts including the scarce batwing headlight can bring $1000 or more. Many factors play in to value... it depends on who is looking for one at any given time, where it's for sale geographically (bikes will typically sell for more in places likes So. Cal where there is a greater pool of folks with the money to step up and a greater appreciation for vintage bikes), and the economy at the time... value is really what anyone will pay at any given time, but to give you a rough idea, I would think $750 - $1200 if complete, correct and in nice orig. condition. A really nice original batwing light can sell by itself without the tough to find bracket for $350-500 all on its own.
Thanks for posting, it's nice to see bikes like this still turning up. I hope you clean it up, find the headlight top and ride it!
Nice bike by the way! Great orig condition, and even has the bottom half of the headlight... it's often missing or rusted out. The tops were plastic and often warped or cracked as they stick out on the sides and are one of the first things to go when a bike falls over. Someone was making repro tops for those lights, if you can find one you can match the paint more or less and have your bike look complete. The headlight is known as the "batwing" headlight and is called such in the Sears catalog.
Value is quite subjective.... condition is king, and a complete, mens Color-flow with orig. paint and all correct parts including the scarce batwing headlight can bring $1000 or more. Many factors play in to value... it depends on who is looking for one at any given time, where it's for sale geographically (bikes will typically sell for more in places likes So. Cal where there is a greater pool of folks with the money to step up and a greater appreciation for vintage bikes), and the economy at the time... value is really what anyone will pay at any given time, but to give you a rough idea, I would think $750 - $1200 if complete, correct and in nice orig. condition. A really nice original batwing light can sell by itself without the tough to find bracket for $350-500 all on its own.
Thanks for posting, it's nice to see bikes like this still turning up. I hope you clean it up, find the headlight top and ride it!
