They do say Color Flow on the chainguard, but Sears never referred to them as such.
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Jc Higgins Question
- Thread starter James04
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They do say Color Flow on the chainguard, but Sears never referred to them as such.
Balloonatic
Riding my '39 Silver King 26X
By the way, if you're really interested in the details about what features appeared on which year Higgins, I recommend you get a copy of Collectible Elgin - J.C. Higgins Hawthorne Bicycles by James Hurd & T.A. Gordon. It's a collection of black and white copies of catalog pages from 1930s - 1950s Sears catalogs, and is invaluable for seeing how bikes were offered and determining year, etc.
I was surprised to see the top of the line, most deluxe J.C. Higgins 26" bike was shown in the fall/winter 1952 catalog page with black wall tires; all the subsequent years are shown with whitewalls... so if you're trying to set up your bike exactly as seen in the catalog, you'll have that reference.
Catalog pages are not the Holy Bible for bicycle correctness or how a bicycle actually left the factory though; for example, the 1951 model page shows the Regal Deluxe decal on the chain guard, but later year catalog pages do not show a Color-Flow decal on the guard, even though that factory decal has often appears on original examples in real life. Real life examples often differ, sometimes greatly from catalog drawings, so bear in mind it doesn't mean it's not "correct".
This may be true with the applied J.C. Higgins script on the rack vs. jewels on the tank argument as well... I have an original paint men's color flow with both the rack script and the jewels on the tank just like yours.. and I believe it to be completely factory correct. Don't let anyone here tell you otherwise definitively; it's quite true factories will use up parts from previous years on new models rather than throw them away, and it's still considered factory correct... there are LOTS of examples where a real life, original example defies the image in the catalog... it does not at all mean it's "wrong".
I was surprised to see the top of the line, most deluxe J.C. Higgins 26" bike was shown in the fall/winter 1952 catalog page with black wall tires; all the subsequent years are shown with whitewalls... so if you're trying to set up your bike exactly as seen in the catalog, you'll have that reference.
Catalog pages are not the Holy Bible for bicycle correctness or how a bicycle actually left the factory though; for example, the 1951 model page shows the Regal Deluxe decal on the chain guard, but later year catalog pages do not show a Color-Flow decal on the guard, even though that factory decal has often appears on original examples in real life. Real life examples often differ, sometimes greatly from catalog drawings, so bear in mind it doesn't mean it's not "correct".
This may be true with the applied J.C. Higgins script on the rack vs. jewels on the tank argument as well... I have an original paint men's color flow with both the rack script and the jewels on the tank just like yours.. and I believe it to be completely factory correct. Don't let anyone here tell you otherwise definitively; it's quite true factories will use up parts from previous years on new models rather than throw them away, and it's still considered factory correct... there are LOTS of examples where a real life, original example defies the image in the catalog... it does not at all mean it's "wrong".
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Balloonatic
Riding my '39 Silver King 26X
Not to take you to task here Evans200, but saying Sears "never" did something is pretty authoritative... that's implying you're either Mr. J.C. Higgins himself and are speaking from personal experience as Sear's head of sporting goods, or implying you have read and seen every bit of marketing material, advertising, literature or TV ads ever produced for J.C. Higgins bicycles... it's much more appropriate to say in your experience you have never seen Sears refer to them that way in their advertising, but leave the possibility open that they may have...
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You're absolutely right. Bad choice of wording on my part. Like I said, I'm not an expert, and never should have said never. I apologize and didn't mean to sound so authoritative. You say that catalog pages aren't the holy grail for correctness, and that may be the case, but in my opinion those pages still represent the best standard of correctness that we have available. And granted, factories, stores, and previous owners will use available parts, make substitutions and omissions whenever they want. Peace.
mickeyc
Cruisin' on my Bluebird
I have the same bike, same color etc. Only missing correct grips and the bat wing. I was told (by serial number) that it was a late '51 or early '52 based on the Regal Deluxe name only being used during that time.
She a heavy weight for sure and murder on my legs on hills. Need to sell her and get back to my middle weights.
Mike
Balloonatic
Riding my '39 Silver King 26X
In my humble opinion, that batwing headlight makes that bike... with a metal bottom and plastic top so few have survived; bottoms often rust out or get badly dented when they hit the pavement, and the plastic tops crack, warp, split and paint separates from them - it's the worst possible combination for survival.
Add to that when fully loaded with 4 large, heavy "D" cells it makes the bike difficult to balance when parked and many went over as soon as batteries were put in. Frankly, I'm surprised Sears continued to put them on bikes for several years rather then redesign it sooner, but maybe that meant they sold a lot of replacements.. ;o)
They also sold an accessory horn/light combo with a handlebar mount... sometimes you can find those for sale and take the orig. plastic top off and convert the horn side to another light and voila, you have your completed batwing headlight. Same for the base, it's the same metal stamping as the dual headlight... drill out the riveted handlebar mount, make a few other adjustments, and you have a replacement base for your batwing.
Add to that when fully loaded with 4 large, heavy "D" cells it makes the bike difficult to balance when parked and many went over as soon as batteries were put in. Frankly, I'm surprised Sears continued to put them on bikes for several years rather then redesign it sooner, but maybe that meant they sold a lot of replacements.. ;o)
They also sold an accessory horn/light combo with a handlebar mount... sometimes you can find those for sale and take the orig. plastic top off and convert the horn side to another light and voila, you have your completed batwing headlight. Same for the base, it's the same metal stamping as the dual headlight... drill out the riveted handlebar mount, make a few other adjustments, and you have a replacement base for your batwing.
47jchiggins
I live for the CABE
Hi James04, based on the numbers on the BB, it looks like you have a 1950 ColorFlow. The ColorFlow first appeared in 1949 and had same fork as yours but slightly different features. One thing I know for sure, is I don't know all but from my own research and guidance from LD, there were catalog models and floor models ( which were not featured in the catalog). Your bike should have exhaust ports instead of jewels, jeweled tanks first showed up in 51 catalog and introduced Regal DeLuxe, as pictured above. Find some correct grips, top to the batwing and some pedals and ride it.
Todd
Note.....do the jewels including the aluminum housing and the ring around the jewels which starts out as the exhaust port, match the rest of the chrome/patina?
Todd
Note.....do the jewels including the aluminum housing and the ring around the jewels which starts out as the exhaust port, match the rest of the chrome/patina?
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Balloonatic
Riding my '39 Silver King 26X
Catalog pages are indeed a good standard of correctness and your opinion is appreciated, but so is experience. I started collecting vintage balloon tire bikes in 1978-79; in those 37 or 38 years I have seen at least a dozen deluxe men's Higgins with both the tank jewels and rack script both, yet the catalog pages refute this and I still hear folks make statements like post #4 above. Which is correct? A hand-drawn rendering in a catalog, or original example after original example turning up this way after nearly 40 years?
Not trying to be a dick here, just trying to illustrate that "correctness" cannot and should not be determined by catalog images alone. As I pointed out in another thread, bicycles in the 50s were essentially kid's toys, designed and marketed with kids in mind... not some important collectible to be dissected and argued over by "experts". I think it's a shame when someone comes to this site looking for info on their cool bike find only to have someone tell them it's "wrong". Especially when there are real world examples of original, un-touched bikes set up just like his.
Soap box neatly put away now... let's get back to riding and enjoying vintage bikes!
2jakes
Riding a '38 Autocycle Deluxe
To Balloonatic and Evans200.
I enjoyed reading your replies towards each other.
Very refreshing and positive. Thanks.
And I have come to the conclusion that the Chicago Schwinn Co. that manufactured the bicycles.
And the "Boys from Marketing” that created the catalogs & artwork were not on the same planet.
But as we all know...that’s the best thing we have to go by!
I enjoyed reading your replies towards each other.
Very refreshing and positive. Thanks.
And I have come to the conclusion that the Chicago Schwinn Co. that manufactured the bicycles.
And the "Boys from Marketing” that created the catalogs & artwork were not on the same planet.
But as we all know...that’s the best thing we have to go by!
Adamtinkerer
Riding a '38 Autocycle Deluxe
To add my two cents. In this hobby, never say never! There always seems to be a bike or two that flies in the face of typical accepted "facts", serial numbers and codes that don't add up. I try to say things like "typically", to cover my big white booty!
