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The Ultimate Sears Spaceliner Reference

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Here's a photo of mine.

I've had it for almost 30 years. We used to spend every Christmas in Florida and when I was young a man next door pulled it out of the back of his garage and gave it to me so I would have a bicycle to ride in the neighborhood. It was solid brown from rust when I got it. We had a local bicycle shop restore it. I recently had it brought back to my home and have been riding it. I have always wondered what it was, and was told years ago it was a JC Whitney. Using this site I have been able to determine it is a 1964 Murray built Foremost, for JC Penney.

I know the pedals are not correct, and I had the seat put on when I was younger to look period correct. The front headlight bezel is cracked badly and I would like to replace it. I would also like to get a more original seat, mostly because this one is pretty painful to sit on. I would like to add a rack as I ride this bike into town and would like to have somewhere to keep my bicycle lock as well as tow small items I get at the store. I'd like to convert the headlight to LED because they have added a bike path in my town that goes from my house into town, but at night it is now always well lit. I would also like to get a period speedometer. This model has no horn.

Does anyone make the decals for these bikes? It seems the foremost was a pretty stripped down version of the other Murray bikes.



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Here's a photo of mine.

I've had it for almost 30 years. We used to spend every Christmas in Florida and when I was young a man next door pulled it out of the back of his garage and gave it to me so I would have a bicycle to ride in the neighborhood. It was solid brown from rust when I got it. We had a local bicycle shop restore it. I recently had it brought back to my home and have been riding it. I have always wondered what it was, and was told years ago it was a JC Whitney. Using this site I have been able to determine it is a 1964 Murray built Foremost, for JC Penney.

I know the pedals are not correct, and I had the seat put on when I was younger to look period correct. The front headlight bezel is cracked badly and I would like to replace it. I would also like to get a more original seat, mostly because this one is pretty painful to sit on. I would like to add a rack as I ride this bike into town and would like to have somewhere to keep my bicycle lock as well as tow small items I get at the store. I'd like to convert the headlight to LED because they have added a bike path in my town that goes from my house into town, but at night it is now always well lit. I would also like to get a period speedometer. This model has no horn.

Does anyone make the decals for these bikes? It seems the foremost was a pretty stripped down version of the other Murray bikes.



View attachment 1206737

View attachment 1206738
Nice looking bikes,Had a brown and gold One as a kid, few years ago found one and repainted as I had,, donated to a charity auction, it got a 130 $, thought that was pretty good
 
Nothing to do this morning. Checked my emails, drank a couple of cups of coffee, nothing on TV so I thought what the heck. I went to my "bike garage" in the lower level of the house and took a chance. My assumption was correct. :) The chrome plated caps on the end of the rod that runs through the spring are nothing more than push nuts or capped starlocks, once you get some space between them and the bracket, they pop off. The shaft is 1/2" in diameter. I found this online and they should work fine if an OA bath doesn't get rid of the rust on mine. It looks reusable, but.......

View attachment 1175544

Item # 137194 Model # 880514
Hillman 1/2-in Nickel Axle Push Nut
at Lowes.

The hardest part of my journey on this bike (so far) has been the removal of the bottom race on the steer tube. Had to get that off in order to remove the chrome plated fork crown.

Short story. I thought that it was weird that all of the chrome pieces on the bike (everyone one of them) had been painted with an aluminum paint. Some orange citrus paint remover made quick work of that. I got down to my last piece, which was the rear wheel. to remove the aluminum paint from it and lo and behold, there was a painted rim under the aluminum paint. Now I know why everything else was painted aluminum; apparently it was easier to take the bike apart and paint everything rather than find a correct chrome wheel. Off to the parts bikes to see what's out there. For $10, I bought a Hiawatha "space bike" just for emergencies. Looks like it's going to pay off.

IF anyone is interested, I'll post some pictures of the individual parts that came off of the springer set up.

Ed
Hey Rivnut, do you have any spare springer parts laying around? I'm looking for the strut rod that goes from the spring down to the rockers. Thanks and let me know. Razin.
 
Nice looking bikes,Had a brown and gold One as a kid, few years ago found one and repainted as I had,, donated to a charity auction, it got a 130 $, thought that was pretty good
I've had two of these bikes and built one up from parts that I had minus the tank and sold for $150. I'm still looking for a tank if you might have one let me know and welcome to the CABE. Razin.
 
I do not. The only parts for the two Flightliner/Spaceliner springer bicycles are what is on the bike. I too am looking for a tank. 58/59 - not much of a chrome bezel but has two switches; one for the light and one for the horn.

Here's a picture off the internet from Dave's Vintage Bikes site that shows the tank that I'm seeking.
1208072

What year tank are you looking for?
 
I do not. The only parts for the two Flightliner/Spaceliner springer bicycles are what is on the bike. I too am looking for a tank. 58/59 - not much of a chrome bezel but has two switches; one for the light and one for the horn.

Here's a picture off the internet from Dave's Vintage Bikes site that shows the tank that I'm seeking.View attachment 1208072
What year tank are you looking for?
Around the mid 60's. Thanks for asking. Really nice looking tank. Good luck trying to find one. Razin.
 
Thanks.

Were any of the models made of metal instead of plastic? If so I'd like to find one. My headlight bezel is shaped like the one in this photo:


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Right now they are half way across the country. One of my car buddies bought some new toys. One is a powder coated, the other is a Hydro-chroming kit. He's going to take the pits out of the diecast bezels (2) and do a chrome powder coat on them. He's going to Hyro-chrome a Schwinn teardrop reflector housing and the Hiawatha headlight bezel. I'll post pictures when I get them back. Of course, as usual, I did not take any 'before' pictures.
 
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