Free Spirit?

[Woodyrigged]

I picked this up for what I feel was a good price. Im hopeing to findout if its worth anything before i cut it up and use it for parts. Any ideas? And what do you think its worth as is? Everything is in good shape except the tubes in the tires.

[mos6502]

Taiwan made Free Spirit? Around where I live probably worth $75-$100 if the tires were good.

[deorman]

Free Spirit = 70s Sears brand, various manufacturers. Cant say who made that one. One piece crank Murrays are the most common, but it's obviously not one of those.

[Woodyrigged]

Alright cool. Thanks for the info guys. I picket it up for $5 and it really only needs inner tubes. The question is, do i fix it and flip it for some extra cash? Or cut it up and use the parts for future build?

[mos6502]

I guess it depends on what parts it has you want?

Sears began importing bikes from Taiwan in the late 70s or early 80s to replace Puch in their line up, they always had Murray around for the cheaper stuff. The taiwan made bikes are actually pretty nice from what I've seen.

[Woodyrigged]

Is there any way to date this and find out what exactly it is and/or what year?

[partsguy]

This almost resembles a Raleigh?

[mos6502]

You would have to find catalogs probably and match it up. It's almost certainly from the 1980s though.

[bprophet]

Both the Puch and later Taiwan FS bikes are good rides when cleaned up. If it has cotteres cranks, it's most likely Puch, more modern cranks, Taiwanese.
Were the Taiwanese frames made by giant? I have never been able to confirm this, but they look like they're still Puch frames - I've had them side by side and they look just the same.

In DFW area, they range from 100 up to over 200 if in really nice condition.
You just have to educate that Sears doesn't necessarily equal dept store junk -and it doesn't!
The wife and I have a couple of Puch Sears and take them out all the time- our main lightweights for going to park, market and such...

[Woodyrigged]

Awesome! Great info! Thanks alot! I think Im going to fix it up and see if I can make a few bucks on it.

[kngtmat]

You can also use some of the serial number at Sears Parts direct, it won't help you on a date but it sould give you a diagram of the bike and they could have the manual even for a bike from the 70's/80's which I have seen before.

http://www.searspartsdirect.com/partsdi ... dex.action


Here is the wishbook site that has some Sears catalogs you can look at.
http://www.wishbookweb.com/

[Turtlesixfour]

What size tires fit this bike? I am thinking about getting a 24" girls for $20 and want to put fatter tires on it. Thanks for the help!