'48 Murray built Higgins

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driver bob

driver bob

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This is going to be my first "old bike" rebuild.

About me: Well I worked as a bike mechanic for years so know how to pull apart and rebuild bikes, though single speed, rigid mountain bikes are my regular rides.

I found the Higgins on Craigslist (sold as a Schwinn) and it's a mix of late 40's / early 50's CWC and Schwinn parts hanging on a '48 J.C. Higgins that was built by Murray of Ohio.

Yesterday I got it 90% pulled apart and sanded back some of the purple paint to see if any original was left. Unfortunately it looks like it is all gone, under the purple there is primer and then bare metal. I'll take pictures of how it sits now and update, it was still hovering around freezing yesterday and my garage is unheated and once I was done with the tear down and had gone in the house for a beer wasn't going back outside !!

The plan is to stay pretty mild with this, actually what I have in mind is almost the same as terry66's bike on the build-off t-shirt. Frame and fork legs will be flat black, rims red and white wall tires, nothing crazy :mrgreen:

Id thought about entering RRBBO#8 but with a full time job, a wife in evening school, 2 young kids and temperatures that are staying stubbornly subzero I will be taking my time.

Photo's will be posted asap.

Cheers for now

DB
 
Finally got a chance to do some more work on it today, no cold weather (or kids birthdays) to get in the way.

Frame is stripped:

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Getting to work with a mixture of paint stripper and wet sanding:

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A table full of parts:
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Amazingly the tires still had the original inner tubes in them !!

Frame is cleaning up nicely:
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The fork will be next:
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Frame is done


Chainguard, front and back... what a pain to scrap off the paint on the inside





Wheels: Got lucky here, the gold paint literally brushed off with the stripper but the primer stayed put. Front is done, rear is not yet touched.



 
Looking good man.
Kenny
 
Back wheel stripped and also the CWC springer, at least back to the primer.

Time for a temporary rebuild soon. We have a Tweed ride around town on May 11th and I wont have it finished by then but can roll around with it "as-is".
 
Anyone have a link or exploded diagram on the forks? I'd like to strip it down for spraying but can't get the spring parts separated.

It may just be rusted but I don't want to apply too much torque and snap something.

Thanks

DB
 
Sunny day...at last !!

Picked up some Fat Franks from the LBS, dug out my Brooks and a set of cork grips and put it back together.

It's all raw metal and primer but still looks pretty good. I need to buy a longer chain, wheel needs to be all the way back to fit the FF.

 
Thanks for the compliment. If it is to stay clear I would need to do some more work on it, it's 6ft good right now.

I'm certainly happy with where it's going, I think the FF's look really good.
 
Very nice, great choice of parts.
Kenny
 
So when is a bike "done" ??

Having got a bunch of compliments on how it looks now I'm rethinking the initial plan of flat black and red. I may just strip it back done, clean up the frame a little, hit it with some clearcoat and then re-shoot the wheels and forks with fresh primer and leave it at that.

Have to say it does ride really nicely, and rails the bends with the bars low and the FF's at 40psi.
 
All built up and out around town for a "Tweed Ride" yesterday.

Over 180 riders in total and the Higgins rode so smoothly !! Ended up at our local brewery drinking their IPA, days don't get much better :D


 

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