Western Flyer Buzz Bike

[Stacey Maslyn]

Stacey Maslyn
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Hello, Picked this up at an estate. I was able to find very similar ones but not that said Custom F5. I would love some help with year, model, value, etc. Thanks

 

[RustyGold]

I'm not much of a muscle bike guy, but that looks to be a pretty complete example. It won't go for as much as an equivalent schwinn muscle bike...but, should still go for (well?) over a couple hundred. Made by Murray...late '60s, I believe. Try posting in the Muscle bike forum for more responses from the experts.

Good find!
Jason

 

[Professor72]

Whats your plan for this bike? selling it?

 

[ParkRNDL]

I have a book with some pretty good reference pictures. I will see if I can find anything when I get home this evening.

Great bike, by the way.

 

[ParkRNDL]

The book I have only has a few Western Flyer ads... a '65, a '68, and a '70, and they don't show much detail. There's a bike in the '68 ad that looks pretty close:

Same chain guard design, similar seat but different color, bars look similar. Shifter is different, but the one on your bike is made by the same French company (Huret) as the one in the ad. My guess is that yours was built before Huret was ready to build their copy of the Schwinn Stik Shift, and just to get something out to market quick, they made a console to fit around a road bike down tube shifter. Look up "Huret down tube shifter", you will find ones that look very similar but without the console.

The '70 ad shows completely different frame designs.

For comparison, you can look up Murray Eliminators from around that year since these bikes were manufactured by Murray. I am guessing the values will be similar, but I don't know for sure as I don't play at that level...

 

[ParkRNDL]

1967 Murray Eliminator:

The whole ad is pretty cool, but the board software turns it sideways:

Now my book jumps from 1967 to 1970: