Higgins tank bike

ParkRNDL · Feb 2, 2020

My first ballooner, first tank bike (unless you count '60s Schwinn Slimlines

). Trying to find at least a year and maybe a model.

The friend who sold it to me found this online:

Sure looks like the same bike minus some (probably expensive) parts... :rofl:

sandman · Feb 2, 2020

Nice project . Late 40s Color flow . Three hole tank , non jeweled .
The beehive springer fork and the bat wing lights will be the fun ones to find at a responsible price . Or just rat it out ?

ParkRNDL · Feb 2, 2020

sandman said:
Nice project . Late 40s Color flow . Three hole tank , non jeweled .
The beehive springer fork and the bat wing lights will be the fun ones to find at a responsible price . Or just rat it out ?

Late 40s, huh? Thanks for the info! I was starting my image search with 1951 and not finding anything, but now that you said that, there are some model year 1950 model year Columbias and Columbia-built Higgins that have lots of the same design features.

Yeah, not too worried about finding "correct" parts. Definitely leaning towards a mild rat build, using as much as possible of what's already there.

sandman · Feb 2, 2020

I think it's Murray built . It may even be a Elgin 4 star with a Higgins tank ?

RivNut · Feb 8, 2020

Looks like what is there is all original to the bike as originally built. Parts to put it back to original would probably cost more than it would be worth for resale, will be difficult to find. But the older JC Higgins balloon tire bikes are nice riders . Grease the bearings, put some good tires on it, and enjoy. Post a picture of the serial number for more info.

ParkRNDL · Feb 10, 2020

RivNut said:
Looks like what is there is all original to the bike as originally built. Parts to put it back to original would probably cost more than it would be worth for resale, will be difficult to find. But the older JC Higgins balloon tire bikes are nice riders . Grease the bearings, put some good tires on it, and enjoy. Post a picture of the serial number for more info.

Serial # is up there in the first pic, a couple of sources have told me that makes it a 1951, though I can't find much to back that up. Yeah this is definitely going to be a rider. The wheels had lots of loose spokes and a couple of broken ones, so I put on a set from a Target Schwinn cruiser, and added fenders I had around that also happened to be gray. Definitely a nice rider; I have been looking for an old ballooner for a while and this fits the bill perfectly.

RivNut · Feb 11, 2020

Finding the correct fenders for this bike will be a challenge. Not so much the fenders, but the fender braces. I have a similarly dated JC Higgins. Take another look at the picture your friend found for you. Notice how the horizontal braces go outside the fender and line up with the stripe on the chain guard and how that color "flows" across the entire bike.

My Higgins was built by Monark. Take a look at the serial number 9n it.

sandman · Feb 11, 2020

Surprising the rain gutter fenders look really good on it . Another thing about the Higgins fender braces to look out for is the little tab that joins them to the axles are easily broken off .

kingfish254 · Feb 11, 2020

Interesting. That frame and tank are definitely Columbia/Westfield built. Ocassionally they made bikes for Sears under the Higgins branding. I would date it early to mid 50s. It has the Color Flow type tank port holes, but that is a Westfield tank without a doubt. Cool score.

kingfish254 · Feb 11, 2020

It was built in 1951 by Westfield (Columbia).
1951 R200000 - R539588

ParkRNDL · Feb 11, 2020

RivNut said:
Finding the correct fenders for this bike will be a challenge. Not so much the fenders, but the fender braces. I have a similarly dated JC Higgins. Take another look at the picture your friend found for you. Notice how the horizontal braces go outside the fender and line up with the stripe on the chain guard and how that color "flows" across the entire bike.

My Higgins was built by Monark. Take a look at the serial number 9n it.View attachment 113659 View attachment 113660

I have noticed those fender braces on pictures of other bikes online. LOVE the way the accent color stripe starts at the front of the guard and wraps all the way around the rear fender, and the front fender mimics the design. Definitely not holding my breath on finding a set of them, but I'd certainly grab them if I saw a set relatively cheap. I kinda like it the way this one is shaping up, though.

sandman said:
Surprising the rain gutter fenders look really good on it . Another thing about the Higgins fender braces to look out for is the little tab that joins them to the axles are easily broken off .

thanks! I picked the bike up knowing I had those fenders in the basement and hoping they'd look ok. I didn't realize how much smaller they were than old school balloon-tire fenders till a friend pointed it out to me and I started looking at pictures to compare.

kingfish254 said:
Interesting. That frame and tank are definitely Columbia/Westfield built. Ocassionally they made bikes for Sears under the Higgins branding. I would date it early to mid 50s. It has the Color Flow type tank port holes, but that is a Westfield tank without a doubt. Cool score.

Yeah, I love the frame design. Isn't the extended top tube to the looped seatstays also a Columbia thing?

kingfish254 · Feb 11, 2020

ParkRNDL said:
Yeah, I love the frame design. Isn't the extended top tube to the looped seatstays also a Columbia thing?

Yes, that is another Columbia tell.

Your frame is basically the same frame as the one I had for Firewing. You can see in this pic how fat the Columbia fenders are.

BEFORE:

You have a cool blank canvas. Have fun!!!!
AFTER:

Wildcat · Feb 11, 2020

Nice looking rat! That sure looks like one I saw in another thread somewhere. It's probably not that common as I could only find one pic of that model on the internet.

ParkRNDL · Feb 12, 2020

Wildcat said:
Nice looking rat! That sure looks like one I saw in another thread somewhere. It's probably not that common as I could only find one pic of that model on the internet.

I read an interesting tidbit about that yesterday (but I know I'll never be able to find it again to back it up...)

It's pretty common knowledge that bikes badged as J.C. Higgins could have been made by Murray, Columbia, Huffy, or any one of several manufacturers. What didn't occur to me is that the Sears catalog for any given year will show only bikes made by the primary supplier for that time. So if Murray was making most of Sears' bikes in 1951, then the catalog will show only a representative Murray model at each price point/feature level. Adds a whole bunch of guesswork/mystery to the process, and explains why the 1951 Sears catalog doesn't show this bike, though the serial number makes it a Columbia-built '51 model.

sandman · Feb 12, 2020

Good info .

Bike from the Dead · Oct 20, 2024

ParkRNDL said:
I read an interesting tidbit about that yesterday (but I know I'll never be able to find it again to back it up...)

It's pretty common knowledge that bikes badged as J.C. Higgins could have been made by Murray, Columbia, Huffy, or any one of several manufacturers. What didn't occur to me is that the Sears catalog for any given year will show only bikes made by the primary supplier for that time. So if Murray was making most of Sears' bikes in 1951, then the catalog will show only a representative Murray model at each price point/feature level. Adds a whole bunch of guesswork/mystery to the process, and explains why the 1951 Sears catalog doesn't show this bike, though the serial number makes it a Columbia-built '51 model.

That could also explain why it's sometimes difficult to find pictures of every model of bike they sold even when we're talking about the ones made by their primary supplier. The Sears catalog was about as hefty as some phone books, but just like modern catalogs, they only really highlighted the big-ticket items. Heck, when I was reading through the late-50s catalogs, out of the 1000+ pages there were per catalog, only about 15 pages were related to bikes, and half of those pages were from the index!

As for your bike, awesome find! Love the fenders and seat you installed on it. That's a mighty fine cruiser you got right there.

ParkRNDL · Oct 20, 2024

It's changed some since that last picture...

I haven't ridden it in a while. Now I want to drag it out and take it for a spin.

Bike from the Dead · Oct 20, 2024

ParkRNDL said:
It's changed some since that last picture...

View attachment 282197 View attachment 282198 View attachment 282199

I haven't ridden it in a while. Now I want to drag it out and take it for a spin.

Oooh, nice! Love the modifications you've added since then, especially the exhaust pipes coming out of the tank!

Higgins tank bike

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