jc higgins question??????

[mark cooper]

I have an old higgins frame with the rectangle badge. It's been painted over and over but at one time it looks as If jc higgins was in black. The frame has two split backbones and it's 24". What years was this bike made. It looks as if was a tank bicycle (boys). Anyone??

 

[Markm]

looks Murray made...

 

[BankerRAt]

I second that Mark. Forward this to "unchained" he will likely be able to tell you nearly the year, month, day, hour, minute and second if he is in a good mood!

 

[Rustinkerer]

1958 or later. Apparently, Schwinn's 1938 patent on it's cantilever frame expired, or was no longer exclusive to Schwinn, so that year everyone came out with their own versions. Murray's version featured those long pointy dropouts, and twin top tubes. They made a few bajillion JC Higgins Flightliners with this frame, and it continued thru the 60s. At some point they changed to a single top bar, and that version continued thru the 90s. The JC Higgins name disappears around 63-64, they just called 'em Sears after that. ~Adam

 

[B607]

Normally, a patent will run 17yrs., so 1938 + 17 = 1955. Indeed, this is when you start seeing generic cantilever frames. B607