murray meteor-something ???

[fenderhole]

just picked up this frame and fork off ebay dirt cheap. anybody know what model and year it is?

 

[deorman]

Sweet! Probably early 60's, or maybe even 50's. 8)

 

[Unchained]

Sweet! Probably early 60's, or maybe even 50's. 8)

Yup, it's a late fifties or early sixties Murray made middleweight bike. I had a very similar Murray made JCH With the colorflow style tank and lower bar... Your frame would take the same tank if you removed the chrome wing.

Kenny, 30thtbird (hope I got that right- sorry in advance if I didn't) posted a very helpful bit about Murray serials...

Awesome bike Ron.
Yes, there is a way to date the Murray badged bikes. Railrider(Ron), Eddie Hill, and myself have studied this for a while. The 3 of us together have probably owned almost 200 Murrays in the last 5 years. We feel that ,for the most part, that they are rather simple.

Using the green Westernflyers serial number above as an example:
MO6 = Murray of Ohio 1966
.28 = the model number. In this case, 28 is the model number for a fenderless Wildcat(cantilever) framed 20" boys bike. (In 67 or 68 they changed to a 3 digit model number and in 69 changed to a 4 digit model number.)
X10 = Western Auto. We refer to this as the "X" number. It was like an order number. We still don't know all of the "X" numbers, but we do know for sure that every Westerflyer from at least 66 and up that we have owned and that was built by Murray has X10 in this position.
The last 6 digits is the sequential production number.

I do know for a fact that some Murray lightweights from the mid 60's had a different style serial number, similar to the schwinns. We also know that Sears badged Murray built bikes all started with the numbers "502" and then the next 4 or 5 digits was the actual part number listed in the Sears catalogs. We also know that Gambles Hiawatha badged Murray built bikes had yet a different style serial number. They started with a WG or a WG3 and then the next 3 digits was the part number listed in the Gambles catalogs. I have personally owned a few Murray built bikes that had numerous digits actually missing completely from the serial number.

In my opinion, Murray was the best documented bike in the business. You can't fake a Murray and get away with it if you know the model numbers. It's not like a schwinn where you can take a standard 3 or 5 speed and turn into that special model and triple its price. When you buy a Murray, just check out the model number in the appropriate catalog to authenticate it and you know if someone is trying to put the screws to you. It's almost as easy on the older Murrays too. I am still working on the serial number breakdown for them. So far I know that they used a single letter to represent the year and a 2 digit model number. Also, the older Murray built bikes sold by Sears had the 502 number on them too. I have posted a number of Murray catalog pages in the Ads section in the bike gallery on this forum. Check them out. Kenny.

 

[fenderhole]

hey guys thanks for all the info. i've only glanced at the serial # at this point but i noticed right away that it was a hand stamped #. it was the uneven, overlapping digits that gave it away. i found another clue tonight, everybody go pick up your new issue of kickstand magazine(you do have a subscription right?) and flip to page 17 in the ad at the bottom right corner is a picture of what i believe is the same bike as mine. but that ad didn't tell me the model and year so the info search continues....

 

[beatcad]

frame is just like mine. '49 or '50 i believe.

 

[fenderhole]

i think it might be a meteorflight? does that sound right to anybody?
also, if anyone has a tank that will work with this frame that they'd like to sell i am definitely interested.

 

[Unchained]

i think it might be a meteorflight? does that sound right to anybody?
also, if anyone has a tank that will work with this frame that they'd like to sell i am definitely interested.

That does sound right. The tank which would fit would be the same tank my '57jch had, only minus the chrome wing (which is held in place by two small screws on either halve).

 

[roadmaster]

i think it might be a meteorflight? does that sound right to anybody?
also, if anyone has a tank that will work with this frame that they'd like to sell i am definitely interested.

we all know most every name back then ended in either a flight or a liner. :lol:

 

[fenderhole]

well, mystery solved. thanks to the info in the vintage bicycle ad section i found out this is a 1957 murray meteor-flite. now i just need a tank for it.