Trying to identify my first bike.. without pictures

[clerkkent]

I'm attempting to figure out what kind of bike I had for my first bike. I've rifled through my parents' photo albums looking for a picture, and there were none to be found (my parents are not big picture takers). So, here are the bits I remember, hopefully someone can help:

a) bike would have been purchased in the 1980 -1982 time frame
b) I remember it being a chopper, the murray kat family seems to be the closest thing I can think of
c) it had a black banana seat, and the frame was predominately chrome. It may of have had purple/orange/yellow accents
d) it was purchased from Coast-to-Coast hardware stores (I remember the sticker)


Does this jog any ideas or memories?

 

[icyuod2]

heres a 1977 murray king kat. what do you remember being similar about this bike?

 

[Dee-Em]

Sorry to hijack the thread a lil' here, but DUDE thats awesome

 

[clerkkent]

@ icyuod2:

I remember the bike having a triple tree fork, but not necessarily a springer.. perhaps more along the lines of a Murray Fire Cat.

 

[icyuod2]

any other things you can remember? frame design? seat? shifter? etc.

heres a few cnadian bikes from that time era (real chopper movement) most have american equivalents
this is a girls eatons glider (no triple tree)

ccm maurader

and my build off bike (cougar mx 500) this is the bike that later became the
sears moto-bike with gas tank shocks etc.

and of course we can't forget the raleigh chopper (no triple tree)

 

[clerkkent]

Nope, it wasn't any of the CCM/ Raleigh muscle choppers. It definitely had the raked chopper fork. When I was a little kid, I remember that front wheel ticking waaaaay out there, and being the envy of all the neighborhood.

It didn't have a shifter, but it had a black banana seat.

 

[weekend-fun]

Ross Appollo or Murray Eliminator?

Appollo:

eliminator

 

[clerkkent]

It definitely was similar to the structure of this bike:

but without the exhuast pipe chainguard, headlamp, and purple color scheme.

 

[deorman]

Murray, Huffy, and AMF, all had cheaply made bikes with long forks and deep rake in the late seventies, later than those little front wheel things guys keep posting. I recall the Murrays as being the most stylish (and expensive) of the bunch.