Get the best deals on Free Spirit Bike In Vintage Bikes when you shop the largest online selection at. Vintage 26' Mens Sears Roebuck Free Spirit Bike - Maroon.
Many people ask if there was a real 'J.C. Higgins' who worked for Sears. There certainly was. John Higgins began working for Sears in 1898 as the manager of the headquarters' office bookkeepers and retired as company comptroller in 1930.VINTAGE SEARS MEN'S 5 SPEED BICYCLE MADE IN AUSTRIA WITH NEW TIRES. (phx pictures and serial number. Vintage Collectible Sears Roebuck Free Spirit 10 Speed. Purchase everything you need to keep your bike in tip-top shape from the selection of bicycle parts at Sears. If you need a replacement bike seat, you can even find a variety of new options in this department. We carry all the top brands in replacement parts, including bike parts for your Schwinn bicycle. Whether you ride a road bike or a. This Rare 1970s Vintage Sears & Roebuck Free Spirit Ted Williams Special Edition Used Bike was restored with all new tires, tubes, cables, cable housing, brakes, and high quality bearings & packing grease where needed. It was also carefully cleaned, polished and find tuned. It does have some blemishes and nicks. 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.
'John Higgins' the employee became 'J.C. Higgins' the brand name during a discussion in 1908 among Sears' executives of possible names for a new line of sporting goods. At this point, the story gets a bit murky, but Higgins' name was suggested and John Higgins consented to Sears use his name. Since he did not have a middle initial, Sears added the 'C.'
In 1908, the Western Sporting Goods Company in Chicago began putting J.C. Higgins on baseballs and baseball gloves sold in Sears catalogs. By 1910, the J.C. Higgins trademark was extended to cover footballs and basketballs. Later, the popularity of the Higgins brand—combined with the wider participation of American youth in sports—led Sears to place tennis equipment, soccer balls, volleyballs, boxing equipment and baseball uniforms in the J.C. Higgins line.
By the 1940s, J.C. Higgins represented all Sears fishing, boating and camping equipment. After the Second World War, Sears consolidated all sporting goods under the J.C. Higgins brand name and added it to a line of luggage.
The J.C. Higgins brand disappeared shortly after Sears introduced the Ted Williams brand of sporting and recreation goods in 1961.
Sears Roebuck and Co. has been offering various forms of two-wheeled motor vehicles in their stores and catalogs throughout the 20th century.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Sears sold many rebadged motorcycle, moped, and scooter models produced by manufacturers including Cushman, Piaggio, Gilera, Puch, Yardman and others. From 1951, their catalog bikes were rebadged with 'Allstate' up until the mid 1960s, then switching to the 'Sears' badge.
Each one of these two-wheeled motor vehicles sold by Sears Roebuck and Co. during the 1950s and 1960s were assigned an identifying model number. This model number was marked in the Sears catalog with the cycle for ordering purposes. Once you received your cycle, you could find the model number on a metal plate riveted to the cycle and printed on the corresponding setup/parts manual. Here are what the riveted badges look like:
Located on frame arm where exhaust hanger mounts.
Located below front of seat on body by petcock lever.
Located on frame neck behind headlight or right side of frame by rear wheel well.
Located on the sheet metal guard between the rear wheel and engine.
Located on the frame's sheet metal base plate where the engine mounts.
These model numbers were very important because they were used throughout the whole process from ordering the two-wheeled vehicle from Sears up until you needed help from the Sears Cycle Center getting the correct replacement parts. These model numbers weren't used for titling purposes because there was still a separate serial number engraved on the two-wheeled vehicle that came from the manufacturer.
Sears Roebuck Bicycle 1970s
Why doesn't my year on my title match the year listed below? This is a frequently asked question. Sears commonly would title the motorcycle, moped or scooter the year they sold it instead of the year it was manufactured. Many times inventory sat around long enough resulting in the incorrect year being printed on the title.