Higgins Colorflow Male vs Female

[jbeary]

Hi All,

I'm completely ignorant, so please forgive me.

This year my wife and I got into some old JC Higgings bikes. I bought her a 1953 Colorflow, complete and in very good unrestored condition. I bought myself a late 50's all chrome Flightliner. Both bikes were bought from separate private sellers.

I'm in the process of restoring my Flightliner to original condition and figured that it's $120 price tag was more because it was incomplete when I bought it. However, looking around on line at these Higgins bikes, I'm finding that the boys Colorflow bikes are selling for a lot more money than the girls bikes that seem to be in the same condition. I had initially thought that this was because boys were harder on their bikes, but I see that the girls Flightliners are about the same in price (per condition) as the boys Flightliners.

So I hope someone can clear up this disparity. I paid $600 for my wife's bike believing that I got it at a fair price, but as I look around I'm wondering if this is actually the case or if I got soaked. The bike is great and my wife loves it so it's not the money per se. It's the gnawing feeling in my stomach where I'm feeling taken.

Can someone help out my conscience and let me know what causes the great disparity between the girls and boys Colorflow bikes from the early 50's?

Thanks in advance!
Jeff

 

[rico]

Hi Jeff

it will realy help alot to be able to help you if you could post some pictures of the bikes , Price will change in condition we have all seen the same type of bike for a huge diffrence in Price :!:

 

[deorman]

Colorflow, Flightliner, apples, oranges, what a difference a few years can make. One's a late deco piece usually found rusted, or in a collection, and the other's a jet age middleweight with later years same model readily found.

 

[jbeary]

I'll get some pics up next week... Thanks for asking.

And thanks for the input. What I think deorman is saying is that any given bike having been built/designed for boys or girls, generally does not influence the cost or desirability.

From what I can recall as a child, as a boy we would never be caught dead on a girls bike and we went to great lengths to dress up our bikes to be more "manly". I mean if that's even a motivation at 10 years old. I'm 45 now yet can recall being humiliated if my bike was out of commission and I had to ride my mother's bike to school.

This is what I had started thinking when I found what seemed like a great disparity of cost difference.

What I'm understanding is that collectors, which my wife and I really are, value things differently based on less emotional currency and more on style and uniqueness. As our tastes mature, we look for items that fit our particular taste; mid-century. Which is why what deorman says makes a lot of sense to me.

Bottom line is that riding the Colorflow gives my wife a thrill and this is what really matters. I don't think it would ultimately matter to her if it were a boys bike; it just happens to be a girls bike. Since it's complete and has very little rust and isn't all that beat up, I figured that $600 was fair knowing how anything from 1953 can look after 57 years.

The Flightliner attracted me because of its very modern and masculine design. The price at $120 seemed excellent especially considering that it is all chrome, has all the accessories, and only needs a few parts to bring it back to original condition. This bike has to be triple plated chrome because what surface rust there is easily comes off with some Never Dull. What's not chrome seems to polish up with a little WD-40 and steel wool without a great deal of effort.

When we first saw it there was a big ugly basket on the front and it was (still is) just plain filthy. So at first glance it just lacked the pizzazz that the Colorflow did when we first saw it. I saw a good potential with the Flightliner but of course there's also extra work to be done. Being a guy, this is what interests me more so than having a bike that matches my wife’s... So we are happy here.

 

[npence]

I have seen Girls Colorflow that a complete and in good condtion sell of over $1000 so by the sounds of it I think you got a good deal on it here is one i fixed up for my wife.

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[jbeary]

WOW! GREAT JOB!

Here's some pics of my wife's bike the day we brought it home:

The seat as you can see is a little beat up as well. It's missing a metal piece on one side. Also, the rack on the back needs paint. The rest could be touched up which is what I'm planning. I do not want to repaint much of this bike... Needs grips and handlebars, possibly a gooseneck because it could be pitted beyond polishing. The rest I'm sure will polish out. I've already redone the back rim when I changed out the coaster brake and it cleaned up really nice... They really did quality builds on these bikes.

Question though. I thought that the round headlight originally came with the boys bike. My wife's bike came with a batwing headlight which you will also see in restored condition below. It was not original to the bike so now that I see this pic, I'm confused... Did the girls bike actually come with a round headlight?

Thanks again fella's!

 

[npence]

The girls and boys had the Batwing but cant afford the $200+ for the light and i heard that the batwing is so heavy it will tip the bike over so watch out for that you got a great deal for $600 I think. I would not touch the paint though it is nice original condition. it is only original once. I will be sending the parts out to you first of the week. Thanks, nate
This is what mine started out looking like
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[theVULTURE]

Don't beat yourself up over money spent. That bike is in great shape!
this is my wife's Higgins Colorflow.
It was free, and it's all there, but it had a bit of a rust issue when I got it :wink:
I think you got a nice bike there 8)

 

[jbeary]

OHey Nate! It did not translate that was you when I saw your original post. Thank you for the insight and the pic, you’ve been a terrific resource into our summer foray of vintage bikes. That Colorfow you have is just fantastic! Your wife is a very lucky woman.

I haven't yet cleaned up my wife's front workings. I'm planning to disassemble the rat trap, take off the fender, front rim and forks, and then take out all the bearings, clean and reassemble everything prior to putting the headlight back on. Consequently I have not put the headlight back on the bike. It’s just too darned hot!

It was a pretty big deal to create the lenses and as you can see, these are red, not clear like the original ones. I had acquired a box of vintage WWII JAN machine parts and these were intended to be some sort of indicators. They just happen to fit nicely when I trimmed them down with a dremel. But, it really is heavy and you're right, the weight probably would tip the bike.

When I park the bike, I generally rotate the pedal so that it puts tension on the kickstand. I've found that doing this will help with keeping the bike from rolling from under itself. I find more and more things like this whenever we ride and marvel at the engineering...

Can't wait to get on my Flightliner.... I was thinking, if you haven't sent the parts yet and you still have the pedals, can you let me know what they look like? One of my pedals is missing a reflector and being who I am, I have been scouring eBay looking for some original pedals because of this little flaw. If you still have your pedals and they have all the reflectors, can you please let me know the cost and if these can be included with the other Flightliner parts?

THANKS!

 

[npence]

The parts where shipped out today and the pedals that I have arent in very good shape.