coyboy

picked this up today. Not really looking for it but was riding my bent Thursday and a guy stopped me and offered me an old bike for $10. Said it was sitting in the shed but in good shape. I told him I didnt really need it but I might use it eventually for a chop and rebuild of a recumbent. Of course it may be worth a little as an antique so I may hold off till I find out if it is worth anything. it is a JCPenny Lightweight 5 speed but believe me it is not lightweight. I'm guessing 30 lbs. it is a steel frame with chrome fenders and a rear rack. leather saddle with springs. saddle says mesinger. I am guessing it is origional. Who knows though. I know at least one peddle is not as one is black and the other is white



is it worth anything. looks kinda classy to me. any comments appreciated.

Coy Boy

sailorbenjamin

what size tires are those?

pastorbobnlnh 

Welcome to C&V. Classy yes, but probably not valuable. It is probably a rebadged Murry, Huffy, AMF, etc. It would make a fun project and it does appear to very nice for a bike that is possibly 30-35 years old. Best of luck.

Panthers007

Bikes like that are becoming more scarce. It will make a fine about-town errand bike. I'm on the look-out here for something similar. No good one's in about 3 months of reading my local CL. Just crackhead's stolen bike lists.

spiker

If it were green it would be identical to the 5 speed Sears I found at the dump. Except the rack mounts differently.

coyboy

Thanks guys, the tires are 26 x 1 3/8. Since it is probably not worth much I will just fix the flat rear tire and keep it for emergency rides since I ride my bent for exercise. BTW I just lifted it and then my XL Trek 520 and the JCPenny is heavier buy quite a bit. I would guess maybe 40 lbs since I know the trek is around 30 #. interesting how they would call it Lightweight...but then again aluminum was probably not used much back then and carbon fiber bikes not even dreamed of yet

Pompiere

Lightweight is a relative term. Compared to the balloon tire bikes of the day, your bike was like a feather.

wahoonc

Good solid basic transportation. I several similar bikes in the "when I get around to them pile" And as pointed out "lightweight" is a bit of a misnomer. However heavy bikes do have their advantages.

Aaron

endurofoxz9

But my penneys says slight weight 5
Where y'all are sayn light weight what's up with that,? I'm new here just now this minute so as soon as I figure out how to send attachment i will

endurofoxz9

Send attachment untill I have 10 posts , 8 to go, L0L i 1der y ?

juvela

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looks like one possible manufacturer might be Huffman

see if you can locate a serial number marking on the bicycle

if it begins with an HC this would indicate a product made at the Huffman plant in Celina Ohio

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endurofoxz9

1w171715 and then right under that but upsidedown 3126-A
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endurofoxz9

But they say someone has to look at it first

AdventureManCO 

Loving this. Not really lightweight...its slightweight!

As a fan of most things 'old vintage gaspipe', I appreciate their more candid attempt at honesty.

juvela

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thank you

possible that one of those numbers was entered by a licensing agency

in any event not a Huffman product


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Vintage Schwinn

endurofoxz9:

If you are up to the challenge, you could get that 5 speed back rolling again.....
.......Borrow just a little inspiration from the great AdventureManCO's really cool recently completed project....
....................No need to try to re-fit it with expensive inferior Italian Crapagnolo components......
All you need is a basic old SEVENTIES era SHIMANO or SUNTOUR rear derailleur, a NEW $12 Bell Pitcrew 600 Cable Set, TWO NEW 590mm (37-590) 26 x 1 3/8 TIRES and inner tubes and a NEW CHAIN, and two NEW pairs of inexpensive old style 40mm brake pads.....
............some (probably just one 12oz can) DupliColor HWP110 "Copper" color Spray Paint...
............Your choice of either a reproduction decal set of classic colnago, --OR-- the 1963 favorit (with the colorful "LIFESAVERS candy color scheme decal)....
....................YOU COULD ALSO CHOOSE WHATEVER DECALS OR DECAL COMBINATIONS, OR JUST NO DECALS---plain---NOTHING, or whatever you can dream up.......or Get Your Artist Girlfriend or Wife to custom paint it...................
https://www.amazon.com/Dupli-Color-E.../dp/B086MGS78Z
https://www.ebay.com/itm/113003705610
https://www.ebay.com/itm/113026131776

Yeah, you will need a few other items such as a Bicycle Brake Cable Cutter (available NEW on Ebay for about $17 total cost from bikesmiths , trailthis, bellsbikeshop , and others) It is the "no-name" red colored handle version without any branding (without a brand name printed on it). It is functionally the same as PEDRO'S and PARKS' .................the PARKS' version is the most durable and best built but unless you are gonna do 200 bicycles or more, it won't matter as the cheapie no name version will work perfectly fine at least for the first 100 bicycles....
.............You'll also need a 12 inch / 300mm cheapie inexpensive $8 crescent wrench from HARBOR FREIGHT, or a similar $11 Wallyworld twelve inch crescent wrench......................this will allow you to REMOVE THE Nut on the left side of the crank...............reason that you NEED the 12 inch crescent wrench IS BECAUSE THEIR JAWS WILL OPEN WIDE ENOUGH TO FIT THE Nut.................................I'm certain that you probably already have an ordinary FLATHEAD screwdriver, and perhaps a basic tool box with wrenches such as those to Remove--Install pedals, remove---replace the wheel, remove---replace the seat.....etc
LIDL (that small German grocery store that is sort of similar to ALDI, except LIDL has more household random junk) LIDL currently has inexpensive bike seats at around ten bucks in my local LIDL.......they also have or have had helmets, gloves, pumps, bike stands, seats, seat pads, bike shorts in the past sixty days.....typical for them sometime during late spring and summer. IF YOU NEED SUPER-CHEAP NEW SEATS, there are New Chinese seats on ebay from mega huge Shen-Zhen China based sellers with 100% or near 100% ratings and 10,000+ transactions, BUT YOU CAN ALSO FIND THESE SAME EXACT SEATS FROM US based sellers with near 100% ratings and thousands of transactions for about $4 more.
TARGET & WALMART have seats but you'll pay about $8 more than the US based Ebay vendors and you'll pay about $12 more than what you'll pay from the Shen-Zhen China based Ebay vendors. Depending upon the size and weight of the RIDER, you may not want to chance getting a low-buck New seat that you cannot Hold In Your Hands & Inspect and See Up Close and In Person................at least at Target stores & Walmart stores, you can See and Hold and Eyeball for yourself if you think it will work well for you or if you think its a POS that will only be suitable for someone weighing less than 150 pounds.

Have Fun With It........................GO NUTS!!!...........................You've already shown a predisposition that you are at least a little bit nuts about old bicycles since you acquired this one and brought it home....................................
.................Nothing Wrong With That As It Will Make For A Very Fun Project that should be loads of fun.......
If, however, that your intention is to maximize revenue from flipping this, then as the Philly-Jersey area mobsters say:....."Fa Getta Bout it"
It will be a sunk cost, from that standpoint, but if you are looking to have fun with it and will ride it or a family member or friend will enjoy riding it.....then heck yeah it will be worthwhile and fun project....... you certainly won't go broke rehabbing-customizing this JC Penneys 5 speed...
.............................the chrome fenders should clean up nicely.....................................if you desire you can always find inexpensive USED 7881 Schwinn handlebars if you want perfect/near perfect chrome handlebars.............ditto for the superior and lightweight alloy & better looking WEINMANN (also dia-compe) handbrake levers that all Schwinns featured from about 1963 to the Chicago end......................those are all 7/8 (22.2mm mount) meaning that they fit all typical handlebars of 7/8"(22.2mm) outer diameter..................they are simple to mount and unmount......with a flathead screwdriver......and they look a helluva lot better than what ancient Raleighs and old British 3 speeds have and the other early cheapo Kmart/Sears/Penneys bikes had in the sixties and very early seventies...... RED DOT/GOLD DOT....it doesn't frikken matter what the damn dot color was or if they have the knife edge(eye pokers) as opposed to the ball end(safefty Ball shaped ends) of the hand brake levers..............the knife edge--eye pokers will just mean that they came from a bike before about 1967-1968.....................functionally they are all exactly the same.......and they are more durable and better from an appearance perspective than those ancient antique crappy looking steel hand brake levers...............The Bell Pit Crew 600 cable set includes the aluminum ferrules for the Weinmann-diacompe handbrake levers----WHERE THE CABLE EXITS FROM THE HANDBRAKE LEVER...
If you would need to or if you would ever need to REPLACE the five speed Freewheel on you Penney's 5 speed or any other ancient ten speed bike, you should seriously consider getting a good USED Schwinn (SHIMANO built) Model J freewheel FROM the 1970 - 1976 SUBURBAN five speed & FROM the 1970 - 1977 COLLEGIATE..... (***You Do Not Want the FREEWHEEL from the VARSITY/CONTINENTAL and You Do Not Want the FREEWHEEL from the 1964-1969 Collegiate)
The '64-'69 COLLEGIATE and the midsixties thru the Seventies VARSITY/CONTINENTAL have the 14-28 French made freewheel THAT YOU DO NOT WANT!!!!!!!!!!!
It isn't because that 14-28 French made freewheel is not good, as it is, IT IS JUST THAT THE 14-32 Model J (japanese) shimano made for Schwinn is better, but more importantly than the 14-32 being better quality, you have Much Better HILL CLIMBING with the 32 cog LOWEST GEAR(1st gear).
Yes, remember that you do need a SHIMANO or Maeda SUNTOUR rear derailleur model that can handle a 32 cog.
None of the European rear derailleurs can do the job reliably on anything greater than 28.
(HERE IS THE gearing on the MODEL J freewheel ...................32-----26-----21-----17-----14................)
*****Also please know that both SHIMANO and Maeda SUNTOUR offered aftermarket (five speed) FREEWHEELS during the 1970's in versions of having the large 32 cog -------and---- in versions having the really big 34 cog first gears.
GRAB ANY OF THEM THAT YOU CAN FIND IF THEY ARE CLEAN ENOUGH AND APPEAR TO BE IN GOOD CONDITION.................These are all GREAT.
Nobody really wanted five speed FREEWHEELS after about 1979 as six speed FREEWHEELS were everywhere and you could turn your ten speed into a twelve speed with a six speed FREEWHEEL.
If you want rock solid, durabilty and perfect flawless operation, always stick with SHIMANO or SUNTOUR, as Crapagnolo might appeal to the spandex idiots that take the view that TDF riders were still riding Crapagnolo for a decade or so after the normal folks (non professional racers) had realized that both Shimano and Suntour quality was light years ahead of Campagnolo and all the other Europeans. Campagnolo, Huret, and Simplex were virtually wiped out in the marketplace by 1978......It took Shimano and Suntour less than a decade, approximately six years to conquer the ruling Europeans, and as we all know, SHIMANO has ruled the world now for more than 45 years, and during that time, none of the Europeans ever came close to Shimano's lead in the industry. Campy is celebrated for its historical prestige but the reality is that it is a distant second rate when compared to Shimano and has been for at least a half century. Campy equipment is certainly more than decent enough but you really have to be nuts for Italian equipment to pay a significant premium for equipment that is far from the best in the world.