Road Test/Bike Review (1991) MURRAY Baja Street Cycle
 

Joke? Maybe, but doubtful.
Expose (ex po zay)? Possibly.
At least one head rolled or resignation tendered as a result? I would not be surprised.
I would love to hear the story behind the story.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1e7de4a85e.jpg

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d6873f0e61.jpg

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They should have done more articles like this... it would have given bicycle shop owner ammunition for the potential customer that comes in and asks, "why shouldn't I just go buy a big-box store bicycle"?

This actually has a lot in common with bikes my sister and I rode as children, all of which came from toy stores and department stores.

I was looking at the bikes I set out for the scrap man in the last few years when visiting my folks, and, yeah, they were pretty much garbage. Steel side-pull brakes, painted steel rims. I care less about the other stuff one needs to concede to get to a price point, but safety related stuff really ought to have a higher level of importance.

This was about the time as the Huffy "Stalker" my neighbor had. It was a cool, blacked out mtb with a similar looking chainring disc cover. He massively crumpled the toptube and downtube hitting a pothole while we were riding one day. As I recall, he was able to ride it the 2miles home at least. I think front end geometry became very track bike looking, with minimal clearance between the tire and downtube.


You know this may be the absolute low point in pre-suspension BSOs. They started putting canti-bosses on most of them soon after and Shimano made it even dirt cheap stuff would index.

It's telling that regulations here in the U.S. at the time still permitted bicycles that were unsafe to be rode really... I guess there wasn't a big enough company, with like lobbyist strength, to bend the regulations to their liking. So maybe the opposite was the idea? Maybe I'm just at the stage of old, where everything seems like it's bitter.

thanks...
 

Thanks for posting this. I just picked one of these up at a yard sale for five bucks...I guess they didn't hold their value too well :lol:

It is a heavy beast for sure. Since I'm just going to use this bike for semi-loop hikes (only a few road miles getting from point B back to point A) it will serve its purpose.

I'm fairly certain that even if someone finds where I stash it in the woods they will just leave it ;)

Hey, post a few photos of your find when you get a chance!

I miss the poster who used to put up pics of his Huffy bikes. He modded them and rode them and would write about them. I think he was from Ashtabula OH or maybe he just liked Ashtabula cranks, : )

since you asked...
 

Sure...but it's not pretty :)

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...43fcf79b48.jpg

For the purpose I got it for I am unlikely to do much with it in terms of restoration beyond a basic safety check. I removed a rear rack it came with (maybe worth what I paid for the bike), switched out a decent looking seat post for a cruddier one, removed the awful seat and the equally awful plastic pants protector from the chainring. The kickstand will also be removed. On the stand the bike shifts well after setting the limits correctly (thumbies...how could it not?) and it brakes OK - although the calipers are pretty flimsy. The tires are OK and the tubes hold air (bonus!). The exposed bits of cable are not bad at all - and since they are almost 100% covered by housing I will probably leave those as-is. I did have to true the rear wheel a bit however I may switch both rims out at some point - the ones on there now are heavy! There is a squeaking noise coming from the headset...I guess the races need to be repainted :lol:

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d2f058c13b.jpg
Baja? Or Street Cycle? An early attempt at hybrid marketing I suppose. Sweet plastic housing clips too!

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8c6f18a8a7.jpg
I took this ridiculous piece of plastic off the chainring. It says "This Advanced Machine is a Sreet Cycle"...LOL.


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Lighter than what? A car?

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Here's the (heavy) seat it came with. I will replace it with something more appropriate - like a tattered MTB saddle from my junk pile.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...c4b019da48.jpg
1989...I almost wonder if that's why there were Blue Light Specials on these in 1991!

Thanks for all the pics!
For me, the beauty of this bike is that it's been an underdog getting no respect from the day it entered the world and yet has managed to survive with many (all?) of it's original parts.
It is beautiful in it's ugliness. A rescue bike from the Island of Misfit Toys.
It almost bothers me that you don't keep the chainring fairing (or pants protector, or smash plate, or Ashtabula Aero Disc, or whatever it's called) on the bike. :)

Was first expecting for it to be in an April issue, a tribute to Road & Track April Road tests.

You're welcome!
 

You're welcome for the pics!

I look at this bike as if I am extending its useful life and keeping it out of the scrap pile (for now). The top tube has some beyond minor rust so in that regard the end is coming.

Overall, the bike has not really been abused in any way just severely neglected. Last night I opened up the BB and the bearings were as dry and clean as could be leading me to believe there was zero grease in there begin with, mirroring the findings in the original article. I expect more of the same when I deal with the headset later this week.

And about the chainring protector: yeah, keeping it on probably gives the bike a "unique" period look...but OTOH it might be fun to toss around at a disc golf course :)

I have 2 of these, I replaced the steel wheels with some that I got off a Giant that was by the dumpster at an LBS with a broken frame. I like it. Teh other one is red and looks great. I will do something with it. i love thumbing my nose at bike snobs.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e589bc0c7f.jpg

That is not the typical Murray frame @mitchito . It has lugs! Nice find. Was this make in China rather than Tennessee or Ohio? Then you added wheels with aluminum hubs and rims and nice fat tires. That is not a bad bike at all. You've got a bit of a sleeper there.

Made in Tennessee

My hat is off to Murray for gearing up to make lugged bikes in Tennessee. This is not an easy endeavor for a company that produces at the volumes that they do. I especially like the fork. It doesn't look like they went to someone like Tange to buy a fork, I would guess that they made the fork too.

I like the color too.

I remember this article! It gave me a chuckle BITD but now it seems a bit elitist -or am I being a little too sensitive?

I still use "toothpaste" when describing sloppy welds...

Hey, don't laugh...I had one of those. It was my first geared bike, probably came from the Ft. Belvior PX in 1989. To ~12-year-old me, that crank cover and graywall tires were about as cool as the pop-up headlights on a Pontiac Fiero. (it was the late 80's after all)

Rode my entire Boy Scout Cycling Merit Badge (250 miles) on it; learned how to make proper use of 2x5 gears; added a rack and fat tires to it, and started klunkering in the woods.
Sometime in early 1992 or so, I was at my LBS, looking in to fitting it with cage pedals with toe clips and 'Smoke' MTB tires, when the shop guys stuck me on a Giant Iguana and told me to take it around the loop behind the shopping center; and my my first N+1 was hatched.

Sadly, my BAJA is no longer with us; I crashed pretty heavily into a roadside culvert (in the rain) at the 1993 Boy Scout Jamboree. The forks collapsed almost to the downtube, and the top tube was bent up like an omafiets.
We gave the bike a Viking funeral by tossing it into a bonfire on one of the last nights of the encampment.

This just popped up on my local CL. $20. https://norfolk.craigslist.org/bik/d...427307031.html
I shouldn't, but I just might. :lol:

https://images.craigslist.org/00707_...2_1200x900.jpg *uploader is acting up*

I would!

I'm torn on this one, lol.
As much fun as it would be to get 'my' old bike back, it's a 40- minute drive to pick up a bike I'd never (want to) ride. Shame, 'cause it's a damn time capsule, doesn't look like it's been touched in 28 years.
However, knowing the neighborhood it's in, there's folks there who could use a $20, rideable, basic-ass bike like that a lot more than I need to put it in my collection.

For anyone contemplating this old shtbox can be yours for $10 near Philly https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...56760848614952
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No drive side photo but the disc is there by the looks of it.