top506

I've had my eye out for one of these Puch-made 'Sears' bikes since I learned of their existence early in my BF membership, so when this appeared on-line I had a pretty good idea what it was:










So I parted with $50 and started to root through the bins in the barn.
Into the shop!



And came home today.




OEM would have been Shimano Crane/Tiltist, but I opted for Sun Tour.






It was not assembled with meticulous Teutonic craftsmanship, as evidenced by file marks on top tube and seat cluster.......





But $50 for a full 531 butted frame and fork and I can't complain too much.



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Schreck83 

Paint looks great but that Free Spirit on the top tube must be fragile. I wonder if VeloCals has replacement decals for that….
If one of these came up locally, I don’t think I would be able to pass it up. 👍

juvela

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if you have read the several threads on these you know that the wheelbase is limo-longue

42"+ IIRC

when they get this long often have the feeling that one needs to lift up rear by saddle cantle in order to get it to follow one around a corner...

you've made a fine job of it - looks like you have enjoyed good fun already!

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pastorbobnlnh 

Ready for your next Ride Across Maine. Top, you do know how to find the deals.

RB1-luvr

pretty color.

jonwvara 

That is a glorious find. I have sworn off looking for additional bikes. I plan not to add one unless it falls into my lap. But if and when that happens, I hope it will be something as cool and fun as that.

Nice amount of patina! And I will also chime in about liking the color.

albrt 

I had one the same color pass through the co-op a year or so back. Definitely gives meaning to the word Puch. But seriously, it was a surprisingly decent frame.

Pompiere

I would love to have an old Sears bike just for the nostalgia. When I was growing up in a small town in Ohio, the Sears catalog was for us what Amazon is for people today. Sears had a small store front in town where you would go to pick up your order. We might drive to the city once a year for back-to-school clothes, but the rest of the time, we would order out of the catalog.

Bruizer

The most impressive thing is your shop. Very nice!

top506

Not my shop, I just work there.

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Charles Lathe

My dad with Ted Williams. Dad was at a fishing camp and Ted Williams showed up. Early in the morning, before the men were up, Ted roused my dad out of bed and said, “Hey kid, give me some tips on casting a fly rod before these other guys wake up and I embarrass myself.” So Dad gave Ted Williams his first fly fishing lesson. Kind of off topic so sorry about that.

albrt 

Not Bowling Green by any chance? I no longer have fond feelings about Sears after one of the post-bankruptcy appliance stores blatantly ripped me off a couple of years ago, but the 70s were a different story.

stardognine

Heck, that's not off-topic, it's cool as heck. 👍 Wait, can we say heck twice, in the same sentence? 🤔😉

Pompiere

So I went to the Memory Lane swap in Bowling Green today. I wasn't looking to buy a bike, only for odds and ends for the various projects I have in progress. After checking all the booths twice, I had found a few things, none of which were on my list. After getting some lunch, my wife wanted to check out a nearby Goodwill store. That is where I found this:

Sears Ted Williams Free Spirit Reynolds 531 as found


It had just been put out today. For only $30, I figured it was a safe bet. I put some air in the tires and went for a quick ride in front of my house. There are a couple minor issues, but mostly it just needs some TLC.

juvela

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looks like it even came with a Multito and a Blackburn style rack

those MAEDA stem controls may be a replacement

IIRC original shift levers were Shimano Titlist downtubes

have lots of good fun with it

we have so many members now with one of these we should start a club or some manner of sub-group

tip - be aware that the chainset has the odd three-degree taper
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albrt 

Glad to see somebody get an interesting bike from the Bowling Green Goodwill store! I've never had much luck there - interesting bikes seem to turn up more in Findlay and Fremont.

I wanted to get back for the bike swap this spring but I just couldn't make it happen. They have another one in the fall, right?

Robvolz 

and GRAB-ON grips are worth more than $30 these days.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/18584944089...Bk9SR9yx2bX9YQ

Pompiere

I found this Sears catalog page in another post. "plugged 3 piece crank, wheel hubs, rims of lightweight steel alloy" The seat post is smaller than 27.2 mm and has a shim. The seat is an Avocet Touring II. It also has a newish chain and Sun Race freewheel, so I know some work was done in the not-too-distant past. Maybe the frame was found with wheels and seat missing and someone put it back together with what they had.

nlerner

I believe that Sears catalog page came from me. Here's the previous or next year page (I can never remember which, but I do have the entire catalogs on my shelf):

TedWilliamsFreeSpirit

Piff 

What's the modern equivalent of Sears selling a 531 frames/tubes/fork bicycle? I guess we have bikesdirect? Not exactly the same though, it'd be more like if Amazon was selling an anonymous carbon fiber frame that you could trust (not happening).

They've (bikesdirect) got to keep with the times and trends, but it's still a damn shame checking their website out and no longer being able to find a single high quality rim brake road bike...Though they at least are still selling an 853 frame! And Ti.

nlerner

Not quite the same thing, but about four or so years ago, complete Rawland xSogn bikes showed up on Walmart's online site at a very good price. They sold out quickly; @rhm snagged one.

FBOATSB

The last Sears bike I had or have even seen since the sixties, except pictures, was the Sears Spyder I bought with newspaper money and was stolen within days. Still haven't healed from that.

Pompiere

I think you are correct. I saved the picture while searching multiple posts, but I forgot to save where I found it (or what year it was from).

zandoval 

My Ted Williams Free Spirit is a grade lower and a step through. It had been stripped of all of its parts and I was getting ready to throw it in a dumpster when I realized how light the frame was. Then I noticed that pinging sound you get with 501 Reynolds. Well I rebuilt it from the parts bin and it is now one of the families favorite rides. Its a real sleeper. It looks slow and heavy with that long wheel base but with that 52 tooth ring it moves out and stays steady. Most important is that it has a long comfortable ride.

You can consider some bumper sticker decals. See post #78: https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...ockoffs-4.html

juvela

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fine detective work on your part!

my impression of these is that they were only offered for two years or so but have no hard information; have not sifted through the archived catalogues for date(s)

the example had here hung in me racks for a year or two about 1981 but can no longer recall where it came from nor to what locus it eventually vectored

the three degree bottom bracket spindle is likely to be a model 3K, or alternately model 3(S)
removal thread is standard 22.0mm

seat post shim is OEM; it may be that doing things this way afforded maker savings of not having to ream and of being able to use a pillar diameter also employed on lower model cycles

happily steerer is 25.4mm O.D. so if you should determine HS to require replacement at some point you shan't need to beat the bushes for a 26.0 model

stem, IIRC, is somewhat smaller in O.D. than the 22.2mm one might expect; you may find it to be 21.9mm or some such...

$$ -

at 30USD you could sell the rack and Miultito separately and have minus dollars in the cycle! count yourself fortunate that the Multitiio's O-ring is yet contiguous. ironically, 30 dollar is what member dweenk paid for his example.


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