Barn Find: 1966 Sears Spyder

I picked this bike up a couple of weeks ago. It's a 1966 Sears Spyder, made by Murray.

I have a few Sting Rays, so I didn't really need another kid's bike, but this one was so nice that I would have kicked myself for years if I didn't buy it.

I haven't even cleaned the thing. All I did was put some air in the original tires. I love the way that the chain guard is faired into the rear fender. The seat is absolutely perfect and it rides very nicely.

Damn, that's really nice for almost 50 years old.

Nice! Those bikes are very similar to the Sears bikes my brother and I had growing up. Mine was the 5-speed model in a gold color with a cool "stick shift" mounted on the top tube. My brothers was the 10-speed model in that same purple color.

This is from the 1968 Sears catalog. They had changed to a more conventional chain guard by that time. This bike is equivalent to #5.

1988RedT2 wrote: Nice! Those bikes are very similar to the Sears bikes my brother and I had growing up. Mine was the 5-speed model in a gold color with a cool "stick shift" mounted on the top tube. My brothers was the 10-speed model in that same purple color.

In 1974, the government decided that stick shifts were unsafe and made them illegal, because kids were impaling themselves after landing wheelies. I just sold a Schwinn with a stick shift that was made in November of 1973. It was one of the last ones made with the stick. It even came from the factory in a 1974 color.

In reply to Woody:

Yeah, ours were probably purchased around 1968-1969. They were the 24-inchers like those pictured as "1" and "2" on your catalog page, but both had the high-rise handlebar, not the "billy bar". If you look closely, you'll see that the 5-speed still had that chain guard, but the 10-speed didn't, because of the front derailleur.

Nice find. I don't collect pedal bike but I would have bought it too.

That Groovy Billy bar looks a little crazy.

I don't know what you paid Woody, but I bet that chain guard is worth every penny.

Woody wrote: This is from the 1968 Sears catalog. They had changed to a more conventional chain guard by that time. This bike is equivalent to #5.

I actually think I had bike #4 - the 3-speed - as a kid. It was purple and white. The brakes sucked. Also, whenever you were going up a steep hill and stood up on the pedals, something about the tension in the linkage would make it shift itself up to third. It was like riding into a puddle of molasses, and I fell over a lot because of it. After a year or two I begged my father to convert it to a single-speed coaster brake. I rode the wheels off of it, then.

Duke wrote: Damn, that's really nice for almost 50 years old.

Ditto. Damn that's clean.

I found a 1966 Sears Catalog photo of the exact bike. This time, it's #4.

In 1966 my best friend had a bike like #1 on the catalog page above, with the extended frame. It also had the billy bar handlebars like the one in the previous catalog page - I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

No, the coolest thing ever was the Sidewinder(?) with the cheater slick back tire, smaller diameter front tire, sissy bar, stick shift, and steering wheel instead of handlebars.

Around '70 I bought one of the 10 speed 24" ones brand new with my lawn mowing money. Didn't have the curled handlebars

I had #5 in the catalog. Bought somewhere around 1970 or 1971. Rode that thing for years. Not sure what ever happened to it. Probably lost it in a garage sale !!