weird dropouts

[beentryin]

i am buying this bike tomorrow anyone aeen dropouts like this.i think its a sears bike,cantilever frame like a schwinn

 

[RedB66]

That type of drop out is so you can remove the wheel without first removing the chain. Track and BMX bicycles do not have rear dropouts; they use fork ends that open to the rear.

From Sheldon Brown.
Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Glossary Dr-Dy

 

[corgi1]

I think I just saw a thread "free spirit-murray"something and it was a western flyer(western auto bike?)

 

[bairdco]

where the axle goes, it's called a "reverse drop-out." can't remember the company that started it, but the claim was that you could remove the rear wheel quicker and easier because you didn't have to remove the chain.

the cool swoopy end is typical of a "spaceliner" bike. it's kinda a double cantilever frame. Sears sold them, and a few other companies had the exact same bike. JC Higgins, Murray, and probably some others. it was a mid '60's bike, all made by the same company, but i forget who it was.

 

[joabthebugman]

I have the same dropouts on my Murray Monterey cruiser

 

[beentryin]

found out it was a 1960's hiawatha astro flight 26 inch tank bike

 

[corgi1]

Well this is interesting,,It says, they were designed so that when riding in the rain the water would run off behind the rear axle abd the tires wouldn't hydroplane and reduce stopping power









not lol

 

[wheelbender6]

My 1976 Western Flyer, made by Murray, has the same long, pointed dropouts.
My dropouts are also connected to the stays by pinching, rather than welding. The long dropouts provide a variety of mounting points for fenders, sissy bars, tail lights, etc.

 

[KilroyCD]

Those are typical Murray dropouts. Murray also built bikes for a number of companies, including Sears (JC Higgins, Free Spirit and Sears-badged bikes), Western Auto (Western Flyer) and apparently Gambles (Hiawatha).