Cori's Earth Cruiser
Cori is my beautiful wife. Whenever she saw me building a bike or test riding a bike after a repair , she would always ask me to build one for her. I searched around for a couple of months and finally found one for her.
The bike I found for her started life as an 80's Murray Monterey. I spotted it on the side of a person's house while I was doing work there. It was spray painted black. I could barely make out the Murray USA head badge . The chrome handlebars , forks and rims were all badly rusted.
I asked the owner of the house if I could buy the bike from her and she said she was going to throw it out. So I offered to take it of her hands . She was happy to let me take it.
Murray Monterey (The way I found it)
I think the bike was originally blue but it was spray painted black. Also the wheel bearings were seized up. The head set bearings and crank bearings were in rough shape as well. I did not take many pictures of this bike because at the time I did not have plans of writing a blog on bicycle restoral.
These are the before pictures I do have.
Short History of Murray
Murray was an American manufacturing company now owned by Doral industries , They manufactured bicycles and lawn and garden equipment. Murray manufacturing company was founded in Cleveland, Ohio in 1919. They made gas tanks and fenders for the automotive industry.
In the 1930's Murray started producing bicycles and pedal cars for kids. Later they produced adult bicycles for Sears Roebuck and Company ,Western Auto and Firestone Tires.
In the late 30's Murray was famous for their Mercury line of bicycles. They also made the Sears "Spaceliner" and Western Auto's "Western Flyer". In the 60's through the late 80's, Murray made adult 10 speed and 3 speed bicycles, also making youth banana seat bicycles and chopper style bicycles, with names like "Wildcat" , "Eliminator" and "Hotshot". Later they produced BMX bikes.
During the 80's and 90's sales started to decline because of competition from China. Even though Murray made inexpensive bicycles , China could make bicycles at a much lower cost. Sales fell and Murray stopped manufacturing bicycles in the US. In 2000 the Murray brand was acquired by Pacific Cycles, a US distributer of chinese made bicycles. Pacific Cycles was later acquired by Doral Industries.
Restoral of the Murray
Cori was excited about my find and gave me a long list of parts that she wanted to customize her new bike. For the frame and forks she picked satin powder blue paint. For the stem ,seat post clamp and headset ,she chose satin white paint. The colors went together nicely.
I used paint stripper on the frame and sand blasted the hard to reach areas. Next I primed and sanded the frame to get ready to paint. The forks took longer to prepare. the chrome was badly pitted and the fork was rusty. I used emory cloth to get the chrome and the rust off the forks. I started with a 50 grit emory cloth and worked my way down to a fine 600 grit to smooth the metal out for primer. When the frame and fork was primed I put three coats of powder blue satin paint. The other parts were stripped ,primed and painted satin white.
The wheels took the longest to restore. The chrome on the rims was badly pitted and rusted. I took a drill and wire wheel and cleaned the rust off the rims, going between each spoke to smooth out the surface then I used fine emory cloth to clean the spokes.
I taped off the spokes with painters tape and primed the rims. Next I painted the rims with silver automotive rim paint, then I put three coats of clear lacquer. After the painted rims dried I cleaned the chrome hubs and repacked the hub bearings with grease.
Wheels (before)
Rim paint and clear coat
Rims (restored and painted)
After I restored the wheels, I wrapped them in Nirve Badass 2.225 whitewall tires.
Cori gave me a list of parts that she wanted changed on the bike. She also wanted the parts to be white. This list included white cranks, white grips, white pedals, a white seat and a white chain.
Old Ashtabula chrome and black cranks
New white fixie crank with new bottom bracket bearings.
New white Odyssey pedals and new KMC chain.
Next I greased the headset bearings and pressed in the white painted headset cups. I attached the stem and tightened the headset hardware. Next I attached the chrome handlebar and white Lizzard Skins grips. I also found a Murray tricycle headbadge .
Old rusty handlebars
New Chrome handlebars
These white grips are a little dirty from use.
Next I installed the white seat. We found one with a hibiscus flower in it.
This bike was a fun build. Picking out the the parts and watching the bicycle come together was exciting for Cori. The white components are a nice contrast to the satin powder blue paint.
Cori really likes her new bicycle and rides it everywhere. sometimes when she is not home I ride it around the block. The Nirve Badass 2.225 tires roll nice and smooth. It handles really well for an older 80's cruiser.
Thanks for reading my blog . See you next time . Tony
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