General Information

Serial #

N/A

Part Number

1

Total Parts

1

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

metal frame, headset, handlebars, forks, stays, crankset, chain, fenders, stand, parts/ leather saddle? and toe straps/ synthetic handgrips, cable coverings/ rubber tires

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

172.0 cm

Width

47.0 cm

Height

102.0 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Non-motorized Ground Transportation

Category

Cycles & cycling

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

CCM

Country

Unknown

State/Province

Unknown

City

Unknown

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Unknown

Period

1950+

Canada

An example of a product of the Canada Cycle & Motor Co., the largest manufacturer and supplier of bicycles in Canada until the mid 1950's. The exact provenance of this bicycle is unknown but it was purchased by Mr. Farmer from a Thrift Shop in Montreal. The Canada Cycle and Motor Co. Ltd. was formed in 1899 through the amalgamation of the five largest bicycle manufacturers in Canada: Massey-Harris Manufacturing Co. Ltd. of Toronto, H.A. Lozier and Co. of Toronto Junction, Gendron Manufacturing Co. Ltd. of Toronto, Welland Vale Manufacturing Co. of St. Catherines and Goold Bicycle Co. Ltd. of Brantford. These companies had all started producing bicycles in Canada in response to the bicycle craze in the 1890's which had reached Canada by 1895. High tariffs on imported bicycles and parts encouraged manufacturers to enter the field and/or upgrade their factories. Goold and Gendron were producing bicycles before 1890, H.A. Lozier, Welland Vale and Massey-Harris by 1895. By the late 1890's, the demand for bicycles was beginning to weaken and the five largest Canadian producers, which together accounted for about 85% of the market, decided to bring order to the market by controlling the supply of cycles and in 1899 joined their cycle making operations together to form CCM. Their object was to reduce production and competition in order to maintain prices, as well as modernizing their plants and equipping a factory to produce automobiles. The collapse of the bicycle market in 1899 and questionable financial management led to a reorganization of the company in 1902. It survived until 1911 until bicycle sales stabilized and began to climb again. By 1914 business was much improved and a new facility was built in Weston, ON which opened in 1917. C.C.M. became the largest bicycle manufacturer in Canada and maintained that position until after WWII thanks to the post-war baby boom and modernization of its production until the 1960's. After that time outside factors such as economic instability, high interest rates and foreign competition as well internal problems such as poor labour relations, failure to modernize the plant and unsuccessful changes to the marketing policy led to the eventual bankruptcy of CCM in 1983 (Refs 1-2). In 1982 Procycle Group Inc. of St. Georges de Beauce, PQ, purchased the assets of C.C.M. and manufactured bicycles under that name. As of 2009, Procycle no longer owned the C.C.M. brand name.

Function

A human-powered personal transportation or recreational vehicle for one person.

Technical

An example of a racing bicycle dating to1950, the first CCM model with three speeds. It has its original blue paint, white painted mudguards with a plated ornament at the extreme front, hand brakes and racing handlebars. 1950 was the first year in which that C.C.M. offered a 3 speed (3 gear) bicycle with an internal gear hub. Up to this point, this technology was available only in components sold in C.C.M. catalogues. This bicycle has a Sturmey-Archer AW hub (see Ref. 6].

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

plate on head tube reads 'REGISTERED/ CCM/ MADE IN CANADA/ WESTON ONTARIO/ TRADEMARK'/ plate on saddle back reads 'DUNLOP/ C.L. 7 STANDARD'; lettering stamped on each side of saddle 'MADE IN/ DUNLOP/ ENGLAND'/ incised logo on rear hub reads 'ENGLAND/ STURMEY/ ARCHER/ A.W.', with lettering reading '50', 'THREE SPEED' and 'G.B. PATENTS/ 527629/ 527632/ SWISS/ 216572/ 219045'/ incised lettering on cable clips reads 'REG. U.K./ No 803943'

Missing

appears complete

Finish

light blue-green painted frame, forks, seat and chain stays/ plated handlebars and stem, crankset, gear shift, brake handle/ white hand grips/ black saddle/ white painted fenders/ metallic seat post, stand/ brown or gold cable covering/ black tires

Decoration

N/A