Eastern Canada - Canadian Tire 12-speed circa 1982

My first bike, which I got in 1974, was what they now call a "cruiser," but back then was just the kind of bike that boys liked.
My second bike was a red Sekine 10-speed, and I rode that thing all over town.
I saved up my paper route money and bought my third bike at Canadian Tire in 1982. It was a brown 12-speed road bike. I rode it that summer with a friend from Hamilton to Leamington and back.

I've been wracking my brains, but I just cannot remember the make and model of that bike. Would anyone have any idea how to go about searching for bikes sold at Canadian Tire in the early 1980s? Google wasn't any help. Would there be a storehouse of Canadian Tire catalogues somewhere on the net?

Would anyone have any idea how to go about searching for bikes sold at Canadian Tire in the early 1980s? Google wasn't any help. Would there be a storehouse of Canadian Tire catalogues somewhere on the net?

I think we all got our bikes at Canadian Tire back then.. :)

A couple of ideas. 1. Have you asked CT directly? 2. University library's archived periodical section. I mention this because when I studied at SMU in Halifax in the late 90's, I used to browse their archived issues of PC Magazine going back decades. Imagine seeing an advertisement for a PC at 25 Mhz with 640K ram selling for $2,500! Maybe an archived issue of some sporting magazine from that era might have an advertisement for your bike.

Good luck.

Some good suggestions there. I like the idea of asking someone at the Tire directly. I think I'll try that!

Still, I might have thought there'd be an arcane hobbyist with a storehouse of this sort of information in an obscure corner of the intarwebs somewhere.

My first CTC bike was a Supercycle...I think they also sold Flyers and Gliders back then

try posting in classic and vintage forums. They re up on that kind of stuff.

I think most Canadian Tire bicycles have been Supercycle/CCM machines. Just for reference, take a peek at my red Sekine (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=230776). Look familiar?

Yes I think I can help. I bought a new bike around that time, a 12 speed excalibur, light brown in colour.Does that ring a bell? It came with michelin tires, sand coloured handlebar tape, shifters were on the down tube. Oh and the seat was covered in a nice brown velour, which wore down as the miles racked up!

Sorry, I meant to say the seat was brown suede.

Hey, whoa!! That's it!! Yeah, it was light brown, and the seat was this brown velour or suede type thing. Thanks for coming to this thread and mentioning this.

Got any more info? Any pictures, or anything?

My friend has been riding an old Excalibur since it was new and has logged 10's of thousands of km on it... it was and is a fairly well made bike.

My first CTC bike was a Supercycle...I think they also sold Flyers and Gliders back then

Glider was Eaton's store brand if I recall correctly.

Sorry, no pics. After I bought a hybrid at a local bike shop, I gave the bike to a buddy. He put it in his mouldy basement where it sat for years. He since bought a house and I believe he just left it there.
Maybe I should see if it is still around! Of course this all happened before I got the bike bug.

The reason I came across this thread was because I just bought a Supercycle Excalibur through Craigslist. I wanted to know a little bit more about the bike. The one I have is actually mostly white in colour, and it doesn't have the brown seat and handlebars you described. Although I did find another white one which is currently for sale on Kijiji Mississauga with the brown seat and bars.

http://toronto.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-sports-bikes-VINTAGE-SUPERCYCLE-IN-AMAZING-CONDITION-BE-READY-FOR-THE-SPRING-W0QQAdIdZ111976560

I'm glad to hear that it is a well made bike and is capable of going 10's of thousands of kms :)

cj - That bike is in great shape and probably was one of C-tire's better quality models back ion the day when the bikes they sold were often quite decent.

I would liken it to a middle of the road Schwinn or Raleigh and in that, it should be good for whatever you toss at it for a good amount of time.

Yea, actually the first 4 pictures are just copied from the Kijiji ad which I provided a link to. The bike appears to still be available for purchase at $140 CAD. The 5th posted picture is the one that I bought (and only paid $30 for :P). It looks to be in quite good shape as well.

I liked the 5th picture... $30.00 was a great deal.

I've been trying to remember what bike I got at age 10 (1973) that my dad bought me from Collegiate Sports. I remember it was blue, had white bar tape, and the downtube shifters (chrome) said 'Shimano'. I believe it was around $105.00 at that time. My dad wanted to get me the smaller version as it was cheaper, but I wanted the big one. I raced that thing against any kid in my area....:D

If anyone has info or pictures of it please pass it along.

Back in the day, it seems all the kids had a 10 speed Targa. Light blue with white handlebar tape. I know, because I wanted one. I think it was a CCM Targa.... back in the big bad bike BOOM.

Back in the day, it seems all the kids had a 10 speed Targa. Light blue with white handlebar tape. I know, because I wanted one. I think it was a CCM Targa.... back in the big bad bike BOOM.

You're right, it was most likely a CCM. What I can't understand is why I opted for a road bike instead of a more 'off road' type of bike? I know at age 8 I really wanted that 3 speed with the shifter in the top tube, it had a smaller wheel up front and a fat slick tire out back, and a banana seat with U shaped handle bars.

There must have been quite a bit of buzz going around about road bikes for me to want one of those instead. All I remember is I loved going fast on it, and would race kid on any bike.

I also remember buying a front bike light (Canadian Tire?) that bolted to the front fender and had a gear that when you tilted it against the tire rim it charged the light. I did this so I could ride when it got later into the evening. Anyone remember those lights?

The bike with the banana seat your recalling could be the Mustang. I think Canadian Tire sold those. They came with a sissy bar as well. Lots of kids had those too.
As for the ten speed craze, I think about 80 percent of bikes sold in the bicycle boom were ten speed racers.
The bicycle generator light was a popular choice as well. I had the all in one system for many, many years until about 1996. Probably bought 3 or 4 of them, but they just slow you down too much.

The bike with the banana seat your recalling could be the Mustang. I think Canadian Tire sold those. They came with a sissy bar as well. Lots of kids had those too.
As for the ten speed craze, I think about 80 percent of bikes sold in the bicycle boom were ten speed racers.
The bicycle generator light was a popular choice as well. I had the all in one system for many, many years until about 1996. Probably bought 3 or 4 of them, but they just slow you down too much.

This is all bringing back some memories. I remember being at middle school and watching kids at lunch pop wheelies the whole length of the street. One insane kid put forks on a 10 speed and could do wheelies with that.

Back in the day, it seemed like the guy around the block had a modified bike with two or even three forks welded together, chromed and everything. The other dude was popping wheelies like it was nothing!

I just picked up my Excalibur on Friday. The year on the rims is 1984, so I'm assuming mine is either 84' or 85', although I'm still going to see if i can find a Supercycle serial number chart.

This morning was my first chance to take it for a serious ride. I was definitely impressed with my $30 purchase. I rode a full 31km loop through the country and was able to maintain and a beginning-of-season average speed of 25.1km/hr, and got it up to 54.1km/hr on a hill. Those numbers aren't particularly high, but I was just impressed that I was able to do it all without a single mechanical problem.

I recall getting mine around 1983? My brother was working at Canadian Tire at the time so I think I may have gotten a discount on it. In fact his job was assembling bicycles.
I wonder what components came on the bike?

The bike with the banana seat your recalling could be the Mustang. I think Canadian Tire sold those. They came with a sissy bar as well. Lots of kids had those too.
As for the ten speed craze, I think about 80 percent of bikes sold in the bicycle boom were ten speed racers.
The bicycle generator light was a popular choice as well. I had the all in one system for many, many years until about 1996. Probably bought 3 or 4 of them, but they just slow you down too much.

The Mustang is a wheelie popping machine...

Back in the day, it seems all the kids had a 10 speed Targa. Light blue with white handlebar tape. I know, because I wanted one. I think it was a CCM Targa.... back in the big bad bike BOOM.

Do you know what was going on around that time that caused this boom? Obviously we got most of our info from television then. Were there a lot of bike related sports segments on tv? Magazines?

I remember my dad promised me a bike in grade 3, then 4, then it was grade 5 (10 yrs old) and I no longer wanted a 3 speed, I wanted a 'real' road bike. I remember us standing in Collegiate Sports at Kipling & Queensway, and there were 2 blue road bikes, one behind the other.

My dad points at the smaller one as it was cheaper, and I said 'no way, I want the bigger one'. I was already a bit tall for my age, and there was no way I was going to let my dad save a few bucks and I end up with a small bike...:mad:

The other thing I remember is riding it all the time, right into the evening, and this is why I ended up getting that light so I could keep riding. I'd look for any kid on a bike and challenge them to a race, and off I'd go. I had that bike until I was 17.

It was showing it's age so I stripped off the paint and bought a can of Midnight Blue spray paint. I had it all done, left it in the shed, and it got stolen! I didn't get another bike until June 1996, a Bianchi Hybrid. I had that until Sept. 2006 when some moron in an SUV ran a stop sign and hit my back wheel, frame got bent. I was ok, although I was knocked down.

A week later my brother-in-law gives me some old road bike he found that someone had put to the garbage for pickup. It was in pretty good shape, but a bit too small for me. I took it home and one day I took it for a spin around the block. It brought back all those good memories of my first road bike, and I zipped around and had a blast. It convinced me I would enjoy a good road bike again, and shortly after that I bought one.

After owning a couple of road bikes, I found myself buying an entry level hybrid bicycle in the mid nineties. Guess I got tired of the skinny tires and the poor road conditions. Still have that hybrid, but hardly use it as I've rediscovered those old road bikes are a lot of fun!

I'm absolutely loving my $30 1984 Supercycle Excalibur. With the exception of the longer seat post that I bought for it, everything on it was there when I bought it. I have done a very thorough cleaning of the drive train and now have the chrome in the chain and chain rings looking brand new. I'm still riding on the original tires, the treads are great on, but the sidewall are definitely deteriorating. In the short month of only weekend rides I have already put 330km onto it, and have no mechanical break downs so far. Supercycle definitely knew what they were doing back in the 1980's!

The picture I have attached is a picture of another Supercycle from the same approximate era. I'm pretty sure it is not an Excalibur, but I thought it might be of interest to the owners of Brown Excaliburs. My Excalibur has got me quite interested in the history of Supercycle's road bikes.

I'll attach some better pictures of my own Excalibur soon.

Roughly 2.5 years later...I joined bikeforums with the username excalibur1976...what does that tell you? Yes, I bought the Canadian Tire Supercycle Excalibur when Canada was hosting the 1976 olympic games. I still have it.

Roughly 2.5 years later...I joined bikeforums with the username excalibur1976...what does that tell you? Yes, I bought the Canadian Tire Supercycle Excalibur when Canada was hosting the 1976 olympic games. I still have it.

Welcome to Bike Forums.

Had some Supercycles roll through our shop a few months back and they had been dressed up for the '78 Commonwealth games that were held here.. they looked as if they had been un -ridden and knew that bicycles were supplied to the athletes that came here to compete.

It was like they had been packed away as soon as the games were over.

Hello all, I just joined the forums right now in order to post a picture of an old SuperCycle Medalist Series II that I picked up late last year for really cheap. I've attached a picture. I (finally!) want to build a fixie using this frame. Was this a decent SuperCycle from years ago or was it a lower end bike? Not sure what quality of steel it is. If anyone has insight or a link to an old catalog for this bike, that would be great!

236835

Sold a Medalist series II last year. It was a Mixte bike and came with alloy brake calipers, levers, stem, and crankset. Still it was quite heavy, telling me that the tubing is not the greatest. Actually, my first brand new bike was a Supercycle Medalist in white. I think I bought it around 1978 for a hundred bucks or so.

Sold a Medalist series II last year. It was a Mixte bike and came with alloy brake calipers, levers, stem, and crankset. Still it was quite heavy, telling me that the tubing is not the greatest. Actually, my first brand new bike was a Supercycle Medalist in white. I think I bought it around 1978 for a hundred bucks or so.

Very cool! I'm wondering about part compatibility with the frame. I pulled the bottom bracket apart and was shocked to see that the adjustable cup with the lockring was on the drive side, and the left side cup was reverse threaded. Was this just installed incorrectly by a previous owner, assuming it's been opened up a few times since it was new?

Also, does anyone know whether it uses 700C wheels or 27" ISO 630? The centerpull brakes that came with the bike have a measured reach of ~65 mm so if that was meant for 27", I'd be pushing really long reach brakes for a 700C conversion.

27 inch wheels were on the Medalist series II that I sold. As for the bottom bracket, take a look at Sheldon Brown on the web or the Park Tool website may have info for you.

27 inch wheels were on the Medalist series II that I sold.
Great, thanks!


As for the bottom bracket, take a look at Sheldon Brown on the web or the Park Tool website may have info for you.
I wasn't clear about the homework I'd already done. I was "shocked" since none of the bottom bracket's on Sheldon Brown's website have a left side cup that is reverse thread. I'm convinced it was just jammed in incorrectly on both sides. I tried installing it the right way and it seemed to fit, indicating that it is a standard English-threaded shell. I'll get the threads checked out by my LBS.

Nice bike pics there.
I have a early 60's Super Cycle and that thing is a blast to ride.
I recently got a 1982 12 speed Ralaigh which was origionally from Canadian Tire.
It is in great shape but your 82 Super Cycle looks to be a bit better.
These old bikes might not be as fast as new ones but they have heart