Canadian Content
 

While getting some of my bikes out of winter storage, these three very "blue" bikes were kind of sitting together so I grabbed a camera to take a few photos. The 1972 CCM Turismo was restored over this past winter. It belonged to a late friend and his son gifted it to me a couple of years ago but I just made the 800km round trip last fall to pick it up. The CCM was made in Canada and is a nostalgic brand for most Canadians.
The 1976 Supercycle Excalibur (Bridgestone Technart) has been a favourite for years now and sees lots of use. The Supercyles were sold by Canadian Tire which sells auto parts, sporting goods and hardware.
The most recent is a 1984 Rossi, a shop brand for Scattolon Cycle in Hamilton Ontario. The frame was sourced in Japan by Meile. I bought it from a neighbour who was the original owner. It received a total rebuild and some upgrades over the past winter season. In particular, an alloy seatpost, a Bridgestone branded SR alloy chainring, shorter SR stem and new saddle and tires. Finished it off with some older plastic coated metal Zefal mudguards.
I have a kit of seven various Duplicolor blue paint cans which I have used for paint repair and touchup. Mixes can come very close to a colour match.


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The Blue Brigade
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1984 Rossi
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1972 CCM Turismo
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1976 Supercycle Excalibur
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I remember all three of them.

Beautiful presentation of bicycles that never made it across the pond, at least not in numbers significant enough for me to have seen any of them. Really nice to see them in their Sunday best. :thumb:

The Turismo was as ubiquitous as a Peugeot U0-8 back in the day for us Canucks. Nicely done!

Curious about the CCM excalibur
 

I just came across an exclaibur in good nick, and I've been fixing it up my self. What do you know about the bike itself and what can you tell me about the groupset and the steel/aluminum (mystery non magnetic metal) frame? Thanks!

Welcome to the forums. The OP's Excalibur is essentially a rebranded Bridgestone Superlight, manufactured using their Technart process, whereby aluminum lugs are die cast over tubes with slightly flared (and plugged) ends. This method eliminated the need for skilled brazers, reducing costs. It also allowed the joining if dissimilar and difficult to weld or braze materials. In this case, the main tubes and stays are aluminum but the fork is steel. The Technart process was also used for stainless steels and hi-tensile steels.

The components are typical of a mid-1970s, very low mid-range, Japanese manufactured model. The brakeset is the ubiquitous Dia-Compe centre-pull with safety levers. The derailleurs are the rugged, well performing SunTour VGT on the rear with a (reverse shifting) SunTour Compe V on the front and the desirable SunTour Power Shifters (I'm not sure if this last item is OEM, as the factory Superlights typically used stem mounted shift levers). The crankset is a cotterless, aluminum, swaged, Sakae Royal. All these items are typical of Japanese upper entry level models of the era but what elevates it a notch are the wheels, particularly the aluminum rims. One cost concession is the use of a nutted axle on the rear Sunshine hub, as opposed to the quick release seen on the front wheel. The saddles were typically a plastic base, padded vinyl Kashimax, as opposed to the leather saddle shown.

Despite the extensive use of aluminum (and in the case of the Bridgestone version, the Superlight model name), these were not very light bicycles. Claimed weight for the 23" model was 28.5 lbs. Original MSRP circa 1975 would have been around the equivalent of $180 US, as that was the Superlight pricing.

Those two and entry-level Sekines and you have 90% of the bikes in my neighborhood in Winnipeg in the early-mid 70s.

CCM is basically the Schwinn of Canada. Originally Canadian made in the Toronto area, then in Quebec, for about 100 years, but the marque today is just a shadow of what it was.

They also started making skates and other hockey equipment decades ago, but that part of the company was split off and remains a separate entity. As a fan of vintage Canadian bikes I enjoy buying CCM branded clothing and socks and such for the nostalgia, but I believe these come from the hockey equipment company, and not Procycle who own CCM bicycles (among many other brands)

Skate manufacture dates back well over a century and almost to the company's beginnings. The Canadian Cycle and Motor Company was established in 1899. As indicated by the company's proper name, motorcars were also an early product line. In 1905 they introduced a skate produced using the leftover steel from automobile manufacture. These skates were called Automobile Skates, to cash in on the public's fascination with automobiles and as a homage to their origin.
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The hockey and bicycle sides of the business came back under common ownership circa 2009-2010, when Procycle sold their rights to the bicycle brand. Since that time, the bicycle brand has been licensed out. I believe the current licensee is Canadian Tire Corporation, who have the bicycle manufactured by various, primarily Asian, companies.

I fear you are correct: it is so sad to me that over the course of my own life two great Canadian companies have faded into (basically) brands only...... I grew up with CCM/SuperCycle made in Canada and the iconic red bike (I had a 26" coaster brake one as a kid); I spent 10 great years of my career working at "The Tire"; but now they are basically an importer for Asia Inc and as you point out T-Mar even CCM is no longer a Canadian Made brand.

This ad was one of the best tugs at Canadian Patriotism ever, but even when it was made the glory days of Canadian Manufacturing (at least of these bikes) was well and truly over.

T-Mar has explained a lot of the details. Surprising the seat tube is also steel as well as the fork. Mine was given to me by a good friend who acquired the bike new as the owner of the CTC store. It had been damaged due to incorrect assembly (stem was gouged). It has a different feel than any other bike I've ridden. Other than the saddle and mudguards and rack it is the way it was in the showroom. There is a separate thread from a few years back. https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...uperlight.html

Supercycles used a mixture of foreign and domestic sources from almost their very beginning. Their biggest early foreign source was Raleigh of England. When Raleigh opened their Waterloo Quebec facility in 1972, it became a major supplier and was still being used by CTC for some models at least as recent as 10-12 years ago. It always amazed me that a Canadian bicycle company could still be competitive with Asian sources in the $100-$125 CDN MSRP price range, into the 21 st century (and they weren't just doing assembly, they were actually manufacturing the frames).

All three are in very good surviving condition and have been fully serviced and wearables replaced. The Excalibur and Turismo will stay in my collection, but the Rossi has been offered for sale with little interest even with the current shortage of bicycles. I think possibly current buyers are looking at a different style of bikes.

I think it's probably a case of low recognition factor for the brand. If I recall correctly, the S/N indicated that it was manufactured by the same Japanese source employed by Bianchi and Miele, two very high recognition brands. Maybe if you mention Bianchi and Miele in the ad title to attract attention, then explained the relationship in the body of the advertisement, you might get a few more bites. Good luck!

Vintage Supercycle Made in England
 

Picked up this 3-speed Supercylce with grip shifter ... don't seem to be able to locate serial number and was trying to figure out approx age and model. Any insight would be appreciated.
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SA twist grips centred around 1964. Don't feel remorse switching to a trigger if it gets sloppy.

Serial # should be on the top of the seat tube lug on the NDS.

+1, I was going to say 1960s Raleigh manufacture. Unfortunately, the S/N from this period aren't well documented. and the date code on the rear hub may be a better age indicator.

browngw Not sure if this would catch your eye

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace...89567995167420

Vintage CCM Road Bicycles
CA$90$150
Listed a week ago in Hamilton, ON

• Condition
  Used - Like New

Vintage 1975 CCM bicycles. 90$ each 26 inch tires 23 inch frame In good shape. Brakes work. One bike gears are sticky but still work Pickup in binbrook Delivery Available for fee. We ship out every Tuesday and Friday Check out our other items @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/theo...ell/?ref=share

https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...97&oe=613A67A1

FYI, the subject bicycles are a matching pair of 1972 CCM Grand Sports. 1972 was the only year for the fork reflectors. Unfortunately, they are not in OEM condition. The Grand Sports was a 10 speed, recreational, city bicycle. As such, it was factory equipped with a mattress saddle and upright handlebars. I also don't recall seeing that particular seat tube decal and wonder if it was a running production change?

Based on the 1975 license date. I suspect were converted to racing saddles and dropped handlebars by the LBS in an effort to move old stock, at a time when their style had been largely replaced by racing style models. Still, it seems a bit strange that they appeared to sit, unsold, for 3 years. Locally, there was no problem moving any bicycle stock in 1972 and CCM's recreational, city bicycles were popular throughout the boom with our middle-aged clientile, who wanted to participate in the cycling craze but desired, a more upright riding position.

T-Mar
I posted it Incase OP was looking for parts or even a project as he's in Port Dover and only a short drive away.
Having said that seller is a flipper and will mix and match parts with abandon, so buyers (as always) have to proceed with caution. Perhaps he came up with the handlebar switch...
​​​​​​

A modern conversion seemed unlikely to me, as these days the flipper trend to increase saleability of entry level bicycles, seems to be to convert from dropped bars to more upright, flat or shallow rise handlebars.

When I worked at Canadian Tire my favourite bike of theirs was the white Excalibur with alloy side-pull brake calipers, alloy dropbar brake levers, alloy rims (27") alloy seat pillar, suede look brown saddle and brown bar wrap.

I haven't been able to find an exact image of one of those particular models.

Cheers

There's a UK TV station that shows a lot of world cinema type content: All 4 https://www.channel4.com/categories/world-drama

So I'm watching their latest thing: "The Sketch Artist" which is 2023 from (french) Canada - set in Montreal I think.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14512648/
The Artist character rides an old bike with DT shifters !!!
Best shot of it so far is the start of episode 3:

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...db440d9f72.jpg

I find it quite interesting when C&V bikes turn up in modern TV shows.
Maybe there should be a thread about it :)

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Looks like the headbadge for 1982 Norco Avanti.