Silver Ghost refurb in progress
 

Frame pretty much stripped. Already relubed the headset bearings and put the fork back one. Just got done cleaning/lubing the derailleurs and the back wheel. New cables and tires are OTW.
http://webpages.charter.net/rwortman2/SG%20Refurb1.JPG

http://webpages.charter.net/rwortman2/SG%20Refurb2.JPG

Does it say CCM?

It has a CCM decal on the seat tube and a CCM head badge. The bike doesn't talk. ;)

CCM was a Canadian company. Is that a 531 sticker on the seat tube?

These were CCM's best effort at making a high-quality lightweight bike... it's a shame they came so late to the game. A real classy ride IMHO.

Yes, the bike has 531 straight gauge tubes in the main triangle. I bought this bike new in 1973 with lawn mowing money when I was 16. I had my dad drive me 100 miles to the nearest CCM dealer because I had read a rave review of a Mistral as a touring bike. The dealer said they had one and when I got there they didn't. They made me a nice deal on the Silver Ghost instead. It has sat around for a few decades. I got back into riding recently and bought a new bike. I am fixing this one up a bit to either ride for nostalgia sake or sell it.

If you haven't ridden this bike you are going to love that Crane derailleur. I use on on my Schwinn Volare the Crane was incorporated to the Dura Ace group in 1978 I think it was. Shifts like its indexed instead of friction.

The CCM Silver Ghost was the second from top of the line road bicycle and the next lower model would have been the CCM Mistral. I report this information from a CCM Dealer's Price and Parts manual that I was given a few years ago.

From the early seventies to the end of its run, the CCM "Tour du Canada" was CCM's top road bicycle. It sported full Reynolds 531 frame and fork set, complete with Campagnolo forged drops, front and back. The Tour du Canada frame set's suggested list price was $347.50 for the frame and $110.00 for the forks.

Both the Silver Ghost, second from top of the line and the Mistral, third, had near identical frame set. Both were Reynolds 591 straight gauge tubes. The frame's suggested list price was $45.80 with the forks priced at $12.40. These numbers are identical for both the Ghost and the Mistral.

I believe the "Tour du Canada" was a special order product prior to 1975 but that is only a guess. I am pretty sure that the model was offered from 1972 until and including 1976. If anyone else knows better, I would appreciate a heads up on the comment.

You can have a look my CCM "Tour du Canada, if you wish.

Two bicycles that preceded the Silver Ghost also had Reynolds frame sets. I have a CCM Westonia from the mid fifties and a Formula I from the late sixties and both of them have Reynolds 501 tube sets.

I hope this is a help and I do like your Silver Ghost. Good luck with the project.

I bought the bike new. I rode it for probably a few thousand miles before I quit riding and took up smoking and drinking for many years. I should have stuck with riding.:rolleyes:

"Both the Silver Ghost, second from top of the line and the Mistral, third, had near identical frame set. Both were Reynolds 591 straight gauge tubes. "

The frame sticker clearly says Reynolds 531 frame tubing. Those prices on your web page must be not be in US currency. My Silver Ghost was tagged at the dealer at $225 in 1973. He took a few bucks off due to misinforming me about having a Mistral in stock. I will always remember that trip because the dealer had a penny-farthing replica in the store and he let me ride it. Man, was that a weird ride.

The Crane was included in the original Dura Ace group in 1973. I have no experience with them, but I've read that they worked almost as well as a Suntour V.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/shimano1973/pages/da5.html

That's the set up this bike has. Crane rear, Dura-Ace front and bar end shifters. The shifters instead of ratcheting like the SunTour's have springs that oppose the derailleur springs to ease shifting.

Sorry about the 591 goof - a typo for 501 and I bow to your position. If your SG is tagged 531, then so too must the Mistral be.

The currency I reported was taken from a CCM Dealer's Parts and Price book. Perhaps I should have pointed out that the currency used for a Canadian Cycles and Motor Company parts/price manual would be in Canadian funds. Of course, what that would mean little since I cannot remember what the exchange rate was at the time.

I must admit that I am surprised to learn that CCM bicycles were sold in the US. Anyway, sorry to mislead and, once again, I do like your bike.

There may not have been many dealers. As I said above, I had to travel 100 miles to find one. I mowed a lot of lawns at $2.50 to $3.00 each to buy that thing. It was either a really nice bike or an old POS car and I chose the bike. No one in my neighborhood had anything even close. It was like a Ferrari among Pintos. My friends didn't even understand how somebody could pay that much for a bike but then, they didn't understand why I left them in the dust every time we rode either. I had a Sears Free Spirit 10-speed that I had bought before this also with lawn mowing money (my parents did not believe in spoiling us with "luxuries". They bought me exactly one bike. A single speed 26" balloon tired Sears that was to last me my entire childhood. It got stolen when I was 12 and that was that.) I thought I would keep the Free Spirit and use it for rough and dirt roads. I rode the SG for a couple of hundred miles and then one day I went to go on a ride I though the Free Spirit was more appropriate for. Going from a 24lb, Reynolds framed, sewup equipped bike back to the 45lb truck tired Sears bike was like getting out of the aforementioned Ferrari and back into a Pinto. I rode it down the driveway, back up the driveway and hung a for sale sign on it. Sold it a few weeks later.