CCM Concorde Appreciation
 

I do not know if they have CCM bikes outside of Canada.

Schurrmann rims on Shimano aluminum alloy hubs. Aluminum alloy brake callipers and levers. Proto chainrings and cranks. Simplex Prestige derailleurs and levers.
And, of course, low-end Reynolds 531 tubing.

CCM (Canadian Cycle & Machinery) is known more for hockey helmets and hockey sticks than for bikes but they used to be competition for Raleigh, Peugeot, Canadian Tire, Eatons & Sears when I was a kid. The CCM bikes had a great deal of longevity and there are lots of old heavy CCM Capri, CCM Elite and CCM Targa bikes from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s still in service all over Canada.

The CCM Concorde bikes were a little more expensive.... this one cost $12. The cost of crappy old 10-speed bikes like this one is wildly inflated around Toronto because it costs students over $100 per month for a transit pass (!).


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Binky is right on about the abundance of CCM (Canadian Cycle and Motor Co.) in Canada. I have owned a couple of dozen, everything from the veneralbe (sort of) CCM Tour du Canada (not the pooeystinko model of the eighties), Targa, Formula One, Turismo and others, that don't come immediately to mind, except the most pooeystinko bike I have ever owned, the early seventies CCM Grand Prix. I might have even owned a Concord, or two but memory fails me at the moment...

the top vintage CCM bow wow - the Tour du Canada...

http://www.mytenspeeds.com/My_TenSpe...llTQFront2.jpg

and the pooeystinko Grand Prix...

http://www.mytenspeeds.com/My_TenSpe...ullTQFront.jpg

Is this an appraisal thread? I'd ask a monitor to move it to C&V but you know, whatever floats your boat....

Seeing as this isn't an Appraisal thread, we have moved it from C&V Appraisals to the regular Classic & Vintage forum.

wow, even the Tour du Canada looks sucky (that fork crown, omg !)

the only ccm i'd ever keep would be the flyer.

Last Saturday I was given a tour of a collection of which a Tour du Canada was part of.

Campagnolo group and dropouts. It was a nice looking bike.
Maybe I'm easy to please but I was impressed. :thumb:

sorry... everything i've seen from CCM is cheap.

sadly, the concorde might just be the sh***est "531" (assuming it's really 531) bike every built.

the TdC looks also very dull, with no special touch whatsoever.

it just looks like everything was made by underpaid and abused workers
and whoever designed them probably had an equally dreadful time at the company............

nobody's surprised they were among the first to just de-localize production to asia.
ccm is synonymous with worst crap ever.

every time i see someone coming in with a CCM at the bike coop, I sigh and roll eyes.... because I know every single part on it was the cheapest, the most cursed-after mechanismes...

again, sorry. there is really no such thing as « ccm appreciation » for me !!!!

I have an early seventies Concorde which I stripped, repainted, and re-equipped with better parts back in 1973-74. The only thing original is the frame. I think it rides pretty well. When I was commuting to work I would switch bikes each week. One week I rode my upgraded 1966 Schwinn Super Sport and the next week switched to the CCM. By comparison the Super Sport felt like a truck. I was surprised! My Concorde was originally red. I've never seen another like it. All the photos I've seen are like Binky's violet/purple one.

Wow. That escalated quickly !!

I guess at the "bike coop" they must get a lot of new CCM bikes.... which are made somewhere else.
The low-end Canadian-built CCM bikes were notoriously ugly but inexpensive and practically immortal.
And some of the better ones did have Campagnolo components and Reynolds frames.
When I go to visit people who live in the "The World-Class City That Has a Buffoon For A Mayor" I still see lots of 30, 40 and even 50 year-old CCM bikes still in use.

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I have the stable-mate to the CCM in your pictures. It is a mixte and seems to have a workman-like build quality to it. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures. The frame is actually a size that I can ride, being around 21-22" IIRC.

I love how people comment how Bike Mechanics "hate" these bikes. CCM gave you a solid Reynolds frame with cheap parts so you can afford it. Cheap parts break down, But the frame still was serviceable. I never got how the same people can bash a CCM Targa then praise a Peugeot PX-10! when both had the same derailleurs. And that is what the Mechanic would work on. the Cherry brakes were cheap, but they worked as good as the Euro bikes with Altenburgers.

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Right on. The CCM bike was the Model T Ford of biking in Canada: There is definitely something to be said for a company that mass-produced bikes for the working class that were inexpensive, reliable, easy to service, and designed to give half a century or more of acceptable utility. A CCM 10-speed bike is neither the Rolls Royce or Ferrari of biking but for a lot of young Canadians it was an affordable means of transportation.
There are a lot of snobbish bikers - riders and mechanics - who look down their noses on anything that is not pedigreed from Italy but there is something to be said for a bike that kids could afford to buy with their paper route money...

I have owned both a CCM Targa and a Peugeot PX10 and there is no way anyone should compare the two, in my opinion.

The Targa was not (as I recall) Reynolds tubing. It was fitted with steel rims and weighed in at close to 30+ pounds. The PX10 was full Reynolds 531 and came in at 22lb 14oz as pictured...

http://www.mytenspeeds.com/My_TenSpe...ull_Side_3.jpg

If the rear derailleurs were identical, then that is about all. Everything else was a serious cut above anything fitted to the lowly Targa or this similar CCM Turismo, which tipped the scales at a whopping 32lb 6oz...

http://www.mytenspeeds.com/My_TenSpe...ull_Side_2.jpg

But I do agree with the comment that most CCM bicycles were targeting the "lower end I can afford it" market. And, the CCM bicycles were pretty solid machines, though certainly not sophisticated, by any stretch of the imagination.

That Tour du Canada looks like a nice frame. What was wrong with the Grand Prix?

The CCM Grand Prix...

http://www.mytenspeeds.com/My_TenSpe...lSideRight.jpg

... featured riveted rear drops, riveted stays, pressed fork ends, not drop outs, and poor quality of construction. Not that I am against any of this, however; none of the features mentioned suggest a quality bicycle, in my opinion...

Guess I should have looke more closely. I just got blinded by all the chromey-ness and didn't figure they'd put that much lipstick on a pig, but I can be wrong. In this case, I was.

Love it when they take a part of a sentence out of context, " I never got how the same people can bash a CCM Targa then praise a Peugeot PX-10! when both had the same derailleurs. And that is what the Mechanic would work on." was talking about servicing the bike with the same parts. Not to knock the PX10 off the pedestal that I never understood it is on,I do admit I own one myself. But when it comes to servicing the bike if I want to exchange the Targa with a new crank, sealed BB and latest Crankset, no problem! but find one that comes with French threads. If I was to replace the rear derailleur, no problem, but for the PX10 you need a TAP set and a file. Now that is "Servicing the two". as for sheer beauty & Speed, the Nervex lug PX beats all!

I love my Targa. History maker with Shimano Positron I derailleur. Shimanos first attempt at indexed shifting. Two cables going to derailleur mind f**ks everyone. Cherry brakes are comparable with DiaCompes. Upgraded wheels to CR-18's and riding it when I'm in PDX. Cool piece of Canadiana.

Of course, trying to compare the PX10 to the Concorde is not really a fair comparison. The PX10 had Reynolds 531 double-butted tubes, whereas the Concorde had straight gauge Reynolds 531. Nonetheless, I think the Concorde is quite under appreciated, while the PX is a bit overrated. Your points on serviceability are spot on.

Some day I'll take some pictures of my Concorde mixte and post there here on the forum.

1975 CCM Tour du Canada
 

I just bought this bike from the original owner who was gifted it by Jocelyn Lovell. Apparently he was working at CCM while sponsored by them. He and Carol were sufficiently close that when she requested a nice green bike to go overseas with (she being a multiple medal winner herself and on the same circuit) she was gifted the only original green Tour du Canada I am aware of. She had no knowledge of bicycles and over time made a few mods to suit her changing preferences but most of the original Campy equipment remains. It was never provided with any graphics and it was only when she mentioned the Lovell - CCM connection that I found my way to My Ten Speeds and was able to identify it there.