CCM 3 SPEED
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My Canadian made CCM ELAN' mixte frame bike, looked terrible when I found it sitting behind a mobile home in Florida. The color of the original paint was almost impossible to distinguish and someone had sprayed it in camouflage fashion with silver paint. The running gear was caked with dirt and oil and 5 spokes were broken in the rear wheel. I could see though, with a little excavation of the grime, that all of the chromed parts were in excellent condition. This on a bike that had sat out for some time. The frame was undamaged and straight. Most importantly the Shimano 3 speed hub worked perfectly. What appealed to me most was the center stand which I had never seen before but apparently is common in Canada. It was also the first double top tube mixte frame I had seen. A friend commented, "I hope you didn't pay much for that bike". I didn't. I immediately replaced the broken spokes in the rear wheel and cleaned it up the best I could and then rode it frequently for the rest of the winter.

The CCM looks very British, resembling a Raleigh and in fact has the same fenders and back reflector. The front fender however, differs from a Raleigh Sports fender in that it does not have the chromed nib on the front. The head tube angle and forks are similar to those of a Raleigh. It rides and looks much like a Raleigh Sports except for the top tubes. The use of a Shimano hub rather than a Sturmey Archer hub is surprising but certainly not a detriment to the operation of the bike and I rather prefer the Shimano shifter.

I restored/refurbished the CCM in the summer of 1997. All the painted parts were stripped of paint and rust. Since the original paint was a medium metallic green I chose green for the re-paint. Wanting something striking, I chose a rich metallic green for the primary color and a lighter shade of green for the lugs and striping. I pre-painted automotive striping tape to match the lugs prior to applying the striping tape. Applying the striping was very tedious but the effect is very attractive.

Strangely, for such a well built bicycle, the CCM's decals were of a paper-like material rather than the traditional decal material, however, this made their reproduction much easier. The decals,which I removed very carefully with the aid of a heat gun, were in very poor condition but intact. Once removed, I scanned them into my PC and did extensive pixel by pixel repairs to the graphics. I modified both the head and seat tube decals to better fit the space available while maintaining the original design as much as possible. The decals were then printed on Avery label paper using an ink jet printer and affixed to the frame before several clear coats were applied.

Parts replaced were: handlebars, grips, brake levers and cables, pedals, tires and inner tubes. The Messenger seat was retained. I like the bike so much that I keep it in our family room where It can be seen. I ride it infrequently since our area is quite hilly, however, we do take it to a local park occasionally where the terrain is more suited to a 3 speed. I enjoyed showing the finished product to my friend of the disparaging remark who was reluctant to believe it was the bike he had insulted. I have to add that the CCM's plating is far superior to the plating on British and American bicycles in the same class and period as the CCM. I can't imagine that the plating on any other bicycle could have taken the abuse the CCM has and not be rusted severely. I hope you enjoyed seeing my CCM and I welcome your comments.

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CCM Page URL = https://members.tripod.com/~fredhaj/ccmpage.html
Last revised: 8/24/01
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