Vintage CCM Double bar barn find. (CCM Hercules Heavy Duty Model)

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white_cross

white_cross

Joined
Jul 9, 2009
Messages
336
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Location
Canada Manitoba
Rating - 100%
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So I was at my grand parents farm the other day and came across a vintage CCM bicycle in one of their barns. I asked my grandpa about it and he said it was his old bike and that it still worked. I asked him if he bought it new and he said no that it was very old when he bought it. I asked him I could buy it off of him and he ended up just giving it to me! I am not totally sure but I believe this bike is either a 1931 or 1940 ccm. Here is the bike when I brought it home:


I Sprayed the bike with engine degreaser and then pressure washed the whole thing. The red house paint that was on it started flaking off in places revealing a maroon paint with gold darts pinstriped in silver underneath.

I went to the bike shop in town to order some new tires for this bike. I am getting cream white tries for it. While I was at the shop I saw the shop owner was working on rebuilding a different vintage ccm bicycle, he had the rear wheel assembly sitting beside his work bench and was installing new wheels on the ccm he was working on. My bike was missing the original rear wheel and so I asked about the old wheel that he had. He sold it to me and now I have a matching set!

Right now the plan for this bike is to get it going and try to save some of the original paint. it should have some nice patina when it is done!
 
I picked up some parts today for the bike.

I got some new tires in a cream color:


I got this older seat (top one in the picture) from the local bike shop. The frame of it seems to match the one on the bottom of this picture which came off this bike:


I started cleaning off the silver paint from the chrome with some steel wool:


The original rim on this bike was missing and replaced with a more modern one. I got lucky on one of my trips to the local bike shop. The shop owner was rebuilding a vintage ccm with updated parts and there was a vintage CCM wheel (the back one) off of the bike he was working on and he sold it to me for $15. I am told that they are hard to find. Here is the wheel:
 
LukeTheJoker said:
Great work! Should look great with those cream tires on it!

Luke.
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Thanks luke, I have been trying to find out more about this bike and one of my Bicycle collector friends thinks it might be a Standard Cycle Products or SCP for short or eatons brand bicycle. He said that the bike is very rare if it is so that is pretty exciting for me!
 
Whatcha got, some Delta Cruisers in the 635x40 size? I'm supremely jealous of your bike. Are you in Canuckistan? We don't see too many down here in NJ, but you just happen to see one at the LBS when you dropped in? That's lucky.
 
Bicycle808 said:
Whatcha got, some Delta Cruisers in the 635x40 size? I'm supremely jealous of your bike. Are you in Canuckistan? We don't see too many down here in NJ, but you just happen to see one at the LBS when you dropped in? That's lucky.
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I do have the Delta Cruisers but the size printed on the tire is 37-622 (28 x 1.40-700 x 35C) HS 392 I am in Canada in Manitoba about an hour south of Winnipeg.
Yes, It was kind of interesting that I got my bike from grandpa and then within the next week I am in the bike shop and there is another vintage ccm on the work stand with a wheel that I needed! It is cool how it all lined up so nicely! I have not seen many vintage ccm bikes like this, but then I saw 2 in one week. Most of the time the old ccm bikes that I see out here are more like early 1970s skinny tire bikes like the CCM ENCORE for example. I had a green encore at one point mint and all original right down to the paint It was a nice bike but I had to make space for new projects. Now one of the boys from the youth group I help out in has it. He is a young bicycle enthusiast and I knew He would really appreciate the bike. I am glad you like the bike I hope you enjoy watching my build up of this bike. It might take a bit to get it done but I hope to have it done early enough to take it out a bit before the snow comes.
 
Yup, the "Canadian" 28s are a 622. It makes things nice and convenient for us since '29ers became popular. Check with the folks on the Vintage CCM Facebook group if your looking for more info.
 
Greg M said:
Yup, the "Canadian" 28s are a 622. It makes things nice and convenient for us since '29ers became popular. Check with the folks on the Vintage CCM Facebook group if your looking for more info.
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I knew the later Canucki "28"s were 700c, but this one was older, and I was always curious if the 622 thin applied to the truly ancient Canadienne 28s. I guess it does!
 
So I finally had a chance to put some more time into this bike. I am very close to finishing it. I have decided to go with a barn fresh look and spend as little into this bike as possible and still make it reliable. So far the only things I have needed to make this bike ridable are a stem bolt, Tires, tubes, rim strips and a couple spoke, The paint was left over from other projects.

I did not like the white fenders on the bike and upon closer inspection I realized that the white was not original to the bike and they were originally matching to the frame color. So I scuffed them up and found some red oxide primer in the garage and sprayed them with that then I applied a Semigloss clear over that.
The front fender ready for paint:

The painted front and rear fenders:



They looked great but were too new looking for the bike so I took some steel wool to them and weathered them a bit:



Rear fender installed:

Both fenders installed as well as everything else to except the wheels:


The rear wheel was trued and tire mounted and then mounted to the bike:


So now I have to true the front wheel and mount it to the bike put some air in the tires and drive it. I am also planning to re paint the gold darts that were originally on the bike and weathering them to look right on the frame. I also will be adding a bell. I have a really rusted seat in the back yard that I am considering using on this bike. I just need to find some really weathered leather to recover it with.
 
LukeTheJoker said:
Nice work painting and weathering those guards!

Luke.
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mikeeebikey said:
Yes, nice work un-restoring the paint!
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Thanks guys, It was my first attempt at trying something like that. It was kind of cool to see it come together too.

So I spent some time researching this bike because it was bugging me not knowing any thing about the bike or what make it actually was. I just was having no luck. I knew it looked a lot like a CCM Heavy Duty Model but there were some things that were not adding up. Then I came across this: http://www.oldbike.eu/museum/1930s/1930-1934/1930-ccm-hercules-heavy-duty-model/
So It turns out that this bike is actually quite a rare Model made by CCM but designed for export to Britain. The name of this bike is the CCM Hercules Heavy Duty Model. So I wonder why it never made it to export?
 
So the bike is done for now until I find more original parts for it. I have been riding it to work and it is actually really fast for one gear. Today with wind I was going about the same speed as some of the cars. It is a beautiful time to be out riding right now too with the leaves changing color and somehow the rustic look of this bike goes really well with the fall colors. Well here are a couple of pictures on my way home from work. I took a detour to find a nice spot for pictures:








 
Bicycle808 said:
That frame is the second-raddest CCM frame style I have ever seen. You're doing a nice job with it, btw.
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Thank you for the complements. At first when I saw the bike sitting the barn it sort of caught my eye but I almost left it there . I contemplated taking it home and what finally convinced me to take the bike home was it was grand pa's and it had family history. I sure am glad I did take it home because it has become one of my favorites and the look has grown on me.
 
Your bike turned out wonderfully awesome. It's also great that it was your Grandfathers for so long. As time goes on I grow more fond of vintage skinny tire bikes.

P.S. I like the fact you included a couple pics of it being ridden. To few people include ride shots like that IMO.
 
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