Assistance to understand bike

Submitted by KevinLyon on Mon, 10/19/2020 - 08:19

I came across this bicycle while cleaning up my mother in laws estate and would like to know more about it, if possible. It would be nice to verify a range of years, true manufacturer, things of that nature. I am not expecting it to be valuable, not in great condition but learnig about it would be nice. Thank you for any information in advance. 

3 Comments

Submitted by DUOMATIC on Mon, 10/19/2020 - 14:16.

Looks like a 70s bike.

Likely worth 50-75.00

The serial number will give you the year it was made.

You can find it on the seat post tube or rear drop out where the back axle bolts in.

 

Submitted by KevinLyon on Mon, 10/19/2020 - 14:24.

Thanks will see what I can find for serial number. Apprecaite the apprasial idea as well.

Submitted by T-Mar on Tue, 10/20/2020 - 13:15.

The subject bicycle has the EMPIRE name on the down tube. This was the brand of Empire Distributors Ltd., a Montreal based sporting goods distribution company owned by Sheldon Hamer and Jack Cummings. Up until 1978 they had their bicycles manufactured primarily by Asian sources. At the time, they supplied about 7.5% of the Canadian bicycle market.

Empire was controlled by Maxwell Cummings & Son Holdings Ltd., a company started by Jack Cummings' father in 1947.  In March 1978, the holding company acquired Canada Cycle and Motor Co. Ltd., effectively merging the Empire and CCM brands. This gave the company control of 22.5% of the Canadian market. More importantly, with the CCM factory providng the necessary amount of Canadian content for the company, the imported bicycles could come into the country duty free.

 The subject bicycle definitely sports a CCM logo chainring and CCM style chainguard. The frame has an interesting mix of features. It utilizes the rear dropouts introduced in 1973 for the E-series bicycles, while the head tube is the bulge formed model introduced in 1977. It obviously has the large diameter BB shell for the single piece crankset, yet it doesn't use the seat lug cluster typically seen on the models with the single piece cranksert. It would appear to be circa 1977-1982, though I wouldn't rule out as early as 1973. 

The serial number should tell us the exact year of manufacture. Typically, it would be located on the lower, non-drive side of the seat tube, a few inches above the crankarms. However, during this period, their was a lot of unrest among CCM employees, resulting in poor Quality Control. I've see serial numbers for this period in various locations on the seat tube.