Cleveland Model 458

Hub

Does it say Toronto or Weston Made on head badge.? With the right tools you should be able put that fork where it should be. 

Weston. I'll take the fork to a local shop to see what they can do. 

Being Weston made it is after 1918. Looks like a nice bike .Also tall frame. Is it a New Hercules hub with a brake arm. I think CCM put a brake arm on that hub late 20,s or before not sure.

Locate the serial number. It will at least indicate pre/post 1921. 

I took the bike into the shop to have the fork straightened so I won't see the bike until next weekend. The previous owner told me the bike was 1918-1920 but I haven't checked the serial number myself. 

I'll post photos of my 458 for comparison. It is serial # 101294. Model 458 is in the 1918 catalogue (online) so I call mine 1918 but it could be a '19 or '20. Your front hub looks like mine, but you need wood rims and fenders. ...pics are too large, I'll post them tomorrow.

Here is my 458 as it came to me. I will be fixing the shape of the rear fender, replacing the tires, and replacing a broken steering cup and seat post. The white paint on the rear fender was a later addition and shouldn't be there. The rear reflector is a clip on thing that also looks like a later addition. The tires on it now were made in Holland, and are probably about 50+ years old. When I rode the bike for the first time I was surprised to see a yellow line following me on the pavement. When I stopped, I noticed the tires were disintegrating and sections tread were peeling off like a banana. Other than these issued, it's a nice original bike and will make a good rider.

P.S. You asked about pedals. Mine came with Gibson, but these are not original as they did not come out until about 1922. The originals shown in the 1918 catalogue were quill type. I have a pair at home I can post of a photo of later.

Thanks very much Brian. Your bike looks to be in really good shape. I couldn't tell from the catalogue which pedals a B grade bike would have come with originally (like they say for the model 42 seat) They show four different pedals for sale in the catalogue so I assume it would have been one of these would it not?

I've never been able to figure out what is A grade or B grade equipment on these bikes. There might be a catalogue somewhere that explains it but I haven't seen one yet. I looked at the 1918 online catalogue pedal page, and it states the mens and ladies Hercules pedals, and the rat trap pedals, are made in the CCM factory, so perhaps the Hercules was grade A and the rat trap was grade b, but that's purely a guess. It would seem logical that CCM would equip its production line bikes with their own pedals, but you never know.

Regarding fenders, unfortunately that style of shallow rounded fenders are impossible to find as parts. I've never seen any for sale and when I ask around I find nothing. The only time I've ever seen these fenders is when they're attached to a bike. Therefore, your choices are likely: go without fenders; buy another bike with fenders and make one bike out of the two; or put 1920s-30s era dropside fenders on it.

Hello Brian, just read this tread, I can help with clarification. I have a 1921 catalogue, grade A offered the had the Corrugated Rubber Brigadiers selling for .50c while grade B the Enduro Black Rubber grips, worth .48c. Grade A had the Hercules Pedals selling for 3.60. and grade B the comfort Pedals worth 3.40. For the saddles, grade A had the Hercules Ladies selling for 6.00 and grade B the Comfort saddle selling for 5.40. 

Also, while my catalogue sells models for 1921, it clearly states inside that the models were made in 1920. The Gibson pedals appear in the catalogue as an option. It may be possible that yours is a 1920 that was fitted with Gibson pedals out of the store as a special request. 

The Cleveland 458 is in the 1921 catalogue, and was considered Grade B, while the 456 was Grade A. 

Hope this helps,

Cheers

Marc from Ottawa. 

Thanks Marc. Say, do you think you could scan or photograph the pages from that 1921 catalogue which show complete bikes and post them to the catalogue forum on this site? I'd love to see it.

Here is a question I want to throw out to all site members here. If the Cleveland 458 was made in the years 1918 through 1921 (and possibly a year or two later), at serial number 101294, what is your best guess for which of those years that bike was made? I have another c.1918 Cleveland with serial number 028, which if the numbers were sequential over years that bike would be a 1917 model (as pointed out in a different forum thread). One would have to have a good estimation of the number of bikes produced per year to place serial number 101294..

I will, but my scanner is kaput! Need to get a nwe one. As soon as I do, I will get on it. I have a Cleveland frame # 12317, which I would assume was build after yours. No clue on the year. I think we would need a larger pool of numbers to identify a pattern. Let's start the discussion!!

Marc from Ottawa. 

On a side note, I found a post from a few years ago where my bike was posted previously on this site. http://vintageccm.com/content/ccm-cleveland-sale-vancouver-island

Marc, unless you missed a digit when typing your serial number, yours would be earlier than mine because it's a five digit number while mine is into the six digits. Cbgimse's bike above is number 57951, so it's in the middle between yours and mine.

Here is a photo of pedals that came off a mid teens CCM mens bike. They don't look like the Hercules pedals in the 1918 catalogue, but I think they are original to the CCM bike they came from. ...Speaking of pedals, Since as Marc mentioned above, Gibson pedals appeared in the 1921 catalogue as an option, perhaps the Gibsons on my bike are original equipment and (with its high serial number) my bike is a 1921 model. I will check those pedals to see if they say "patent pending".

Total bicycle production in Canada from all makers 1920-30, including women's and children's bikes (source: Dominion Bureau of Statistics):

1920 - 34,958

1921 - 10,317

1922 - 19,590

1923 - 24,668

1924 - 22,158

1925 - 27,482

1926 - 26,101

1927 - 24,549

1928 - 27,999

1929 - 33,482

1930 - 26,826

Worth noting:  Men's bikes accounted for 80 to 90 percent of those numbers (I have the stats if anyone wants them). Also, from what I've seen, kid's bikes did not have serial numbers. I think it's a safe bet to state that CCM was responsible for the majority of production in all those years. Finally, after a brief recession in the early 20's, the mid to late 20's saw an economic boom. Therefore, during the teens perhaps we could say that annual production of CCM adult bikes with serial numbers was around 20,000 on average? That would take about five years to produce roughly 100,000 bikes. If I'm on the right track, then the years of the "WESTON" bikes discussed above could be estimated as follows:

Serial number / year

028 - 1917

12,317 - 1917

57,951 - 1919

101,294 - 1921 (since letter code numbers are believed to have started in 1921)

If anyone has information to refute this or add to it, please contribute.

I wonder if John could chime in, he must have a theory based on the research for his book

Wouldnt 101294 be 1920 if the “A” code was started in 1921?

Yes, that is logical. I said 1921 based on the estimate of 100,000 bikes over five years and the possibility that CCM had not yet started using the letter code in early 1921. This is all purely guess work and conversation, and not intended to be a definitive statement or conclusion. It all depends on how robust sales were in the late teens. They could have made 100,000 bikes over four years.

I'm going to start a new forum thread to continue this discussion so it will be easier to find under its own title, and so I don't continue to hijack Cbgimse's thread about his bike.

The rear hub only says Pat 1926, CCM and made in Canada. There isn't any writing on the brake arm.

The bike shop did a pretty good job with the fork. As well as straightening it, they found the crown race was incorrect for the bearing and someone had put the bearing upsidedown. Now the front wheel is offset though and I doubt the nipplen will move without snapping the spokes. 

Looking at the pictures from four years ago it's clear the bearing cups have been changed. These ones are newer and have blue paint on them. The bike came with two bags of headset parts so if anyone knows what the original ones looked like it would be helpful. 

With that rear hub it seems that the original wheels with wood rims were swapped out for a later wheelset with steel rims. The original rear hub said New Hercules on it.

Agreed, from what I have read the original hub didn't have a brake arm and was known to have problems if the nuts weren't tight enough. It's not surprising that it was swapped out for something more reliable with a steel wheel.

The the front and rear rims are mismatched. The front has a different profile than the typical rims I see on westwood wheels. It's a lighter gauge material and the rib that's drilled for the spokes is more pronounced. The rear rim is a typical Westwood profile, in much better shape than the front and has pinstripes .The majority of spoke nipples on both wheels are one inch which I assume would've been for wooden rims

Now that the fork is straightened out the front rim rubs. It must have been offset at some point to account for the bent fork. The nipples are all siezed so I doubt I can do much with it. I installed a different wheel for the time being. 

I'm not sure what to do with the rear. As much as I would like to keep things as original as possible, it's far to hilly where I live for a single speed bike.  The 1926 hub is pretty gummed up. It doesn't match the bike but I believe it matches another bike I have so maybe I'll use it there.

I measured the overlock dimension at ~107mm which is pretty narrow. The dropouts themselves are quite narrow too because the hub axle had flat spots. I may squeeze in a duomatic  or driegang given the lack of available options. I can always put the 1926 back in place at some later date or find the original. 

Here is a question for the collector's out there. What would be better for a wooden rimmed bike, a new set of wood rims with stainless spokes or steel rims and spokes from the same era as the bike? 

If your going to ride it a lot Steel rims.You can put more pressure in tire without braking the rim.

Here is the bike set up as my summer cruiser. 700x41c tires, mesinger seat, Torrington 18 pedals and a Torrington dixon handlebar