Greetings from Ottawa

Submitted by Mark R. on Sun, 08/28/2011 - 21:08

Hi all,

I'm the Coordinator for the re-Cycles Community Bike Shop here in Ottawa (formerly re-Cycles Bike Co-op).  In terms of bikes from the 60's or earlier our shop has always taken in more Raleighs than CCMs, but now the CCMs seem to be gaining ground. While we have always kept a bin of Raleigh-specific parts (mainly S-A 3-speed bits) we have not been keeping CCM items, due to most of them being more recent vintage (70's derailer bikes like the Elan). But recently some older ones have been donated, and so I think we'll start a parts bin for those, though of course most we are able to turn around and sell as opposed to scrapping for their parts. There are quite a few of us at our shop that love these old bikes, especially if we don't have to overhaul the coaster brake hubs.  ;)

My current project is reassembling a 1937 Redbird. It was donated in good shape with two things wrong: a stuck stem, and the original hubs were laced into 27" rims. The stem would not come out in one piece, so it was reluctantly sawn off and the stub safely removed and an identical replacment stem acquired from CCM guru Warren Young on the Old Roads site. And for the rims we fortunately had some dead wheels from a '45 CCM that had the same colour and pinstriping as the Redbird, so they have been laced in and will have to suffice. I'm looking forward to riding this bike, even if it's one size too small...

Regards,

Mark

3 Comments

Submitted by John on Wed, 08/31/2011 - 14:58.

Hi Mark,
Welcome to the board. it's great to have you here. I know your shop is closely affiliated with the Ottawa chapter of Bicycles For Humanity and I commend you and your co-workers for the great job you do in that regards. All the best with the '37 Redbird. Hopefully we'll get to see some photos when it's done.
John

Submitted by cycle trash on Sun, 04/01/2012 - 17:49.

so are you around any more?

Submitted by randyjawa on Mon, 04/02/2012 - 17:49.

Hello Mark and nice to see a new person has found this website.  I, too, am involved and direcdtly with the Bicycles for Humanity effort, here in Thunder Bay.  We will be shipping shipment number nine before the end of April, bringing the total number of bicycles shipped to 4,500 in the past six years.

Lots of old bikes find their way into our inventory and we usually offer these to collectors who we know about.  The last set of antiques went to a CCM enthusiast and we hope to find more for him.  Since we cannot send those old bicycles across the ocean, it is nice to have an outlet for them.

Anyway, will you folks be offering old stuff for sale or wanted on this site.  I do hope so.  It is always nice to find another source, for some of those hard to find things that seem to be missing, from an old bike, more often than not.