Greetings from Sacramento
I recently purchased a lady's CCM bike in fairly ok shape. I've been around bikes all my life so most of it is very straightforward. I am seeking a few pieces for the bike and need help with the serial numbers as it does not seem to conform to any of the charts I see. Serial number looks like 9V5821. I'm missing the chainguard. The pedals are phillips from england. Assume those are not correct. headbadge is missing. one of the "coke bottle" grips is quite damaged. Kickstand fits the biek nicely but is too short. Came with a Dunlop Bates saddle. Is that original? I've put an old Brooks B66 on it. Bike has a Vancouver bike license on it. I've rebuilt most of the bearings... all was in pretty ok shape. Nicely made bike. Regards, Michael Williams
The anomoly of the "V" serial # has been touched on a couple of times; here is one thread
http://www.vintageccm.com/content/1933-balloon-tire-ccm-sale
Welcome to the Forum Michael. Nice looking bike.
John
thanks for the comments...and the hint on the serial number!
Yes, welcome to the forum and congratulations on your acquisition! Your bicycle appears to be at least one year newer than the one in the referenced thread. Most notably, it uses the new frame introduced in 1950, with the seat stays attaching to side of the seat lug, as opposed to being bolted onto the cinch ears. I also see what appears to be a hint of red on the headbadge, indicating it may be the later, enamelled and non-perforated version of the oval headbadge.
The fact that we are seeing the two distinct frame styles on 9Vxxxx bicycles may be an indicator that CCM started production of new models in advance of the calendar year. This is a fairly common practice in the bicycle industry. We have seen evidence of CCM doing this in the mid-1960s, but nothing this early. In addition to the new frame style, your bicycle aslo has a higher serial serial number that the bicycle in the referenced thread, so it certainly could represent a new model year. Based on the evidence, it would appear to be a 1950 model.
Regarding the pedals, the 1950 catalogue does not state the brand or model of the pedal for this bicycle, only "Square Rubber Type, 1/2" axle". In addition to their famous Gibson pedals, CCM also manufactured a less expensive pedal and distributed Phillips pedals. The latter were the least expensive pedals available though CCM and were often spec'd on their ecomical brands, such as Cadet and Rambler, in addition to models they manufactured for private lable brands. The OEM pedals would not have been Gibson and most likely were the economical, CCM pedals, however given the vagueness of the catalogue description there is a possibility that the hillips pedals could be OEM. Certainly, if CCM ran into shortages of their own pedals, due to material or production difficulties, they would have substituted Phillips pedals.