Newest CCM acquitision

Dang... having a hard time with pics....

Cool. It looks exactly like my '51 I just wrote about in another post, except for the handlebars. I even have the same saddle with same colour fabric and same crash rail. I picked it up at a rural (southern Ontario) automotive flea market a few years ago for $165. I haven't found as good a deal since. Two years ago I was really happy to find a pair of Made in Canada Dunlop 26x2.0 balloon tires for $10 at the show in Brantford.  Will you tell us how much you got it for out there in B.C.?

looks also exactly like my 1952 Humphrey I got this week, in excellent shape

all original, even the white wall Dunlop 2" Cushion ride

but I am wondering why it has the early CCM kidney bean chain ring on?   maybe T-Mar can help me out

maybe it was switched over the years but why use a chainring that was pre 1936???

CCM used this style of chain ring on bicycles that were not branded CCM. This one was sold as a Humphrey. The chain ring is probably original.

John Williamson

There was a reversal of corporate polices during the war, after company stalwarts Tommy Russell and John Gibson died in 1940 and 1942, respectively. During their era, the emphasis was on creating a company that dominated the Canadian cycling industry. Head badges of all their brands proudly bore the Canada Cycle and Motor name whether they were budget brands (Cadet, Crescent, Crown, etc.) or premium brands (CCM, Cleveland, Columbia, Massey, Perfect, Red Bird).

Save for CCM itself, none of the pre-war premium or budget appears to have survived the war. Perhaps Braden was concerend about CCM being viewed as a monopoly.What does seem certain, is that Braden was reluctant to associate CCM with low-end product (ref. The CCM Story, p. 207). The pre-war budget brands were dropped and Humphrey, Planet and SCP were purchased to supply this market segment. Continuing to build these bicycles at the exisitng factories, using ther existing head badges, would minimize the probability of the corporate ties to CCM becoming evident ot the consumer.  

Adapting the CCM logo chainring would be advertising a fact that Braden did not want the public to know. Additionally, had the CCM logo chainring been used, there would not have much to distingish a CCM from a Humphrey,  without careful inspection.  Prior to the war, budget models had been distinguished by cottered and/or one piece cranks sporting generic chainrings, while the premium brands used the Triplex (with logo chainring after the mid-1930s).. However, the Triplex was dropped after the war, on the Roadster and Motorbike models, in favour of the one piece crankset. Using a logo chainring would have made a Humphrey virtually indistinguishable from a CCM, leading most consumers to purchase the cheaper Humphrey, which would have decreased corporate profits, due to smaller profit margins. 

The post war Humphrey that I've seen all seem to use the kidney bean chainring, which CCM had previously referred to as a Crown C type. So, it does appear to be original. Using a logo chainring would have created an undesirable link to CCM and been financially detrimental to CCM profits.

NOTE: The post war influx of cheap imports would eventaully lead to Braden's capitualization and placing CCM's name on a budget brand, Cyclo, in the late 1950s. 

very cool write-up Tom as always, tks

it's my first Humphrey I think, didn't know to much about it, only bought it because it was in such good shape

The Humphrey Cycle and Motor Company was a Toronto based business, reportedly formed in 1936 according to some sources. However, an extant 1922 catalogue is labeled  #15, implying they were in business at least as early as 1908. Though unconfirmed, the company may have had its origins in the Humphrey Watch Case Company which started carrying bicycle supplies circa 1901, moved into bicycle sales by 1903 and was classified as a manufacturer by 1904, 

Humphrey appears to have been bought by CCM sometime circa 1942-1945 and  CCM appears to have operated Humphrey primarily as an assembly operation for budget line models. The brand survived into the early 1950s but based on an extant sample, was merged with Planet, to create Humphrey-Planet, by at least 1960. It is not not known how long the merged brand survived but based  on CCM documentation SCP (Standard Cycle Products) appears to have been the only  brand from the three subsidaries acquired circa World war II, that survived into the 1970s.