CCM Bicycle Model Histories

A while back a buddy of mine talked about doing a book on the bikes. I don't know if he's pursued that thought or not. But until he or someone else does, the best resource remains the company catalogs.

John

Hi John and tahnks for the reply.

It there an archive of these catelogues out there somewhere or are all they all owned by private collectors?

Thanks,

Daryl

No problem Daryl. I daresay the vast majority of company catalogs are in the hands of collectors and I suspect the best way to access them is through this website.

and do not forget ebay ( :

1900 REDBIRD ADVERTISEMENT:

 'THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES',  SEPTEMBER 23RD, P.3,  1900 IN DUNEDIN, OTAGO, NEW ZEALAND.

Not necessarily the first  year of sales but the only scan I have at present.

I have notes from earlier periods and someone has purchased an 1897 RB from NZ recently.

It's very strange that advertisements would still be state the company name as being the Goold Bicycle Co. Ltd., a year after the formation of CCM.

H...Hmmm... clears throat..

Sailing ships.. and sea shantys all the way...

They did not have planes in those days nor computers.So ...they use the old ones [advts] until such time news arrives or new brochures and models.It also would cost extra to make a new advertisement as these were all hand composited in the paper's compositing room [lead bits etc].

'We' in Dunedin, NZ, are at the Ar... hole of the world according to Keith Richardson of the Rolling Stones , but he really meant Invercargill NZ.

Also consider;  they may not have cleared the older  stock off Goold models in Dunedin NZ ? ( :

Every man and his dog were making bicycles here from kits and scratch.

I was expecting a bit of positive response on this find from fellow enthusiasts?

Period advertising is always very nice to see and much appreciated by the members, however I still find the Goold company name persisting into September 1900 very perpexing. While there are undoubtedly going to be delays for the reasons you mentioned, a year seems far too excessive, even for that era. The trans-pacific mail ships at the time were hybrid sail-steam vessels and typically took about a month for the crossing. So, I would expect the Australia and New Zealand offices to have received news of the new company by the New Year. While I could see the majority of the stock for the 1899-1900, southern hemi-sphere, spring and summer seasons being Goold manufacture, by September 1900 they should have received the first shipments of models under the new compnay name for the southern hemi-sphere's spring  season, which was just starting. By that time, I also would also have expected all the company letter heads and advertisements to reflect the new company. The only reason that I can think of for this amount of delay would be some sort of legal entanglement,.

Hi Daryl, where are you located?  Back in the early 1990s I was hired on contract by the Canadian Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa to document their vintage bicycle collection. They have an extensive collection of bicycle trade literature in their library/archives. The museum is closed at the moment but their library is open although with limited hours. They have CCM trade catalogues from a variety of years. The Canadian Patent Office of course has patents, and the National Archives has some very early Canadian cycling stuff. I think I have a complete list of CCM's bicycle patents if anyone's interested. So, if you're ever near Ottawa, that's something to consider. -Brian R.

Dear T-Mar,

I can offer no explanation for the discrepancy.

The model name 'Redbird' was so well known perhaps buyers didnt differentiate between Gould and CCM?

I know the Wellington Cycle Corps for the NZ Army around the turn of the 20thc were all issued Redbirds but who made them it does not say.

To Brian R,

Do you have a thing called 'Papers Past' or similar  there?

They are sites where word scanners have been  used on old issues of Newspapers to store most info to be retrieved by researchers?

You would only have to search CCM or Redbird within the portal  to get pages of hits !!!!

OTAGO DAILY TIMES - SEPTEMBER 23RD 1900

Official army advertisement for the New Zealand Army Wellington Cycle Corps.

All rode redbirds.

ARTICLE ON BICYCLES IN NEW ZEALAND

AUCKLAND STAR 1919, DECEMBER 16TH.

REDBIRD HAS A  REPUTATION

NEW ZEALAND

AUCKLAND STAR 1933, FEB 02.

1899 AVERTISEMENT FOR A REDBIRD AGENT - CENTURY MOTOR COMPANY -  IN AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND.

NEW ZEALAND HERALD 1899, JUN 1OTH.

SEE OR PEER AT  BASE OF ADVERT.