If you have lived in Canada for most of your life, you know that Canadian people love to bicycle, & we have an incredible history of bicycling. Canada, being a country with a lot of rural communities, could never be without the bicycle. The bicycle has & always will be an important part in the childhood of Canadians.
We have bicycled in our youth for pleasure as our parents did & their parents as well. The bicycle has been used in business as a means of delivering merchandise & has been at the forefront for quite some time. Canadians like to cycle, that's all there is to it.
And CCM, the Canadian Cycle and Motor Company, have always made sure that we had enough good cycles to go around. Today CCM are also involved in sports equipment such as Hockey equipment, & Hockey is another sport that we Canadians just refuse to ignore!
CCM supplied many stores with their own brand bicycles before 1910 & between 1903-1907, they also made motorcycles 3.5 hp. motors imported from Germany. They stopped the motorcycles in 1912, but the bicycles kept on.
Bicycles date back to the early 1800's & started to take off in 1860 with the "boneshaker", a crude pedal bike designed by the French & given that nickname for an obvious reason.
In 1895 Torontonians purchased more than 18,000 bicycles & had over 90 bicycle shops selling & servicing them. And in 1898, the American Bicycle Company & Gendron Manufacturing joined forces to become CCM, the Canadian Cycle and Motor Company. They produced bicycles, tricycles, and eventually hockey equipment.
I wonder how many readers had a CCM bicycle when they were younger, many I think!
CCM was sold in 1982 & they went bankrupt in 1983. The mark is still being made by a Quebec firm & can be had at some local outlets in Quebec. Many of the very early models that were produced back in the 1920-1960's can still be found in great condition at garage sales, flea markets, & estate sales. And these now can be considered antique, therefore highly collectible!
Yes, the Canadian Cycle and Motor Corporation, made a lot of great bikes, & that made cycling just fantastic!
