Clews Competition Motorcycles
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| CCM Motorcyles Ltd | |
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| Type | Private |
| Founded | 1971 |
| Founder | Alan Clews |
| Headquarters |  Bolton, United Kingdom |
| Key people | Alan Clews |
| Industry | Motorcycle |
| Products | Motorcycle |
| Website | www.ccm-motorcycles.net |
Clews Competition Motorcycles or CCM for short, is a British motorcycle manufacturer based in Bolton, England.
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[edit] History
CCM was born out of the collapse of BSA's Competition Department in 1971.
Alan Clews, founder of CCM, was a successful Trials and Scrambles rider in the late 1960s. He wanted a lighter, more nimble and modern motocross bike, like the BSA factory engined 500 cc works specials. When the BSA Competition Department went out of business, he saw his opportunity and bought all the works parts that were available. Clews started building motocross bikes in his garage. Not having works engines just made Clews develop his own extensive improvements to the standard BSA B50 500 cc engine which could be had by breaking up existing BSA B50 MX bikes. His reputation grew as a builder of four-stroke motocross bikes that were capable of competing with the dominant two-stroke bikes. In the mid-1970s, the CCM racing team achieved respectable results in the 500 cc Motocross world championship, with rider John Banks placing in the top five several times.
Initially powered by BSA engines, the firm used Rotax engines during the 1980s and 1990s when production reached a peak of 3,500 annually. Between 1983 and 1985 over 4,000 CCM motorcycles were licenced to export bikes to North America badged as Can-Am motorcycles.[1]
In 1984, the firm secured a contract to produce the Rotax-engined Armstrong MT-500 bikes for the British Army,[2] and through overseas sales won a Queen's Export Award. The MT-500 began as the Italian SWM XN Tornado, which Armstrong acquired the rights to in 1984 when SWM liquidated, and Armstrong modified it for military use. Harley-Davidson bought the production rights to the MT-500 in 1987 when NATO chose the machine,[2] and created a 350 cc version that reduced weight, added an electric start, and upgrading pollution standards, which was named the Harley-Davidson MT350E.[3]
[edit] Return to Clews ownership
The CCM company was acquired by the Robson family in 1998 who procured Suzuki DR-Z400 engines. In 2004, the company ceased operations and its assets were bought by the original owner, Alan Clews. In 2005 the company launched two new bikes, the R35 Supermoto and the FT35 flat tracker.[4]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ History. CCM. Retrieved on 2006-12-03.
- ^ a b Armstrong Military Motorcycles. Dropbears.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-29.
- ^ Harley-Davidson MT350E Army Bike. RealClassic.co.uk. Retrieved on 2007-12-29.
- ^ Two new bikes from CCM. Motorcycle News (28 October 2005). Retrieved on 2007-09-03.
[edit] External links
- CCM Riders CCM enthusiasts website info and forum
- Clew's CCM History
- Dropbears Harley-Armstrong History
- Cybermotorcycle's CCM page
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