Some pretty big and powerful companies have been and still are involved in the bicycle industry.  CCM, a Canadian based conglomerate, is one of them.

CCM is the acronym for Canadian Cycle and Motor Company.  The company began supplying bicycles prior to 1900.  Though I am not sure if CCM still makes or sells motors, they did at one time, around 1910.  The CCM motorcycle was to be a short lived venture for the company, and production was brought to a halt in 1912.  Bicycle production, however, remained strong, flourishing even in today's market place.

The CCM bicycles offered covered an absolutely full gambit of what could be offered.  From balloon tired Motorbike of the fifties, to luxury lighter weight cruisers, of the sixties and seventies, finishing up with top of the line, Italian bread, racing bicycles, just about anything could be had.  However, it was the utilitarian, run of the mill, mass marketed CCM that won the publics pocket books.

The top Italian bread dog, died a dog's death within a few years of being a puppy.  The balloon tires were gone by the end of the fifties, the luxury roadsters by the sixties, both being replaced by the lighter, multi geared roadsters that were surfacing at the time.  And, hot on the heels of the three speed internally geared roadster, came the Ten Speed, which sold in huge numbers shortly after being introduced into the market place.  However, all was not well when the multi gear market, and lighter bicycle market, fell under the CCM microscope.

Once under the microscope, all kinds of interesting things began to happen.  Imported bicycle prices rose - sharply, thanks to a newly and hastily imposed tariff, placed on imported bicycles.  CCM probably benefited greatly because of the tariff, but only temporarily.

Those tariffs created golden opportunities for other giant bicycle manufactures, to set up shops in Canada, France, the United States and other countries, that offered large market potential.  One might wonder why set up such companies, in tariff restricted areas?

Because the tariffs were placed on imported bicycles, not bicycle parts.  With that in mind, companies like Raleigh, Peugeot and Sekine all started assembling their bicycles on domestic soils.  Not what CCM wanted, to say the least.

None the less, CCM prevailed by surviving to this day.  The company still offers a wide range of consumer oriented, entry level bicycles, as nearly as I can tell.

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