The new family of bikes will be, a CCM Adventure Sport bike, a CCM Trailie, a CCM Supermoto and CCM Road bike. These will pave the way for CCM in 2009 in Gary Harthern’s positive new outlook for the company. CCM is back. Rolling Thunder! Why not get one this Christmas!

The most recent step taken was for another CCM Military bike contract. They won one from the U.S. Military to build over 200 bikes. This greatly benefited them in terms of business profit but also in terms of profile and the chance to become a preferred supplier. Why not get one this Christmas!

From the roots up it was time to grow and producing cheaper bikes was the answer. The arrow ultimately pointed to China. After finding the right factory the CCM C-XR 230 went into production. These were smaller bikes designed for the road and produced at a much lower cost, thus increasing profits. They came in 3 forms, the CCM C-XR Supermoto S, the CCM C-XR Trail Bike E and the CCM C-XR230 M. In June 2008 the first batch arrived. The CCM TL Trail bike , the CCM SM. supermoto and the CCM RL basic commuter. Why not get one this Christmas!

Interest needs to be raised CCM Club 35 is a members club that recognises its 35 years in motocross. The CCM Supporters Club or CCM Membership will keep members up to date with all the latest happenings on and off the dirt track. And in being on the track CCM is back at its roots. Why not get one this Christmas!

Dave Thorpe also joined the gang as sporting director and the multi World Champion brought a wealth of knowledge, experience and contacts to CCM Racing.

He is there to set up the CCM Racing Team for 2009 and manage their direction. Again they need financial backing for the race effort and sponsors for CCM are needed.

Construction would begin slowly competing in 4 international rounds. The CMX450 first season brought crashes, awesome rides and 2 race wins the main story being that it was a competitive bike. The British Grand Prix 2008, CCM were there with a mix of vintage nostalgia, present enthusiasm and future sight. Greg Hanson made a spectacular return in the Veterans Championship and made massive publicity in his spectacular performances.

The trinity of CCM Retro bikes was completed and launched at the NEC Motorbike Show in 2006. The C-XR 230, the CCM CR40 harked back to their golden racing days of the 70’s and 80’s calling itself the CCM Café Racer. The clouds around CCM’s long term plans cleared with the unveiling of the CCM CMX450. Spear heading its return to world class competition this motocross racer was the brand rebuild tool.

The CCM FT was hugely successful so they decided to build more. Nicknamed the CCM Sledgehammer. After such success they decided to follow it up with a CCM Retro bike named the CCM Street Scrambler a direct link to CCM’s motocross roots evoking McQueen esque memories it was promoted as ‘Britain’s Great Escape’. A real company asset.

The aforementioned FT was entered into the 2006 British Flat Track Championship. CCM were racing again. Lee Complin won the championship on the FT with Rick Hey getting 3^rd also on the CCM.

Next came the CCM FT510 in the FlatTrack Championship and the CCM FT710 in Thunderbike class both doing well. There was also CCM Junior Shorttrack Series with competitors riding CCM 230’s and the CCM Experience, try out days sliding round a dirt track.

CCM and NEC Motorcycle Show 2005 launched the CCM FT35. Lots of old names were there from CCM’s history. The company was back and with a CCM Flat Track as its mascot. Next up was the CCM Supermoto R35 which was he reinvented CCM R30.

The line up was now, from top to bottom, a family affair. Clews the founder, with Harthern and Clews sons and grandsons also getting in on the act. Within months they had bikes in production starting where they left off.

With the buy back they got a pile of stock and a ready to run factory. They moved all the stock to Hartherns units, took stock of themselves and the situation and decided to go straight back into building bikes. Harthern believes the greatest asset is what they created and that survives, heritage and prestige, breathing new life into CCM one of Britain’s oldest motorcycle manufacturers.

But the CCM blood still ran in some and Clews son in law Gary Harthern bought it and brought it, back from the brink.

This still didn’t do enough to boost sales which were awfully low.

The CCM 404 was headlined as the maker or breaker of CCM and it ended up being called by MCN “the best CCM ever produced”.

But the best bike went to the worst position with not much profit and quickly CCM were in as bad a place as they ever had been. The lack of profits for the investors meant a lack of interest and they calle din the liquidators. 50 people were made redundant. CCM had hit a dead end.

Even better than that was a phone call from Paramount film studio who asked for a bike to be used in the upcoming Tomb Raider movie. Angelina Jolie on a CCM644DS as Lara Croft, it doesn’t get sexier than that.

Investors changed and they should have been reassured by some awesome PR and publicity. To celebrate Queen Lizzy’s 50 years not out on the throne there were parades all along the mall to Buckingham Palace. In the British bikes section of the parade CCM headed the pack with Bike magazine journalist Dale Lomas pulling a wheelie the full length of the mall finishing with a stoppie right in front of the Royal box.

The Suzuki powered CCM R30 was very well received and the demand of 40 bikes a week said so. The next model, designed by brought in engineer Cooper didn’t do so well, in fact it was scrapped completely and they needed a replacement.

Alan Clews saved the day again with one of Austin’s previous design blueprints. Cooper resigned a year later.

At the same time as the engine deal the CCM moto or the CCM R30 was delivered. Press attention and sales were buoyant, it had real presence. It was a Austin Clews design and it showed at CCM NEC Motorcycle Show in 2000 and on this Motor Cycle News commented that it was “more than a match for a sports bike”.

What they also needed was a new engine deal to keep them going, literally! Rotax had stopped making their favoured four-stroke and so a deal for CCM engines was signed with Suzuki who began to supply them with Japan’s finest.

Although winning races in Europe they weren’t exporting bikes there which they needed to do in order to meet sales targets. Supermoto was bigtime in France & Belgium and a CCM Supermoto bike needed in on the action.

Another positive was once owner of a CCM, World Superbike Champion, Carl Fogarty getting involved. He and his wife invested money in the company. Fogarty’s name alone could produce enough press interest to boost sales and the company profile. CCM competed at the supermoto equivalent of the TT at Mettet in Belgium with French Supermoto Champion, Stephane Mezard at the helm. He competed up to 2003 creating great publicity. When he left his place was taken by Nicolas Poudevin who took 3^rd place in the French Championship for CCM & DGT.

In house relations were not working well though. Disagreements with the board saw Austin leave and Alan demoted to a one day a week role. All this not being evident to the public the new CCM Road only bike entered the arena named the 640R. This CCM Supermoto bike came at the right time with dual sport and supermoto market sectors growing fast. The plus side was that it was one of the first supermotos in Britain at the time.

The plan to offer up market CCM up market bikes seemed to be going well with customer waiting lists growing. Writing about a CCM bike in MCN, Rob McDowell used the bike for commuting and loved it as a CCM Trails bike. Austin began CCM ride outs and CCM Green Laning where groups all went out on a CCM trail blazing day. This proved positive as many people bought bikes off the back of these CCM experience days. It was a good promotional tool for the company and worked well.

The company rebirth had attracted a lot of press attention and the current CCM 604E Bike did well and became a fully road legal bike. In Trail Bike Monthly the CCM was shown alongside supermotos. The idea was that it could be used for work or leisure on the road but with quick tyre change could hit the trails at weekend.

This didn’t sit well with Alan and Austin who’s life’s work was their qualification.

They realised the couldn’t compete with the big names in the industry but with CCM marketed as a specialised premium product they could make gains on their own ground. But, they still had to massively increase production, another world away from the garage run CCM Spare Parts business.

Clews was put in touch with some venture capitalists, Peter Swift and Richard Robson, two people with great experience and track record. CCM was put into receivership and taken over by investors who Swift and Robson had got in touch with. MCN headline was that “CCM Motorcycles were in the fast lane”.

The idea was to expand the road bike range and cut prices on the existing products. The investors wanted assurance of technical qualifications, the Clews did not have this so a graduate engineer was brought into the mix.

Fitzsimmons and Simon Pavey did the Dakar rally also in 1999 sponsored on a CCM and Bike magazine.

Motor Cycle News liked the next C27 CCM Allrounder and they wanted to increase its range of CCM road bikes. To do this of course, they needed money but they had none. Cue the next financial up and down of CCM.

The emphasis would now not just be on CCM Motocross but also on CCM Trials bikes, CCM Rallye bikes, CCM Supermoto and CCM Enduro bikes. A broad customer base throughout Europe could keep CCM alive.

The CCM Rallye bike was used by the CCM Ireland team in 1997 & ‘98 at the Paris Dakar Rally, with Nick Cragie and Vinnie Fitzsimmons finishing 22^nd and 23^rd. Cragie continued to develop and race his bike competing in 15 events up until the 2003 Tunisian rally.

Next off the production line was the CCM C26, Motocross News thought of it as an “all rounder” and something that could even be used on tarmac or as a CCM Enduro.

The mention of a CCM bike being used on tarmac was quite significant. A road going CCM?

The prototype showed CCM in Motor Cycle News in December 1996.

Supermoto’s had been home grown specials in Europe but now a CCM Supermoto was heading for the streets.

Sadly, Schmidt took ill and died which was devastating to the whole motocross world. The U.S.A customer went bust also.

Another turn. CCM continued on but this was a heavy blow to take.

During CCM’S 25^th anniversary year the so named C25 was designed by Austin. A simpler version of past bikes it was well received and they made a few more. Then an American made contact with them at a CCM only motocross event in the U.K. He wanted to import CCM’s to the United States, set up CCM Dealers and had World Motocross Championship winner Donny Schmidt ready to ride. After a good run in America they got an order for more bikes and so once again they moved to bigger premises ready for production.

It was. Not much was salvaged, production stopped except CCM Spare Parts which went right back to just Clews and his son working from their garage. Building CCM motorcycle parts would bring in steady demand and good turnover but it wasn’t bringing Clews and his son true job satisfaction.

Their love was to build and race CCM Motorbikes and they wanted to do it again. Clews son Austin, after being in the CCM Motocross bike business all his life, now had the chance to design his own bike.

They had no debts, parts in stock and a ready made motorcycle production line. Twist, turn,…fire.

Criminals had got into the factory to steal bikes, couldn’t and in frustration set fire to a bike which sent the whole CCM Motorcycle factory, CCM Parts, CCM Spares and CCM Race bike up in flames. MCN reported Clews saying it was “devastating”.

But for all the fantastic publicity and hype - gloom lay ahead. The British motorcycle market took a massive slump an so too did Armstrong’s big targets.
Work continued and some success was had on the CCM CMT310 Trials bike which was reported on in Trials and Motocross News.

It started with the Armstrong CM35 Road Bike being produced and attracting all the right attention from Superbike journalists to established road bike racers. On this bike they broke the Isle of Man TT lap record for 1981 and finishing in1st place also broke Kawasakis’ Dominance of the Junior 250. It was the 1st British bike to win it for decades.

The British motorcycle market was big though and Armstrong wanted to capitalise one this. There was no British volume motorcycle manufacturer to supply it and CCM motorbikes were the way to do this.

After steady growth through the 1970’s CCM was taken over by Armstrong Equipment Ltd in late 1980. There was ambition and vision with the funds to back it up. CCM Motorcycle were to be a rival to Japanese motorcycle manufacturers.
They even acquired lucrative contracts with the military and other sponsors but the dream to develop into a CCM motorcycle giant didn’t materialise.

Not all doom and gloom though as in 1980 Clews built the first CCM Road Racer Motorbike. The media were particularly interested in the CCM Racer bike, with Motor Cycle News reporting on the new CCM Road Bike.