·RIDING'JMpRESSICN CCM C
25
By Donn Maeda
Photos by Kinney Jones
he message was written o u t
clearly, but I was sure that the
new receptionist had made a
mi stake. "Mike from CCM called wants to know if you 'd like to ride their
new four-stroke MX bike," it said.
CCM? What the heck is that?
In the previous days I had gotten
several messages that should have been
left for Tom, one of Cycle News' ad salesmen , and I figured that if the receptionist could mix up Tom and Donn - which
sound vaguely similar - she surely must
have meant KTM, not CCM...
Because my interest in motorcycles
didn't take root until the late '80s, I honestly had no idea that the British CCM
factory even existed. Terry Pratt, Cycle
News' resident vintage guru, just about
gave me a backhand when I told him
that I'd never heard of a heard of them.
T
34
"They' re one of the legendary fourstroke builders," he said . "Back when
men were men and motocrosser s rode
four-strokes, a CCM was the hot bike to
have. At vintage race s, guys that have
CCMs are the studs."
He was glad to fill me in: CCM which stands for Clews Competition
Motorcycles - is a small, (Clews) familyowned-and-operated Briti sh manufacturer, which gained fame in the U.S. in
th e ear ly 7 0s for its B5A-based fourstroke MX bikes. In the years since, the
firm has produced a number of mot orcycles for other companies, most
notably Can -Am and Armstrong. CCM
also produced their own trials bikes and
a few liquid-cooled two-stroke MXers;
but the firm 's bread and butter has
always been four-stroke MX bikes,
w hich were sold throughou t Europe.
In 1993, CCM suffered a devastating
blow when the factory burned d own.
Founder Alan Clews, al ong with his
(Above) Surpris ingly,
the big CCM felt light
and nimble on the
track. The bike was
equa lly at home
catching an Inside
line as It was sliding
around t he outside .
(Right) No fr ills: A
tried and true Rotax
600cc engine powers
the C25. (Below) The
CCM C25 has a clea n,
simp le look. The gas
tank Is tiny, but holds
enough fuel for a 30minute moto.
