CCM
Bike heads for Bolton to watch the first CCM Spitfires roll off the production line. Expect tales of proper engineering, an if-we-build-it-theywill-come business plan and bacon sarnies…
WHEN, IN LATE 2016, CCM lost the supply of BMW derived engines for their GP450 adventure bike, the Bolton company needed a new plan. And quick. Inspiration came during the firm’s daily 10am tea and bacon butty break: ‘We all sat around a table and talked,’ says company director Austin Clews. ‘We were looking for something to bring to market quickly using the UK MSVA (Motorcycle Single Vehicle Approval) route for registering bikes. Chris (Ratcliffe – chief design engineer) had a few ideas, as did a few of the boys downstairs on the factory floor and we said, ok let’s give it a go.’ The MSVA rules enable a manufacturer of the scale of CCM to make a limited production machine with no catalytic converter, no airbox, a less restrictive silencer and no ABS. What they came up with was a unique interpretation of the street scrambler idea. Was it refreshing not having to comply with EU regulations to build the Spitfire? ‘Oh aye, hell yeah!’ confirms designer Ratcliffe between slurps of tea. The Spitfire models might seem like a long way down the line from the company’s original scramblers (CCM = Clews Competition Motorcycles) but they trade heavily on that heritage with a very similar set of ingredients: reliable and healthy donor engine, hand-welded frames, quality components, unique looks, limited editions and a very personal rock-up at the door and hand over your money approach to business. Albeit a roller shutter not a shed door these days. By February 2017 CCM had a prototype of the singlecylinder 600cc Spitfire at the London Motorcycle Show and a queue for their credit card machine: ‘With the GP450 we were getting orders of something like
30 or 40 a month, with the Spitfire we sold 150 bikes over
a weekend and within two or three weeks we had a reserve list of another 300 people. We knew we had hit on something good,’ says Clews, breaking into a rare smile. The engine that they’re using is a 600cc single that’s derived from the unit used by Husqvarna prior to the BMW takeover of Husky in 2007. This is combined with the well-developed Athena electronics system for engine management. Now, ten months after the Spitfire’s London debut, we’re at the CCM factory in Bolton in time for the 10am break. Except the order for tea and butties has increased. According to Clews they are currently employing around 50 people and down on the workshop floor the first customer bikes are being assembled. They’ll be delivered before Christmas. Life is always pretty tough for small volume motorcycle manufacturers. CCM have had their ups and downs since it was started by Austin’s dad, Alan Clews, in 1971. The company has been in and out of family control a couple of times, but they’ve always bounced back. At Motorcycle Live CCM will reveal a fourth variant of the Spitfire – a flat-tracker. The original bike, shown in London last February, will be made to a limited edition of 150 bikes. Subsequent versions, the Scrambler, Café Racer and Flat-track models will be limited to just 250 bikes each. Also in the pipeline is a 600cc replacement for the technically innovative GP450 Adventure, using the same engine as the Spitfire. Testing will begin in the spring of 2018. Such is the queue that CCM have been forced to switch to another level of manufacturing to meet demand. We’re not talking major manufacturer levels of production but there’s change in the air over this Bolton industrial estate. An investment deal looks set for fruition in Spring 2018 and promises a new purpose-built ‘five times the size’ factory complete with customer experience area and a museum for CCM’S grand collection of classic dirt bikes. ‘We don’t want people to think we need investment,’ says Clews of the future plans but it will, ‘allow CCM to realise its dream. If you think the Spitfire is exciting you wait and see what we have coming along soon.’